Creative Mind Part Two

Listen to "Creative Mind Part 2" on Spreaker. In part one of Creative Mind we put focus on recognizing what is and isn't creative energy in your life. In this chapter we rely more on the experience. Which is usually that one place people don't want to go because they think creative energy is something you have to be in the mood for. So we easily set it aside then complain about how bad of a day we are having. The reality? Your creative self is endlessly generating art. Listen to the way you speak or drop thoughts onto FaceBook. You can't ignore the beast within. Which is what it becomes when the art you were designed to make is put up on a shelf for an open weekend that may never come. It drives you crazy when bosses or spouses don't give you the proper attention you deserve. Imagine what that creativee self inside of you is doing. No wonder we look forward to the weekend to party with the neighbors and friends. Once you begin to fill your mind body and soul with margaritas and bourbon the path for that inner voice has been given permission to come out any way it wants to. Not always the happy song or place. So we shrug our shoulders and shoot for another day. While the creative energy continues to build. Where will you be when it finally pops? Learn how to get it under control.

Creative Mind Part One

Listen to "The Creative Mind Part One" on Spreaker. I'm blessed to get the incredible opportunity to sit with a huge number of creative minds. There's no feeling better then watching a silent idea become a surface level reality. Helping people understand their creative potential is a moment that evolves into a long stream of changes not only in their lives but everyone that comes in contact with what they have created. But it's not so easy to meet hidden creators. Those I'm with have stepped free of those forts and huts and pushed their awkward way out into the open. There are millions of writers, singers, performers, producers and leaders trapped in worlds of fear, shame, doubt and other people's greed. Reaching them is what I call dropping the four walls of the church and becoming part of the true thread of the street. To crack open a creative seed is a journey that usually starts with finally answering that voice that wakes you up after not letting you sleep. Stop fighting it. Become who you were called to be. If anyone has a problem with it... Move forward without them. Ouch!

Rob Sheffield

Listen to "Rob Sheffield Dreaming The Beatles" on Spreaker. In DREAMING THE BEATLES, veteran music journalist and best-selling author Rob Sheffield tells the strangest story in pop culture history: how four lads from Liverpool became the world’s biggest group, then broke up—but then somehow just kept getting bigger. How did this happen? Why are the Beatles more famous and beloved now than ever? How is there still so much life in this music? In DREAMING THE BEATLES, the Rolling Stone columnist brings his own unique style of masterful cultural criticism to the ballad of John, Paul, George and Ringo, exploring why the Beatles matter so intensely to a generation that has never known a world without them. It’s a fresh, unconventional, definitive approach to the Beatles—their mythology as much as their music. As in his previous books like Love Is A Mix Tape and On Bowie, Sheffield digs deep into the emotional connections we make to the music we love. How can we keep hearing ideas about our own lives in these songs? How does their music still sound so vibrant and influential today, some 50 years after much of it was recorded? And how has this band become the ubiquitous soundtrack to our lives? DREAMING THE BEATLES is a passionate celebration of that music, showing how the Fab Four became a cultural obsession—and how in so many ways they invented the future we’re all living in right now.

The Valley Floor

Listen to "The Valley Floor" on Spreaker. I specialize in a style of writing that can easily be simplified by what I call "Hiding." It's taking the moments of what we live and feel and ripping from it's emotion all that is negative. Putting the positive inside it's emptiness. As much as I call it "Hiding" I also see it as growing. What we move through during our times of seasonal changes aren't always meant to bend your knees and knock you upside the head and heart. By letting the moment move through you then writing about it through positive ways and eyes. You're able to return to the sheets of paper you filled a different time. That's when you realize the one time attack against your mind body and soul was actually a step forward. Practice this thing I call "Hiding." It's difficult in the beginning only because you want to dump how you truly feel into that sheet of paper. To which I ask, "What did that tree do to you? It sacrificed it's rings so you'd have a place to be free." Now that you respect the moment I invite you to enter your realm of "Hiding."

The Lyrics From Billy's Forest Chapter 67

Listen to "The Lyrics From Billys Forest Chapter 67" on Spreaker. I was shocked to see that it's been nearly a month since I've written in the forest. How is that possible? It feels like just yesterday. While in thought my writing instrument drew out a frame of mind that sort of crosses the line. Has God gotten so bored with our place in time that he's taking his game to a different level? I do it all the time. When I want Monopoly or any other board game to come to an end I will make mistakes on purpose just to let someone win. How is it nearly May of 2017 already? There are so many mile makers along the way that should be slowing us down but nothing seems to be creating mountains. We keep mowing down the possibility of a seed. To keep peace at heart without wandering my new search is for boredom. I love sitting in it. I love to stare at a blank wall with no photographs or paintings. Boredom is the only way I've been able to slow down time. Is this the reason why people of age don't like to sleep at night? They realized how fast time is moving so they want to participate with more ticks on the clock.

