I am excited to share the delightful and insightful Authentic
Refreshment Story of True Turner, a good friend of mine whose music
CD, Butterfly Emerging, has been a life enhancer for my entire
family, especially for my grandboy who sleeps to it every nap and sleep time.
True shares the truest of her musical life dimension of composing, recording and performing music.
She is a true inspiration, both in music and in life.
What is your authentic refreshment?
Music – Composing, Recording, and Performing! Even playing
alone or jamming with friends is an authentic refreshment for me.
Sometimes just listening to music is an authentic refreshment.
How and when did you discover it? Does it hail back to your childhood
or is it a more recent activity?
I started piano lessons
between the first and second grade. It was not yet an authentic
refreshment at that time. However, when I was 13 years old, I took up the
guitar, then bass guitar, and finally moved back to keyboard by the time
I was 16. Somewhere between 13 and 16, music dawned into an authentic
refreshment and became a life-long passion.
How often do you engage in it? Is it part of your routine or is it
more of a spur-of-the-moment, spontaneous kind of activity?
It’s definitely spur of the moment, but I engage in it
constantly…with or without an instrument to play. I’m always hearing things
musically and writing melodies or lyrics in my head or going through a tune I’m
working on. I do this while I’m at work or out with friends….it’s kind of like
a computer program that always runs in the background. Sometimes I even
work on music in my dream state.
Do you go solo or do you share it with a friend or group?
I play and write for myself
and for groups. It doesn't matter. Music flows through me and
has to be expressed either individually or with others. As far as performance
goes, I prefer to work with a group. Composing, on the other hand, is mostly a
solo activity although I enjoy composing with others….that
just doesn't seem to happen as often as the solo composition thing.
Do you use a journal to record your authentic refreshment time? If
so, do you just record what you did or do you also reflect on its benefit to
you each time?
I haven’t journaled about it, but I usually record my new
compositions as that is much easier with the advent of computers than it was in
my younger years. As far as reflection on it goes, that is [the] part of that
always-on program that runs in the background for me all the time. I’m
constantly reviewing, analyzing, changing, comparing, upgrading, playing with
something that I have written either recently or years ago.
When you first engaged in your authentic refreshment, were you
surprised by how much you enjoyed it or did it feel as natural as breathing,
like you've come home?
It felt as natural as breathing, like I've come home…and it still
does.
Did you find it from another source and then change it up to suit
your preferences?
That depends. It was my interest in music that caused me to
become a musician because I first wanted to be able to play the songs on the
radio that I was listening to. That soon evolved into composing my own
music. So, in a way, yes, it came from another source and I changed it up to suit
my preferences. J
How does it enable you to validate your emotions and
feelings?
Wow! I could write a book about this. Suffice it to say
that music has been my unfaltering emotional support system. Many times it has
taken me from absolute despair all the way to joy in a matter of 30 minutes to
an hour...just playing can do that for me. I have used it in all of my peak
moments to stabilize me and in all of my valleys to pull me out of the well of
darkness. Music always brings me to the light!
How does it help you appreciate yourself for who you really are at
your core?
I feel that music is my core. It is how my soul expresses itself.
When I am totally absorbed in playing or writing music, there is no
separation…there is only oneness.
How does it nourish your soul?
Completely! As to the “how” it does that, I don’t know. It feels like
music IS my soul and that it is connected directly to the source of all that is
(call it God, the Force, Universal Mind…whatever you want). I know that I can
be totally depleted energetically, and music has the power to refresh my energy
and bring me to an ecstatic energized state.
What would you say has been its greatest benefit?
Music keeps me sane in an insane world. Music never leaves me in
my darkest hours. I can depend on music to always be there to get me through
life’s greatest trials.
Do you anticipate it? How does it benefit you in the moment? How
do you feel afterwards?
Usually I anticipate it. Usually I consciously create
it. However, there have been spontaneous eruptions of song in my life…pure
joy expressed musically because that is its highest expression. How does
it benefit me in the moment? Music is always healing. It always raises my
vibration to a higher more in tune level…an at-one-ment. Music leaves me
feeling high and joyful. Usually I am highly energized after playing.
What is your favorite part of it?
Creating in that space of at-one-ment!
Was there an a-ha moment that changed your perspective in a way
you didn't expect as a result of it?
Although I've had several a-ha moments with music, the only one
that changed my perspective unexpectedly was the moment I realized I was a
musician, that I would always be a musician, and that music was all I really
wanted to do. I had denied that possibility to myself for a long time. It
finally hit me when I was about 19 that this is a music lifetime and that I
needed to follow my bliss.
Has it ever surprised you with the new discoveries you have
uncovered?
Music is a lifetime of learning that always has little twists and
turns and new surprises along the way. That’s because music is alive and
evolving just like I am….it’s an expression of my soul that has a life of its
own.
How does it clarify your purpose in life?
Music is the universal language. It speaks to everyone. It
makes people happy. It empowers people and motivates them to go beyond
themselves. I am both a communicator and a catalyst this lifetime…music is the
platform for both of those.
How has it personally empowered you?
Music took me from being a
shy introvert into being a strong, self-assured extrovert that
really doesn't care what other people think of me.
As someone who has benefited from authentic refreshment, what
would you say to someone who is looking for theirs but they haven't found it
yet?
Don’t give up. Follow your bliss! Pay attention to what makes
you forget about time and space…that is the dimension of authentic
refreshment. Do more of that!
Short Bio:
I
was born in a small town in central Texas, the daughter of a Theology professor
and an English professor. My dad was a preacher, historian, and Greek and
Hebrew scholar, while my mother was the English professor, church choir
director, and pianist/vocalist. I grew up in a deeply spiritual and
profoundly musical environment. My parents always encouraged their
children to be and do whatever they were passionate about. They never set
limits on us.
I
began playing music professionally as a guitarist at the age of 13. By the time
I was 16, I had returned to my home base of keyboards. When I was 17, I
began creating a stage persona that would allow me to be more extroverted…I
lived into a character that I created and acted the part. I’ve toured all
over the US and Canada with rock bands and played solo in Mexico and
Europe. I have two CD’s out, “Dreams of the Neophyte” (a New Age
Instrumental Sampler) and “Butterfly Emerging” (a massage/meditation CD timed
to exactly one hour with time signals). I also have numerous rock
recordings that have not made it onto a CD yet (some
can be found on Soundcloud http://www.soundcloud.com/true-tidwell)…still in the works! I have also
written a rock opera titled, “Alien Blue” and am currently working on the book
of the same name. I also have a book titled, “The Lucifer
Conspiracy,” which is almost ready for digital publication.
I
am a graphic artist, a photographer, a tarot reader, a player of Native
American Flutes, and a lover of animals. I love to travel the world and
love being in nature, both hiking and camping. I am also fascinated with
languages; this probably stemming from having learned the Greek alphabet before
the English and having heard my dad speak phrases in many different languages
as a child. I am currently working on learning German.
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