Dewi here, super excited to introduce a monthly interview series I’ll be featuring here on the BeYourBrilliance.com blog. The name of the series, Talking Story With, refers to a term we use here in Hawaii when conversing with friends: “Talk Story”.
A written interview format is one of my favorite ways of showcasing the Brilliance of folks I’m inspired by and for the first installment of the series I am honored to present singer-songwriter and all around fabulous woman McCall Erickson!
I’ve yet to met McCall in person but from the moment we first encountered each other on Facebook we instantly connected. I simply LOVE her authenticity! It’s my honor to introduce you to Talking Story With McCall Erickson…
How did you get started on this path and how have you managed to sustain yourself through the ups and downs of your journey?
From a young age, I’ve been on a quest for truth–my true self, my true life, my true path. But I’d say my deepest awakening started when I was 18. And you know how awakening looks sometimes. It’s not pretty. I went through addiction, an eating disorder, suicidal depression, losing relationship after relationship, losing my beloved childhood religion, basically all the familiar life structures and paths fell away. But I followed this all through. I got the help, recovery and healing I needed. I bless all these things because they were cries of my soul that woke me up. The suffering itself helped me realize I didn’t have to suffer.
Of course personal growth is an on-going process, and my “truth” has shifted over time as my path reveals and re-reveals itself to me. The mysterious shifting and amazing beauty of the path itself is what sustains me. I live in the face of the unknown, as many of us do these days. Once I made friends (and lovers) with the mystery, life got a lot easier and super delicious.
Tell us about the inspiration behind your music and the message you share.
Ah, the music! I’ve always loved music, but I never considered myself a musician, and I never thought I’d be doing it for my life’s work. I started writing songs “accidentally” during one of those dark nights of my soul that I mentioned above. It was a sink or swim moment. On the brink of suicide, I found myself sitting on my bed with a guitar that I’d always had but never learned to play. A song came out. Then another and another. Now there are dozens. Dozens of songs that I’ve written and sung to bring my soul back home—back to my true path.
Over time, my songs have woven themselves into my life’s work and message. That message is to bring joy, courage, beauty and love into the face of the unknown. I call this Loving Life At The Edge.
What is most rewarding to you about music and how has it transformed your life for the better?
It’s very simple. Music saved my life. And the rewarding thing is seeing the songs that saved my life and brought my soul home do the same for other people. Music reaches a universal soul level that changes people. Being part of that creates a circle of love and healing that is unmatched anywhere else in my life.
What is it about living a creative life that most excites you?
There are no boundaries, no rules, no secrets that you have to be privy to when living creatively. It’s sheer imagination. Molding from the ground up. This is scary for some people, and in the beginning it was for me too. But, again, that’s where my work lies: helping people see that where the comfort zone of the known rules and boundaries ends is where life begins!
What suggestions for living a more fulfilled and joyous life do you have to share with us?
To me, living joyously is showing up for whatever life brings me. I need my down times as much as I need the up times, quiet times as much as loud. I am here to be a whole person. I want the whole experience. So I always maintain a curious attitude. I inquire, I explore, I wonder and I meet life where it meets me! No matter how hard it gets, I follow every experience through to the end and extract as much joy, beauty and love as I can from it. Also, I have this deal with myself that I seem to have made even before this life, and that is to follow my true path and true voice no matter where it takes me. Again, not always easy, but for me it’s where the truest joy is!
Tell us about current projects that you’re working on.
I started an online community through Facebook called Loving Life At The Edge for all people wanting to connect, create beauty, embrace life and blaze their own unique soul paths in the face of the unknown. Our Universal consciousness is increasing rapidly, which brings many of us to the edge of old ways, old life patterns, old horizons more often than before. I see this as our opportunity for unprecedented growth on a soul level. Now is our time. This is my small part, my contribution to the Universal work at this time.
Also, I started a program called “Writing Your Song” where I create custom songs for people using their words and their stories in order to guide, comfort, aid in transformation, facilitate personal discovery, celebrate significant life passages and encircle them with love and truth at their specific places on the path. This work is incredible, makes me giddy and brings me great joy. It’s just me taking what I learned to do with my own songwriting and using it in the same way to help others.
How can we learn more about you and get in contact with you?
My website www.McCallErickson.com is my home base. I always update it with new projects, new songs and offerings etc. I also interact, muse and connect daily at
Tags: Community, Dewi Maile Lim, Facebook, Fan Page, Inspiration, Inspiring Woman, Joy, Joyous, Love, Loving Life At The Edge, McCall Erickson, Muse, Music, Singer-Songwriter, Soul, Soul Level, Talk Story, Talking Story With, Writing Your Song, www.BeYourBrilliance.com, www.facebook.com/LovingLifeAtTheEdge, www.McCallErickson.com
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