Last year started out for me very busy – - I had started recording my new CD in late 2010 and that project carried over into 2011. At the same time I was completing my Unity teacher practicum that called for teaching a class (Teach Us to Pray by Charles Fillmore) and at last, graduated from the Unity Leadership Program in April 2011. In the midst of all this, let us not forget I was and am still working a highly demanding full-time information systems auditing-type job, which called for me to travel to Atlanta, Washington, DC, and Cleveland within a month’s time (March-April). The fast-pace of constant auditing schedule continued all year long.

In 2011, three friends of mine passed away at my church, and in my own way, I could sense a change was coming in how I would approach and live my life in a more mindful way. Our days are truly numbered here on this planet. So, whatever it is we’re doing, we need to make it count for something and really be about our purpose.

Also in 2011, I also attended Prayer Chaplain training in Sacramento and helped train eight new prayer chaplains. I also took on developing a new member class for church as I continued to record the rest of my CD. I released my new CD “Rivers of Living Waters” in July and kicked off the release by introducing it at the Sound Connections music conference in Lee’s Summit, MO. The celebration was capped off at my CD release party at Tommy T’s Comedy Club in early August. For those of you who attended, all I can say is “WOW! Thank you. My cup runneth over.” You gave me wings to help me fly.

Hats off to all of you at Jai Josef’s Saturday songwriting workshops, of which I was a member over the last year. You all helped me improve my songwriting skills, and I know that I am still growing. So, thank you!

As summer came to an end, I turned my attention to singing and marketing my CD and closing out my teaching practicum, (making sure I completed my 10 toastmaster speeches and final book reports!).  It was time to have even more FUN! (I must say, when you are doing your passion and purpose, it’s usually fun anyway…doesn’t feel like work!)  Some really fun times with my family culminated when we all gathered for the festive celebratory event of the year as my niece Vanessa got married October 8. We were all so excited for her, and the icing on the cake (wedding cake) was seeing and being with family….sharing moments of conversation, laughter, photo-snapping and all! I was SO proud of my dad who took his first flight at age 80 to come to the wedding!!

Right after the wedding, I got news of a dear friend’s passing (God bless you, Zelma), four weeks later a friend since childhood passed away at 59 (God bless you, Vickie) and three weeks later my uncle (my mom’s brother) passed on at age 61 on December 7 (bless you Uncle Larry). My emotions have been on a roller coaster, or so it seems. Here I was at the end of the year thinking we need to make our moments count. I wrote a song on my CD called “Make a Life.” Let us not get so busy making a living that we forget to make a life. So, this past Christmas my focus was on ”I am LOVING the ones I’m with! right here, right now.” I would encourage you to share love, share peace, share yourself, your dreams, your hopes, your vision with the rest of us. The LIGHT that has come into the world is still shining in each of us if we let it. Go in peace. I wish you every happiness this year (2012) and always. Have a wonderful year.

And have a wonderful Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Over the Christmas holiday I traveled to Washington, DC and was able to see the monument. There I am in the photo bundled up in my coat.  It was beautiful.

Blessings, peace, and joy!

Dinah

Rev. Sonya Milton and me

I was up and at ‘em early last Sunday morning to arrive at Unity of San Francisco early enough to do a sound check before the service. I received a warm welcome and was embraced by this  jubilant congregation. Thank you, Cinder Ernst and Uma Maedke for helping to make this singing opportunity happen for me. During her talk, Rev. Sonya Milton reminded us to think on being filled with that hope and expectancy in the coming weeks that something wonderful is happening within us.  ”Something truly worth waiting for” is the realization of our Oneness with GOD. The dawning of this LIGHT in our minds and hearts is happening all the time. That light within us is the CHRIST light… oftentimes, just awaiting our recognition of it.

My heart was truly overflowing with gratitude to be able to deliver my message in song, which is… we are loved with a HUGE MAGNIFICENT LOVE that is everlasting and connects us all in a beautiful way. “Beloved,” which is track 9 on my CD “Rivers of Living Waters,” is fast becoming a favorite of many. It speaks of the unique, rare quality that we all have.

We all have gifts we have been sent to share with the world. Our LIGHT shines so brilliantly for the entire world to see and to share. I encourage you to LET your LIGHT shine. YOU are the one we all have been waiting for. Your gifts are the blessed heavenly gifts that we all have been waiting for. So SHINE ON, my beloveds! YOU ARE the BELOVED child of GOD. Do you know how special you are? Has anyone told you lately? If not, please find a nice quiet spot and let me sing it to you…. Love and infinite blessings to you this week and throughout this joyous season!

Love, peace, and joy!

