johnmdemarco posted on April 26, 2010 10:54
This past weekend we rented the recent Oscar contender Crazy Heart, starring Jeff Bridges as a washed-out, alcoholic country singer trying to get his career back on track. It was intriguing to watch the well-performed character bottom out through successive bottles of booze, losing people he loves before finally finding himself and saving more than just his career in the process.
The film’s finale is another singer’s performance of a new song written by Bridges, from which the film derives its title. “Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try,” the lyrics encourage, and as the credits roll the viewer is left with a satisfying sense that despite the craziness of this country crooner’s heart he lives to fight another day.
For me, the film confirmed many years of believing that people in general remain capable of epiphanies and flashes of insight that can become transformative. Few individuals are fully beyond the scope of a refreshed self-awareness that can lead to purposeful, intentional living. It is this core belief that compels me to continue to write, consult, coach and speak. There is always a wick within someone in need of a spark, a box of potential just waiting to be opened, a latent dream hungry to resurface.
Ultimately, of course, it is not up to the catalyst to set things into motion once self-awareness has been ignited. Each of us still must make the choice to “pick up our crazy heart and give it one more try.” Perhaps hearing of how the final “trys” of others made all the difference can make the difference in just one more person between hope and despair.