Your Darkness Is Shining

Alabama Shakes...Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Red Rocks Amphitheater & Ecstatic Me

A little dream came true for me last night. The venue? Red Rocks Amphitheater. The bands? Alabama Shakes opening for Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. The time of year? Perfect.

I enjoy both bands tremendously and was expecting a good show. Ended up getting a GREAT show. But the real dream come true was halfway through Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros set and they played lead singer Alex Ebert's solo hit "Truth". Aka, my favorite song everrrrr. It was unexpected (wasn't in any previous set lists I found?) and took a great night into the stratosphere for me.

I had always liked the song but it took on all new meaning when I faced the most physically challenging day of my life a few years ago - riding my mountain bike up John Brown Canyon. Oh and here's that little canyon now...miles and miles up, like this:

John Brown Canyon - named after the Mormon Pioneer whom I cursed ceaselessly

When I did that 215 mile ride with my hubs that summer, I was deep in a bout of fraud syndrome. Feeling I wasn't "enough" because I didn't meditate an hour every morning and night, wasn't skinny and flexy enough for popular taste and couldn't backbend it like Beckham. And this climb STUCK IT TO ME. I believe it was Pema Chodron who said something to the effect of "when life squeezes you, what comes out is what you're soaking in". And this climb was squeezing me and all that I'd been soaking in came out - FULL ON GUSHER. So after Jeff pedaled off to give me some space, I plugged in my headphones and listened to "Truth" by Alexander over and over and over and pedaled and pedaled and pedaled until I got up that bastard hill and fully understood that the only way to transcend your shadow is to see it as your teacher and OWN IT. 

The Truth is that I never shook my shadow
Every day it's trying to trick me into doing battle
Calling out "faker", only gets me rattled
Want to pull me back behind the fence with the cattle

Building your lenses
Digging your trenches
Put me on the front line
Leave me with a dumb mind
With no defenses
But your defenses
If you can't stand to feel the pain then you are senseless

Since this
I've grown up some
Different kind of fighter
And when the darkness come let it inside you
Your darkness is shining
My darkness is shining
Have faith in myself
TRUTH


If you love and value life, don't be afraid of any of it, even the darkness. 

Have faith in yourself. And Truth.

Alex Ebert singing Truth

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros performing Truth at Red Rocks 6/2/13

And when the darkness come let it inside you

Your darkness is shining

My darkness is shining

Have faith in myself

TRUTH

SATYA