I wrote a few songs in the mid 90s, initially planning to self-produce a CD. That intention transformed into submitting songs to publishers, instead. When life twisted and turned, as it does, and I stopped songwriting, I vowed to return to it someday.

Intentions are funny things; we must be open to seeing them manifest in ways other than we imagined they would appear.

I met Tamara George, in 2004, at a spiritual center choir practice. She asked me if I knew any teachers, because she was working on a liberal studies degree and needed to interview a seventh-grade science teacher. I told her that I taught seventh-grade math and science.

When we met for the interview two weeks later, Tamara told me that she had changed the emphasis of her degree from teaching to Spiritual Consciousness, and that she would begin a master’s program in Consciousness Studies as soon as she finished her bachelor’s degree; she had decided to become a minister.

The interview—she still needed it to complete a course—turned into an evening of talking about music and songwriting. I had written and demoed a few songs the previous decade, and she had written a few within the past couple years and was still writing. That night, we knew that we had become friends the moment we met.

Over the next eight years, Tamara earned her master’s degree, became a minister and founded an omni-faith spiritual center with a dynamic youth group, and continued writing and performing her music all the while; we often sang together. When she was offered the opportunity to work on a spirit-based project with the potential to reach a global audience, she closed the spiritual center, receiving nothing but well wishes and encouragement from the members.

In the midst of all her transitions, Tamara completed her first CD, I am Alive, with the help of her friends. I had the privilege of singing backing vocals and assisting with the album artwork. They aren’t my songs, and it isn’t my CD, but to date, it is the closest I have come to fulfilling one of my own dreams. General Electric and I: we [help] bring good things to life.

In the studio where I recorded my demos, there was a sticker on the wall that said, “We become successful by helping other people to become successful.” I wholeheartedly agree, and would paraphrase that to say, “We become famous by helping other people become famous.”

We live in a reciprocal universe; what we give freely returns to us in ways we cannot even imagine.

What have you done to help someone achieve his or her dreams?

Who could use your help today?