Meet Murphy. He was born half blind. He lost his mother when he was young. His father was a heroin addict.
Despite the fact that Murphy’s father wasn’t able to combat his addiction, he repeatedly shared these words with him: You can accomplish anything you put your mind to.
Murphy, throughout his life, has clung to those words like a tightrope.
Murphy is a street performer. In a recent interview with Seattle Refined, he described his job this way: “It’s nothing extravagant, but if you work hard you get your daily bread and that feels good. There’s never an unfulfilling day.”
Last night, Murphy made his debut on American Idol. His first song was “Just the Two of Us,” by Bill Withers. His performance was good, a basic rendition. The judges weren’t taken with his initial performance. After he finished, Katy Perry said, “It’s not quite there.” Lionel Ritchie looked him straight in the eye and said, “You’re going to have to shed back a couple of those layers of mystique to let us see more of you.”
When asked to sing another song, Murphy started his American Idol metamorphosis. As he began singing, “The Painted Man”—a song he wrote, his demeanor shifted—quickly. Throughout his performance, he shined. His face lit up. He relaxed. He looked like he was having the time of his life. You could feel his emotion. Murphy achieved an artist’s dream as he connected with his audience. In a matter of five minutes, he became a completely different musician. (To see the performance, you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cneXVKOdF3w)
Layers. We all have them. Layers make us interesting, complicated people. Life would be boring without our individual layers. Sometimes, though, our layers hold us back.
Often, we do what Murphy did. We choose the “safe song,” and we stop there. We don’t push forward—to seek out and explore the unknown. In sum: we sell ourselves short and this often prevents us from showing up and sharing our true talents with others.
One of my favorite aspects of working with clients is helping them “see” and dig into their layers. Layers often resemble tapestries—some parts are beautiful; some are scarred and tattered and others are…well, a bit more complicated.
We are all layered. Our layers come from our experiences, cultural expectations, as well as our internal beliefs. As someone who is fortunate to work alongside others as they uncover their hidden treasure troves of layers, it is incredible to witness the moment one overcomes a barrier and inches closer to their full potential.
I’m fairly certain that Murphy started working through his layers a while ago. As he presses on, it will be exciting to see what else he has up his sleeve as he digs deeper…
Murphy has already shared that he’d like to open a homeless shelter one day. Murphy, it seems, is on a bit of a mission to prove that you don’t need much to have an impact on others.
As Murphy continues his transformation, I’ll be watching…and, I invite you to join me, as we think about our own layers and ponder what barriers might be keeping us back from being like Murphy.
