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Old 01-26-2010, 03:06 PM   #1
Sonne
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Default NEW JEWEL BLOG: January 25, 2010

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Days pass with greater ease. A perk of my age, I suppose. Life is a matter of perspective, but also perseverance.

I wrote "Painters" when I was 18. It was a love story about an artist who wanted to paint themselves a lovely world. Those lyrics made a big impression on me back then. I thought a lot about it over the years: making my life be my best work of art, instead of making good art, but neglecting my life.

Sure the idea of nature versus nurture comes to mind, but I am the daughter of pioneers, and so I can't help but feel the power is in my two hands. Combine that with an artist’s natural instinct to create something out of nothing, and I was on my way to contemplate the unused portion of my life like a giant block of uncut marble, from which I would exact a perfect shape over time. Here are my thoughts: I am the sculptor of my unlived days. From the confusion of a muddy past, I can create a crystalline future. From a cloudy present, I can still see the clear shape I want to become- or rather the shape I am in my heart already. This is a topic I have been thinking a lot about, and you will see lyrics reflecting it.

I had an art teacher my junior and senior years at Interlochen; she was my sculpture teacher. One day she set a raw piece of marble down in front of each of us and asked us what we saw. I saw nothing. I saw an impossible task. I saw a responsibility that was awesome- how could I find what it should be? How could I impose a shape on something so elemental? That's when Gene (that was my teacher’s name) told me about the great sculptors and their opinion that what that stone should be was already there, existing perfectly. It wasn't my job to create the sculpture; it was just my job to chip away everything that covered it up. That was a matter of perspective- combine that with perseverance, and you have something taking shape.

That image has stuck with me, and lately I have been applying it to myself. I'm the stone I've been wrestling with- trying, prying chipping, forcing, even beating a shape out of. But what if the perfect us is already existing inside ourselves? What if we could relax and just know that? We don't have to try so hard. We don't have to force it to happen. We can just trust and LET it happen. That's the perspective shift- the perseverance is being diligent by removing everything that isn't truly you. Get rid of the anxiety. Get rid of the people who make you feel bad about your self. Surround yourself in people who see you for your best you, and help bring it out. Have the strength of character to stop complaining about a task or work, or else do something to change it.
MAYBE WE DON’T HAVE TO TRY SO HARD TO BE SOMETHING WE DON’T THINK WE ARE, BUT TRY HARDER TO STOP BEING WHAT WE ARE NOT.

I see girls every day who don't feel beautiful. They handle it one of two ways: they either hide themselves away behind baggy clothes, looking shy at the ground, or they put all that they are on display in a tawdry way, forcing attention. They think something beautiful exists outside them. Maybe they weren't told they were valuable and special as kids, maybe they developed a low self-esteem in school… When I see these kids, I wish I could hug them and show them what I see. There is an undeniable light in each of us that expresses itself in a way that is so unique that no one else has it. That light makes you special, and only you can find out what it is, what it wants to say, and what it has to offer the world. Those kids already are beautiful and special; it’s already inside them. They just have to take away what isn't them, take away the lack of confidence, take away the negative things that have been said so many times that now they say it themselves.

Those girls no more have to try to be beautiful than a star has to try to shine. Water knows how to fall, and if we sit for a moment, we know all the answers if we just look down deep.

I see men and women who are worried they aren't strong enough to face a hardship in their lives. But we are born that strong- a rock doesn't have to be taught how to hold its ground, and birds just know how to fly. We were born perfect with everything we need. Even if we didn't get enough love as kids, even if we are scarred by years of hurt- we can still peel all that away to reclaim the nature of our natural state. We are enough. You don't have to try to be bright, or try to be brave, you already are what you are. Light just knows how to fill a room, and so do you.
When you feel small and unsure, stop and ask yourself what the right thing is. I promise you already know. If you wanted to be a dancer, and being in a ballet company isn't working are you going to quit? Maybe there is something else you will love…but maybe there's another way to do it. Be unconventional- make your own dance troupe, or find 6 kids and start your own class teaching in your garage, or apply for a grant to teach the elderly to dance, or start choreographing plays at a local school. Be innovative and bold. Water never travels in a straight line to the ocean- it always finds the path of least resistance. It winds and bends around objects that get in its way. Water is an undeniable force and so are you.

As for me? I'm really learning to relax- to try and not force everything. It’s hard for me. My life has been unpredictable and unstable for so much of it that I have forgotten how to relax. I have forgotten how to just trust it will work out. I have become hyper vigilant about trying to see every little thing that could ever go wrong, so I can try to avoid it. But I take comfort when it’s hard. I take comfort in the fact that before I was trained to be this way, I was naturally easygoing and trusting. I'm just going to chip the rest away- chisel back to that perfect shape that's under the rocky exterior, because when I am focused, nothing can stand in the way of my happiness. Nothing. I will do whatever it takes to create a life that is my masterpiece. I will leave no corner untouched or forgotten.

I wrote this song to help me remember to give myself a break, and to trust I am already everything I need to be. You are welcome to use it for the same thing. This will be on my new album. The lyrics are below, and you can get a free download by clicking HERE if you are a member of jeweljk.com. The download is a very low-tech recording I just sang here at my house – it’s recorded on my laptop, so apologies for the quality, but it at least gives you something before the album comes out.

