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Shine

There is a wonderful moment from Neil Gaiman’s film Stardust where Yvaine (Claire Danes), the star of the title (yep, star, shiny thing from the sky sort of star), threatened by Lamia the witch (how did they make Michelle Pfieffer look quite that ugly – that’s what I CALL make-up) takes hold of the man she loves, and asks the simple question… “What do stars do . . . ? Shine”. Cue incredible brilliance, end of witch, applause from ghostly onlookers.

And it sent a chill down my spine, the chill that I get when I know something of importance just got said. Because ‘shine’ is what stars do. Naturally.

Yet all we have to do to be awesome, incredible, wonderful, amazing, is to do what comes naturally. To simply be as we are. To allow our natural talents out… to shine.

So here’s a couple of pieces of poetry for you, both of which I have published before, I think:

from em Claire

Shine
God says for me to tell You This:
nothing needs fixing;
everything desires
a
Celebration.
You were made to bend
so that you could find
all of the many miracles at your feet.
You were made to stretch
so that you would discover,
your own beautiful face of Heaven
just above
all that you think you must shoulder.

When I appeal to God to speak to me,
I’m feeling just as small and alone as you might feel.
But this is when, for no particular reason at all,
I begin to

shine

and from Meredith Brooks

Lucky that you found me
You gotta hang around me some more
Cause I’ll remind you
I’ll be around
While you’re waging your war
With yourself
And I
See it clearer than you see it
You’ve got to get out of your head to believe it
Oh I know something about you
You don’t know I know
Chorus
That’s where you shine
When you’re sinking you swim
When you see your way out instead of in
That’s where you shine
Like a diamond in the rough
You’re always so resilient
That’s where you shine
When you’re walking the edge
No one’s ever going to catch you stumbling
That’s where you shine
Remember when you told me
To get up and dust yourself off
It wasn’t easy
Everything can change
And it usually does
It does
You said
Shake it off like it ain’t no big thing
Won’t be the last time we’re sinking
Oh, I know some things about you
You don’t know
Chorus
That’s where you shine
When you think you’ve had enough
Just a matter of time before you fade
That’s where you shine
Like a clearing in the brush
Like a headlight breaking through the haze
That’s where you shine
When there’s nothing but no
And there’s nowhere to go
You find a way
That’s where you shine
Sometimes you need someone to see yourself clearer
There’s no reflection when it’s you inside the mirror
I know something about you don’t know