The Original You

DO YOU BELIEVE YOU CANNOT BE YOURSELF? Have you ever felt constricted by the rules you place on your life? Do you have thoughts that tell you that you cannot do things, because either someone said you couldn't do them, or you believe you were not allowed to be yourself? I think we all have some of these thoughts. I'm aware that I have ideas in my mind that will sometimes prevent me from doing anything.  I get frustrated, spending time trying to figure what is the next right thing to do, rather than getting anything done. It is the perfectionist in me coming out once again. It is that part of me that needs to be perfect, before I present myself to the world.  If you can identify with any of this, this article is for you. I invite you to read on, to discover how you can move from feeling constrained by your self-imposed rules, to feeling more free in your life. BORN TO BE FREE You were born to be free. At what point then do we decide that we are not free to mak...

Contained in the voice of one, are the voices of many. Not one of us exist completely independent of another. I would not exist, if you had not existed. If my ancestors before me had not existed, I would not exist. To think that I am this independent being is simply not true. Yes, I have my own thoughts and feelings. But, to completely ignore the truth of my connection to others, is to ignore the reality of my dependence on others. All of life depends on one another. It is the conscious awakening of this truth that will save us. It is the conscious awareness that what I do to me I do to you. What I say to me, I am saying to you. How I care for me, is how I care for you. When I can acknowledge that I am one with you, I will never harm you. I will never speak ill of you. I will never try to cut you down, or dehumanize you. Can you imagine a world where we all considered that our actions would ultimately would affect others? Is it really a selfish act to be always thinking about ...

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...