Stucture and Flow

I've been having this reacuring metaphor come up as we prepare for our next Move Freely, Live Deeply event on Sat. Missy has been working a lot with structure and finding how it can aid in flow, where the assumption often says that flow and structure are opposed. For example by planing out life you would perhaps guess that the option of "living in the flow" may be limited... I used to think this was true and have come to believe otherwise.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not much of a planner, and probably never will be, but structure can come in many subtler forms and in this lies a key for combining magic and direction. Imagine a river as it flows towards the ocean. all along its path are banks which keep it contained within a certain course. Imagine for a moment that those banks were permeable and unreliable. The once strong river could be reduced into a scattered flood, or swamp rather quickly. This is often the end result for a river as it reaches its goal spreading out vastly into the arms of the receptive ocean.

In this metaphor I can really grasp the benefit of having some structure, as it relates to carving out the life you desire. Every detail is not important to know in advance and impossible to grasp anyway... but the constraints of vision and purpose can become the steady banks guiding you to a broader expansion and connection.

I personally love to open to the perfect flow in life, whether it is slow as molasses or fast as a raging river. All of the dimensions of such an experience offer there own unique blessings and perspectives. Expansion and contraction are both natural in the flow of intuitive living, and the embracing of what is can cure suffering in a hurry. My goal is to have an inner drive of purpose and vision, perhaps manifesting only as a feeling, but enough to guide me into the arms of the divine union of the small incarnate ME with the infinite wisdom and connection of the universe and all that is. It is like accepting all the power and magnificence that you are while being immensely humbled by the perfection of your place in the whole.

(Painting by Ted Hayward... see link on right!)

Love and blessings,
Chief ME

Poetic Interlude

Can is a term I used to use,

when days were round and nights were blue.
"This picture gives a thousand words,
when all I need is air" says the bird.
Have you got a piece of distance

for this one disarming instance?

As a Rapid engaging of the aging witness,
while he remains blind to the raging wildness
"It is music" says the rainbow, to the wind in my ears,
"It is calming" says the heart of such meaningful tears.
And it still just blows right on by,
it is as still, as the memory
of the sound between the years.

Chief ME
(in charge of being myself)

Seas of Opportunity

Opportunity is today's magic word. We are all here together in this amazingly complex time and space, deciphering the point at which to focus our precious and sacred energies. Also there are moments where we have no clue and drift like children through experience as if on our grandfather's sailboat, nurtured and safe, waiting for our turn at the rudder. There is no advantage however in steering the boat until we are able to see where we are going. Yes we will practice how to turn and what to adjust when the strong winds come, but within the bounds with which we can understand and handle.

Collectively I see us emerging into a new level of responsibility. Our grandfather is aging and cannot see like he used to. The channel is so much deeper and wider than when he started his journey, and there are new options for the sailor. It is the moment of opportunity, to take the responsibility of where you are and where you are going.

So how does one decide? You may ask. I know that I am always asking, and in that lies a clue I believe. Every moment is your perfect mirror, an opportunity to receive and feel the reflection of the reality which you have been creating. Ooops, in case you have trouble with that idea I will say this: fundamentally there is no out there... everything we perceive is occurring within us as our perception of the reflection of light, sound and other energies interacts with our consciousness or individual reference point. We are not separate from the sea of potential being perceived. Everything is a part of this connected field of energy, and this includes you, your personal reference point of experience in time space. There is no other, only infinite view points of the whole from every perspective imaginable.

Whoa sounds kinda complicated and then what? I would say there is simple solution to a complex problem. The only reliable gauge of direction for an individual is within you. It is a new way of navigating life, not based on the collective assumptions of what is important, safe and meaningful, but on your own unique individual guidance, your pulse of excitement. Now don't get me wrong, this is not just a selfish,narcissistic excitement, or wanting, which we probably know very well. I'm talking about the quality of excitement that has some fear with it, the kind that you make excuses about why you can't or rationalize away. If you look at your life as a journey of happiness, creative expression, love, wonder and abundance, I doubt you will create it from a traditional, rational, societal course of action....(well unless that really turns you on). We are entering a new paradigm of what it means to be human. An age of authenticity and empowered action, from our deepest yearning which is the piece of the whole we came here to share, a piece that will be greatly missed if you decide to go back to sleep.

Much love and gratitude for sharing this journey with me!
Chief ME
(in charge of being myself)

Entrepreneurial Entertainment

Well another week of pulling up my new bootstraps and re-inventing myself has been interesting. We have been crafting our first workshop offering for Nov. 15th in Tucson and it is proving to be a fun challenge. I promised last week to tell a bit about what I've been up to...so I shall.

Since this time last year Missy and I have been on the road steady, exploring and integrating, reaching and learning, finding the ways that we can best give our gifts and continue to support ourselves while doing it. This has been quite revealing... I must say it has been an incredible year and we both have grown in many ways, most of which would have not moved to much if we hadn't taken the risk. I have learned that abundance is truly a state of mind and that it is the natural state of the universe... we can choose to be present in the moment in exactly what we have AS what we need, or we can choose to think about future haves and have nots. Either way my experience is that we have what we need when we need it, period. And that being said there has also been moments where we have been on that threshold as I mentioned before. The new choice we are making is to dig a little deeper, take a much bigger risk and step out in ways that ourselves of last year could not even imagine!

