It was her breakthrough album in 1971. It topped the charts and most of the songs on the album became hits and covers that are replayed and remade to this day. Carole King was a fabulous song writer who knew how to put words together to emit emotions, spark our imagination and describe the pictures in our heads. This Verse from the song tapestry, also the album title, reads as:
My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal blue, An ever changing vision of the ever changing view
When I read these lyrics and listened again to the song, I could see a carpet, a tapestry of blues to illustrate her beautiful words. Life is indeed a tapestry, the first thread is no less important than the last one. What we experienced in our early years has the power to haunt us as much as the things we experienced today. All those threads, experiences, and memories combine to create who we are and frame how we see the world. If you want to truly know someone you have to know the beginnings and the endings, the good, the bad, and the ugly alike.
I recently spoke to a man who told me about his explosive temper at work. After multiple conversations he realized where he learned that way to process anger, it was from his father. As he told me the stories from his childhood it gave me such a better insight into his struggles AND let me know he was digging deep to understand and change his world. It takes guts to look hard and delve deep. I told him how proud I was of him for searching and connecting the dots, and for sharing them with me. He understood himself better, so did I and that insight paved the way for him to change his behaviors and think differently.
It takes guts to face our lives, and sometimes we need a listening ear to help us process through it all. Self reflection and introspection are vital tools for our own growth, progressions and movement towards success. In this rat race world it can seem unimportant to take the alone time to do these things. I would argue that the time spent self reflecting and processing our lives is what helps us understand who we are and where we want to go. Without it we are simply marking time not fully understanding who we are and what success means in our life. Thank you Carole King for making all of that such a lovely song, one we can listen to over and over again to inspire us to proudly know ourselves better.
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