Joy, the Arc of Career, and Whole Time

Posted by Joel Bennett on Feb 02, 2025

Joy, the Arc of Career, and Whole Time

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen and Peter Brian Gabriel

There are times in a career when we face uncertainty, loss, and chaos, where we know we cannot stay where we are and know we want to, need to, or must move on. This essay is especially for anyone facing this struggle. Whether you decide to stay, to leave, to do your own thing, join with others, or muddle through. God bless and be inspired.

THE PIVOT POINT

I love music that tells a particular story, conveying hardship, resilience, the affirming solution, the ultimate resolution, and often joy… actual spiritual catalysis. From our Resilience & Thriving certification training, we have collected nearly ten hours of resilience songs from dozens of our coaches and facilitators. You can listen on Spotify here.

A story of resilience is not the same as one of transformation. These two concert music videos go to the heart of both, to the dark area we call “The Pivot Point”—that brief yet momentous change of the clutch, where the wonderous dawn intrudes.

JUST LET THE MUSIC WASH OVER YOU

Whenever I feel down, these two songs (stories) provide everything I need to keep going the distance, “Turn Water into Wine” or “Sit back right easy and Laugh.” I prefer to let the music speak for itself as the ancient masters guided us to the eternal sound by telling us to meditate.

So just listen! (links below)

THE ARC OF A CAREER

However, to be brief, Mr. Springsteen and Mr. Gabriel provide glorious book-ends for understanding how positive transformation occurs in the arc of a career, if not a whole life. Both lyrics offer archetypes of joy and freedom—disillusion, and the liberation from it; coming home, and standing outside and above the city (letting go of how one is seen in the marketplace). But they tell us different ways of getting there: letting in or letting go.

LETTING IN

In “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” the Boss moves from a solitary being in the dark aloneness to finding one’s heart-tribe and the resulting blast of tribal energy that has fueled a career that has lasted over 50 years and sales of 71 million albums in the U.S. and over 140 million worldwide, making him the 27th-best-selling music artist of all time as of 2024. Here, he thrives in a retrospective and evangelical interlude, taking us and inviting us to our journey of transformation—finding others who can help us.

LISTEN: https://youtu.be/r1twvwbB_cU?si=ZM4kexU78RB7W_G_

LETTING GO

In “Solsbury Hill,” Gabriel finds his path by striking out alone and leaving the band, the past, and the “machinery” behind him. This move led to a career of continuous innovation and dozens of awards and honors in music and humanitarian efforts, including the ”Man of Peace” from Nobel Laureates. This montage, spanning over 40 years of multiple performances, shows how powerful it is when we wake up and take ourselves home.