Reaching Your Boyle-ing Point

At an age when most performers have hit their peak and may already be on a downward spiral, one rising star has captivated the world — not only with her phenomenal voice, but with her story. Susan Boyle shot to stardom just before turning 48.

We generally groom our superstars as youth: usually a new name enters our consciousness when the performer is between 18-22, sometimes much younger. I love Leona Lewis, for example, who is divinely talented — and became a household name at 22, less than half Boyle's age.

The idea that someone could emerge as an overnight sensation in midlife fires the imagination: what might we still be able to achieve, create, become, if a star is born at 48? READ THE REST!

Law of Attractiveness? Susan Boyle Brings Down the House

The music scene ~ at least in Great Britain ~ has been knocked sideways in the last few years by breakthrough talent in unassuming packaging: first Paul Potts singing Nessun Dorma, and now, 47-year-old Susan Boyle, serenading the judges of Britain's Got Talent with I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables.



Thanks to the internet, Susan is suddenly a global sensation, and seems assured of a record deal regardless of whether she wins the 2009 competition or not.

What I find fascinating is that in both cases, "everyday" people ~ unpolished, whom audience members regarded with something less than reverence — until they began to sing ~ created a complete a shift in perspective as their gift was recognized. Suddenly, ugly ducklings transformed into swans.

Could this be Spirit's way of showing us, with its usual inimitable good humor, that beneath the surface we are all incredible beings with undiscovered brilliance?