Love to you all, j

WHAT YOU ARE (Jewel and Dave Berg)

I’M DRIVING AROUND TOWN
KINDA BORED WITH THE WINDOWS ROLLED DOWN
I SEE A GIRL ON A BUS STOP BENCH
DRESSED TO DRAW ATTENTION
HOPING EVERYONE WILL STARE
IF SHE DON’T STAND OUT
SHE THINKS SHE’LL DISSAPPEAR
I WISH I COULD HOLD HER, TELL HER, SHOW HER
WHAT SHE WANTS IS ALREADY THERE

A STAR IS A STAR
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO TRY TO SHINE
WATER WILL FALL
A BIRD JUST KNOWS HOW TO FLY
YOU DON’T HAVE TO TELL A FLOWER HOW TO BLOOM
OR LIGHT HOW TO FILL UP A ROOM
YOU ALREADY ARE WHAT YOU ARE
AND WHAT YOU ARE - IS BEAUTIFUL

I HEARD A STORY THE OTHER DAY
TOOK PLACE AT THE LOCAL V.A.
A FATHER TALKING TO HIS DYING SON
THIS WAS HIS CONVERSATION:
IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS
YOU CAN’T GO FIRST, I CAN'T HANDLE IT
THE BOY SAID DAD, NOW DON’T YOU CRY
REMEMBER WHEN I WAS A CHILD WHAT YOU USED TO TELL ME
WHEN I’D ASK WHY, YOU’D SAY...

GRAVITY IS GRAVITY
IT DOESN’T TRY TO PULL YOU DOWN
A STONE IS STONE
IT CAN’T HELP BUT HOLD IT’S GROUND
THE WIND JUST BLOWS THOUGH YOU CANNOT SEE
IT’S EVERYWHERE JUST LIKE I WILL ALWAYS BE
ALREADY ARE WHAT YOU ARE
AND WHAT YOU ARE - IS STRONG ENOUGH

LOOK IN THE MIRROR
NOW THAT’S ANOTHER STORY TO TELL
I GIVE LOVE TO OTHERS
BUT I GIVE MYSELF HELL
I HAVE TO TELL MYSELF
IN EVERY SEED THERE’S A PERFECT PLAN
WHAT I HOPE TO BE I ALREADY AM

A FLOWER IS A FLOWER
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO TRY TO BLOOM
LIGHT IS LIGHT
IT JUST KNOWS HOW TO FILL A ROOM
DARK IS DARK
SO THE STARS HAVE A PLACE TO SHINE
THE TIDE GOES OUT
SO IT CAN COME BACK ANOTHER TIME
GOODBYE MAKES HELLO SO SWEET
AND LOVE IS LOVE SO THAT IT CAN TEACH US
THAT WE ALREADY ARE WHAT WE ARE
AND WHAT WE ARE - IS BEAUTIFUL
AND STRONG ENOUGH
AND GOOD ENOUGH
AND BRIGHT ENOUGH...


Go to the homepage to download the song and listen it

http://www.jeweljk.com/?em1=1121_-1_...nt=jewels_blog
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Old 01-27-2010, 02:49 AM   #2
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I'm a big fan of the demo take of this song--it definitely stands out a lot more to me than when she posted a vlog of it (even though she looked really cute in the vlog).
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Old 01-27-2010, 06:27 PM   #3
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jajaja, maybe it is because of the guitar, Robby
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Old 01-30-2010, 08:05 AM   #4
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I just listened to this song for the first time the other day and I teared up! It seems lately that her new songs are really affecting me upon first listen, which is rare I think! To me, it feels like lately she has been drawing from a deeper level of wisdom in her personal life and therefore also with her songwriting. As if she is uncovering her roots and returning to them...and then sharing them with us. She has come into her own.

I saw Jewel in concert back in Nov. and she played 'My Father's Daughter' and then followed that with 'Hole In My Heart'..... I hadn't heard of these new songs before going to the concert, as I had been behind on Jewel updates. I had just had a conversation before the concert with my bf about how I'm very much my father's daughter...so it was kind of ironic to hear this song I thought! I live about 1,700 miles away from my dad and I miss him so much. This song really got me. Then 'Hole In My Heart' totally did me in right after that. I had to get more Kleenex!

From a woman's perspective, 'What You Are' is such a powerful statement. The message of this song is in the same vein as 'Stronger Woman'. We constantly put ourselves down, we downplay our qualities, so many of us do not realize &/or even deny our self worth because we compare ourselves to everyone else. And just as Jewel mentions in the song about the young girl thinking that how she looks & dresses determines her value, I also see so many young girls in their pre-teens & teens with this line of thought that is accepted as the norm. And it seems they are affected by low self-esteem at younger and younger ages all the time. We have 8 year old anorexic girls, 11 year old mothers, etc.....I just wonder how much longer this sort of social disease will continue.... I'm worried to know how little confidence our granddaughters and great-granddaughters will have in the future.....

So, we must remind ourselves & teach our daughters that...

...Everything we hope to be, we already are...
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