For the past two weeks, a song has been running through my head. It’s been on repeat on my Spotify playlist. It’s powerful, and the voices and instrumentation (especially the horns) are phenomenal. They soar and swoop, and take me along with them, my whole body pulsing, even car dancing, with my mind wrapping around the music and the lyrics.

However, I could not figure out why this song appealed to me so much – I loved the music, and I was also compelled to learn the lyrics. The lyrics mention the sea and a pearl (which is a good teaser for me), but that is not really what the song is about. The final lyric of the song is “make me love.” As many of you know, I just celebrated my twentieth wedding anniversary to the love of my life, so I am not looking for love right now – I am deeply in love.

Disappointment on the Water

At the same time I have been jamming to this song, we have not had the results in sailboat racing that we had hoped. We had a tough regatta last weekend and did not sail as well as we usually did. I was really frustrated by our results, as was our entire crew.

Thursday morning, as I was immersed in the 5-minute version of the song again, it dawned on me. The power of the song for me is in asking for what you need – first in being clear in what you want, and then putting it out there – to the people who can help, to the universe.

The Comeback

Of course, Thursday morning followed Wednesday night, when we had a bit of a breakthrough in our weekly racing night series – we learned a few things, tried some other things, they all clicked and we had a good race. Listening to this song Thursday morning, I realized that we clarified what had not been working on our boat, we asked for help, and we got answers.

It takes conscious work to get what you need and want. First you have to define it. We are a linguistic species, so putting a name to it, frames it – “name it to frame it.”

Once you name it, then you need to put it out there. Where can you go to get what you need? Who can you ask for help?

Both of these steps require vulnerability, which I have come to realize can be a superpowers.

What does it take for you to be more vulnerable? In case it may help you, I offer my latest anthem on vulnerability, “Come On, Aphrodite” by Natalie Merchant.