One of my favorite things to do is listen to live music. 

There is something magical about being in the presence of good music with other people that feels like it transports me. 

It is beyond inspirational to see performers who have honed their craft over a lifetime. Having a shared experience with others in the audience is so connecting, and reminds me of our shared humanity.

This week I got to hear Natalia Lafourcade live. Natalia is a Mexican singer songwriter and the most awarded female artist with 15 Latin Grammy awards. 

She had not recorded an album in seven years prior to the release of her last album in 2022, and  took four years off from performing until last year. 

During those four years, Natalia embarked on a journey inward to explore the depths of her emotions, her birthplace, her spirituality, and to tune into nature. When she emerged, she had composed an entire album of songs that her pianist says “reveal who she is” for the first time. 

Natalia herself said to a NYT reporter, “In your youth, sometimes one is trying to fit into certain circles of friends, and as time passes, you can discover what you really like, and put down roots in the music.”

Twenty years into her career, she is really coming into her own as an artist. And what a performance it was.

Natalia is living out Carl Jung’s famous quote: ​​“The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it.”

Richard Rohr’s version of this is that the first season of life is about growing up, and the second season is about growing down.

The first half of life is self-centered, and necessarily so. It is about acquisition, certainty, order, and upward mobility.

Rohr says that in the second half of life, we learn the lessons of surrender and letting go, and in doing so, we emerge out of self to discover greater love, greater wisdom, and a more spacious, vibrant sense of self.

I wonder where you find yourself in your career journey at this moment in time. 

Marshall Goldsmith’s words likely ring true for you wherever you are: “what got you here won’t get you there.”

Have you done the inner work to know who you are and what you can let go of from your past in order to create the future you desire? 

Are you living with more spaciousness, more love, and greater wisdom? 

If you would like some support with this, we should have a conversation.

Love,

Audrey