Shine Out Loud

This morning a woman is out walking her dog and singing loudly a song that she knows few words to, so she belts out, "dah, dah, dah-de-dah, dah, dah, dah-de-dah."  What joy! What verve! Will I ever be so bold?  I am not sure.  Why do we hesitate to walk and sing loudly?  Very few of us do it, and yet wouldn't the world be a better place if we did?  None of us really knows all the words and all of us have unique voices that are here to broadcast joy into the world.  Perhaps we are worried about noise pollution, or the few curmudgeons who would grumble at any suggestion of delight, but I wonder if a large part of our reserve has to do with a fear of having our singing voices judged.  I know I keep my singing voice secret.  This is not a good idea.  Somehow our singing voices seem to be directly connected to our souls.  This is why we hide them.  We don't want our souls to be judged.  We carefully close and blockade every window and door to the soul in order to keep it safe.  But that safety is not why we are here on Earth.  Our souls are here to experience life in all of its tremulous extremities.  Our souls are not here to cower in a protected corner.  So when we refuse to sing, that refusal is an indication that we are holding our soul too precious.  No.  Not too precious.  Too clingy, but not precious enough.  We are not listening to our soul when we shut it up in a closet.  We are over-protecting it and cutting it off from its divine purpose--to shine.