If you happen to read back over the posts I’ve put up this week you may have noticed a pattern.
This is a week of deep self reflection and evaluation.
Am I on the right path? Am I in alignment with my deeper, greater purpose?
And more importantly, are YOU?
I’m sharing this with you because I’m using a process that I think would be helpful for you to learn so you have it as a “go to plan” the next time you find yourself at a crossroads wondering “Should I stay or go? Should I do this thing or that other thing? Am I getting somewhere in my life? Am I on track?”
If I look back on this moment of my life from waaaaaaaay out in the future, perhaps from my 100th birthday, am I on track? or Have I strayed away from the path with heart?
So the other day I suggested that checking in on the dream you had as a 14-16 year old might possibly be a good way to see if you are staying true to your “Massive Throbbing Vision” (as 1 of my mentors says).
So I ask myself (and suggest you ask your self as well, ) “Am I still on track to fulfilling my profound desire as a 16 year old singer/songwriter [your 16 year old dream here ], or is there something different I want now?
Or even better, is there some way we can fold our original dreams into something bigger and even more congruent and ecological for our lives now?
Part of this comes from a challenge that many of us “peak performers” have.
There are many, many, many choices in life.
I mean seriously. MANY, MANY, MANY…
- What career will be fulfilling and sustaining?
- Is there a way to make an abundant living doing what I most love doing?
- Who do I want to spend my time with?
- Do I want to be with just one special woman or are there many women who I would enjoy being with?
- What is the best exercise to do that will be easy on my joints, take less time, and give me better results?
- What’s the best thing to do with my money so that it grows?
- What should I do tonight? Watch a movie at home or go out to the theater? See a concert? Go to a sports event or watch one on TV? Clean the garage? Watch porn?
If you are anything like me there may have been times in your life when you kind of went around in circles… hesitated while you considered…
Paused for a moment to look around at what is good in your life right now…
Change is inevitable and ultimately it is our ability to adapt to change that truly separates those who cling to the past and those who determine their own future.
So this week I just allowed my days to flow naturally, if I felt like gardening (and I did) then I worked/played in the garden. If I felt like playing guitar I did (I’m kicking ass by the way on some very cool guitar pieces I’m working on). If I felt like taking a walk I did. Because quiet, reflective time is so important to me, I have built it into most of my weeks But this week I dove into it even deeper than usual.
And out of that quiet, silent time, arose a couple of solid ideas.
1. I am here to honor the 500 songs that have “chosen” me to write them. But how I honor them is up to me. I do not have to do anything I do not want to do in order to “get them out”. There is no need for a “deal with the devil in the dark of night” (to quote one of my own songs: “Roll Your Rock Away”). If they get out in a big way great. If not, no big deal, I’ve got plenty of other outlets for my expression and regardless of whether anyone ever hears my stuff, I create it and enjoy playing it for me. Everything else is gravy.
2. I am here to discover and share the kinds of ideas that truly can make a positive difference in my life as well as YOUR life should we choose to apply them. It is in the APPLICATION and EXPERIMENTATION with ideas that we can support each other and compare notes.
3. I am here to help coaching clients who are willing to take response-ability for doing the deep work necessary for personal mastery.
That is why this week I focused on MarkShepardSongs.com as well as Cowabungah.com
Now whether or not the time and energy I spent this week on two of my websites will “bring a financial return” is not clear. If it does fine. But ultimately it is the tiny little actions we do every single day that ultimately compound and collect into a “life”.
The Poet Rumi (13th-century Persian[1][8] poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic) lived some 700 or 800 years ago… During his lifetime he did NOT make his living as a poet. He was a spiritual leader and lawyer. According to wikipedia today he is the best selling poet in the English language. EVEN though he DID NOT ever write or speak English. I read somewhere that his poems were originally songs. The music however, was never recorded or preserved or notated.
But he did every day what he was most called to do. And his words dance across the centuries to touch us and move us today.
Emily Dickenson, never published her poetry in her lifetime.
And while you may or may not have read her poems, scholars agree she was a giant of creative written communication.
Neither one of these artists, wrote what they wrote for money. They simply expressed their thoughts, feelings and ideas in a way that was unique to them and universal enough so that we too could join their spirit in some small way as well as understand ourselves and the mysterious world a little better.
In today’s world we are literally overwhelmed with words and videos and audios and movies and magazines and most of what we hear on a daily basis literally washes over us and leaves us vaguely empty and still longing for meaning.
I can’t fight the tide of information. But I can surf it. I can do the best I can to communicate the truth as I see it. My truth as I see it. And if you are open to what I have to say, great! If not that’s ok and I honor and bless you on your way to finding something that works better for you than what I have to offer.
And all of that comes down to a few “Keys to Cowabungah”.
1. The world is constantly changing. It is not “survival of the fittest” that Darwin was really talking about. It was about the survival of the organisms that were most adaptable to external conditions that he was talking about. Change is inevitable. How we deal with it is the key.
2. No matter what gifts we bring to the world, the world will go one just fine, with or with out us. So to honor our gifts from a place of non-attachment and humility takes a lot of pressure off to “get it right” or to “do it perfectly.” However we do it is just fine. To take ourselves less seriously is the way to go…
May you have a fabulous, amazing, life affirming, joyful day!
Mark
Questions? Thoughts? Comments?
P.S. If you have any thoughts or questions or subjects you would like me to reflect upon in future videos, click the button below and contact me today.
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