Jan Carley - Harmony from the Inside Out

B ack in high school, I went on a date with a boy to a concert in which his dad was singing in a barbershop quartet. I wasnt expecting much from the men in striped jackets and straw boater hats, but I liked the boy, so I went. I was happily shocked by the visceral reaction I had listening to his dads quartet sing a stunningly moving rendition of Oh Danny Boy . I quite unexpectedly felt the hairs raise on my arms and tears well in my eyes. That was my first exposure to the power of harmony.

Many years later I heard about the Sweet Adelines, the womens organization singing a cappella four-part harmony in the barbershop style. Remembering how moved I had been by Oh Danny Boy , and wanting to give myself an outlet for singing, which I loved and hadnt done much of recently, I visited a rehearsal of Lions Gate Chorus, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in November 1994.

The rest, as they say, is history. I have now been singing barbershop harmony with the Lions Gate Chorus for almost 15 years. Something about the joy of singing with a group, the weekly rush of endorphins and the incredible feeling of singing tight harmonies, creating ringing chords and screaming overtones, has hooked me.

Little did I know that my once-a-week hobby (ha!) would turn into a lifetime passion. Not only would it include incredible performance experiences, it would connect intimately with my mid-life career change to professional business and personal coaching as well as inspire me to write this book.

My professional work life had, to that point, been in theatre, in the performing arts. I saw a chance to bring my training to this hobby group of singers and began to work as Artistic Director on the Lions Gate Chorus annual shows. Working with 100+ women from all walks of life, of all ages and professions, was a challenging and fascinating experience. I quickly found that the biggest part of creating a memorable show was to motivate, inspire and instill trust and confidence in the singers/performers so the best of who they were could shine. It became not so much about my artistic vision, the script, the staging, the lighting or the content, as about how to help create the optimal conditions for performers to connect and communicate with the audience.

At the same time, I decided I needed to get closer to helping people connect with themselves and each other, so I embarked on the amazing profession of business and personal coaching. With the guidance of my mentor, Carollyne Conlinn, I enrolled in the transformational executive coaching program at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. I knew then that I had found my lifes work.

Music is a passion for many. According to a Chorus Impact Study done by Chorus America (www.chorusamerica.org), there are an estimated 32.5 million adults regularly singing in one of over 270,000 choruses in the USA today.

It occurred to me, therefore, that if the coaching work I do could add to the joy and enjoyment of those singing in choruses and choirs, that that could be a really huge and profound contribution to make. I saw how applying the inner coaching principles could add to the happiness one feels, not only while performing, but also in the rest of ones life. I began my work as the Inner Coach of Barbershop, coaching directors and chorus members throughout North America on the principles in this book. The response was huge, and after receiving testimonials from person after person on how this group coaching spilled over for positive effect in their personal and business lives, I decided to write this book.

Is this book just for singers? Absolutely not! The content of, and exercises in, this book are easily applied principles to create key shifts and fulfillment in any part of your life.

As you will discover on the pages to follow, I am a passionate believer in the power of positivity and that your life is what you create it to be. There is no magic formula there is nothing you need to buy, assemble or otherwise put together to achieve harmony from the inside out that is the most excellent thing about this work. Everything you need you already have inside. I believe all of us have the capacity to experience true joy, to live authentically and connect with our world. Sometimes we just need help to access the how in order to let it out, cherish it, nurture it and celebrate it.

My hope is that you will use this book in whatever way feels right for you read it all at once, stop and do the exercises, skip around. For maximum effectiveness I recommend that you buy a journal (it can be a steno pad or a leather bound) and begin to record your thoughts as you work through the reflection questions and embark on this journey.

In closing, if this material in any way touches you, changes you, inspires you, or motivates you to begin to live life to its fullest, then I am a happy woman. I welcome hearing your comments and your ideas of what you need and want to help you achieve harmony from the inside out. Email me at and I promise to respond to you.

Success is the art of being who you already are...

Harmony awaits!

CHAPTER 1

You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers.
In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all
possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices.

Deepak Chopra

A s we begin our quest to achieve harmony from the inside out, we must start with the very foundation of our lives the bricks and mortar upon which we will build the rest of our world the fundamental principle to shift our thinking into an infinite world of possibility.

The foundation of all of our work together is an approach to life called the Appreciative Approach, or as I like to refer to it, playing the A Game. This is the one principle to which I hope you will really pay attention and embrace. It may be the biggest shift you make in your life and work.

The A Game uses principles of an organizational approach called Appreciative Inquiry pioneered by professors David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva in the 1980s. Organizational consultants around the world increasingly are embracing an appreciative approach to bring about collaborative and strengths-based change in organizations. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an exciting way to embrace organizational change. Its assumption is simple: Every organization has something that works right things that give it life when it is most alive, effective, successful and connected in healthy ways to its stakeholders and communities. AI begins by identifying what is positive and connecting to it in ways that heighten energy and vision for change.