Archives for April 2018

When your up to something new you have to push. Why? Simple. All the momentum is going in the opposite direction. This is particularly true if the road you’re on is going to add value, change the context, and lift burdens or break bindings.

The spiritual practice of prayer and fasting is used precisely for that push. The focus it takes to tame the body and the illumination and elimination of all distractions work in tandem to place ourselves squarely in what matters most – and only that.

The push exists in the tangible world as well. Being a voice, if not a force, for change mandates that you will bump up against the walls of consistency.

Here’s what I can be sure of in the days that I don’t feel like I have the nerve to push.

Truth will carve the way to the ears that are made to hear it.

Our feet will carry us to the work at hand.

And we will have whatever we actually need to accomplish the task set before us.

Even if we can’t see the end, our job is to push.

When NASA’s space shuttle re-entered the earth’s atmosphere the ship endured immense amounts of pressure and heat. The ship was built in such a way as to shield the astronauts from these elements. Even with the ship doing its job, the astronauts still experienced up to 3Gs (gravitational forces). This was only one aspect – the physical – of re-entry that the astronauts had to endure.

When we have a particular experience that changes us, returning to our normal schedules, relationships, and responsibilities, can be jarring at best. Schedules do not respect the time needed to process changes. Relationships take some time to adjust to the change (while some fight for the consistency of the past). Responsibilities often exist as static markers in a world that’s in flux.

Have you recently experienced an event that dramatically changed you? If so, give yourself some time and space to allow that change to settle. Carve out some time in your schedule to honor the experience you’ve just had. Bring the people you care about alongside you. Let them know what you’ve experienced and what you’re processing. Allow the responsibilities to provide some consistency around you.

In that, we can hope to protect ourselves from the heat and pressure, and lessen the forces that impact us as we re-enter our lives after a dramatic shift.

Set linearly, this is a great process to tie action (and by extension goals) to awareness. First, we take account of what we know. Everything is on the table. Then, engage in a practice of embodiment. Finally, we act.

Set cyclically, this is a great process to check ourselves. What we do is an extension of what is in us. By examining what is in us we can become more aware. Maybe what we do can change as a result of what we have come to know.

*Hat tip to Dr. Dan Dorianni, who I first heard present this little gem.

Asking for forgiveness before offering an apology short circuits the entire process of healing. You can’t ask for forgiveness from someone without first confessing the offense. Confession is the pathway to repentance, repentance begins the inner work of the heart to soften, to be renewed by Love, and ultimately to receive forgiveness.

Reconciliation only happens after truth is exposed. Nothing gets swept under the rug. Everything is brought into the light so that it may be dealt with, mercy may be shown, grace may be experienced, and Love planted in the place of pain.

Who do you play to? That is, who is responsible for the conforming of your work? What pressures exist that bend your choices?

In the world of the performing arts there many such pressures. These include agents, producers, grant making committees, and of course, the audience – to say nothing of collaborators. All have their own purposes. These weigh in on the creative space in which a piece is created. They weigh on the ability of a artist to stay true to the voice they’ve been given, the message they are meant to carry.

That is unless the artist reframes their life. The artist’s role is not primarily to conform to the pressures of the space. That is secondary to the message. For it is the message that affects people, changes cultures, can heal or bind, and can really and truly change the world.

This is true for everyone who has been given a message to share. Be courageous. Stay true to the message you’ve been given.

Sometimes we need new words to describe the experiences we have and the world we see. Sometimes we have enough. Sometimes we search for words when we don’t need to. A word exists that will describe what we want, but it’s popular definition has taken on a different meaning. In culture, the word we would normally use doesn’t work anymore. So we search for a new word.

But what if the word is important? Like “love”?

We live in a culture in which people fight over the meaning of words in order to secure the upper hand in a conversation or debate. Brands battle to associate their name with others words that evoke a particular set of values. This set of values is described by words. Words whose meaning we tend to assume. But in a world that deconstructs things more quickly than it builds them, I submit that someone has to be caring for the words that are being destroyed in popular discourse.

I will pose two examples.

1) Think of all the people you may know who have been abused or oppressed in the name of “Love.”

2) Think of everyone you know who talks about Love separate from any form of Justice.

Both of these examples pose challenges to what those within the confines of these situations associate with the word Love. To be sure, Love is neither abusive or oppressive, nor can it exist outside of a context of justice.

Therein lies the work, for if we reclaim our language we must go through the work of undoing the damage done in real life. We must be truthful in what is right and wrong. We must not let someone say something that is a lie (especially knowingly), for that not only distorts our language, it can distort our lives.

There’s an inherent tension between “don’t judge a book by its cover” and the attraction we have to beautiful things. I often wonder what the world would look like if we disregarded aesthetics. Would we be happy in a world with no makeup, in which whatever lurked underneath was continually exposed?

Asked another way, what if books didn’t have covers? And more specifically, what if we didn’t know so much about how to incite a particular response by the design of the cover?

The topic of aesthetics is broad and deep. It intersects in the world of design, advertising, art, and of course, nature. However, if the prevailing wisdom is to not judge a book by its cover, and we can agree that the things that matter most are matters of the heart (internal not external), then that should be applied across the board.

Things of beauty should not be allowed an upper hand, by the effects of their natural affection, especially in an age of manipulation. Do not sleep, lest we become entangled.

All at once. That’s how I think I enjoy life. All at once. Unless I’m overwhelmed, that is. Then please give me the bite size pieces that are pre-cut and easy to chew. And while I’m the kind of guy who keeps his food separate in his plate, I do try to make sure that my plate’s content is balanced and well-rounded. How’s that for an analogy? 😉

Integration is the practice of connecting all the things, such that a change in one must affect the other. Integrating what we believe matters most (our value set) with what we spend our time on, the projects we invest in, and the things we work to unveil, is one of the most important tasks set before us.

It’s easier for things to remain separated. But without any integration there is outright hypocrisy. With integration that is faulty, there can be grace. With complete integration there is perfection.