Wishes are Seeds
While they don’t always come true in the timeline we might prefer, our wishes for a better life and a better world are important pieces of our true life direction. They’re clues to who we are in our deepest nature, as well as what our gifts and struggles are.
Each wish is a fertile seed that could someday grow into a fully flowered living manifestation if it is truly in alignment with life and if circumstances are supportive for this particular wish to grow. Wishes are sacred material.
Try Wishing and See What Happens
There’s only one way to find out whether our wishes will make it in this world, and that is to try planting them and see what happens! By planting them, I mean give them a chance, nurture them and do our best to help them succeed.
As someone who knows a lot about protecting my heart for fear of further disappointment and pain, I know how hard this is! It can sometimes seem easier to hide our wishes away.
It’s not an easy ask, to fully commit to help a wish on its way, knowing there’s no guaranteed outcome, only a journey.
But it is, also, in all honesty, fun to wish. So even if that’s all it is, a little fun making up wishes…it’s worth a go! How about we try it and see what happens?
This exercise plays with the wonderful Beach Boys song, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”
Write Your Own Version of Wouldn’t It Be Nice by the Beach Boys
Step One: Gather Your Wishes
Set a timer for 7 minutes and start journaling in a freewrite style, starting every sentence with “Wouldn’t It Be Nice if…”
Like this:
Wouldn’t it be nice if I owned my own house.
Wouldn’t it be nice if I had a nice stand-up bass guitar.
Wouldn’t it be nice if I could go to New Zealand.
Step Two: Identify Why You Want those Things
In the original song, Brian Wilson sings, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older? Then we wouldn’t have to wait so long.” So he expresses his wish as well as why exactly he wants that wish to be true.
So with your wishes, the second step is to add a follow up line that explains the payoff.
Wouldn’t it be nice if I lived out in the country? Then I could wake up each day listening to nature’s sounds, like the sound of wind rustling in pines.
Use lots of sensory details to make your wishes rich and juicy!
Step Three: Turn Your Wishes into Lyrics
Looking over what you write, highlight and underline any lines you particularly like for any reason, that seem like they might be fun to play around with as song lyrics.
Now take a look at the structure of the original song now, begin to rewrite it for yourself, to express your own dreamy wishes.
Follow the rhythm and format of the language as much or as little as you choose, and do not force yourself to rhyme unless you enjoy rhyming. If on the other hand you do enjoy rhyming, you might want to avail yourself of a rhyming dictionary such as this one: https://www.rhymezone.com/
Here are the original lyrics for you to change up.
Wouldn’t It Be Nice
by The Beach Boys
Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older?
Then we wouldn’t have to wait so long
And wouldn’t it be nice to live together
In the kind of world where we belong
You know it’s gonna make it that much better
When we can say goodnight and stay together
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could wake up
In the morning when the day is new?
And after having spent the day together
Hold each other close the whole night through
Happy times together we’ve been spending
I wish that every kiss was never ending
Wouldn’t it be nice?
Maybe if we think, and wish, and hope, and pray
It might come true
Baby, then there wouldn’t be a single thing we couldn’t do
We could be married
And then we’d be happy
Wouldn’t it be nice?
You know it seems the more we talk about it
It only makes it worse to live without it
But let’s talk about it
Wouldn’t it be nice?
Good night my baby
Sleep tight my baby
Step Four: Sing Your Wishes!
Now that you have your lyrics, sing your version of the song. Singing your wishes is a powerful way to make them more likely to come true for you, as you flesh them out with breath, consciousness, and aliveness! Wishes, just like babies, love music and singing.
There are several ways to sing your song, depending how deep you want to go. One way is to just sing it a cappella, (without any musical accompaniment).
Another way is to sing it along to a karaoke backing track, such as this one:
https://open.spotify.com/track/0HRwuSDDmxTwXOHjiHX0aN?si=96354ac4a9f44b5d
Maybe you’d even like to learn the song, if you play an instrument.
Here are the guitar chords and tab:
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/the-beach-boys/wouldnt-it-be-nice-chords-16805
There are many piano sheet music versions available online, as well as video tutorials.
Finally, the Beach Boys are known for their amazing harmonies – maybe you even want to try multitrack recording and making harmonies of your own?
Whichever way you choose, sing your wishes song, and remember, since this song is now yours, there’s really no wrong way to sing it. You get to make it all up, changing even the melody and the chords if you so choose. Songwriters reinterpret each other’s songs all the time, sometimes almost unrecognizably changing them. You are, in other words, free to do whatever you want to do here.
Happy singing and happy wishing!