- Dinah

Uma Maedke and Michael Grossman

More Exciting News! I have been on two Unity.FM internet radio programs in the past couple of weeks. On November 1, 2011, I joined Rev. Paulette Pipe on “Touching the Stillness,” and on November 10, 2011, I was guest on “Receive your Life” with Janice Campbell. You may check out both programs by going to Unity.FM  and downloading the podcast (type Unity.FM in your browser and scroll on the right to locate the programs).  Both programs played songs from my new CD, “Rivers of Living Waters.” I am so blessed and so very grateful for these awesome opportunities. Please tell your friends. Spread the word. Thanks, Rev. Paulette! Thanks, Janice! 

Blessings to you all - – Peace & Love,

    – Dinah

(Photo L to R – Rev. Molly, me, Zach, and Brynn)

I met Rev. Paulette Pipe during one of my trips to Unity Village to take S.E.E. (Spiritual Education and Enrichment) classes. She is the founder and host of an internet radio program called “Touching the Stillness” on Unity.FM.  I LOVE her pioneering spirit that calls us to come apart from our daily activities to focus on stilling our minds and having quiet time to go within.

One day last summer while I was out for a walk, a little melody popped into my head as I began to turn my walk into a meditative walk. I began to think on how much meditation means to me, and words began to flow out of me that reflected my experience with meditation.

My deepest heart’s desire was just to sing and share a soulful, spirited ballad about my personal experience that would in some way call others into this beautiful, sacred experience of meditation. I knew the title was not original, but I always believed that there was an instant connection when Paulette and I met. And I believe this song came “through” me as an expression of a shared joy and appreciation for meditation.

Personally, the biggest leap in my prayer life came when I learned to meditate. I felt it deepened my prayer life tremendously. It was the mid-80s, and I was coming to a crossroads in my life. Everything was falling apart it seems. But that’s when I knew I was headed for a break-through to another level. Prayer and meditation carried me through it all. Meditation was all new to me back then. I didn’t really know how to get quiet and still the incessant mind chatter that was going all the time. The grieving of a divorce, having to start all over, finding new employment and a new place to live was all given over to the living, indwelling Presence within.  Somehow my darkest days turned bright as I just let go and sat in the Silence, and just listened for the still small voice guiding me, loving me, and strengthening me. Old patterns started to break up, and I started to see the reality of Truth living in, as, and through me, instead of me trying to pray and make things happen. I started to love myself more and started to see the radiant, brilliant light of God’s Love even more by meditating. By spending quiet time, my sense of worthiness grew. I could see the pattern of “looking for love in all the wrong places” was starting to wane.

Each and every moment is so precious in meditation. Contemplating God’s infinite love was how I began, if only for 5 or 10 minutes….and then I moved into sitting quietly acknowledging my Oneness just as Jesus did (I and the Father are one), not asking for anything (15, 20, 30 minutes….or whatever; it’s not about quantity but quality)….just being there, being fully present made all the difference. What was significant was to just DO it; it felt weird at first, just sitting and doing nothing??? But after a while, things started to shift and unfold. I knew something greater than my little ‘self’ was working and creating my NEW life, renewing me, re-shaping, re-inventing, etc., and it’s STILL going strong!

So, this song is not about some fad or passing fancy, but it’s about something I have lived for over 20 years now. And it has made all the difference in my life. No matter where you are and what you are experiencing, there is a place you can go….within yourself… and find peace, love, and the true joy that’s always been there waiting for you to tap into it. I pray that this song, “Touching the Stillness,” will be a blessing to you and a blessing to the world! May your life blossom and spring forward as never before!

Love & infinite joy,

Dinah

Love and infinite blessings,

Dinah

My mom passed away in 1999, and as many of you know she inspired me to sing at an early age. As a matter of fact, I grew up in a Christian household in which there was a LOT of music. We sang as a family group. My mother was a choir director and a lead singer. Oftentimes, we (my siblings and I) would have to sift through her gospel album collection and find a song to sing for Saturday night programs and musicals. And usually her expectation was that we’d rehearse and learn the song before the week ended and before she got off work. This was the drill, as I recall it.

So when my mother passed away in 1999, my siblings and I decided to sing at her home going service, of course, as a special tribute to pay homage to “Mama,” as we called her. There we stood in front of a packed church in Alton, IL, all ready to sing….something.  We really weren’t sure what to sing….because we hadn’t even rehearsed. My sister Bernice, who had flown into St. Louis that morning from Los Angeles (via Houston), begin to share a few words with the audience about the legacy our mother had left us, the legacy of music. She shared that many times we did not always have the best of circumstances, but somehow…if we could find a song, it would lift us, encourage us, strengthen our faith. After her intro, we began to sing our way back down memory lane, singing two of the earliest songs I remember learning as a child, “It’s in My Heart” by the late James Cleveland and “I Thank the Lord” by the late Mattie Moss Clark. And we brought the house down! I think Mama was proud.

