Month: February 2024 (Page 2 of 3)

The great’s, who don’t want to show their work before they were who they ultimately became, are not doing us any favors.

How can we truly understand the genius in Lucas’ or Kubrick’s work without knowing where they came from and seeing the seeds of what was to come in their first films?

Or the early works of Michelangelo as he committed his life to his craft and ultimately creating one of the greatest works of art ever made by man after completing “David.”

Everyone has to start somewhere. We must embrace the chaotic. The jumbled and the sloppy. We cannot be afraid to expose our flaws and our blind spots. Our curiosity to explore the unknown is rewarded with a refinement, evolution and depth of our skill.

When we accept the role of the neophyte we are committing to the journey into the darkness of the unknown. We are admitting to ourselves that we have accepted the pilgrimage to rise up beyond even our own expectations and create something more than who we are.

The answer cannot be in hatred. It has to be LOVE.

The response cannot be violence. It has to be LOVE.

There’s no way a demeaning quip towards others is going to lift us up. It has to be LOVE.

Selfish acts only isolate us. We have to learn to LOVE.

Berating ourselves and holding onto resentment from our past leads to an unhealthy life of body, mind and soul. We have to learn to LOVE ourselves.

There’s plenty time, money, parking spaces, answers, promotions, seats, positions, and room for all of us to go around. When we come from a place of LOVE.

The answer is always the same.

LOVE.

There are so many ways of saying it; What you focus on expands. Keep your eye on the ball. Or, your car goes where you’re looking.

This is why it’s so important for us to reset ourselves each and every day in order for us to keep our attention where we want it and minimize our drift.

I’m challenged by today’s distractions around me in all shapes, forms and sizes. I find it more and more difficult to keep a singular focus – even for short burst of time.

However, I do realize this makes all the difference in the world and cultivates those matters that I cherish.

When we commit to a practice – there are so many benefits for us it’s difficult to list them all. But, I can try.

I used to believe creativity comes in the form of a spontaneous gust of wind carrying a lottery ticket across the skies until the lucky son of a bitch catches it in her outstretched hand.

Nowadays, I subscribe to a much less whimsical idea of cultivating creativity, but also much more reliable: putting in the work.

When we show up consistently day after day to hone our craft, we check many boxes including; consistency, repetition, the idea of moving our feet, risking on a regular basis, staving off procrastination, gaining confidence, finding one’s voice and getting closer to something that’s brilliant.

If we consider the 70-20-10 Creativity Rule: 70% of everything we make is mediocre, 20% is garbage and 10% is brilliant, then we might want to continue to produce as much as possible in order to get to the good stuff.

What others view as capturing “Lightning In A Bottle” is nothing short of a life-long commitment to showing up and facing our fears on a daily basis in order to create what’s important to us out of nothing.

That takes courage in my opinion. And it takes a practice.

Often I contemplate the best way to express my love for myself and those who I care deeply about who are around me.

I’m a dreamer and often fantasize about giving others I care about big, flashy and over the top gifts/surprises/gestures. However, when I look back in my lifetime to others who have meant a great deal to me and their expressions of love, it often takes the form of their time they spent with me and their undivided attention.

These are the treasures I look upon with fondness when reminiscing about our special time together.

I’ve heard it said that the most precious gift you can give to someone is your attention. Essentially your time.

It makes sense after all. The most valuable commodity we have while on this earth is time.