Susan Boyle the JOY singer

Everyone is talking about Susan Boyle, the middle aged woman from a village in Scotland's west Lothian region who stunned skeptical judges and a cynical crowd with her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream." from the musical "Les Miserables" on Britain's Got Talent.

She has created a virtual viral marketing machine on the internet through YouTube and she has become almost as popular as Barack Obama on search engines.

Susan is an unemployed charity worker who at 47 years old has never had a boyfriend, never been kissed and lives with her cat Pebbles.

As soon as she walked onto the stage and stood in front of the judges of ‘Britains Got Talent’, the audience began to snicker and roll their eyes. Simon Cowell, the show's host, asked her some pre-performance questions in his famously condescending style, and to the audience's enjoyment, she answered awkwardly.She was incredibly ordinary, and the audience prepared for the inevitable failure of the poorly groomed and far from perfect woman.

And then...

...she opened her mouth and began to sing. The audience stood and cheered and continued with their ovation throughout her joyful rendition. She more than wowed them and judge Piers Morgan later said, she had "the voice of an angel."
If you haven't seen it yet, click here...

Even our very own Australian singing teachers have gotten into the Susan Boyle craze and have commented on her style of singing "As a singing teacher, I wouldn't say 'That's a great voice'," said Jennifer Murphy, the head of music theatre at the Australian Institute of Music.

"I would instead say 'That's a great singer' — there's a difference. "As a technician, she's not great ... [but] as a person who is able to 'joy sing', she's a winner."

So what is it about Susan?

Have you been moving through life with the hidden sense that you are destined for more and that underneath your ordinary self there is an extra-ordinary soul waiting to be seen. Maybe you even have moments of desperation wishing for someone to discover the beauty of you.

Susan awakens in us our desire to be seen as we truly are. We sat there and pre-judged her for her looks and we were fooled. Susan gives us hope that somewhere out there is someone who will uncover our truth so we can shine as brightly as we know we can.

For her talent and courage Susan Boyle is a great role model for all of us all. Even more so because she shows us ourselves – our odd ordinariness and our amazing extra-ordinariness.

Today, be ordinary and be brave enough to be extra-ordinary.

Susan Boyle 'cry me a river'




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