The Lottery

Why do we celebrate the end of a year? Were we so tired of the present that we believe the unwritten book will be better tomorrow? Billions of dollars are made by your sacrifices. Building a better body. Cleaning out cluttered closets. Minding more of your own business rather than chasing the tales of other people's drama. We invest our lives and bank accounts in daily lottery tickets. Without ever realizing you win every day. The song featured is titled Especially For You. Coming from my 2002 completely un-perfect cd They Think I'm Weird So I Proved It. John Nagem is on the piano. The lyrics are about second chance and expected change. I see the rebirth of love every day. Couples getting married a second and third time. I bring no judgment. I offer an open palm that simply says, "I was someone before we met, I hold no secrets. Yet there will be times when my heart pries itself free from past pains that you had nothing to do with. All I ask for... is your unconditional love. So we can grow forward.

Light In The Sand

Endless amounts of weather eats away at the strength of your mind body and soul. The human figure is a rock. And like all mountains we wither away with each passing storm. Your rock becomes sand. Where then does your sand wash away to? Because its no longer part of your rock. Does that mean its gone forever?

I Just Wanna Fly: Stupid Brave

Several times a month I hear from frantic parents whose teens have exposed an addiction to cutting. As much as I vocally persist in pushing them toward psychiatric treatment. They want their sons and daughters to talk to someone that's beat the battle. I share deep conversations with them based on the enormous amount of time I spent with psychotherapists that reached deep inside of me to help locate a clue. They studied me. I studied them. They taught me to study me. I know of the reasons and still find it difficult to deal with today. But I hold in my fingers not a razor or sharp object. But a gift. Not from a doctor but my creator.

Make Like

It's not that I don't celebrate the holidays. I do so everyday! But once November to January appear on the map. I tend to run away from people and oddly shaped cookies. I've grown tired of the "Make Like's" of the world. Family, friends, coworkers and people you'll never see again that "Make Like" they embrace love, life and all things in between. We. Everyone of us. A united nation. We "Make Like" a lot. Then judge. The song featured at the end was inspired by the word formations and sketches featured in my latest book Scramble Eggs. The song is called Photograph.

Why Write?

As a Martial Artist we're taught: Nobody can master the fine art of doing it all. At birth. You're given one thing to master. When you locate it. Your agreement with God is to teach it. Sit and spin. Look all around you. Spin again. Then again. A lot of people flood your present and future. But how many of God's artists are teaching you what they've mastered? I penned out a song in 2010 called Kicked Out of Heaven For Asking A Question. 10,000 times. Maybe more. I've wanted to re-write the lyrics. And yet. Maybe there's a reason.

The Survivor

Does a sentence truly end the moment there's a period or question mark? What if a thought could last longer than a rock being skipped across a faceless lake in Montana? On August 2, 2013 I sat inside Elevation Blakeney and penned out an unprotected view of today's modern survivor. Today. December 19, 2013. I read what had been written four months earlier and couldn't believe how much it sounded like one of my songs brought to life on December 5, 2010. Fascinating to me isn't what we say. But rather. How we use the words to help heal what we can't see. When in reality. It's always been there.

The Saddest Love Song

I love sitting with writers. Listening to how they feel when words move through them. Poets, authors and commercial copy writers blend in with the wind. Not because its the golden writing rule. It's a learned art based on communicating with invisible faces and voices. From places so far away that writers tend to giggle when a gurgle of words pop out of Heaven. Sometimes they're light. Other moments the weight of the luggage far exceeds the limits of every airline and yet as a human you don't get to charge the passenger more money for the ride. You were born to write. Whether its a sentence or 15,000. Writing moves you closer to God.

The Path

Being great. Having talent. Taking success to newer levels of success isn't an overnight process. In 2013. The age of I Want It Now. Has stolen from the depth of a photograph. Rarely does anyone look at the background. They check the smile. The hair style and quickly pass it forward. How can we ever get to where we were meant to be if the path is everything but clear?

