Lyrics & Story Behind Song #10: “Love’s Domain”
“Come and play, raise the bar. Remember who you are.
You know how. Come and play now.”
Plenty has been written about the power of words to shape our reality. In her book Every Word Has Power, author Yvonne Oswald notes we can physically feel the difference between what she calls “high energy” words that inspire us and those that drag us down. Authors like Marshall Rosenberg, Andrew Bennett, Robert Tennyson Stevens, and Margie Warrell all remind us there are no idle words.
Psychologists explain that our subconscious minds are literal. Constantly repeating negative messages invites self-sabotage. Conversely, speaking from choice, ownership and love can charge our words with enough power to create miracles in our lives. I was one of millions of toddlers who grew up loving the classic story The Little Engine That Could. Kids don’t have to know anything about consciousness or psychology to feel self-empowered as a tiny, blue locomotive chugs joyfully up a mountain chanting, “I think I can, I think I can” and coasts down the other side triumphantly repeating, “I thought I could! I thought I could!”
Throughout 2018, I continued studying conscious speech in workshops at Faith in Wellness Retreat Center. Repeating decrees had already shown me the power of words to change my life. I could feel an obvious energetic difference between telling myself “I CAN” (encouragement) and “I CAN’T” (defeat). Now I was becoming aware of some other repeating language patterns I wasn’t even conscious I was using—and what they meant. One was “I feel like”. Coaching helped me realize that phrase was unconscious code for avoiding feeling. Saying, “I feel like”, shifts us away from feeling and into a story in our heads. “Like” is a mental comparison, a mental concept. Whatever follows “I feel like” is never a feeling. It never touches your heart. Every time I caught myself saying “I feel like”, that was my signal to stop, delete the word “like”, and ask how I was really feeling.
Another of my unconscious phrases was “for me”. I’d start to say, “What’s true for me…” and add some story line. A coach advised, “Stop right there. Is truth conditional?” The two words “for me” were qualifiers. They were separating language. As soon as I heard myself using that word pattern, I knew I was identifying with my little personality instead of with the truth of all things. I also realized I usually used that phrase only when I was about to defend myself. So the words “for me” became another signal to stop and check in. What am I defending or resisting here that I’m required to love? If something is true “for me” is it equally true for all of life?
A third speech pattern I found myself using a lot was “I don’t know”. Coaching helped me recognize that phrase as the language of unconsciousness. I used that one when I was afraid of being wrong, scared to make a decision, checked out, or simply confused. My coaches would ask, “Is there anything the universe doesn’t know?” “No,” I would admit. My new word choices when I caught this pattern became: “My heart knows. God in me knows. I choose to know.”
Becoming aware of how I was creating separation, unconsciousness, co-dependence, lack, or avoidance through my word choices was as disconcerting as it was magical. Eventually, catching my word codes became a game instead of an embarrassment! Every new pattern I became aware of gave me more information about exactly where I was in consciousness, and more power to change my reality. Restating unconscious phrases as conscious ones was freeing and empowering.
One of the resources I studied to help me learn to recognize what was and wasn’t conscious speech, was Robert Tennyson Stevens’ book Conscious LanguageTM The Logos of Now. In that book, Stevens outlines more than a dozen categories of language he labels “domains”. He offers a wealth of useful information on each. He organizes each domain into easy reference tables. One column shows unconscious phrases. The opposite column shows how to “upgrade” each unconscious phrase into a conscious word pattern. As I studied domain after domain in this book, I considered trying to memorize all of them. That soon got overwhelming. Since I take in whatever I’m learning more deeply when I put the information into a song, I attempted to write a verse for each domain. Again, I quickly got tangled in “saying it right” rather than “shifting consciousness”. There were domains of limitation, separation, cancellation, and so on. It dawned on me that memorizing fifteen ways to say the right words was much less important than focusing on the end goal. The reason I cared at all about policing my speech was because I cared whether how I was speaking was creating a life of love. Why not focus all my energy on the only domain of language that mattered--Love’s Domain? I chose to write a song that celebrated playing there, trusting the rest would take care of itself. It did.
Love’s Domain became my song title. The chorus was, “There is one domain, where the only game is Love. Come and play. You know how. Come and play now.” Once that chorus took shape, the rest of the verses fell into place. I’ve always loved playing with words. As the song evolved, it morphed into something of a Gilbert-and-Sullivan-meets-conscious-language adventure, complete with audience cue cards. Every time we sang this song in community, we laughed a lot. Instead of feeling shame for “saying it wrong”, we could enjoy catching ourselves using co-dependent word patterns, and shout out “babble alert” or “oops”. Then we could jump back in, choosing to play and stay with word patterns that kept us creating in the domain of love.
Lyrics: Love’s Domain
CHORUS: There is one domain where the only game is love.
One domain where our hearts reclaim, all they’re dreaming of.
Come and play, raise the bar. Remember who you are.
You know how. Come and play now.
Verse 1: What I would say, if I could say, and I can say, so I will say, “YES”.
I could’a, would’a, should’a, but I didn’t ‘cause I’m such a mess. (CANCEL, CLEAR!)
I won’t, don’t, can’t, no doubt, need, never IN THE PAST.
Could you let me? Would you mind? Is it OK with you if I ask? (OOPS!)
There’s “Domains of Limitation”--no choice and resignation--
Domains of “Cancellation”; “No outcome”; “Separation”;
Domains of “Absolutes” you can trace back to your roots,
And some, so “Conditional”, they require stuff additional…but
CHORUS: There’s one domain where the only game is love.
One domain where our hearts reclaim, all they’re dreaming of.
Come and play where you’re real, embracing all you feel.
You know how. Come and play now
Verse 2: What I think I feel is sort’a numb or dumb or almost like….you know?
I’m improving, tryin’, fixin’ getting better--still in process though.
Life is absolutely always perfect--whatever that means. (PERFECT HOW? WHEN? WHERE?)
But, in order to, however, so that I can live all my dreams. (BABBLE ALERT!)
There’s domains of “Co-dependence”--addiction to acceptance--
“Unclear Communication”; “Insufficient Information”.
This, that, these, those, it… If, when, have to get…
What’s the pattern here? Ask until it’s clear—‘cause…
CHORUS: There’s one domain where the only game is love.
One domain where our hearts reclaim, all they’re dreaming of.
Come and play, laugh with me, where we’re all we’re meant to be.
You know how. Come and play now
Bridge: Words! Words! Words! We’re creating as we speak
Words! Words! Words! Every hour, day and week.
Thoughts words and feelings form the floors, walls and ceilings of my inner life.
Thoughts words and feelings, shape all the dealings of my outer life
When I programmed my foundation, “higher self” was on vacation.
Words are tools for innovation--power, choice, illumination.
With some memory excavation, and some new imagination,
I am consciously expanding, deep insights and understanding
Of the stories I wrote to SURVIVE, when my soul was always meant to THRIVE...
CHORUS: In the one domain where the only game is love.
The one domain where our hearts reclaim, all they’re dreaming of.
Come and play in the light. Walk by faith—not by sight.
You know how. Come and play now
Come and play in the light. Walk by faith—not by sight.
You know how. Come and play now
© 2019 Ann S. Bugh