In 2019, I took a class called Writing into Light with Martha Beck. The course was designed to guide participants through deep self-discovery using writing as a tool, drawing inspiration from Dante’s Inferno as a metaphor for finding your way back to yourself. The idea was to quiet external noise and listen to the wisdom that arises in stillness.
At the time, I had been writing songs again for about a year and had released at least seven. But I wasn’t sharing much on social media—and I certainly wasn’t singing them myself.
In the ninth module of the class, we were asked to tune out the noise of the world and speak to ourselves from a place of stillness. The condensed prompt was something to the effect of this:
"What is stillness trying to say through you? Step out of your monkey mind and let stillness write its message."
We weren’t given a specific format—only that the message could take the form of a letter, speech, or poem. I followed the process outlined in class, expecting to write something simple. But then, something surprising happened…I wrote a song, “Come On Home.”
Just 10 minutes after writing it, I shared this note with my classmates:
📖 Hi fellow Light Writers,
Those of you I have gotten to know a bit through WIL know that before I started this class, my main form of expression was songwriting. So, when I heard Martha Beck say this module format could be “letter, speech, or poem”, all I heard was “SONG!”
Then, the most interesting thing happened.
I did the 10-minute meditation (inhale), wrote down all the silly thoughts that went through my mind during my “meditation” (alchemy), and wrote the song I am about to share.
The whole process took about 45 minutes. So what I thought would be the most difficult submission to date turned out to be the easiest. Who knew??
Anyway, because it is a song, I also did a rough recording (link below) so you can hear how it came across in my head. I will most likely add keyboard over the next week and re-share. I’d love gentle feedback. I haven’t shared a song that was this raw before (as in finished 10 minutes ago), but it feels right—because things this crazy happen in WIL.
I might even adjust a word here or there. But there is no time like the present for sharing.
I hope you like it.
xoxo,Dana 📖
At the time, I didn’t realize how much this song would come to mean to me. But looking back, I can see that “Come On Home” was both a reminder and a beacon—a call to return to myself.
I had been lost. And I was working my way back.
💛 Have you ever created something unexpected during a class, challenge, or workshop? I'd love to hear about it!
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