Chris Byrne

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As an independent toy analyst, researcher and consultant, Chris brings more than 30 years of industry experience in the toy industry to his role. He is an acknowledged expert on toys and play in the culture and brings his extensive knowledge of toys, education and child development to his work. Chris is widely published on the topic of toys and family life and his work has appeared in a variety of trade magazines, journals and websites.  He is also featured in the Netflix series, The Toys That Made Us as a toy historian. His book on the most popular toys from the 1950s to the 1980s, Toy Time gives the background on some of the all-time classic toys. Chris is extensively quoted in the media and appears regularly on local and national television commenting on toys and demonstrating new products. His media appearances reached more than 200 million consumers in 2018 in just a three-month period. He appears regularly on “Live! With Kelly & Ryan,” and has been seen on “Marie” with Marie Osmond, “Oprah, “Soap Talk,” “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” “The CBS Evening News,” “ABC Nightly News,” “Fox & Friends,” “CBS This Morning,” “Good Day New York,” CNBC, CNNfn, MSNBC, ABC, “The Motley Fool,” National Public Radio, Bloomberg Television and Radio, and on countless other national and local market business and consumer programs around the country and internationally.

Words Without Body Language

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The title is quite haunting.  Words Without Body Language.  Isn't that what we're doing on social media, texting and emailing?  Using words without body language.  Which is why I love being on the radio.  You can hear the words but can't see the body talking.  It invites listeners into what's called Theater Of The Mind.  We are a wordy generation.  I often wonder if it's not because of a dislike for silence.  The only way to fill in the blank is with words.  Pick any word.  Ouch that one hurt. Can't take it back.  The messages we get on social media have a huge impact on a lot of our lives.  There's more news on Facebook then NBC Channel 36 at five.  On this podcast we leap into the subject of using our words as well as body language.  I'm always fascinated with the way people pound their thumbs into the face of a smartphone and the message may not even be as dramatic as their body language was putting it out there. My father tried to use his words when I was a child.  I wouldn't listen.  Not until he'd show up on the scene reaching for his belt.  He never once brought that thing down on me.  It was his body language that spoke louder than his words.  So I ask about what you're projecting.  Do your words go along with what your body is saying?  How do you get them to work better together? While listening to the podcast Slow Burn season 2 about Bill Clinton a close friend of his said that the former President had a way of making sure he looked into the eyes of every person in the room.  It gave them the assurance that he was talking to them and not around them.  He gained this ability by not only using his words but his body language was directed one hundred percent in your moment of now.  I personally love Billie Eilish.  Her creative spirit is extremely vibrant and yet to some she comes across as depressed or disconnected. When you listen to her words in interviews you can't help but get tapped into the reason why she's become this new age generation sensation.  Her body language though speaks a different tone.  I was with Sammy Jaye yesterday,  The youngest podcaster ever on iHeart Radio.  She used the words shared on podcasting to help get her through some extremely dark times.  It helped her so much that at the age of 13 she began her own episodes that have led her to some of the most iconic interviews and conversations on the planet.  What are you doing with your words?  Are you just trying to fill silence?  What if the only thing you had was body language?

Leave Yesterday Where It Belongs

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I was with a major corporation yesterday that's developed a product that learns from itself.  A.I. learning.  It remembers!  They've put thousands upon thousands of pictures inside the chips of this device so that when it comes near a object it will know what the next move is.  On this podcast I compare how this new A.I. availability is what we used to do with ourselves.  We used personal experience to push us through the appearance of something that doesn't feel right.  But if A.I.'s are beginning to do the work for us...  How does that change the landscape of how we will one day feel and act upon? On this particular day in 2016 the writer was having a hard time coming up with words to lay on the second page.  He felt alone. Not motivated to proceed and yet the daily discipline is to make it three.  So he questions the atmosphere and all things connected.  How could a creative mind not want to do what it was designed to do.  He had to rely on past pictures or experiences to complete the project.  Which is exactly how the process of the A.I was explained to me.  Through its daily expectations it teaches itself while we are promised less work and more time to enjoy life.  I sat there thinking...  Time is the one thing every person on this planet has in common.  Nobody gets more.  We all are rewarded the same. Technology knows how much life we've lost because too much time has been spent doing our jobs or chores.  What are we going to do with time when we have it?  Isn't human nature to waste it? Only to complain about not having enough.  It's like getting a bank loan to pay off your credit cards and within a years time you're back in the same position.  A thought came to me this morning while writing.  A dark cloud that hangs between your heart and sky is put there by choice.  With the same energy.  The same amount of time.  Through experience and what we've learned you can make it go away.  Whereas an A.I. has no emotion and willing way to push such a thing away.  It's just an object.  A branch that's fallen from the tree.  You still have the ability to be brilliant.

