Blackbird: Take these broken wings and learn to fly!

I'm your host Kara Stein-Conaway and this is The Business Mamas Podcast. The Business Mamas Podcast is made for women who know they should be doing more self-care and practicing more self-love but are overrun with balancing it all. This podcast provides the tools and support you need so you can have a successful career while also being a present and loving mom.  

In this new season of the podcast, beginning with Episode 29, I am sharing with you a song that I sing to my children at night when I'm putting them to sleep. After I share the song with you, I'll tell you the lesson that I hope to be teaching both myself and my children with the song and I hope it's a lesson that will resonate with you, too.  

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise  

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free  

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night  

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night  

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise  

This beautiful Beatles song, Blackbird, is one of my favorite songs that I sing to my children at night when they're going to sleep. I've been singing it to them for years. I'm taking the time right now to slow down and to think about why this song is one of my favorite songs to come back to, and why this song holds a special place in my heart and feels like the message that I want to leave dancing around in their minds before they trail off to sleep.  

Take these broken wings and learn to fly.  

Isn't there something about all of us that at times feels broken and yet we can still learn to fly?  

Having a broken wing, doesn't mean that you don't get to fly as a blackbird. You can still learn to fly and I want to teach my children that even though they feel that a part of them is broken or a part of them is struggling or having trouble with something, that they can still fly. I want them to know that they can still be who they want to be and do what they want to do.

I want them to understand that feeling broken is just part of the beautiful human experience. I feel broken sometimes too and leaning into that part of myself that may feel broken or down or not as in the zone as I like to feel, leaning into that and examining it and giving compassion to it, that's what allows us to learn to fly even while having a broken wing.  

You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

To me, this message is that you were waiting for this moment in your life to realize that you are everything you need already. You are enough.

Don't let that broken wing make you doubt yourself or doubt that you're ready for this moment, that you're ready for this life, that you're worthy of engaging in all of the ways that your heart calls you to engage.

You were only waiting for this moment to arise is a stepping into power.

It's stepping into power because you're realizing that if you can experience a broken wing, if you can experience an internal struggle, a pain, a disappointment, or a loss and be with that feeling and still know that you can fly, then that is such an empowering place to be.

That is something that I certainly want my children to develop and to be able to feel.  

Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these sunken eyes and learn to see.

Sometimes closing our eyes gives us the best ability to see. Sometimes when my eyes are open and I'm taking in so much stimuli from the world around me, what I really feel called to do, is to close my eyes, to let my eyes be sunken eyes. And by allowing that closure, we are allowing peace, and we are allowing quiet. That is where I really learned to see. I learned to re-open my eyes in a new way, in a way that feels completely free.

All your life you were only waiting for this moment to be free.

So, even with broken wings, and even with closed eyes, you were only waiting for this moment to be free.  

You, little black bird. You, little child. You, human being. I'm speaking to myself and I'm speaking to every one of you.  

We were only waiting for this moment to be free to realize that with broken wings and with sunken eyes, we are seeing ourselves with compassion, care and love. We are taking that time to be still and to go internal. This can lead us to realizing that we are in the moment and that we are free.  

Blackbird fly. Blackbird fly into the light of a dark black night.

There will be dark black nights. It has felt like there has been a lot of dark black nights. And there may be many more.

You, little Blackbird, you little child, and you human being, are flying into the light of a dark black night and you have everything that you need within you.

When you see yourself with kindness and compassion and love, when you see your broken wing and you see your sunken eyes, and you see all pieces of yourself from a lens of love and compassion, you can fly through the darkest of nights and you will feel free.  

Blackbird singing in the dead of night. Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
All your life.
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

This moment. Every moment is an opportunity to know that you have everything you need inside of yourself. You have everything you need to nurture and care and honor and love and support yourself through the darkest of nights.

The reason that I sing this song to my sons at night-time when I'm putting them to bed is because these are the lessons of my life that I want them to come to know for themselves. I want them to be able to know that no matter how many broken wings, sunken eyes, or other ailments they experience, when they learn to choose to see the beautiful human beings that they are and to give themselves what they need when they are suffering and struggling, then every moment is a moment of infinite possibility, freedom, and peace. If there is one thing that I have in my heart that I wish for my sons, as they continue developing into the boys and the men that they will become, it’s that they know that they have this ability within themselves to find peace in the moment and to be free.  

I wish this for all of humanity. I hope that by sharing this song that is very dear to my heart, and the meaning behind it for me, I hope that it has reminded you that you were only waiting for this moment to arise and that you have everything that you need to live and experience this life in the most beautiful way.  

If you enjoyed Episode 29 and this blog post, I would love it if you shared the blog or the podcast with someone you think could benefit from them. I would also be incredibly grateful if you could leave an honest rating and review of The Business Mamas Podcast on Apple Podcasts as that helps more people find the show and it helps me in sharing this message of practicing self-love and self-care with more people whose lives I know could be enriched by hearing it. Sign up to download my Morning Routine Guide and receive my twice-monthly newsletter at The Business Mamas Podcast. Until next time and with gratitude, Kara Stein-Conaway, @karasteinconaway on Instagram.