Archive | June, 2011

Shedding Stuff and Juggling Drunk

27 Jun

I lost my backpack this weekend. And it didn’t even phase me.

I’m a Capricorn. I am notoriously addicted to stuff. While not exactly a hoarder, I could easily be called a collector…and maybe even an over-packer. I like to be well stocked and supplied. Okay, I’m a hoarder.

When we move to Costa Rica in 35 days, we all have two suitcases each. (And a carryon bag. And everything I can put in my pockets, belt pouches, and under my hat.)

I have had the wonderful opportunity to re-examine my relationship to the things in my life, to STUFF itself. It’s remarkable to engage with an object that I brought into my office five years ago, because I wanted to use it/make something with it/keep it incase I needed it ,and find that it still has served no useful purpose in my life, aside from weighing me down.

Then, there’s the stuff that makes the cut. The stuff I actually USE. My laptop, my journal, my keys and my wallet, my juggling balls. Things I keep nearby throughout the day.

And then there’s the stuff I want to look through when I’m an old man. Boxes of old memorabilia from when I was young; since the definition of “when I was young” expands to include ever-greater portions of my life, this collection gets larger. I’ve now got it up to 6 or 7 boxes of stuff, that I’m willing to pay to store indefinitely.

Normally, losing or misplacing any of my many possessions (catalogued subconsciously by my brain) causes me distress or even grief. But after a month of slowly, methodically combing through my office and re-examining all of my possessions, I was able to lose some unimportant stuff and really not care.

I was, admittedly, drunker than I had been in quite some time. The annual North American Organic Brewers Festival, which I have happily attended since its inception five years ago. This year was the first where I was not working a booth or attending with my kids; I could really just wander around and drink amazingly good beer in the sunshine.

(more…)

Relaxing from my Center

24 Jun

Photo by Jill Clardy

It’s only because I am consciously rocking the gut this summer that I noticed:  I have been continually holding tension in my abdomen.

Tight in my center. That’s me.

This unfortunate side effect of staying in shape has created energetic blocks between myself and what I want to manifest.

By staying tense, pulling in my gut whenever I’m in public, keeping the habit of tension when I’m in private, I have kept myself from fully relaxing into the present moment.

The gut is, in emotional terms, what guides us. Charles Haanel believed that the subconscious mind had its focal point in the solar plexus, and it is through understanding this potent force of energy that we are able to use his “Master Key System” and manifest positive results in our life. (more…)

One Beer Belly, Please.

14 Jun

I have made the decision to acquire a beer gut.

This decision was not come by lightly. I am supposed to be doing P90X this season, but with starting a new business, selling all my worldly possessions, and preparing for a move across the continent, devoting an hour or two every day to my fitness hasn’t been working out.

Plus, there’s my ankle.

Twelve weeks, and it’s still not completely healed. I can do most things, but I can’t hit full stride in a run, which means no parkour.

Soon, I will be living in Costa Rica, doing yoga all the time in the sunshine.

Right now, I live in Portland, one of the microbrewery meccas of the world.

I plan on indulging in my love of beer for the next 48 days, six pack be damned! (more…)

Personal Message x 1mil #trust30

9 Jun

Your Personal Message by Eric Handler

To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is burning deep inside of you? If you could spread your personal message RIGHT NOW to 1 million people, what would you say?

(Author: Eric Handler)

This is a prompt that makes me conflicted. I hesitate with anyone who would dictate that what is right for him is right for all. It is from such convictions that oppression becomes moral, and war becomes inevitable.

I much prefer the limit of 1 million people, for in holding one personal truth, if it is personal enough, chances are good that there are, indeed, 1 million people who share that truth themselves.

I would prefer to share a truth with those who are on the cusp of realizing it, against the prospect of declaring something to be true to a crowd of those opposed to the idea.

Where, then, can we preach our truth? If we preach to the choir who agrees with us, we effect no change. If we preach to the opposition, those who stalwartly believe in the opposite philosophy, we gain no traction, and effect no change.

The only possibility of fruitfully expressing an idea to others, then, is to express it to those who are on the cusp of change already, or are lost. Those without opinion. Those who know that they do not know. Those who are searching.