What Was It Like

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The title instantly reminds me of the childhood book Are You My Mother? What was it like?  I wish I would've spent time asking my grandparents that question.  My mother's father served our nation in World War One.   A determined man.  He loved taking care of the land that made up his farm in Wyoming.  I remember feeding slop to the pigs and watching my grandfather take care of the honeycombs placed inside the walls of his home.  He loved the way bees sounded so he crafted a system that allowed them to endlessly be warm in the winter while his heart was touched by the sounds of nature.  What was it like?  I've asked my mother about the rotten kid I was between birth and first grade.  I wish I had asked sooner.  These days I get, "You had good days and bad.  I don't remember."  Which I believe is the reason why I've been a daily writer for twenty six years.  A few months ago a very good friend asked me about a local moment.  I told him that I had written about it.  Took him to my journals and let him read how being there affected the way I was thinking that day.  On this podcast I read from November 21 2016.  I heard something from Steven Furtick, "How is God moving through you?"  I don't have to ask what was it like.  I was in church on the very Sunday that he brought it to us.  Beyond religion the thought changed everything.  Your art, your job, your relationship with friends and family...  How is life moving through you?  In today's overrun and extremely busy society there's so much traveling beyond us that we've developed this safety net to keep ourselves from hoarding the stuff that's going to be called on in the years ahead.  Struggling with the early discovery of depression.  What was it like?  I wrote about it.  Eighteen years later I'm learning from the honesty put on the pages.  What was it like when radio stations had disc jockeys on every shift live?  What was it like when we didn't have GPS?  What was it like before ATMs?  Bookstores sell baby journals, books for personal travel or just documenting what you think you still know.  I had a wake up call a couple years back.  I bought two incredibly beautiful journals.  In one I'd write everything down that I remembered about growing up in Montana with my family.  The other would be the stories of all ten of my rescued dogs.  It started out fresh and spirited.  While camping in Carolina I grabbed the journals and no words came to me.  I spent the afternoon reading what had already been put there.  What was it like to have five Maltese rescues?  What was it like to have two Chinese Crested?  I'm sure the daily writing has a ton of far out cool sentences and paragraphs.  But standing here in 2020 and trying to remember puts me in the corner of reshaping what I think I'd hold onto forever.

The Lyrics From Billy's Forest Chapter 190

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Was listening to the Slow Burn podcast season one the other day.  I couldn't believe how divided so many people were.  No matter how much Watergate evidence was present many of us as well as our parents took sides.  But we got back on our feet and came back together.  What about the War Between The States?  The Civil War!  Somehow we got back on our feet.  My Mother always reminded me of what life was like in America during World War II.  She worked whatever job she could get.  The men were at war. Someone had to keep this nation on its feet.  Which brings me to a different podcast I heard.  The host lightly salted the air with a simple thought, "The only despair this current generation knows is how bad the WiFi is and how dare Disney charge us for their app."  We keep hearing about how divided we are.  It's been labeled fake news.  It actually depends on which news service you check in with.  On this podcast I talk about what it's like to sit in a forest with no internet, newspaper or radio.  My only purpose was to listen.  On the page I wrote, "What would happen if they stopped talking about religion and politics on television?"  I remember radio station program director's telling me to never bring up either subject on the show, "Listeners will instantly tune out and probably never come back.  You had that one chance to make a connection and the choice became a bad decision."  Look at talk radio today.  Podcasting is no different. I loved how the nation got back up on its feet last week when it was announced the actors that brought us Friends are going to reunite on HBO.  People got back on their feet when Al Pachino debuted on Amazon Prime in The Hunters.  But the very second something happens or someone brings up community or local trust and faith, too many are sitting back down."   It happens in church too!  Then the preacher man roars "Get on your feet!  Don't anyone leave!  Get up!"  Maybe that day in the forest in February of this year is why this episode of the podcast exists.  We need to have a lot more people shouting, "Get up!  Lets stand together!  Lets move forward!"

