myjourneysinsight

GUITAR TIDES

Posted on October 6, 2022 by Judy

So excited to share my newest musical creation! Tides are a great metaphor for “going with the flow.”

The 4-chord melody for Guitar Tides was composed last year. I put it aside when I couldn’t seem to expand it beyond those chords. Instead, I found myself energized to work on “Autumn Hope” so I discarded those 4 chords in the key of A.

Once “Autumn Hope” was finished, I wondered whether I had another guitar instrumental in me. I went back to play those 4 chords and felt inspired to add a few more bars. As more and more passages were revealed, the song expanded beautifully. I didn’t have any idea what to name it, so for 6 months, I called it my “new piece in the key of A.”

It took patience for me to decide when my song was truly finished. Eventually, it felt complete and I recorded the main guitar part in August. But it still wasn’t done. I wanted to explore guitar additions. In…

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BESIDE ME ALWAYS – PART 5

Posted on October 3, 2022 by Judy

On October 6th, 2022, it will be 30 years since my 5-year-old son Jason died. For this looming “30 year anniversary of the heart,” I read from my book on Insight Timer’s Live platform. It was very emotional.

Even though it’s been three decades, I kept my promise to Jason. At his funeral I tearfully announced, “I will keep his memory alive!” Jason is very much a part of my music and songs. When I sing, I feel spiritually connected to him.

I have a box in my closet that is filled with memorabilia about Jason. I plan to pull it out again this week. In 2010, I carefully sifted through that box before writing a gut-wrenching story describing how it felt to lose my child. In 2018, I self-published a book with that story and named it “Beside Me Always.” (I am much more attached to the audio version, which I recorded myself several times before hiring a professional reader.)

I believe that writing released so much of my pain. Not long afterwards. I started healing. Then I picked up my guitar, which I hadn’t played for decades, and began to sing again. The first song I played was my song “Beside Me Always.”

Clicking on this image leads to where it can be purchased on Amazon.

A few months ago, I attended a funeral at the cemetery where Jason is buried. I went to visit his grave and was in awe when I thought about how much has happened since he died. But I felt like Jason wasn’t really gone.

For these three decades, he has surrounded me with his love.

Jason’s artwork. He emphasized his heart and looks like an angel.

Posted in Healing and Hope, Insight Timer | Tagged anniversary of the heart, audio book, Beside Me Always, child's death, composing, creativity, death of a child, grief, grief and healing, GRIEF RELATED, guitar, healing, healing music, hope for healing, hope of healing, Insight Timer, inspiration, Jason, Judy Unger, loss, loss of a child, meditation music, Music, music and healing, music recording, optimism, original songs, performing, songwriting | 10 Comments

THE DOOR TO MY HEART

Posted on September 30, 2022 by Judy

When I began this blog in 2010, I hadn’t written much for thirty years. It was such a joy to “open the door to my heart.” Since that time, I have shared intimately about my life. I started out by writing about my past and continued to share personal details and deep emotions about my present life.

Something definitely has shifted in the past few years. Perhaps it began in 2019, when I broke my ankle while hiking. I experienced numbness and withdrawal. Not long after I could walk again (I was in a wheelchair for 4 months) – the pandemic arrived.

Even with the isolation from Covid 19, I have kept myself on a peaceful path. I can admit that I definitely ate too much and it’s been very hard for me to deal with that, especially after my sedentary experience with a broken ankle. But every day I focus upon my amazing recovery. I still play a decent tennis game and enjoy slugging it out with my friends twice a week. Tennis has helped pull me through and continues to be my therapy.

2020 and 2021 gave me the opportunity to create a create a third course for my favorite app, Insight Timer. It is named “Door to My Heart.” Most people would assume a course is academic. For me, I have chosen to share wisdom and insight I’ve discovered through my song lyrics. I already have two other courses on Insight Timer and there was more for me to share with the songs for this third one.

One of my song lessons is named “The Door.” I have come a long way since I went through the door, which is a metaphor for ending my marriage of 31 years. I moved out 10 years ago on my birthday, which is in two weeks. I can’t believe an entire decade has gone by, although it’s hard for me to imagine my former life anymore. It really seems so long ago.

Below is a link to a page about my course, that includes many musical tracks associated with it.

Insight Timer Course – DOOR TO MY HEART

I’ve decided to catch my blog up to speed with my life again. It is fun to “put myself out there!” I have a lot of pictures to share and will let those tell my story. So much more will be posted here soon.

I will start off with my most recent paintings.

I’m hanging out with my BFF, Joni. We were in Malibu Creek State Park that day, where Joni is a docent.

In March, my daughter visited from Minnesota where she now lives. We took a lovely walk around her former area in Altadena.

It was a lovely Mother’s Day this year, when I had all my children together with me!

In June, I visited my former high school choir teacher, Frankie. As a result of visiting her, 3 years ago I become good friends with David (who is on my left.) This was my second time seeing Jim (on my right) after 40 years!

David is my buddy. He also lives in his childhood home only a mile away from me. We enjoy hanging out together. He’s also a great singer!

Posted in Insight Timer | Tagged apricots, artist, course, creativity, friendshp, fruit illustrations, hope, Illustration, Insight Timer, inspiration, Judy Unger, meditation music, music and healing, passion fruit, plums, reconnecting, songwriter, songwriting, tomatoes, uplifting music, vulnerability, watercolors | 15 Comments

#67 CAMELLIAS IN THE RAIN

Posted on July 2, 2022 by Judy

ILLUSTRATING MY LIFE

I was truly able to indulge my fascination with water droplets by painting “Camellias in the Rain.”

I had already dealt with patiently masking flower petals on my earlier painting of Camellias. However, now I found myself masking hundreds of tiny water droplets upon both the petals and leaves. Sometimes the droplets were sharply defined, and at other times they were blurry. When I finished my painting, I felt very accomplished!

As with all of my recent paintings, my process began by combining many digital photos into a layout. This project was especially unique because my images came from a friend’s garden across the world. Blossom (a perfect name for her) lived in Australia and from the moment I saw her beautiful images on social media, I was inspired.