If I had something to say to 1 million of those people…then, I could convey a personal truth that would be heard, and could help them to change.

It is from our greatest wound that we derive our greatest strength.

100 Digital Ninjas #trust30

6 Jun

Dare to be bold by Matt Cheuvront

Our arts, our occupations, our marriages, our religion, we have not chosen, but society has chosen for us. We are parlour soldiers. We shun the rugged battle of fate, where strength is born. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Next to Resistance, rational thought is the artist or entrepreneurs worst enemy. Bad things happen when we employ rational thought, because rational thought comes from the ego. Instead, we want to work from the Self, that is, from instinct and intuition, from the unconscious.

A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. Its only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.” - Steven Pressfield, Do the Work

The idea of “being realistic” holds all of us back. From starting a business or quitting a job to dating someone who may not be our type or moving to a new place – getting “real” often means putting your dreams on hold.

Today, let’s take a step away from rational thought and dare to be bold. What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to accomplish but have been afraid to pursue? Write it down. Also write down the obstacles in your way of reaching your goal. Finally, write down a tangible plan to overcome each obstacle.

The only thing left is to, you know, actually go make it happen. What are you waiting for?

(Author: Matt Cheuvront)

Boldness has never been much of a challenge for me. Thankfully, I recently indulged myself in one of the boldest ideas of my life. Successful? No. Educational? More than anything else.

The quote cited here, not of Emerson but of Pressfield, speaks to me especially strongly. I have come to realize over the past year that one of my greatest liabilities is my big brain. (more…)

One Strong Belief #trust30

2 Jun

One Strong Belief by Buster Benson

It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

The world is powered by passionate people, powerful ideas, and fearless action. What’s one strong belief you possess that isn’t shared by your closest friends or family? What inspires this belief, and what have you done to actively live it?

(Author: Buster Benson)

My one strong belief is in the power of the stage.Caelan and his masks

My family, and most of my closest friends, do not share this belief. The lifestyle of a performer is hectic, erratic, and extraordinary. The unpredictable schedule of an actors life – six weeks of intense devotion to a project, including nights and weekends, followed by a brief respite of recovery, which is punctuated by itches to get back into a period of intense devotion – leads to many actors marrying their own kind.

The community of performers is a small world, because when you are in it, you are in it all the time, 24-7. I got out of it, primarily, because I married a non-performer.

My wife does not like going to bad theater shows, that just happen to star someone we know. This is an essential component of entrenching yourself in the theatrical community, seeing the shows of your friends, good and bad. They reciprocate by coming to see your bad shows, ad your good ones. Then, one day, when someone has a line on a good opportunity, they recommend their closest performer friends to the director, and you climb up the ladder.

Instead, we spent our time, as a couple, doing non-performance things, and my relationship to the performance community waned, and ultimately stagnated.

I miss being on stage, almost as much as I miss seeing bad shows. Even during bad productions, I can learn, and puzzle out why what I am watching is not working.

And then, occasionally, after you have gone to a few bad shows, the numbers pay off, and you are treated with the extraordinary experience of watching an amazing piece of live theatre.

If my family and closest friends shared this belief, in the power of the stage, the magnetism of it, I would likely still be in the performance community. If I had more reliance in myself, as Mr. Emerson encourages, I would fight against the tendencies of my family and friends, and demand that I spend the time and effort to be a part of the theatrical community. I may be able to make more friends that share this interest, but I may pay for that by losing the closeness I have gained with those I love.

It is a balancing act, weighing our own predispositions against the tastes of those closest to us. I regret that my intimates do not share my love for the theatre, but I cannot blame them for it.

I look back at my stunted theatrical life with longing, and bite my lip as we decide what to do together.

The Sentence of Today. #trust30

1 Jun

Today by Liz Danzico

Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. The force of character is cumulative. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

If ‘the voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks,’ then it is more genuine to be present today than to recount yesterdays. How would you describe today using only one sentence? Tell today’s sentence to one other person. Repeat each day.

(Author: Liz Danzico)

The unending improvisation of my life can be understood through the allegory of today; the microcosm of my life.

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