My Calling Versus A Calling

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If you were to look into my Kindle the only books you'd see in the library are those connected to motivation, inspiration, religion, spirituality and whatever else helps you find focus and inner strength.  It's always been my favorite thing to read!  Which is probably why I sharply questioned what I put into my daily writing over the weekend.  Without any thought suddenly the process was interrupted by these two words: My Calling.   On any other day I probably wouldn't have been bothered by it.  On this day though it was extremely loud inside my sources of creative energy. My calling?  It came to me as being something I developed.  You can't do that!  It led me quickly to Dictionary.com.  I needed a definition!  Then I began reading articles about what a calling is and isn't.  I found a ton of Bible versus which I chose not to put on this podcast because how I interpret the shared words and how you receive them totally take away from what preacher people call is a personal relationship.  This wasn't about leading or teaching but rather trying to determine who what where and why I had put my calling inside the daily writing.  Forty one years of Broadcasting isn't a calling.  It's shaping a career.  Twenty six years of daily writing isn't a calling.  It's my discipline.  All of this stems from the most recent books of motivation that have been read.  The Universe Is Calling You from Char Margolis, the latest book from Trevor Moawad It Takes What It Takes then toss in my studies with Yoga Nidra and the mixture is perfectly ripe to be somewhat bothered by how I personalized a calling.  So many people put a lot of focus on their plan and purpose.  I've talked to many post 50 year old's that still believe they're working on locating that purpose.  I ask a simple question on this podcast, "What if your purpose has already happened?  What if that moment as to why you're here is actually doing what it was supposed to but we're so focused on callings and a purpose that we're blind to what's growing behind us?  My reply to this?  Get the attention off you and put it on another U...  The universe.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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Often forgotten in history, many people don’t know that African Americans played an integral role in the fight for our county’s independence. Anchored by sit down interviews with Abdul-Jabbar as well as numerous esteemed historians and supported with archival material, “Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution” will cover both sides of the fight, highlighting black heroes of the American Revolution who stood up against British rule to help establish the United States of America, and, conversely, black loyalists who fought for the Crown – and the promise of freedom. The documentary will also present Abdul-Jabbar’s personal journey, revealing his own unique discovery of important historical figures like Crispus Attucks and others and how they helped change the perception of his own heritage.

Setting The Doubter Free

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I have doubt issues.  I doubt everything.  Not always a lack of faith or trust but rather a lack of belief in the moment presently presented.  There's snow in today's forecast.  I'm filled with doubt.  I don't want the weather people to be right.  I'm from Montana snow has always been in my life.  But not today.  I'm not in the mood for it.  I doubt it's going to happen only to become disappointed with the amazing amount of energy I'm using to wishfully push the flakes away.  On this podcast we jump into a huge pile of doubt and how to free yourself from it.  It controls so many of us.  Once the doubt bug has bitten you aren't going to let it go until something physical takes place.  One of the greatest practice grounds for me to let doubt go was learning how to tithe at church without doubting where the money is really going.  It's not my job to think about that.  Through trust and faith the energy from those dollars and cents is going to outreach programs you'll never meet.  To doubt during tithing spoils the reason why you've chosen to give.  I don't tithe to receive.  I tithe because the present place we stand has allowed me to make something available and I'm grateful.  So what does this have to do with learning how not to doubt.  The awkward mental movement has to begin somewhere.  Finding a safe path to plant your next step cannot be connected to fear, shame, guilt and doubt.  You're walking into every moment already poisoned.  It is a daily discipline to go into my journals of twenty six years and read the words planted on paper. Not to celebrate the writer but to read about the journey.  The march through life with doubt on his back.  To grow beyond the structure created by bosses that abused and family members that ghosted.  I find tremendous growth in reading about what life was like without Google and smart phones.  How we grew as a nation beyond September 11th. To feel his fear connected to war.  To hear about another anthrax scare and why was this happening.  Yeah he doubted and he still does today.  You learn so much about your path when the words reach out of the books of twenty or so years ago.  You can't change anything but your present place of now.  And in recognizing that there's less doubt.

A Better New Day

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I didn't get into daily writing because I loved to write.  I was being weighed down by life.  No place to hide.  Yet it was all there communicating in a language I didn't recognize. My wife wanted me to get into Scientology.  The nearest gathering a couple of hours from the house.  She kept saying that a lot of creative people use their messages to make their way through the chapters.  I couldn't do it.  Growing up Christian was my reason.  But I wasn't an activator.  I attended a ton of band-aid churches.  Not the big buildings on the corners but those hidden away in local schools and shopping centers.  One problem. They were more interested in me running sound for the band and other creative requirements. Then I'd have to selfishly explain that I needed to fix me first then we'll talk. Julia Cameron's The Artist Way became my walk of life in the opening weeks of the summer of 1994.  I've never stepped free of the lessons taught.  To this very moment her valuable words bring forward the right decisions.  Everything I do is because she took those languages I didn't understand and put them into words that not only motivated me but helped the creative self deal with every day changes and challenges.  On this podcast we go back nearly four years where its physically clear on page two of the daily writing that the author is sharing the importance of having a spiritual relationship with himself.  One problem.  On page three he begins to question the presence. We all do!  We bring forward the lessons we're taught only to find fault in the change.  The change he couldn't explain was based on his faith. For several decades the openness of being a Christian was hardly ever visible on my sleeve. That all changed in 2012 when Steven Furtick opened the door to activate.  What I didn't prepare for was the enormous amount of friends and family members that would leap away.  Ghosted!  Talking about it in the daily writing is the important part of the journey. Being truthful to the inner core of your presence is a discipline.  Very easily we all turn.  Acceptance is a human need.  But at what cost?

