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Years ago, I was hired by the United Nations to work on a song and video with a popular Lebanese recording artist named Wael. The initiative was part of a campaign to stop the proliferation of landmines across the Middle East and bring awareness to the countless innocent woman and children who were left handicapped by them.

To better integrate the song and the message I wanted to record a children’s choir. I came upon what sounded like the perfect fit – the Pihcintu Multicultural Children’s Chorus. Pihcintu was comprised of 35 teenage girls from 17 different countries, many of whom were orphans or refugees who had experienced firsthand the casualties of merciless injustice and war.

According to the director, an angel of a man named Con Fullam, the girls were over-the-roof with excitement about the recording session. (To be honest, I think they were far more excited that I had just finished a movie with Disney.)

In route to record the girls, I decided to stop by and visit a friend and who was spending his summer on a private island off the coast of Maine, within hours of the studio. The journey soon became a bit more of an adventure than I had intended. Around midnight, the night before the recording session, I boarded an open-air powerboat for a late-night transfer out to the island, which should have been about a 60-minute ride. There was one crew member – the driver, and one passenger – me.

The Atlantic was extremely rough that night, and the boat was being tossed about from an unexpected storm that had moved in. Around 25 mins into the ride, I heard a loud metallic scraping sound. Both the driver and I were immediately thrown from our chairs to the floor as the boat came to a screeching halt. We had run straight up onto an unforgiving shelf of rocks that had been hidden by the waves. The boat was left teetering at a precariously sharp angle. The engine – dead, and the prop shaft had been snapped in two.

The driver and I spent nearly 2 hours in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic in a futile attempt to dislodge the boat from the rocks. To no avail. Even with the instability of the boat on the rocks and getting tossed about by the crashing waves, we decided our chances would be better waiting on the inside than in the freezing water.

When we finally got through to the coast guard, they informed us, that due to the turbulent tide, we would have to wait until sunrise. That would be another 4 hours away. With all that was going on, there was only one thing at the forefront of my mind – those girls in the choir.

 

These brave teenagers had lived through war, bloodshed, refugee camps, loss of their families, and merciless political turmoil. Singing in the choir and the dreams they held for a better future were lifelines for them. There was no way I was going to let those girls down – to not show up and deny them of one of their dreams. If they could make it through all that, I could surely get through this bump in the road.

Sitting, shivering, clothes soaking wet in that icy cold, teetering boat, at the risk of being capsized long before the arrival of Coast Guard, I had to come up with a plan to make it through the next 4 hours alive. I knew two things: I had to stay calm to preserve my energy, and I had to stay warm, to avoid hyperthermia.

So, I stop speaking with the driver to preserve my energy. I lay myself down on the cold wet bench, and take myself into a deep meditative state.  Using techniques I had learned from years of yoga and meditation, I slowed down my breathing and heart rate, totally relaxed my mind, internally circulated my energy, and took myself into a trance that lasted until sunrise.

When I came out, my prayer was answered. The coast guard arrived and towed the boat to the shore. I took about an hour to defrost in a hot bath before jumping into one more water taxi and my rental car for the 2-hour drive to the studio.

I arrive at the studio, totally sleep deprived, about 45 min before the session time. It’s just enough time to do a power nap and another deep meditation. I know I need recharge if want to be totally present for the session and the girls.

It turned out to be an amazing day – a dream-fulfilled for both me and the girls. It was an unforgettable experience to hear the girls’ stories and to witness their strength, vulnerability, and joy as they all joined voices in perfect harmony. 17 different countries brought together by the one force that had the power to heal and unite them all – Music.

The following is a new video that Pichintu recorded to support the UN Refugee Agency.

 

While music might be the healer at the heart of that video, and in the hearts of those girls, I would have never made it the studio that day without the blessings of my strong meditation practice. And I would have never had the capacity to surrender to it without a deep sense of trust and purpose.

You may not be in a shipwreck, but it is undeniable that the relentless waves of these challenging times are anything but smooth sailing. For better or for worse, disruption – a byproduct of change, growth, and innovation – is by its nature turbulent.

One of the most valuable skills we can develop, in the midst of increasing levels of disruption, is the ability to find calm in the eye of the storm. Those who master the ceaselessly turbulent tides of the human mind will not only survive the most turbulent of storms; they will far more likely to reach their vision and live healthier and happier lives. Those that can stay calm, confident, and compassionate in the eye of the storm will become the leaders and voices of the future.

From that wellspring of inner peace and that deep sense of purpose, we unleash the potential of our higher intelligence, our intuition, and our creativity. We find ourselves able to endure challenges with greater ease and envision more creative solutions than those around us – those who are wrapped up in the storm and unable to see through the clouds of fear and chaos.

 

Mediation is key to cultivating that calm that steadies us,

and music is the emotional glue to create the harmony that unites us.

 

If from that place, we raise our voice in song with one another, we can heal the deepest wounds, create the riches harmonies, and change the trajectory of our united human experience.

••••

About the Author 

Frank Fitzpatrick is a Creative Visioneer, Engagement Expert and High-Performance Coach on the Faculty of Singularity University’s Exponential Medicine.

To connect, go to FrankFitzpatrick.com

To learn more about working 1-on1 with Frank, go to BeyondPerformance.Life

 

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