Click to listen to Changing the World

You want to get involved in helping to make the world a better place. You see so many places that need your help.  But there are 6.8 billion people on the planet. You see so many things that need to be done.  There are so many demands on your time, your attention, your energy, your resources.  What can you, as one individual do that will make any impact on this enormous world?

Here’s how you change the world, one moment at a time, one person at a time.

Music credit: admiralbob77 Baby Bird www.ccmixter.com

World Population Counter

Population counter is updated hourly

Sometimes we have a light. Sometimes we have a way to see through the darkness. But sometimes the only way to see our way through the darkness is to know within ourselves, to trust something within us knowing that we are going in the direction of the light.

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Click to listen to Wisdom of the Black Bear Cub

With so many points in our lives where we can’t stop, where we have to push through and accomplish the goals, meet the expectations, fulfill the needs, we can’t forget that pushing so hard means we leave important things behind. What can the black bear cub teach us about the important moments of our lives?

Music Credit: Kevin MacLeod

In 1996, the composer and playwright Jonathan Larson gave the world a song which alters the course of lives, and will continue to alter the course of lives yet to come, around this globe. And, the day before his intense and thoughtfully powerful play, which includes this song of dynamic reflection, was to premiere – he died.

His show is RENT, his song is “Seasons of Love“.

Jonathan never heard the audience’s thunderous applause that opening night.

He never saw the repeated standing ovations night after night.

He couldn’t watch the “Sold out” signs go in the box-office windows of theatres around the world for over a decade.

He never read the glorious reviews and stunning reactions to the power of his masterpiece.

Jonathan did not walk down the aisle and bound up onto the stage to excitedly grasp the three Tony Awards presented to him for “RENT” for Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score by the American Theatre Wing.

Nor did he have the chance to receive the thrilling notice of “RENT” being awarded two prestigious Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Book.

And, he never knew he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Jonathan’s song is about measuring one year, about the 525,600 minutes that make up one year.

If Jonathan had known that the 525,600 minutes prior to the opening of his show were the only minutes he had left would he have lived them differently?
We’ll never know.
But in those 525,600 minutes that Jonathan celebrates in song he filled the world with ideas, friendship, laughter, music, thought, love. And yes, since he was putting up a large production with a cast and crew who were looking to him for confidence and comfort, he probably had his fine share of fear, worry, angst and insecurity too. But, Jonathan lived those 525,600 minutes. He LIVED them!!!
Hell, he embraced them!!!

And, we are all the better for Jonathan’s willingness to share his 525,600 minutes!!
Additionally, I believe in his song he is asking us ALL to share ours with each other.

Now, lastly, it’s my opinion, Jonathan –

DID hear the audience’s thunderous applause that opening night,

SAW repeated standing ovations night after night,

WATCHED “Sold out” signs go in the box-office windows of theatres around the world for over a decade,

READ the glorious reviews and stunning reactions to the power of his masterpiece,

And IN SPIRIT WALKED DOWN the aisle and BOUNDED UP onto the stage to EXCITEDLY GRASP those three Tony Awards….

DID have the chance to receive the thrilling notice of “RENT” being awarded two prestigious Drama Desk Awards,

DEFINITELY KNOWS he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama

AND THAT HE WAS DESERVING OF THEM ALL!!!!

Thank you Jonathan.

None of us is offered every perfect element to create a perfect life. Yet, we do create the most perfect version of ourselves we can with the opportunities, experiences and tools available to each of us.

music by Kevin MacLeod, Simple Duet

We come into this world and we change it. Whether you live to be 98 years old or 9 minutes old, you change the world. Your life has impact and each time you encounter another person you have a chance to change a moment, to change a life.

The date of Death’s knock ever changes us.
The anniversary of sadness’ initiation,
the memory of loss’ entrance,
we find ourselves haunted by the echo of passage.

None of us escapes the staring-into-still-space realization when one whom we love dies.

We stand engulfed within the awareness that the one we love is no longer here.
Abruptly we realize they are nowhere that we can completely comprehend.
But we slowly have to let it sink in that they will not suddenly reappear. They have left.
They are gone.
They will not walk back as we know them.
And the world is different; the world is changed.
From that moment on nothing is the same.
There is a hollow emptiness.
Loss is a vast abyss.

They have stepped from our understanding,
from our world,
from our gaze,
from our arms.

However, they will not, they cannot, completely leave us.
For they’ve written their story in our lives,
sketched their laughter in our memories,
sculpted their thoughts on our imagination and
painted their love on our hearts.

So, honey, while this is the anniversary of the day you transitioned to a new place of learning, I see your smile in my dreams and feel your warmth on my shoulders. Thank you. I love you, still and always.

Recorded by a stream in a damaged forest five months after a fire, the redwood forest doesn’t stop to mourn its loss or consider its tragedy. The forest immediately begins the process of regeneration, of rebirth. Seeds immediately drop, seedlings sprout and life moves forward. What may appear to be a tragedy may well bring new life, new beginnings, changes we don’t immediately understand.

music by Kevin MacLeod, Daybreak

Somewhere in you is an artist. Somewhere in your life is an artist that you can appreciate and support.