The Lyrics From Billy's Forest Chapter 189

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I'm the fool that finds enjoyment while sitting in the rain.  The rhythmic natural flow of change and every reason to grow.  Cardinals sing in the rain.  Deer continue to wander and humans find it easier to digest if we quickly rush away.  On this podcast we paint the picture of a rainy day but not by way of water falling from the sky.  The grey dark clouds in our personal life.  Are they there by choice or is a moment of low feelings consuming the area because of trips and stumbles that seemed perfectly ripe for the moment and now you're left to soak up the rain?  I openly admit to being an optimistic pessimist.  That means I see a lot of rain.  I'm given the choice to see the glass half full or empty.  On those days of chance becoming change I choose to run with whatever will bring the lesson.  A constant student.  Facing every angle of the story while trying to understand the presence of the occurrence.  It's the writer in me!  There's always a book or blog waiting for my writing instrument.  How can you relate with a reader if everyday you chose to run from the rain?  Your place of work. Is it not the same?  Someone had to create car doors and windows.  It didn't just happen.  The Nest app gives me control of the household temperature without being there.  The people behind the creation must have known by experience that it would be a better day if we could walk into a place already set to a happy place.  My mother used to say, "Son... learn to save it for a rainy day."  Which is how I run my optimistic pessimistic wander through life.  Like the cardinal singing his song while its raining we can all learn to look into the soul of those dark clouds in our head and heart and decide on the spot if it's going to consume our weather report or just make itself known.  Winning is a choice.

Interpreting Before Judgement

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I think what makes me a great interviewer is how much little time I spend interpreting the author, chef, musician and actor. I invite the guests to share their journey. To speak openly without having to defend what I might see as the process. I do all I can to keep my path away from judgement. Too often we spend several minutes to hours reading social media posts from one person only to interpret what we think they're moving through. Within seconds the interpretation becomes a judgement. Rarely do we know the story. I have to hear the persons voice. I don't want a text message or email. I'm 99.9% wrong every time because I find no reason to believe in what's been interpreted. This is why I find enormous joy in listening to a long list of preachers. King James isn't the only person to have gone back and interpreted the book. Many of today's spiritual leaders are taking these ancient stories and putting their own twists on it. On any given Sunday the same Bible verses could be talked about and inside each house a different message is shared. I love that stuff! It's two completely different views. As a daily writer I endlessly run into people that interpret the sentences and paragraphs. Then the author is hit by their opinion or observation. Which is really weird because I didn't ask for it. Because of social media we have become the generation that doesn't want to sit down face to face and talk. We find it easier to interpret the story and or experience. As leaders the daily goal should be to reach into the spirit of the vocal delivery and not the silences caused by words left on a page with no beginning middle or end to defend its place. If you read something and it creates question teach yourself to put it in your ears and not your eyes. I love questioning preachers. It removes the interpretation from the structure of growth.

Let Go Of Your Beyond

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The other day I was listening to comedians Bill Burr and Tom Pappa try to make sense out of life.  Both openly spoke about what it was once like to be able to sit around smoking cigars while sipping on mind blowing Bourbon.  But they've chosen to give it up.  Their aging bodies were reacting differently.  Then they got on the subject of learning how to be in the present.  Tom said, "You can't do it all the time!  You'd go insane.  Yes being in the present for one or two minutes but to make it your entire day is impossible!"  Which I totally agreed with while pondering a deeper what if moment.  If the thought of living in the now comes across as your present defeat, what are you carrying that gives that source of energy more space?  In my daily writing dated November 18, 2016 I took on that subject in the way of awareness.  A local school faced closure.  An inner city place of learning.  It's always a battle for such locations.  Always fighting for survival or being recognized for being the true leaders they are.  In the writing I reacted to a prayer.  For the next two pages all I spoke of was beyond.  Look beyond where we are standing.  Look beyond the reasons for closing the school and look into the eyes of these children.  Look beyond your personal purpose and plan.  Look beyond!  We do that a lot. We leave what's happening in our present to put our hearts into something beyond.  So much energy is spent on something that doesn't exist.  When you return to this place called now and things don't feel right it's extremely difficult to find focus because your system has been locked in on whats beyond.  As a martial artist I learned how important it is to be in control of your present.  An extremely tough lifestyle.  Tom Pappa was right.  You go totally insane trying to be here. Mainly because nobody else is.  Knowing you have control over awareness helps clear the journey of a past you can't change and why try to rewrite it?  Not worth the time or effort.  Especially since you need it in the present.  Keep a tiny journal.  Take notes. Document the little adventures.  Eventually a series of dots on a map become a solid line in life.