Weathering The Storm

Listen to "Weathering The Storms" on Spreaker. We're all guilty of it. We allow the weather to affect as well as infect our decisions. When in fact weather is something we totally have no control over. Well what about the person storms in our hearts? Do we have enough space to erase? Or should we allow them to hit as well? I was with author Barbara Oakley a few days ago. We both agree that through daily writing personal storms are no different then natural weather systems. You can see things coming and get prepared for them. That doesn't guarantee the personal storm won't hit. It buys you time to make the right moves in your life. Being aware of how, where and why takes the shock out of the game. You knew the signs of an approaching moment. The first step is to take the necessary and required time to not let it interfere with how you go about your day. Personal storms are connected to several elements leading up to. Learning to recognize the signals helps you create an incredible day. I'd rather be the employee that people don't like because I'm always up beat rather than the person always walking around with their head slumped over. You have the power and knowledge to get control.

Always Be Ready

Listen to "Always Be Ready" on Spreaker. Being a daily writer and published author one of my tricks of the trade is an exercise I've called word fermenting. Not always jumping out of the pages to share the messages and or paragraphs. By setting it aside it allows there to be a separation between the author and the reader the writer is. Too much time is spent editing. It creates a sad soul inside the perfectionist. Therefore I allow things to ferment. Today though I didn't play by that rule. A short paragraph moved through me much quicker then most.

I want Ti Be A Secret Shopper

Listen to "Just Part Of The Group" on Spreaker. In every office or business I walk into the air holding up the atmosphere is instantly painted with a stale color of invisible moodiness. A program director once said to me "The future isn't one for the weak. A leader will have to be 95% psychologist 5% decision maker." Today's workplace claims to be a house of teamwork and spirit when in reality it's nothing more than three wobbly legs holding up everybody's excuses. Because I'm a note taker I hear things that business leaders think is a behind the scenes situation. I love sitting in a dentist office and patiently waiting for the drama. I grasp the moments when simple strolls through a grocery store expose who the true team leaders are and not the delegation pushers. The best employees aren't the listeners picking up where excuse creator Bobby left off. The best player is the one that looks at his teammate and says, "Get up and do it yourself." We've evolved into a world of victory collectors with only one person truly doing the work. Ouch but so true. Get up and do it yourself!

Losing Our Soundtracks

Listen to "Losing Our Soundtracks" on Spreaker. As of late. Many of us have shared one thing in common. Though the news headlines are cracked. The price of food and medicines continue to grow and the world feels like it's tilting. The one thing as a community that we are having a difficult time dealing with is the loss of our soundtracks. We grasp the concept of birth, living then passing. But what we didn't prepare for is the large number of musicians, actors, authors and other people of fame that helped shape us are moving to the next level. As a kid we'd laugh about death coming in threes. I honestly don't think that's true anymore. I paged through my daily writing and came across something written in January of 2016. A year has gone by. I still feel the impact of hearing the news about Glenn Frey of the Eagles soaring off to another mountain top. I may have written about it to help heal the moment in 2016. But a year later I see it as maybe more of us should be documenting the days of why the artists that became our soundtrack had such an impact. There'll be a day when you'll want to remember but because you didn't write it down. It's gone forever.

Earned Journey

Listen to "Earned Journey" on Spreaker. Paging through my daily writing. A jotting down of words connected to my present place of standing. Just over a year ago I chose to write about what people don't share about the journey toward getting old. It went side by side with an experience I had this past week at a retirement home. I asked about the residents watching ME TV which features a ton of old television programming. I was reminded that adults in their older years are trapped inside bodies that are breaking down and apart. But their imaginations and love for entertainment are with us every step of the present moment. My subject a year ago was to talk about what people don't share about getting older. As a writer in 2016 it deeply bothered me. Today I have a better answer.

What Is Love

Listen to "What Is Love" on Spreaker. If someone you love was sitting in front of you what would your words be if the subject of how and why it's lasted was brought up? I'm blessed with the opportunity to be with couples who've celebrated 15 to 65 years of marriage. And in that moment when they are asked about how it's lasted I'm endlessly amazed at how they look into each others eyes and barely bring words to the surface. That's because love is a connection of the soul. But inside this individualized world we've designed, the shattered story is how we take love and toss it out. Why is it some couples make it beyond ten thousand storms while others can't seem to collect their thoughts after a summer breeze? In January of 2016 I penned out a simple thought about love. Not because I'm a Dr. Phil expert but rather from the visions of being a silent watcher. We learn a lot by from the essence of hand holding and listening then we do when the only journey offered is do as I say.

The Lyrics From Billy's Forest Chapter 66

Listen to "The Lyrics From Billys Forest Chapter 66" on Spreaker. Walking and wandering through our everyday moods and moments we often ask questions about furthering ourselves on the invisible path. We believe we're positioned in the correct moment that will one day serve as a harvest of success. Only to stop when least expected to wonder why it feels as if we've become cracked. Most of the time we try to pass it to the side. Other times the journey opens the heart to a page in the soul that reminds us that nothing is forever. It's ok to attempt to paint the exact portrait of your participation. But within those lines is the deeper story. From where you stand can you still see the origin of your roots? How are they being placed in your furthering steps? Or is the path of multiple layers and colors just another you that showed up one day and you were too tired to dump them?