Julia Booth Voice Studio

2023 introduced me to a grief I had never before experienced. It has changed me. As it does everyone. It has shaped everything in unexpected ways and brought a theme of Carpe Diem for the year. Looking ahead to 2024 I am particularly grateful that, quite literally, I am alive. That I have love and family to fill my heart. But I do have a resolution. Since I am alive, and I have the luxury of time, I want to make the most of it and lean into a tendency I have to protect my heart, just a little, in a way Brené Brown might call armour. So I’m trying to trust a little more and let my (inner) voice be heard a little more loudly. Thanks to my dear friend and mentor Anne-Marie Speed, I have just finished the book “I May Be Wrong” in which former forest monk Björn Natthiko Lindeblad shares profound wisdom and distilled insight which, among many things, reflects spiritual truths that exists within us all. Rather serendipitously, one chapter is called “Closed Fist, Open Palm” in which he gently encourages the reader to let go of control and invite trust. He writes “It’s simple, but it’s a good illustration of how we can let go of things we cling too hard: things, feelings, convictions. Clench your first hard, then relax it to open.” He closes the chapter with “Life doesn’t have to be lived with constant anxiety about things not turning out the way we want. We don’t have to make ourselves smaller than we are. We have a choice. Do we want to grab life by the throat or do we want to embrace it? Relax that fist as often as you can.” So for me, 2024 will be about embracing life and unfurling a little more. Along with “fitfor40”, I think it’s going to be a good year. Happy New Year.

Singing for Non Singers Do you break out in a cold sweat at the thought of having to sing Happy Birthday or the National Anthem in public? Singing for Non-Singers is a fun, friendly and judgement free workshop for people who have always wanted to sing, but feel too inhibited to try.