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Not everyone can say they documented a personal epiphany on a barf bag. Yet that’s exactly what happened to Newfoundland-born, Toronto-based singer-songwriter Tonia Evans Cianciulli, who got the inspiration for her moving ballad “Bravery” while on a fateful flight to Vancouver.

At over 30,000 feet in the air, stuck in her seat for five hours between her two young children, Cianciulli found herself bedeviled by thoughts of worry—for her own safety and security, and for theirs.

“I’ve been no stranger to the feelings of being lost and alone in life, despite being surrounded by family and friends who loved me,” she says. “That day, my mind was particularly turbulent. I could also see my daughter, a tween at the time, struggling with her own heavy emotions. It was then that the realization hit: I had to be brave—not only for myself, but for my children too.”

So she grabbed the air-sickness bag that was in front of her and began to write. The song that poured out of her, “Bravery,” is a delicate but clear-eyed expression of protectiveness, as we can tell from its very first lines: “Bravery is coming/ She doesn’t see it yet.” While our narrator waits patiently for her offspring to outgrow the training wheels of parental concern, she herself pledges to remain a steadying influence, even if it means summoning all the courage she can muster.

Holding out my arms to you
I’ll be right there to see you through
I’m standing here for you

Watch “Bravery” here on YouTube:

In its recorded form, the song makes good on its author’s every therapeutic intention, with Cianciulli enunciating her thoughts carefully over an acoustic guitar that’s plucked with equal and affecting precision. The track has since taken pride of place in her four-album repertoire of motivational hymns like “Thousand Cries,” “Red Carpet,” “Hold His Heart” and “Always Her Home,” all of which resonate with themes of mental health and inner forgiveness.

Just as important, writing “Bravery” proved the impetus for Cianciulli to pursue a parallel career in counseling psychology. These days, she’s a registered psychotherapist (qualifying) with a master’s from Yorkville University. That’s not to mention her certification as a Neuro Linguistic Programming practitioner and a teacher with the Institute of HeartMath. She’s also a registered doula/birth coach and the homeschooling mother of the aforementioned two children, now teenagers. Her goal in all of it: to help other mothers find their way, just as she’s had to find hers.

In 2023, Cianciulli compiled her accrued wisdom in a book, Flick Your Heart-Light On, Let Your Fears Be Gone! Helping Children Connect to Their Heart to Soothe Their Mind. A powerful resource for both children and their caregivers, the book includes exercises that help kids tap into the power of their heart to process difficult feelings like anxiety, fear, anger and sadness. Interspersed thought the pages are colourful and compassionate illustrations by Cianciulli’s daughter, Sophia Josephine.

So no, there’s no danger Cianciulli will lose her focus while she readies her next album, the forthcoming Love Me ’Til I’m Me Again. Especially since she hasn’t forgotten the metaphoric importance of that transformative plane trip.

“An airplane’s journey is rarely a straight line, but it still reaches its desired destination, no matter how many times it has to adjust for turbulence,” she says. “I realized I too could weather life’s storms and uncertainties—as long as I stayed brave, willing to do the hard work of healing my past, and of mothering both myself and my children with love.

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/6QERrZZZjPqcOT4AhSqMUX

“I am really not a big fan of flying,” she reflects. “But their barf bag sure did come in handy!”

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