Mystical Musical Memoirs
NEW ALBUM RELEASE: “Songs from the Soul” by M. David Bradshaw
Over the last two years since having a brush with eternity during my double-lung transplant, I’ve had plenty of time to read, contemplate and begin discovering new ways to serve the community. To celebrate this new lease on life I’ve also been busy writing, composing and assembling a new album — a sort of mystical musical autobiography and follow-up to my first album Blissfull Ballads (2020).
The goal of this humble album is to give voice to the life lessons learned in recent years, as well as to perhaps help others move forward in their spiritual journey. Many of the songs were inspired by transformational contemplative authors/books which have forever changed my worldview and helped me grasp the timeless truths about life… and death.
I’ve put each song/spiritual ballad into a general category and written a short introduction for each. To maximize the impact, each song is presented as a YouTube music video in addition to being available to listen or download on iTunes, Apple Music or Spotify. I am very grateful to Maryam Gold of Fiverr for helping me to create these music videos on a shoestring budget.
Lastly, this album would not exist without the collaboration of my amazing daughter Beth (Bhavani) Hope. With her recording expertise, backup vocals, keyboards, drumming, as well as overall encouragement we got this project done in just two months!
My prayer is that as you watch these humble videos, your heart will resonate with my heartfelt message — that you might see and hear beyond my imperfect words and voice — to clearly hear the perfect words and voice of our loving Creator.
1. How Can I Say Thanks?
This song is dedicated to my lung donor, their family, my care-giving daughter Grace, my doctors and all the hospital caregivers at both Mayo Clinic and Tampa General. According to UNOS, which facilitates organ transplants in the U.S., “A total of 364 lung transplants for COVID-19 were reported” (2020–2023). I’m a one-in-a-million who caught CV-19 that caused Pulmonary Fibrosis, which required a double-lung transplant to survive. This song attempts to convey my gratitude to God… and was inspired by a classic song by Andre Crouch and the Disciples entitled “Tribute”.
2. PERSPECTIVE: We Are Eternal
This song was inspired as I attended a contemplative book study group this Spring and we read Anam Cara (Soul Friend) by John O’Donohue. He is a gifted contemplative Celtic mystic and poet. In studying the wisdom of the Celts I was struck by their ability to see the Divine in everything as well as embrace the beauty within all of creation. The truth is we are not only headed toward eternity, but we can embrace the kingdom of God right now if we choose. Knowing that we are eternal changes everything!
3. BEATITUDES: The Golden Rules
In Matthew 5–7 Jesus lays out the blessings of His new Kingdom. In contrast to the over 800 laws laid down in the Old Testament, Jesus boils it all down to two simple rules 1) love God and 2) love your neighbor. And if you wish to be really radical, 3) love your enemy. He details the blessings of this new Kingdom at the start in His eight Beatitudes (Matthew 5: 3–11). Each one of His blessings fly in the face of the cultural norms and sound like foolishness to the world’s system of thinking — then and now.
4. MATURING SOULS: Falling Upward
This song, inspired by the classic book Falling Upward by Richard Rohr, asks us to rethink how we respond to the many ways that God helps us to grow up by facing obstacles and negative circumstances. When we butt up against adverse circumstances, which are out of our control, which we cannot change or fix, we are given a choice; 1) to keep trying to fix or change the circumstances, or 2) to allow the circumstance to change us. Learning how to gracefully accept our “necessary sufferings” signals we are growing up spiritually.
5. SILENT PRAYER: Silence Teaches Us
This song was inspired by Sitting With God by Rich Lewis. Rich demystifies creation of a short daily meditation habit, despite a busy world and how we can carry this attitude of silence with us all day. At first it may feel unnatural, even uncomfortable, to be silent. Sadly, meditation practice has historically been shunned by western Christianity. In silent contemplative prayer we open up to receiving from the Spirit. Beyond petitioning for things, we simply listen for the voice of God by quieting our mind/ego.
6. SPIRITUAL RIPENING: Seasons of the Soul
This song, inspired by The Grace in Living by Kathleen Dowling Singh, describes our spiritual development as being divided into four quarters, likened to the four seasons seen in nature. We may begin this spiritual development journey at any stage of life between childhood and death. Kathleen invites readers to awaken our lives by writing down our spiritual biography. Her thoughtful reflections guide us through the process of recognizing the ever-presence of Grace in our lives and learning to trust it.