Pointed Fingers

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Two exercises today.  Not to test you.  To help create awareness.  Hold out your hand as if you're pointing at someone.  Keep it out there.  Look at everything around the tip of that finger.  Point it like you mean it.  Keep looking.  Feels kind of good to say, "You did it!  You're the one!"  My mother hated it when she'd catch us pointing our fingers at someone.  But Mom!  They started it!  She had me hold my pointed finger in the air for five minutes.  Studying every element that moved through that place in present.  I didn't understand her point.  Then she taught me, "No matter how much you think someone is responsible for your darkest times.  Point all you want.  But always take note of what's happening beneath your index finger.  There are three fingers pointed directly at you.  Who wins here?  You have one finger pointed at them. There are three directed at you.  What did you do wrong to cause the moment to crash?"  Although I may not have participated with the results that played out.  It made me very aware of future situations that deal with uncomfortable realizations.  The moment that feeling floods your heart and thought process force yourself to step back.  Did this really just happen?  How are you going to react? Should you step toward a different path?  Being aware of your injured moment doesn't mean ignoring it.  It's realizing that no matter how much evidence you might have on someone bringing injury to your daily process, you had amble space to walk away from it many times in the moments before.  The other exercise.  Hold out that pointed finger again.  This time truly mean it.  Allow your arm to tense up.  Put your energy into not dropping that arm.  You mean business.  If someone were to come over and try to pull down your arm it wouldn't budge.  Now invite someone over to wave two fingers beneath the pointed fingers.  Wave it a couple of times.  Then have them reach up and pull it down.  No matter how much strength you put into keeping it up.  Your hand will drop.  Your flow of energy was interrupted.  Everything you do comes from what martial artists call your Dan Jang.  Right above your belly button sits your aura maker.  Everything you are and how it's received comes from the center of your being.  Two fingers will weaken you in the strongest of battles.  If energy is constantly moving away from you try this meditation exercise.  Cup your hand over your Dan Jang.  Keep the bad, questionable, injured energy next to you for a moment.  Your body won't be so quick to point a finger.  It will feel the stationary energy and turn it into personal strength.  This is why you might be in bad moods, feeling depressed or can't figure out where your energy level is going.  Where is your belt line? How tight are your clothes near your Dan Jang?  If you're blocking the source of your energy maker then you aren't projecting your purpose forward.  You're halting it.  Meditation isn't about sitting quietly in the moment of Now.  It's listening to your body speak while the rest of the universe moves through it.  Become part of the conversation.  Learn your bodies language.

Embracing Your Now

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When I began my journey of being a daily writer in July of 1994 I had no clue as to where I was growing or how important these stained pages would be to a future self I had not met yet. Nothing disappoints the human spirit more than not living up to what you dreamed. Is there ever a day when you don't feel like you failed yourself? On this podcast I'm reading from November of 2016. Not just any day but one that a future self obviously went back to because on the side of the daily writing, with a completely different writing instrument its written that nothing ever came of this it was just me being scared. That's why I love daily writing. It's not about being into yourself or thinking all methods of madness need to be documented. It's a journey. The opportunity to participate with moments that seem like they're going in every direction and yet they seem to connect. Upon arriving on this one particular day in November of 2016 I couldn't locate any evidence of there being a reason to fear. I can see why the future self on a different day coming back and penning out what he did. Nothing ever came of this. Wouldn't it be nice if we could do that with a lot of our stress filled moments? I know what I feeling but my future self says there's no reason to worry! After studying the entry three to four times I did take note of a deeper thought that could easily be written off. The writer in 2016 was bothered by the actions of those who talk a lot about being grateful but outside of the initial conversation there's no evidence of gratefulness attached to their presence. Gratefulness is a word that's tossed out there so much that when my big ole southern church preacher man uses it I don't believe him. It's that go to open space of expression. Oh I'm grateful. I'm grateful. Are you really? Share with me why, how and more importantly how you expect to use it. To activate it. You're not supposed to hold onto gratefulness. It's supposed to move through you. The writer in me. That day in November of 2016. 5:26 am is what the clock read. There he sat caught up in a moment of fear due to a thought fed by the ambitions of others claiming to be grateful but don't live it. It's a tough place to be. Grateful doesn't mean holy. Grateful doesn't require a monthly subscription. It's being aware of your present place of now. I'm writing this at 6:17 am with extremely soft meditation music playing through my smart phone. My doves are singing in the other room while Jazzie the wonder dog is sleeping next to me in the recording studio. The sun isn't up therefore the darkness outside the recording studio windows is empowering to the rising imagination. Grateful Taking note of your moment of now. Embracing all that is and participating with whats about to become.

