Have you lived some hard times, darlin’? Don’t fret none. They don’t define you according to Richards and Jagger in Jumpin’ Jack Flash!

It might seem like my life got off to a stormy start when I arrived premature weighing less than five pounds and missing fingers on my left hand. I, and my wonderful family and friends, refused to let that define me.

I experienced a fat embolism that threw me into convulsions and stopped my heart. Medical staff refused to let that define me and jump-started my heart.

Every day is a gift, darlin’. Leave the bad behind and experience life for the “gas, gas, gas” it is!

Why do I love the Oscar winning crunk song by Three 6 Mafia and Cedric Coleman from Hustle & Flow?

The film is about DJay, a dissatisfied drug-dealing pimp. Life is hard for DJay before he finds his hip hop flow with help of a couple of church musicians and his two prostitutes. Finding flow changes DJay’s life for the better, eventually.

Flow, according to positive psychologist Mihály Csikszentmihályi in his book Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life, is full immersion in an activity that brings a feeling of joy. I find flow through Storydame and activities that support it from embracing new experiences to learning new tools to perfect my craft to studying inspirations.

Where do you find flow?

Wouldn’t it be fun to add original comedic songs to my storytelling repertoire?!

I bought the only left-handed guitar they had at the Guitar Center I visited. The inexpensive Fender acoustic isn’t top of the line, but is steps up from the guitar I made from a cigar box as a sixth grade music project.

“Gene made it; Lynn only spray painted it,” my Mom confessed to my teacher.

“At least she submitted a project,” my teacher said. “Some didn’t even try!”

Months after my first lesson when my guitar teacher played Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah, I recognized a key to songs that “please:” “…the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift.” Progress!

Mick Jaggar Tells the Story… points out that no song captured the apocalyptic dread of 1969 like Gimme Shelter. 

Facing dark days is gut wrenching. Gimme Shelter, with its haunting lyrics and vocals by Jaggar and Merry Clayton, boldly admits threats of storm, fire, flood. “Rape, murder, it’s just a shot away” gives credence to conflict escalation. At the same time, the song elicits hope by crying out for shelter and acknowledging the power of love.

Driving through Hot Springs, I saw a woman mouthing apology to drivers for her angry companion as they crossed a busy street. In days of rising rage, Gimme Shelter calls us to respond (if and when possible) with kisses not shots.