What is always important is that we take the opportunity to express the artist within and to understand and support the artists in our lives. And when we make the choice to criticize we need to be honest enough with ourselves to understand from where the criticism arises.

For the art that is created is an expression of the interior landscape of the person who created the art and there is no criticism of that expression that does not become a criticism of the human being.

Resources to find your inner artist:

Below are a few of links that we think are helpful if you are thinking about exploring your creative side. If you know of other good resources let us know and we’ll post those links here as well.

Click to visit Burridge Studios Website

Paint something:

Bob Burridge is an internationally acclaimed artist who teaches art in a way that allows you to look at your own work and develop along the lines you choose for yourself. And as he says: “It is stress-free, but be warned: you could wind up with too much enthusiasm for painting.” Bob’s workshop schedule includes classes all over the US. And his initial “Loosen Up” workshop is a great way to find your creative side no matter what medium you want to work in.

Find your inner troubador:

Although this is not a link to lessons, it’s a link to song from one of my absolute favorite musicians, David Wilcox about the song that won’t shut up until he gets it out of his head. So if a song is really struggling to get out of your head, find a local guitar teacher and find your inner troubador! Then post your cover on David’s page! And remember that the right teacher for you will make you feel very good about yourself!

How to change that little voice that says “I can’t…”

Click to visit Ignite The Genius Within Website

“We always get exactly what we want. However, we are not aware of most of what we want. To make matters even more challenging, most of us are not even aware that we are unaware of wanting all kinds of things we aren’t conscious of. That is why there is so much disparity between what we think we want and what we actually get…”

Moments Count Audio Adventures presents an other worldly adventure with Brooke Leigh Sheldon. You are walking one lovely day, without a care in the world, when a very unexpected opportunity presents itself to you. You will be offered the chance of a lifetime. What will you do?

Music: Netherworld Shanty by Kevin MacLeod
with embellishments by Valli Keller

It can be very difficult to be kind to someone who has been unkind to you; to someone who has betrayed you, hurt you. And yet, there is a gift in being able to remember that the person who caused that hurt set up a dynamic that allowed you to reach inside, find the hurt, turn it around and find a productive lesson. There is a gift in being able to remember that love is not just in one place in our life, but in many places and the opportunity is in continuing to bestow our love, our care on those who will not take it for granted, but will value it, understand it, and return it.

Music: Accralate by Kevin MacLeod

Where do you find your inspiration? Who are your heroes? Can you count yourself a hero in your own life?

Have you ever found yourself in love with someone who does not love you?

This is a painful place to ponder, for no matter how many people surround you in your life, on this wounded wayfare you are forced to wander alone.

Rejection.
Loss.
Hurt.
Pain.

And these rips and tears in the private papers holding the ruminative stanzas that define our inner self can leave us scattered and crumpled.

Love is a mystery.
Love is perhaps, the greatest mystery.
When love pours into us, we brim until we overflow with its airy elating lightness.
When love infuses our vision, the colors of our world reflect a surreal bright trueness.
Love is the story woven into our lives and the definer of our world.

Moreover, all we can do with this glorious mystery is rejoice when it enters our lives, even if it disappoints us.
It is a gift given to us, in whatever form it comes to be ours.
Whether offered by us to another or offered to us from another.
Whether given to us or felt from within us.

For we can never, never forget, love is a gift and gifts are to be given.
So give. Give. Give. Give. Love.
And….receive, receive, receive…..LOVE.

Give it to the person who brought it to you, if only as an offer of ever kindness in your heart.
Now, give it to all the others who can benefit from your gift.
Your love is a gift for the world; please do not keep it to yourself.

Love does not have one purpose in you, or one person.
So reflect, be thankful and celebrate yourself. For you possess the warm heart and openness of spirit to embrace the love that moves within you.
You feel. You feel deeply. This is magnificent. You are magnificent.
Embrace the feelings of high that come with understanding that love came to live in you.
Hold this close in your heart and remember…. you do not choose love. It chooses you.

As Go Daddy founder Bob Parsons says in his Rules For Success, “We’re not here for a long time. We’re here for a good time!” There’s no place in your world that you go where you intend to spend eternity. Not even… here.

When my neighbors, Isiah and Natalie, come for a visit it’s a delight, an education and a reason to have hope for and confidence in the future. Meet the neighbors…

Music: New Friendly by Kevin MacLeod

The dramatic moments of our lives cause instantaneous and sometimes cataclysmic change. But even without drama, even in our calm we carry with us the power to create change in our world. Just as the ocean changes the surface of the entire globe by calmly and rhythmically lapping against the land, we carry with us our powerful ability to change life around us with slow consistent rhythms.

Today, I happened to glance over at four women sitting at a table on the patio of a sidewalk cafe. They appeared to know each other well. They spoke casually as they began perusing their menus.

