The past couple of weeks I’ve been a bit scarce around here…
I’ve been working on a lot of different levels… reflecting back on this 90 Day Transformational Challenge (it’s day #74 BTW).
So much has come together Since the start of the new year that I’m kind of stunned… by… the… simplicity and downright OBVIOUSNESS of my own big SHIFT.
What’s happened is I’ve had one of those “DUH!” moments. You know the kind, when you have
Powerful Insights That Change Your Thinking About What is POSSIBLE…
For years I’ve struggled with the fundamental challenge of having all these songs that I just didn’t seem to be able to “get out” into the world in a significant enough way for it to be self supporting financially.
- When I attempted to be “Folk Singer” I was told my music was too “rock”.
- When I attempted to be a “Rock” singer, I was told I was too “folk”.
- When I tried being a “Christian Songwriter” I was told I wasn’t “Christian enough”.
- When I tried just doing Kids songs and storytelling assemblies I missed my “grown up” music.
- When I tried being a “new thought” songwriter at Unity I got frustrated at only being able to use 1 or 2 songs a week… and I didn’t get to share much of my message…
- When I tried to just focus on being a hypnotherapist or an NLP Practitioner and Trainer… I missed doing my music…
- And even when I attempted to focus on my music, I missed my NLP and Hypnosis work…
- Sheesh!
And still this compulsion to write songs about EVERYTHING… just kept pushing at me and nudging at me and “torturing” me with “if only” thinking and “what if” thinking… not to mention VICTIM THINKING… and outright whining!
For most of my 40 years of banging my head against this “wall” my music was just an expense… A VERY EXPENSIVE HOBBY.
There was no record company. I WAS the record company. And a poorly run one at that.
I paid to record and duplicate CD’s… I paid to enter songwriting contests… my Posi Award cost me well over $2,000 just in travel and hotel expenses… and hasn’t done much to support me financially even though “Together We Can Change the World” is literally being sung all over the globe.
Last year, I spent over $6,000 recording songs specifically for the Posi Awards and I didn’t even get NOMINATED.
It goes on and on this spending of moo-lah…
For example, I pay a monthly fee to BandCamp to “host” my songs so people can download them… etc. I think I’ve generated over $130 in download fees… and it only costs $15.00 per month for that service… Do the math.
See what I mean? THIS is why parents tremble with fear when their kids tell them they want to be musicians when they grow up! LOL
And all these years all this “investment” and effort and yearning to “somehow get my music out” just created a trickle of money in return. Please understand this is not a gripe or a complaint. I’m the main reason it’s been a trickle down theory. My Limiting beliefs and “head trash”. Blech!
To date I’ve recorded well over 18 CD’s, MOST of which have never recouped the thousands and thousands of dollars I’ve “invested” in them. But I’m totally glad I recorded them. I’d do it all over in a heartbeat… and I’ll tell you why in a moment. Hang with me here cuz this is actually about both me and YOU.
So every time I attempted to think of making a living as a singer/songwriter/storyteller/hypnotherapist/NLP trainer… I would get tangled up in trying to decide what I should focus on… If I focus only on the music I bang my head on how to make a living at it… and “doing just music” doesn’t even feel right because I don’t want to just be a living juke box… I want to continue creating… and if I only focus on music I lose the personal transformation stuff and vice versa…
Why Urban Farming is a Significant Factor
It wasn’t until I found this cool dude on Youtube, Curtis Stone, an “urban farmer” who makes $100,000 plus on 1/3 of an acre in his suburban neighborhood that it got me to consider treating my music, storytelling my NLP/Hypnosis practice AND my quest for health and high energy AND my paintings as simply “crops” on my “farm.”
Each crop has a season. Each plot of land has times and moments in the day, week, month, year where more attention needs to be paid to a particular area.
Before Curtis Stone, It seemed as “IMPOSSIBLE” in my mind that a farmer could grow enough food on 1/3 of an acre to make a plentiful living as it seemed that I could somehow make a living doing the kinds of music and healing and transformational work that I actually wanted to do with all my heart and all my soul.
And all of a sudden it began to feel POSSIBLE. If guys like Curtis Stone and others can break our preconceptions of what’s possible in farming, maybe, just maybe I could break my own limited thinking about what’s possible for integrating my Music, my Storytelling, my Healing, Hypnosis, Personal Development, and Transformation all into “one thing” that I can sustainably earn a living at…
And what emerged out of this reflection and intention and examination of limiting patterns and beliefs in myself… was that…
- My music IS hypnosis.
- My paintings ARE hypnosis.
- My performances ARE hypnosis.
Everything I do is all about communicating personal transformation and self mastery.
“Change your mind and change your life, set aside the fear and strife… Together we can change the world…”
The music. The visual stuff like paintings and videos, even the pics I pick for my blog posts are all about healing, transformation and the process of learning to live our lives with deeper and more ecological satisfaction and joy.
DUH!!!!!
So as I bring my own 90 Day Transformational Challenge #4 to a close I feel ready to move towards the next step…
Authentically, lovingly, setting out to share my music and message in multiple mediums OUT into EARS, EYES, HEARTS AND SOULS right here in Albany NY and right there wherever YOU are in the world… And along the way part of my “job” is to help YOU heal, harmonize and honor who YOU most long to be in the world as well…
So there. THAT’S what’s been lovingly ‘GOB SMACKING’ me for the last couple of weeks…
Your assignment (should you choose to accept it) is to think of all the things you love to do and IMAGINE being able to do them in a way that is even BETTER than you have been able to imagine so far… Better for YOU, better for other people and better for the planet.
Why IS that POSSIBLE?
Don’t concern yourself on HOW to turn it into a way to make a living. Just ask yourself “Why is it possible?” over and over again today… and see what happens.
In my case when it all came together it was in a flow state of simple good feelings and a clear sense of a healthy bottom line…
So what seems to be gearing up during my NEXT 90 day challenge is to start performing more Sound Healing Hypnosis “Song Baths” both locally and wherever there may be a need for multi-disciplinary programming.
As part of my own inner work, I’m going to be creating a kick ass course on ERADICATING the old limiting beliefs and thought patterns that seem to keep us locking into lives of frustration and quiet desperation…
So more about all that soon!!!
in the meantime, here’s a little musical support for today:
“Why Is It Possible?”
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