Monday Moment: learning from Whitney
Many have commented on the sadness that we have lost another great voice, as Whitney Houston died this weekend. There is a huge lesson in the irony of her lyrics. Remember that great line ‘Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all’? The irony of course is that she sang those words but never really managed to learn to love herself. Someone who loves herself does not abuse her body and soul with cocaine.
I watched a news video yesterday in which the commentator cited her many musical achievements, her awards, her record sales, the adoration of her public, her amazing voice… she ‘had it all’ he said. But she didn’t have it all. Not by a long, long way. Sure, she had a lot of things that many crave for. But what use is fame and fortune, when you are dead in a hotel room at 48, with so much life left to live. Fame and fortune cannot buy you love – real, true, soul-deep love – and it sure cannot buy you the soul-deep, self-love that Whitney Houston really, really needed.
So let’s not just let this pass into yesterday’s news, shrugging it off our shoulders as though we have no responsibility for it. Let’s think what this means for us and particularly for our children. Everywhere we are bombarded with images of success that are bound up in how much exposure we can get, how much money we can make, how much material stuff we can gather around us and how much more of those things we can get over other people. None of that is what real success and real wealth is about.
For me, real success lies in how many souls did I inspire today, how inspired is my soul today, how much deeper is my love for myself today and how much more have I been able to love others today? I now measure my wealth in the depth and breadth of my relationships and in the expression of my creativity, the joy I get from the beauty that surrounds me and my deepening connection to all that is.
So what is success and wealth for you I wonder? And what kind of success and wealth do you really wish for your kids?
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it is indeed a sad, sad waste…
more so, when she was our contemporary… her voice, the soundtrack of our 20s and 30s….
but i’m glad the monday moments are back