The Lyrics From Billy's Forest Chapter 188

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I write in a forest.  Something about the energy of a tree.  Maybe it's because the paper I use created by the tree uses the human to help serve a continuation.  Pretty deep right?  So is this next thought but it could very well hit you totally wrong.  The Great Recession of 2008 created an impact that continues to poison us.  As a way to survive, to keep business coming and flowing many decision makers were forced to cut back and turn their working staff into a hardcore team of multi-tasking monsters.  Step back from that picture for a moment.  How many different jobs do you continue to bring life to in an age of where America is supposed to be experiencing it's greatest times.  Yet the workplace doesn't show that to be true.  We've gotten so used to being huge multi-taskers that we've become addicted to mine, mine and mine.  In order to survive the game was to participate with all four corners of the business world.  The moment something begins to slip from your fingertips is when your mind body and soul begin to feel as its failed. There's guilt and shame.  How and where do you grow from here?  Since 2008 we've turned the Recession Generation into chasers.  Not leaders but chasers.  What is it you're looking for? In this day of everyday change will you recognize it if it suddenly appears?  Or will it be what you thought it would be?  So much life and energy is being used up to chase.  Remind yourself everyday that it's 2020.  It'll begin to sink in.  It's 2020.  How did 2008 suddenly become 2020.  Because you've been extremely busy chasing.  This isn't a podcast based on the evil empire endlessly cutting back their staff.  Think of it this way.  That Jesus guy worked with a limited staff as well.  None of them were perfect.  They changed the world.  So can you when you stop chasing and start doing.

The Fog Bank

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There's nothing worse than waking up and walking into huge thick fog bank. No matter how cold the shower or how much caffeine you've throw into your thinking system the fog bank refuses to set you free. Taking note of being in such a frame of mind requires an act of faith, effort, confidence and forgiveness. Working your way to the other side. Sadly the downside of a fog bank is how we've structured our reactions to them in the past. Instead of letting the momentary emotion move through us we've trained ourselves to act against them. To strike out against a fog bank usually starts with identifying it in front of family, friends and coworkers. We announce our arrival into the relationship with the weight of feeling like crud. Rather than being today's buzz kill its time to turn it around into a positive moment of giving it permission to sweep through your daily choices. You are the greatest judger of all things you do. Acknowledge you're in the fog bank slump without letting it take over. On this podcast I talk about how the results of last nights Oscars totally brutalized my thinking therefore I wouldn't allow myself to fall asleep. I did all I could to meditate but my mind body and soul wouldn't activate. Therefore I woke up this morning in a fog bank. The choice has been to bring the moment forward. To allow it to be heard. To grip it by removing the guilt trip. Because I allowed the Oscars to poison my late night the energy moving through me at 4 this morning wasn't healthy. The natural reaction is to strike out against yourself. Once I took note of that action the mission was to develop a better understanding of how being in the Now was greater than judging how vote casters at the Oscars totally missed the boat. I'm not in control of the results. Therefore why is so much energy being wasted on something totally out of my hands? Learning to find conversation with yourself is not an act hosted by an introvert. Your development of strength demands such talk. In this age of constant change you have to be willing to sit down with yourself and flat out call it out. Then make the best decision by recognizing how much energy is being wasted on something totally out of your hands. Fog banks are like highway mirages. They only exist if your imagination develops a photograph.