I flew back home (to Maryland where I was living at the time) and soon went back to work. And this is when the grieving started. For some strange reason, I could not sing. For the first time, I felt there no singing in me. I could not sing a note without crying.  Every time I opened my mouth to sing, I would cry. I sounded TOO MUCH like my mom. This went on for about 7 or 8 months, until finally I got a breakthrough. My niece got married the following summer and it felt only right that “Mama” be represented by me singing at the wedding. Thankfully, I was able to sing a song I wrote called “Dreams Come True” without crying!

Through this experience, I learned that if you can find a song to sing, it can lift you, transport you, and inspire you like nothing else can. An old hymn says it best, “I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free.” I invite you to be free and happy as you find that favorite song or tune to hum as you go along your life’s journey. It’ll bring you joy and you will sense a deep inner-abiding presence within you turning everything into sunshine inside your soul. I know it will. So find yourself a song!

Infinite blessing of love, peace, and joy,

Dinah

On Tuesday night I had the pleasure of singing “Touching the Stillness” at the Silent Spirit Sharing circle. And it received very positive feedback!  There was so much talent from so many churches. I felt so blessed and honored to be in their company!

Once I got past a little jet lag, I took in a few workshops with Melanie Jewell (Musician’s Guide to Enhancing Meditation), Fred Bogert (Getting Started with Sibelius), Bukeka Shoals and Chaz Wesley (Surrender Adventure), and JD Martin and Jan Garrett (The Harmony of Songwriting). They were all fantastic!

The big “finale” night was Thursday night. We dined at the Conference Banquet and enjoyed performances by the Unity World Orchestra and the Unity World Chorus. Following the banquet, the Grace Note Award was presented to Karen Taylor Good for her outstanding contribution to New Thought music. To top off the night, Jan Garrett, JD Martin, and Megon McDonough gave a concert.

All in all, it was a super week! It was fun seeing old and new friends. (Great catching up and having lunch with you, Rev. Paulette and Jenny!) Oh yes, and I was able to place my CD for sale in the Unity Village bookstore!

Thank you all for supporting me in my musical adventure! I leave you with this little phrase that Jan Garrett shared with us on Wednesday….it went something like this:

“Words suggest a path, …music takes us there.”

Blessings,

Dinah

"Evening Gown" © 2005 by Jenny Hahn

As I prepare to launch my new CD at the SOUND CONNECTIONS Music Conference, the excitement is building, and I’ve had some time to reflect on the past 10 months of recording this CD. This week, I will begin blogging about each song to tell you the “back story” on each one. It’s truly been an amazing journey. There’s one thing I’ve learned, and that’s when you tell God “yes,” strap in and be ready for the ride! You’d better mean it when you say yes and be ready to surrender to the good that is coming your way.

I’ve heard so many people say, “Dinah, you’re so busy.” They can’t understand how I work a full-time, demanding, high-stress job, prepare to go into ministry as a licensed teacher in my church, and record my CD.  I cannot quite fathom it all just yet either! But if any of you have ever had a burning passion for something, you might be able to understand it. Singing is in my DNA. I was raised in a musical family. And the messages in my songs all reflect some aspect of my life and my spiritual journey. It is often overwhelming when I contemplate the infinite love that God is! Opening myself up to allow it to unfold and express as abundant GOOD in my life is an ongoing constant daily practice that I intend to continue. I am fed, nourished, sustained, and fulfilled by the grace of God. Grace fills me up and my cup runneth over!

The river of life eternally flows, and I am so grateful for the decision I made a long time ago to let it flow in me and flow out into a world so thirsty for this living water.  YOU have something…we all have something to share with the world that is unique and rare…. and only you can bring it! There is NO ONE like you. So, let us all allow the RADIANT love of God shine through us so that we can lift and inspire the world to a greater purpose.

I want to thank Jenny Hahn (www.jenspaintings.com) for letting her light shine through to the world as beautiful art. Over a year ago, when I first saw her painting, “Evening Gown,” I was awestruck. I just had to have this painting. Then later I decided to use it as my CD cover (long before the CD was even half-way completed). Little did I know it would connect to a song that I hadn’t even written yet. That’s another story, another blog, for another day. So stay tuned for my series over the next couple of weeks as I share the stories behind each song!

Have a blessed and glorious week!

Love,

Dinah

Blessings,

Dinah

 Come & celebrate my new CD –

“Rivers of Living Waters”

AUGUST 7th – 2 to 5 p.m.

Tommy T’s Comedy and Steakhouse

5104 Hopyard Road

Pleasanton, CA 94588

Tickets: $10 in advance/$15.00 day of event

For tickets & RSVP contact:

925-230-8449 / dinahsings@gmail.com

RSVP by August 4^th