Facing The Cost Of Doubt

There's not enough Red Bull or candy flavored Vodka to help ease the pain shooting through you by way of being overtaken by doubt. Where does doubt begin? Seriously! Millions of people can coach you out of doubt. Lets locate the seed. How does it take root? I don't brag about being able to spot a depression two weeks before it happens. God gave me a tool. It's through him that we take numbness and rip the mask off its purpose. It's still a feeling.

Cultivation

I look around and count the times "Great" things happen in society. Over the loud speaker the giving is applauded. Then I instantly become lonely. A feeling. Not an emptiness but more of a mixed message. Givers rarely if ever offer thanks to their Mothers. In victory at sporting events and workplaces. In a heartbeat the message is shared. But what happens when society calls and determination is challenged? Through struggles there comes change. Little things begin to blossom forward. But barely, rarely if ever does anyone say thanks to their Mother.

John The Prophet

What are the chances that God sits in Heaven everyday trying to come up with newer ways to silence the mouth he assumed would be used to help spread his word? Picked up and tossed about like unwanted trash is our attraction to the misuse of the language. And yet I believe God uses what we say to bring us closer to his unconditional love. The song featured has helped shape my new book Scrambled Eggs. I penned out and produced I Believe because an ark not built to float becomes part of a passing shore making its way to the ocean.

Supposed To Be Versus Made To Be

Bosses tell you what to do. God never tells you. He asks. Then he shows. We spend countless hours mopping up the messes caused by not living up to the expectations of a boss. When we feel we haven't lived up to God's way of thinking and loving. He never yells. He never holds a grudge. He says, "Ok... lets try again a different day."

Modern Makers

Sometimes it hits you while driving. Other times it might enter your process of thinking while walking through a mall. Raking leaves in the front or backyard. When you least expect. God says something. It becomes your choice to hear it. React to it. Believe in it to the point of sharing it.

Tommy

Are you familiar with the Rock Opera Tommy? The song that's always stood out is See Me Feel Me. Outside the realms of pictures helping to share Tommy's story. The innocent passerby latches onto their own interpretation of the lyrics. Naming their own boulders on the path toward the horizon as being blocker of all things that might lead their deepest ambitions toward a reason and purpose. Have you ever stopped to think the two eyes looking back at you in the mirror is in face God studying the mold of his creation? Hear the song See Me Feel Me from The Who

Pieces Parts Don't Make Great Chicken

In 2013 life in America is based on how far the average can spread themselves too thin. From corporate cutbacks to Obama-care to the high cost of living without new income feeding the banking system. We have evolved into a shape. Pieces parts. Then expected to continue giving at a higher level of performance than any other time in history. Rather than shed our skin like snakes moving forward. We spend whatever time is available trying to glue back together our pieces parts. Rather than bathe in a pool of peace.

What If?

Two extremely close friends with teenagers are caught within the same battle. Neither of them know of their comparisons. Neither have met. Neither hold answers. If you've ever wondered why things happen along the way. What if? The reason why it gained so much fame inside your emotions was because the best teachers are still students?

God Controls Ticketmaster

Paths. Foundations. Intersections. Stop lights that always sit on red but your heart only sees green. Constantly questioning. Without ever arriving.

Shepard's Pie

What if we could find the answer to all our questions? Would anyone be any happier? What if you could change your name every time your moods changed? Might there be a new face waiting around the next corner?

Breathe

There should be a written law that states every human should without question be part of a Martial Arts tournament. The strongest doesn't win. The student with the best kick, punch and block doesn't always sit on top with a gold medal wrapped around their head. Learning how to properly breathe wins matches. Life is no different. Tell me which day of the week you least expect to be challenged. What are plans when all things connected change without notice? Breathe. Your strength from the inner core sends out waves of energy others feed off. In Tae Kwon Do we call it the Dawn-jun region. The more I studied the Dawn-jun the more I began to understand the importance of breathing. Your soul isn't in your heart. Its located in the energy maker Dawn-jun. Wear your pants too tight. It affects your moods. Sit too close to a desk where your stomach is bumping up against it. Your breathing is a mess and so is your energy. I will never be a Master at forms and delivery of great punches and kicks. But within seconds I will know if you are breathing correctly. That's how I've won gold.