Check Your Soil

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You look at a title like that and instantly think of the dirt outside your house.  Check your soil.  About five years ago I began to realize how important soil is to our personal growth.  I've always been the type of person that endlessly asks questions.  Not to be a know it all but to understand more than what I did yesterday.  Mood swings.  Not just my own but everybody that participates with the areas that you grow.  From your family to your boss and coworkers.  How people act and react around you can either energize or poison your soil.  No moment passes that you aren't planting seeds.  I'm not a fan of the word affected.  All that does affect you sits on the outside of your system of choices.  Change your thought pattern and call it what it is.  When people irritate or inspire you the moment infects you.  It gets inside and begins to take over.  Too many people try to wipe off a bad day.  Sorry man not so easy when you've been infected.   Check your soil.  How are the seeds?  On this podcast we put focus on three different areas of the walk. Words that were put on paper nearly four years ago having an impact or infectious affect on this place called now.  Today.  Right now.  The morning after seven tornadoes and flooding brutalized North Carolina.  The schools are closed.  Neighborhood streets have trees across them.  My forest in South Charlotte doesn't look the same.  It was attacked by Mother Nature.  As humans I wish we were truthful enough with each other to simply say, "I've been infected by what took place in nature yesterday.  I feel like crap.  My atmosphere of assurance isn't as strong as it was yesterday." No!  We plaster false smiles and good times all over social media because in that moment it made us feel good.  We plant a fake bathroom mirror smile on our lips and make our way through the day.  People pick up your vibe and like usual they judge you.  Oh my God people judge you.  You must have a problem with them.  Ok now I've got a problem with you.  No!  My soil is infected!  Which means what to someone that doesn't grip your way of thinking.  That's why you need to street speak.  Put it into the words those around you can understand.  Check your soil.  Your seeds might not be healthy today.  Be inspired by your moment of now by gut checking reality.  Be nice to yourself during this day of change.  Its ok to feel like junk the day after the universe busted up your place on the planet.  Be truthful as you walk.  Don't blare out, "I'm having a rough day!"  Nobody cares,.  Just readjust.  Know that everything in your present place of now is currently under your control.  Yesterday not so much.  But who's living in the past?

Learning How To Break It Down

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Maybe it's a Tae Kwon Do thing.  I love breaking stuff down. Not tearing down.  Peeling away the outside shell and studying the origin of its existence.  I do it all the time with words.  You'll learn more about the way we speak if you leap onto Dictionary.com and follow the path of how certain words came into being.  On this podcast I openly admit that I learned more off the Tae Kwon Do mat than I did on the mat.  From the sidelines you learn from how others act and react without hearing judgment caused by the inner voices.  If the student was moving in this direction without pivoting the foot then you might be doing it as well.  Awareness is always key.  Being prepared.  Which is a difficult position for me to write from because I'm always asking my wife to stop writing the story before the event physically takes place.  Her awareness is always locked on being strong and present in what may or may not happen.  You have to be that way when you're a teacher.  She can't predict what students will do or say but through breaking things down she leads by way being present with her preparation.  Learning how to break things down isn't an easy task because most of us want to create an interpretation.  From your point of view this is what should be or could be happening.  Break it down.  Why do you feel this way.  How did you find yourself in this position?  Where is it taking you?  When will you know if the right answer will be located?  I was listening to Ronan Farrow's podcast The Catch And Kill.  He spoke about how The New Yorker publication diligently and endlessly fact checks everything.  Then do it again. Then again.  Breaking it down.  Knowing the existence of what's in your present.  Too often the choice is to take the shorter route.  Only to find ourselves back in the same place.  It's extremely tiring to break it down.  You begin to question everything and everyone.  Which is why I suggest your breaking down periods shouldn't be in groups of people but rather with a pen in your hand and paper to save your thoughts.  Once its out of your thinking process leave it alone.  If it's got weight the journey begins.  Rushing into a project or dream without breaking things down is no different then taking years of Tae Kwon Do and that one moment where you're going to need it the foot goes one way and the fist the other.  The body is left open.  The best decision is to run.  Break it down.

