AGELESS TROUBADOURS

It’s a lovely early summer evening in a local old time factory-town in the midst of rebranding itself as a haven of the arts. My husband and I join the merging lines of other Baby Boomers, mostly. We orderly find our seats in the magnificently restored elegant theater – all waiting for the show to start. When the timing was right, we all, in unison, fell silent. The lights went up just enough to whet our appetites. And then…

Art Garfunkel stepped forward to invite us into the moment with him as he reinvented himself before our eyes. As he walked onto the stage he began asking us, (and himself, no doubt,) “Do you believe it’s 30yrs?And, here I am, back again.” 

Instead of the Albert Hall in London, (seating thousands of fans,) here he was with us sharing his book tour visiting small town, U.S.A . Art instantly renewed his relationship with us by being his pure unadulterated Art Garfunkel. He so deftly and movingly demonstrated to us how it is when we are truly, “Trusting the Process”…big time. 

For me, the crowning moments are when Art read from his book, “What Is It All But Luminous”, which both punctuates and underscores his entire performance. Sourcing from his own vulnerability, he threads his personal take on his Hero’s Journey from the start to what’s next. All the while bringing us along with him to consider and reflect on our own reinvention stories. 

From the first sounds of Art singing ancestral verses from his childhood, while he shared with us about his early childhood love affair with singing--still his lifelong passion and gift. I was hooked…all over again. He shared with us the story about his sudden rise into mega-fame with Paul Simon – And once again, Art brought us to our feet, as he sang their 1970 “Bridge Over Troubled Waters". 

It was heart rendering to hear him share that some years ago, he lost his ability to sing. He was forced to go silent.  No longer in the limelight. Instead, he was living in the shadows, on the sidelines. Worst of all, his sacred gift, which Art shared has always been to sing because, “I’ve been chasing goosebumps all my life”. 

 For many of us, the call to a major “Holy Shift!” is not quite so dramatic. Yet others of us are confronted with a major challenge or a great loss , even several, to force us to dive deeply…then yet again, the call comes to dive even deeper than before.  

Let me be ruthlessly clear about these two kinds of reinvention.  In my worldview, reinvention is radical and transformational. The other more popularized and widely utilized depiction of reinvention is all about solely moving the furniture of your life around, and then calling this “reinvention”. For example, changing jobs in the same hell hole of a toxic work environment vs. taking your bat and ball and going to another healthier playing field. Sometimes we believe that we can’t. I’m here to tell you can. Change your frame, change your horizon. 

Let’s get real. From my witnessing, we usually think we are in a new healthy whatever…position, company, career track, marriage and on and on, but really we are just replicating the same domain built around the “same old, same old” patterns and behaviors. So the only way out is to replace or move all your furniture around again. What a drag! Such a waste of precious life time. In my view, this model of reinvention is really going nowhere. If you are in transition, or going into or out of one, then making a lateral move or taking a time-out may be prudent, and even brilliant…as long as you continue to do your due diligence, work with reputable experienced accredited specialists in reinvention throughout your process.

But when confronted with a “wild card”, seemingly out-of-the-blue, like Art was, we notice! Hopefully, we pay attention. Art did. He let his passion, his sacred calling lead him into healing. My truth is: when we trust the process, as does Art, we, too, will make it to the other side of the bridge over troubled waters. 

Art Garfunkel’s tour heralding his elderhood renewal, return, reinvention and rebranding as a storyteller in lyrics and verse is all about being Ageless -- by embracing that aging is all about reinvention… over and over again. 

On the heels of our recent reinvigoration with Art, we met Alisan Porter --not a name we knew. But we sure do now. Alisan, also a child star at age 5, along with successes stacking up from then on, also took a respite from the stage and recording studios. Albeit her choice was not due to a forced “Holy Shift” like Art’s, it was a choice not so easily made for many professional women today. Alisan heeded the call of motherhood by stepping out of the limelight, thus putting her stage and singing career dreams on hold while becoming a full time Millennial mom and homemaker. 

Although on the other end of the age continuum than Art, Alisan also returned to the stage this summer to kick off her tour in her home state of Connecticut at the Ridgefield Playhouse. What a powerhouse siren she is! Singing oldies but goodies would have been more than enough to claim our listening hearts. Instead, she took us with her on her own reinvention story in song and shared stories. Alisan rocked us to our feet with her style which weaves together gospel, soulful blues and rock ‘n’ roll --drawing from her newest album, “Pink Cloud”. Like the true reinventor she is today, she describes her new album as “(it) is the bible of everything I’ve done…it has all accumulated to this moment.” 

Making it to the other-side of the bridge requires crossing the “Canyon of the Soul”. Those who survive this deep dive into self-development, radical reinvention, and soul-level transformation as Art has, and  from which Alisan is emerging from too, will reclaim their original gifts and so much more, as they lead the way forward. It is their destiny calling them to make a forced right-angle turn to become our AGELESS TROUBADORS. Both driven by relentless passionate gifts of storytelling, they both will teach us how to chase goosebumps all of our lives too.

Catch the wave. Become your own “Ageless Troubador”. Send your stories of other Ageless Troubadors we should all know about and celebrate. 

As Autumn reveals itself in all its northeastern U.S color changes, falling acorns and chestnuts mix in with the leaves floating downward reminding us of many new beginnings…for me and mine the harvest time is remembered in our celebration this coming week of our Jewish High Holidays starting with RoshaShannah, the time of letting go of missing the mark last year and whatever else it’s time to release, then we celebrate the Jewish New Year…and all its callings to reinvent once again.  Wishing you many miracles as this new beginning enfolds us all.

Join me in my recent conversations on the topic of AGELESS REINVENTION for All Ages. Grab a glass of wine or a cup of tea and come along with me on an Ageless Adventure. (Click images to see more)