Today is June 26 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “how often are you looking for, and providing, encouragement?” Navigating the chaos might involve the two-sided strategy associated with both providing and receiving encouragement. Translating one dream after another into reality is often too difficult to do without encouragement. Do realize, however, that encouragement alone is not enough to translate one dream after another into reality. The words motivation and inspiration are synonymous with encouragement.
For those who navigate the chaos they often implement the strategy of searching for and providing encouragement, motivation, or inspiration to others as they work towards translating their dreams into reality. The etymology of the word encouragement stems from the Old French encoragier meaning "make strong, hearten," from en- "make, put in" and corage "courage, heart.” Paul McCartney of The Beatles provides an example of one who both received and provided encouragement throughout this career.
In the spring of 2018 James Corden and The Late Late Show spent the week in London and invited music icon Paul McCartney to join him for an epic new installment of Corden’s "Carpool Karaoke." During the interview McCartney told the story behind the hit song "Let it Be," off the Beatles’ final studio album in 1970.
According to McCartney: "I had a dream in the '60s where my mom (Mary Patricia McCartney who died of cancer in 1956, when he was 14), came to me in the dream and was reassuring me, saying, 'it's gonna be OK. Just let it be.' She gave me the positive word. So, I woke up and I went 'What was that? What'd she say? Let it be? I've never heard that. That's kinda good. So, I wrote the song 'Let it Be,' [and it was] about positivity.”
"That's the most beautiful story I've ever heard," Corden said before the two broke out in an emotional duet of "Let it Be" that brought tears to talk show host's eyes as he drove. McCartney was looking for inspiration and found it in the spirit of his mother who came to him in a dream. Like so many others who navigated the chaos he was open to receiving inspiration and turned that into a beautiful song. But McCartney would also encourage others through his music. One such example was the song “Blackbird.”
The Beatles released “Blackbird” on November 22, 1968. McCartney was first inspired to write the lyrics after hearing the call of a blackbird while he was in Rishikesh, India. Ultimately, the song developed into a powerful message about the unfortunate state of race relations in the United States in the 1960s.
According to McCartney: "Way back in the Sixties, there was a lot of trouble going on over civil rights, particularly in Little Rock. We would notice this on the news back in England, so it is a really important place for us, because to me, this is where civil rights started. We would see what was going on and sympathize with the people going through those troubles, and it made me want to write a song that, if it ever got back to the people going through those troubles, it might just help them a little bit, and that's this next one."
He explained that when he started writing the song, he had in mind a black woman, but in England, "girls" were referred to as "birds." And so the song started with the line “Blackbird singing in the dead of night.” McCartney added that he and the Beatles cared passionately about the Civil Rights movement, "so this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: ‘Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.’"
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of a dark black night
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of a dark black night
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Receiving encouragement along the path of navigating the chaos can help us move forward while providing encouragement can help others along their path.
How often are you looking for encouragement?
Who or what provides encouragement to you?
How often are you providing encouragement to others?
Have you ever thought of providing encouragement to others but hesitated? If so, why is that?