“I turned my head for a moment and it became my life.” These were the prophetic words of an AT&T executive when working with David Whyte in one of his seminars. She was speaking to how these moments in life happen when you simply turn your head in a different direction and it seems something shifts and your life is instantly different. It struck me last night when at a Marc Cohn concert (who wrote “Walking in Memphis“). He spoke of early in his career in 1986 when he was stuck and did not like the music he was creating. He followed James Taylor’s wisdom, find new geography. With that he took off for a trip to Memphis where he met Muriel Davis Wilkin, a gospel singer, who sang ever Friday night at the Hollywood Cafe in Memphis. As the song goes, “Now Muriel plays piano every Friday at the Hollywood.” She is the one in the song.
She invited him to her church that Sunday only to find Al Green (at the time a little known Reverend preacher). He may not have been reborn but he did have a rebirth to his music. It was after this experience that he had his break through in creating great music, not only for himself but for the rest of us.
Later during that trip he met his wife, Cindy, and wrote several hit songs about her and their child together. He turned his head for a moment and it became his life.
How often do you step away from your life to see what can happen? It was not luck that lead him to these events that unfolded. He was trying for change by looking for new geography, a way to enter life differently. He did not wait for something to come to him, he took action. By putting himself in a new place he began to think differently.
