The Road to Shambala: Toby Keith and an Old Song with Meaning Bring Cheer

"Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain
With the rain in Shambala
Wash away my sorrow, wash away my shame
With the rain in Shambala [...]
Everyone is lucky, everyone is kind
On the road to Shambala
Everyone is happy, everyone is so kind
On the road to Shambala [...]
How does your light shine, in the halls of Shambala?"

Toby Keith is certainly a man of strong opinions, and his country music, seems to be either loved or disliked, with little in between. However, there's no denying his talent, whether its been songwriting over the years, or that voice of his that is so very distinctive. While I'm still waiting for him to do a cover for "My Maria," because of that voice, he recently put the cover of "The Road to Shambala" on his Clancy's Tavern CD Deluxe Pack. I had never heard of this song, but instantly fell in love with it, especially on a spiritual sense. While singing along to it, I had the feeling that this had more meaning than the words, and upon doing some research, that is indeed the case.

There's a lot of controversy what Shambala is. Whether its from Buddhism or some other form of religion based out of Tibet, or from a Sanskrit background, it's "all good." The main thing is you can feel the love from this song, and its much like faith, in that God wants us to find happiness, even though we are certainly challenged every day. In fact, sometimes every minute. To the poor motorist who had to sit next to me while singing along, with my voice that would get kicked off a church choir, I apologize to you. Getting caught in the moment, those spontaneous times of joy, this song seemed to bring them with playing it, even stuck in traffic that was moving at less than a mile a hour. What's your joy going to be? It can be anything, and the key to finding it, is knowing what makes you happy, and just enjoying it for what it is. This doesn't have to be something fancy, like an all inclusive vacation to the Carribbean, but rather what's in your heart.

Each of us, has to face an abundance of challenges in life. Its what we do when faced with them. All of us have pain, all of us have joy, and all of us have in between. Yet through faith, anything is possible, along with putting on your shoes the right way, and just enjoying each day regardless of what it throws at you. Its how you "soldier up," that determines the outcome, although of course there are times when we don't have our hands on the steering wheel. Yet, even in those times, its our strength of character, the human spirit that is no doubt resilient due to a loving God, that matters the most. Along with a poor commuter, who has the patience to put up with a bald dude who can't sing a note, finding so much power in a song on the back end of a CD.