I have decided to expand my career from just music and poetry to speaking, coaching, music and poetry... in a nutshell anyway! In more detail I have been needing a container for my music and my message and what has always turned me on the most is connecting with people and inspiring shifts in perception and action. Bottom line is that I need to find the audience for what I do in order to continue doing it! A challenge? Yes! An insurmountable one? No way! What I'm realizing is that I will just have to do things a little differently to get a different result... Step one, get some help from those who know how to do what I want to do. This used to scare me and I'd think I would lose creative control or I might be judged as stupid or whatever. Just like long division and I didn't want to repeat that mistake! So now I stepped out of my comfort zone and have been crafting with Missy and Faye a new outlet for these gifts. We are starting to build some momentum and have some basics set-up... so much detail to accomplish though. Our company is The Resourceful Human, and it is all about supporting the emergence of the authentic human being! A perfect channel for all of our gifts to come together in the ways of our choosing to support those who really need what we have to offer. Resourcefulhuman.org

One of the challenges I've come up against over the years is just not fitting in, to the structures available for success. An example being the music business and its limited channels for making a living and reaching your audience. After making a few different forays into various scenes, styles and venues, I always felt like i was coming up empty. Not to say I wasn't enjoying it or that I didn't get a chance to reach people, I did. The missing element was a rhythm, a flow and sustainable success. I always felt like I was starting from scratch. That get's pretty draining after 10yrs. The realization dawned on me that no one was going to show up at my door and offer me a record deal or love me so much that they would sponsor me. It just didn't happen. So I'm left with the choice to empower myself, take what I've learned and apply it to what does work or retreat into a life of mediocrity... fortunately for me, mediocrity is just not acceptable:<)

It is time to stand up and count yourself
take a dive off the normal and boring old couch
you are needed with your heart on your sleeve
alive and insatiable, but for giving not greed

We are the brilliance of future right nows
illumined in the beauty of our unknown somehows
Dreaming is for giants and you were never small
Just waiting for your reason, and that is all.

Blessings on your road home!
Chief ME

Paid and on Purpose!

I can only begin to tell you how jazzed I am right now. Completely thrilled with my last four days and even more excited to share some of the learning and insights I gained with you.

As you mostly know I'm an artist to the core, and have been experiencing that archetype in it's positive and negative ways for many years. I've always done creative things very well and have excelled in certain pursuits. And there are those things...see long division, a few blogs ago, that I have struggled with and continue to avoid as much as possible. Well, this has been great in many ways in my life and I feel tremendously blessed to have been able of giving so much focus to that! Also I became an expert at living on the wind, learning how to live on little and find the deep abundance in every experience. Unfortunately I have ended up like so many other young people following their dreams. I wasn't starving but I have been down to $20 many times! Not the best feeling when you're mission is to inspire people to live successful, authentic, brilliant lives! So the good news is, I've been paying attention and taking responsibility to change that, because only I can shift that perception of myself.

This weekend I spent at a workshop called the Million Dollar Marketing and Soul Intensive. Most that know me well would laugh at my name beside all but intensive in the soul department. So yes this was a big stretch for me, and at the same time, I am here to make a difference in people's lives, and whatever it takes to do that, I'm in! Many things became clearer for me by going to this thing and I am excited just to share a couple of them and hear how it has helped open up my mind to a plan for moving my dream into action.

The one thing I learned that is so important for creatives and spiritually based people is understanding that the most effective way to offer their gifts to a large audience and get them to the people who need those gifts, is to understand the value in what you have to offer in terms of what it will do for folks when they engage with you and what they will miss out on if you don't reach them. And because your gifts have great value you should be compensated for giving those gifts. When we get paid we feel empowered and energized to do more. I think one of the challenging concepts is how to put a price on these things, and the conclusion I've come to is that it is not the number that matters but how you feel about it. For example I have been charging $20 for my cds for a while now and I came to that decision because I know they are worth it and it feels good to me when I know I'm valuing myself and my work. This is not to say I don't give away tons of them or accept less at times, but the important thing is that i honor myself in the transaction knowing that the music has true value and they will engage more with that value because they paid for it. We value what we pay for. The other thing is that when I have more money I can do more of the things I need to do in the world. So I'm taking the reins and responsibility to accept and leap into this place of power.

The journey into authenticity constantly brings up the need to value the self. By it's nature, authentic being is from one perspective a place of oneness. You may not always experience the amazing bliss of a oneness consciousness but you can draw down the understanding that you are equally a piece of the equation as any other. Stepping up to one's value is a key piece in being authentic and expressing, giving and receiving from a place of power and transformation.

I will keep you posted as I implement these new parts in my life and and new business.

Much love and thank you for offering your thoughts.
Chief ME