The Original You

We are all searching for the solution. It is that thing, or person, or experience that will solve our problems. While the search is always a worthy endeavor, the places we are looking in are not always for our highest good. How many of us have believed that a nicer car, a more beautiful home, having more money in the bank, or finding the perfect relationship will fix us? We all have in one form or another used outside experiences or people to try and fix the problem. The problem with human experiences is that they eventually change and go away. The car breaks down, the home gets old, money is temporal, and people eventually leave because they choose that or life just takes its natural course. The hope is in finding a Source that will never go away, so that when the natural world takes it course we will still be ok. When we find this Source for ourselves, the changes of the outside world are not as scary. How do we find the Source that is going to provide us a lasting feeling of...

Finding out who we are is a process that takes a lifetime. Even the person who is lying on their death bed, doesn't fully realize who they are yet.  I believe that you were led to read this blog today, because you are a seeker. You are one of the people on this planet right now who wants to be growing and learning more about yourself. You care about becoming more compassionate and loving towards yourself and other people. You would not have been drawn to this blog if you were not. This growth process to discover my voice in this world started years ago as a child. I used to record myself on a tape recorder (some of you may remember cassette tapes). I would make believe that I was a host of a show, and I would interview people. I created fake voices, and then delved into the mind of each of my "guests". What is so interesting about this is that even as a child I was trying to figure out who I was. This is normal. We have all done that in different ways. We are all en...

Have you ever felt like the gift that your possessed would only be valid if a certain number of people liked it? In other words, is what you give to the world important if enough people agree with you? I believe this is the struggle that many of us artists face. We want to put out a quality product that reflects who we are. We are expressing. We are allowing the world into our inner world, which can be a very scary proposition. This struggle doesn't just go for writers and musicians. It goes for anyone who is creating something new. It is the risk taking that creates the opportunity to be concerned how other people are thinking about us. Let's be real here. I don't believe there is an artist out there that doesn't want to be seen. There is a reason why we pay so close attention to details. It's also why we go about the work of marketing our product. We want to be seen. We believe that we have something valuable that the world should see. To deny this truth is t...

The pr ocess of writing my book has been so interesting. So many opportunities for me to look at myself and the way that I approach things. One of the most interesting opportunities is the one around the ability to say that I don't understand something. This brings me to what I wanted to  write about here.  That is this false belief that I should be able to know something before I know it. Yes, I read that sentence and say that doesn't even make sense. But, how many of us have taken on a project thinking we should not be able to ask questions about it? It's like the person  (not that I have even done this:) who gets lost driving, but refuses to ask for directions. Truth is our GPS takes care of that most of the time, but there are still times we need to ask.  If the goal of doing a project is to get it done is to get it done, it just makes sense to ask questions. Right? Well, the inability to ask questions usually stems from deeper issues that cannot be just...

Empathy. Such a beautiful word. It implies so many things. Generosity, compassion, wisdom, a willingness to accept, and a willingness to change. All of these things are wrapped into this one beautiful word.   When we are empathetic we are generous. It is the reaching out of ourselves to give time and attention to another living being. We are listening to another. The act of wanting to find out what is going on with another person is a generous act. Getting outside of our own world to find out who somebody else is love in action. And, it takes some work. When a friend is hurting and asking us to spend time with them it takes energy to break away from our routine to enter their world. This is an act of generosity.   Empathy is compassionate. It is being willing to take into account the thoughts and feelings of others. When we are showing empathy towards others we need to take into account that this other living being is coming at life from a completely different perspe...

There is a part of my mind that tells me that I should be able to achieve great results just by some sheer act of will power on my part. This idea of getting into the trenches and doing the hard work of the daily grind somehow has eluded me. And, yet it is this daily grind that ultimately achieves the success I'm looking for. Yesterday I drove past a new housing development. I observed that this development took many months before any buildings were placed on it. I was reminded that it is the foundation of the homes that takes a long time to lay. A solid foundation must be in place to support the above ground structure. Our lives are like this home. If I do not honor the long process of building a foundation I will become frustrated by my lack of process. I will start to get upset when things are not moving fast enough. I will find myself procrastinating, because if I can't do it right the first time then I quit. I am reminded of my old "friend" perfecti...

If you have followed me or my blogs, you know that I believe strongly in the idea that we are one. I believe that your issues are my issues, and that what you struggle with I struggle with. I also believe that because I matter as a human being, you must also matter. I believe that when we come to know this powerful truth of being one we will become even more powerful agents for good in this world. I also believe that we have beautiful unique qualities that identify us as important and special to this world. I believe we are all different. How can I square these two ideas of being unique with the idea of being the one with everyone else? Allow me to discuss the Venn Diagram. The Venn Diagram is a diagram that represents overlapping ideas. In other words, it shows there are always similarities between disparate ideas or situations. I believe this applies to us as human beings. As human beings we have similar traits. These include the ability to love, the ability to feel...