7. ORIGINAL GOODNESS: Hearing the Heartbeat of God
Inspired by the book Listening to the Heartbeat of God by Dr. John Phillip Newell, this song affirms that each one of us are born originally good, not evil — as many Christians have been taught for centuries. Dr. Newell explains that spiritual wisdom looks beyond all divisions to acknowledge that we are all precious, eternal beings created in the image of God. He explains Celtic Christianity’s historic yet fresh perspective on how to we can begin to see God’s image in everyone and everything in nature.
8. DYING IS SAFE: Making Space for Grace
In her classic book The Grace in Dying, Kathleen Dowling Singh offers readers amazing insights into the dying process and reveals how to make more space for Grace in our life. We grow by “subtraction rather than addition,” said Meister Eckhart. “Death where is your sting?” asked the Apostle Paul. After flat-lining over 3 minutes during my transplant surgery I can affirm Kathleen’s message: “Dying is safe!” If you or a loved one struggles with the fear of death, I pray this song will speak to your soul.
9. DIVINE CONNECTION: The Communion Song
We humans live most of our life on earth thinking of ourselves as separate, disconnected beings. This perceived separate self often takes offense when other people disrespect or mistreat us. Why? Because when we’re separate, everything becomes about protecting and defending our selves. The gospel reveals the truth that we are, in reality, connected with God, our neighbor and with our selves. Many Christians are drawn to church to receive communion and hopefully eventually realize we are already in communion.
10. GOD IS WHOLENESS: Divine Fathering
My song Divine Fathering was inspired by a challenging time in my life when I was cut off from seeing a daughter for four years due to “parental alienation.” Thankfully, by continually dripping love into the situation, we were ultimately restored. Psychologists tell us that children without both a father and mother in their life are at higher risk in every conceivable way. This is also true in the spiritual realm, our Heavenly Father incorporates both masculine and feminine characteristics we need to become whole.
11. KEYS TO RECOVERY: We’re All Addicts by Nature
In the book Breathing Underwater, Richard Rohr says that AA’s 12-Step program will go down in history as “America’s greatest contribution to practical spirituality in the 20th century!” Rohr offers four assumptions about the universal nature of addiction; 1. We are all addicts by nature. 2. We’re all addicted to our habitual way of doing anything 3. All societies are addicted to themselves. 4. Some form of alternative consciousness is the only freedom from these addictions and from cultural lies.
12. PANDEMIC TRUTHS: Overcoming the Covid Blues
2020 will go down in history as a year of sudden change — 5 million souls died worldwide (2020–2023). Everything from politics to employment to relationships were transformed as the Covid-19 pandemic infection spread globally, wreaking fear and havoc. Many feel the Federal government seized this crisis as an opportunity to usurp individual freedoms by locking down the economy. Young people became financially displaced while mid-lifers had more time to reflect on what’s most important in life.
13. GOD WITHIN YOU: Be Still And Know
This song was inspired by Psalm 46:10 and a classic poem/hymn, “I am that great and fiery force” written by the 12th century Saint and mystic Hildegard of Bingen. Her writings and life beautifully expressed that if we have spiritual eyes to see, God can be found everywhere — similar to her contemporary, Saint Francis of Assisi. These and many other mystics of all spiritual traditions throughout history have inspired us to learn the secret of how to see God in everything and everyone.
14. LOVE/SOULMATE: Two Are Better Than One
This song was inspired by Ecclesiastes 4: 9–12, where Solomon speaks of a special love between two people. We all seek to be loved unconditionally, without reservation. “This dual yearning within each human heart is the yearning for a sense of connection with another and a personal desire to connect deeply within our self,” according to Undefended Love. This innermost desire can only be sustained through connecting with something deep “within” each of us, not “out there,” in a partner or in the other places.
15. AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Write, Write, Write It Down
Everybody has at least one book within them. It’s the story of your life — and if you don’t tell it, nobody else will. As a writer for over 35 years, I recently put together a simple workbook to help you write your own story as a class curriculum. It’s available as a free download at: www.myideafactory.net. This is a simple, little song to encourage everyone to begin to write about the ups and downs in their life and spiritual journey. These short memoirs can then be compiled into your very own autobiography.
16. FATHER/DAUGHTER: Daddy’s Girls
This song is a personal celebration of each of my four daughters, who have grown up into amazing moms and now grand moms. Over the last five decades I’ve earned the right to speak up on just how special the father-daughter relationships are. Fathers are often their first male role model and hopefully a lifetime love of their life. As a proud grandfather of four girls (and six grandsons) I have discovered the joy of fatherhood all over again, only this time with more time available and even more gratitude.