Earphone Hair

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My parents brought into this world eight children.  I was set in the center.  A total black sheep of the family.  I had to be!  The only way I was going to be heard was to make a lot of noise.  It was difficult getting lost in the mix.  I didn't want to wear hand me down clothes or be compared to my older brothers.  I needed my own space.  I learned early in life to grip the reality of being left alone by utilizing the tools that could take me there.  My mouth.  Say things out loud even if it's directed straight into the soul of someone close.  I think this is the reason why I cherish the moments of studying the verbal habits of comedians and songwriters.  They've given themselves permission to put it out there.  It doesn't always have to be Disney World happy but thank God it's no longer part of me.  On this podcast we put focus on the words we share not with others but to the image in the mirror.  I don't know if you realize how sensitive that image is.  It'll fake whatever mood you want it to be in but in the end it got its feelings hurt again.  Because I'm a daily writer I get the opportunity to slip back into the pages brought to life up to 26 years ago.  I read the words as if they're happening right now.  I don't assume that I know what the writer is saying.  I was there!  I'm the eyewitness to a moment that shoved the inner core of the soul into a jagged edged silence that found no way to locate peace until it was forgotten.  I've become extremely aware of how I use my words.  Things like peaceful versus peace filled.  I don't want to be peaceful!  I don't like being full!  I probably look bloated,  My clothes don't fit.  Being peace filled clears the way for me to tell me that there's always more room for peace.  I keep a dictionary with me every morning I write.  To look up words.  To see if I'm using them correctly or to locate newer ways to share an expression without it coming across as a negative.  I come into this recording studio every morning at 5:30.  Two hours into the day I take note of my hair in the bathroom mirror.  I wear earphones all the time.  Not earbuds but big ole clumpy studio earphones.  It crushes your hair faster than a damp rainy day in the south.  In two sentences I created a negative that I didn't mean.  I asked myself, "How are you doing?"  I answered, "Great!"  Only to hear my outside self come back with, "Your hair sucks today.  You have earphone hair."  The image in the mirror shot back a fake smile.  The words you write on text messages and emails.  Be aware.  Know what you are projecting.  Understand how others are receiving your energy.  A simple task.  You'll grow in ways that invite many peace filled moments.

The Lyrics From Billy's Forest Chapter 187

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This isn't a negative!  It's understanding the circumstances connected to awareness.  Becoming mindful of your present place while piecing together the necessary parts required to participate with the process of success.  How far did I send that thought over your head?  I could've easily said that no matter how talented or gifted you are none of it carries weight until you lend your presence to someone needing it.   It took the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs twenty one years to land a Super Bowl championship.  It's not that he wasn't capable enough.  It's not that he didn't have the right players and background staff.  Time has this funny way of gathering the right source of energy and through a connection a tightly wrapped bud appears on a rose stick.  Yeah, it's been sitting there all these years and you meant to throw it away but you kept believing it would make it's way to another spring.  When the lenders of so many talents and gifts locate a peace filled moment energy is born.  Not peaceful because the dull ache of being full leaves no room to explore the possibilities of reaching a little further.  On this podcast we talk about the journey a single leaf on a tree takes.  From a bud to experiencing that twirling dance from the limb to the ground.  Is the adventure over?  To some it might be yes.  Looking deeper into the act of forward motion I'd say the expectation of it's presence just increased.  Leaves on a tree create energy.  The soil is ignited.  All things near or touching the tree's space prepares to enter a new season of change. The leaf lent it's presence to the continuation.  Your job. What would happen if you leaned in a little more by understanding that your talent or gift is being lent to decision makers.  You didn't sell out. You still have tremendous amounts of energy in your dreams.  Lending your self to new growth clears the path of a past you don't need.  Being present in what's now teaches your eyes to stop looking at the scoreboard.  Who cares if its 20-10!  Lean into your game.  Lend more of what you know you have.  Holding back puts you in a situation of question, "What if?"

Where Do You Stand

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The title is one of those moments where you come face to face with not judging the book by its cover. The sentence is used in so many different places. From testing a relationship to attempting to locate where a business sits when providing their clients further success. Where do you stand hits the point until you step back and see how I use it daily. I've asked many creative people the question not as a relationship tester or business decision but a way to build personal growth. This is where most set the thought aside and take on a different walk or project. Ask yourself, "Where do you stand?" In this present place of right now. Where do you stand? How did you arrive? What lessons did you learn? How will you grow with and beyond where you presently stand? Each morning during my very dark walks at 4:15 I layout my intentions for the day. While walking under those well lit stars in the sky I shape the path by staying true to the intentions at hand. To be in that place I need to know where do I stand? The awareness of all things present needs to have a firm foundation of structure. No guessing. No doubt, fear or shame. The question bluntly puts it on the table and it needs an answer or the breaking down of today's process of success begins to unravel before getting started. Where do you stand? I've been a daily writer since July of 1994. Lots of meditation and ample amounts of prayer. But none of it works until you hold yourself accountable inside the ranks of accessing awareness. I had an OM tell me once, "Don't ever come to me with a problem. When I ask you where we stand on a project if need be I need you to lie to me." That approach to communicating actuality still eats away at how I deliver reality. But the moment brings up an incredible point. In your personal life how many times have you tried to tell yourself where you stand and you lied? Solid intentions deserve proper process and execution.