Jauntily approaching their table was the waitress, stepping out of the cafe. She asked if they’d like something to drink. Each of the women stopped momentarily to consider the waitress’ question, but before any of the other women answered and without consulting the other three the fourth woman, without looking up at the waitress, haughtily replied “You can bring us all waters, for now.” She then proceeded to begin telling the rest of the table what she thought looked interesting on the menu, essentially “dismissing” the waitress.

Wow….I must say, I was flabbergasted by this woman’s callousness. I was also struck by her comfortable willingness to completely invalidate the relevance of another human being. Additionally, she was doing this to a person who was graciously “serving” her.

I, in my time, have worked in many diverse of occupations. My career has been a fascinating and constantly winding path for me, always rich and full of diversity. I don’t like to sit in sameness for too long.
However, one of the professions I have never explored is being wait staff.

Yet, while I have never been a server or a waitress I have ever been aware of how much I admire the work they do and the occupational hazards they face, as today’s view was reminding me.

Their profession is a complex and intricate one. It is one requiring infinite patience to be well done.

The best waiters and waitresses I have watched are some of greatest managers of human behavior I have ever observed.

Food and drink can only carry an establishment so far. If people don’t feel appreciated or well tended to by the wait personnel they will not keep coming back.

Yet that delicate balance of humanness has two sides and there are humans on both sides.

The person who serves you is the person who you serve.

I do not mean to confuse you.
Allow me to explain.

Not one of us came here greater than any other one of us.

Not one of us, because of
where we live,
how much money we make,
what we own
where we go to school,
what we do,
how we worship,
what we play,
where we work,
what we drive,
who we’re married to,
how many degrees we have,
what clubs we belong to,
how many pairs of shoes are in our closet,
what we drink,
who we know
is greater than any other one of us.

Not one of us came here greater than any other one of us.

The person who is serving you is committing their energy to your comfort.
They are attending to your needs. They are being kind to you.

They deserve our consideration.
They deserve our respect.
They deserve our appreciation.

Often they will they will tell you their name. Try to catch it. Then try to use it in a caring way when you’re speaking to that waiter or waitress. You know what I mean; it’s nice when people remember our names. It acknowledges that they recognize us. We humans like being recognized in caring ways, no matter what our profession is.

Many CEO’s the world over count experiences when they were wait staff, in their youth, as priceless learning opportunities. Some of the most valuable times being when those whom they were serving treated the errors, the youthful CEO-to-be made, with kindness or generosity. They report those situations provided them with powerful lessons in benevolence. In addition, numerous Fortune 500 executives have noted they hire, in high regard, the person who treats the wait staff as highly regarded. Moreover, they do not give a second thought to the candidate who does not give the wait staff a second thought.

Many of these executive’s also report that their final decisions about whether to trust signing onto a multi-billion dollar business deal can hinge on their observations of how pleasant and considerate the other CEO is their exchanges with the wait personnel. This demonstrates to them the open-mindedness, fairness and collaborative energy the other Chief Executive brings to the table.

We have a great amount to learn from one another,
perhaps, almost as much as we have to teach one another.

But first, we must begin by valuing each other.

Whom you serve is the person who serves you.

When you close your eyes, what do you see?

I’m not asking you about the times when you’re laying down on the sojourn to sleep.
I’m asking you a simpler, more complex, question. What happens when you purposely close your eyes with no intention but to see what’s inside your “vision” when your eyes are closed and you begin to wander?

I mean this not as trickery. I assure you.
Moreover, it can only be a question whose final answer belongs only to you.

However, I would quickly wager you that the answers you would give me would be completely different from my own. Additionally, carry that bet further, I’d put more down and assert further they’d be different still from the person shopping next to you at the market, standing ahead of you in line at the bank or sitting beside you in the doctor’s office waiting room.

You see, our inner world, or our internal construct, belongs to us.
As we close our eyes, we begin a journey inside.
This is where our silence and, yes, our noise within ourselves all begins.
Here we start to be alone with ourselves in a way unique to each of us.

We close our eyes and begin sensing the trail of our “onlyness”.

Therefore, these next questions have not a thing to do with whether or not your individual eyes can see an ocean’s blue or the sun set or a seagull fly. They have nothing to do with the mechanics of the eye.

With that caveat, I ask you:

Are you seeing or unseeing?

Are you unsighted or insightful?

Do you envision or are you a visionary?

You see now what I mean; these questions do not have anything to do with our eyes. They are about our hopes, our minds and our hearts.

So I think, no, I believe, that You see a whole lot when You close Your eyes.
You see possibilities.
Now look closer.
You are the possibilities You see.
And if You look closer still, well,

You are the possibilities You seek.

It seems popular right now to write songs asking you to consider, if today were your last day, what would you do with it?
This moment is ALWAYS the first moment that begins the rest of the your life. If this moment is both the first moment of the rest of your life and the beginning of the last day of your life, how is your perspective on your life changed?
What will you do differently?
How will you love differently?
How will you treat the people in your life differently?

Starting today…

Paranormal Activity…..is it true?

Here I go again, true confession happens here a whole bunch. C’mon, let’s face it, I can’t ask you to be honest with yourself if I don’t start the conversation with my own honesty, right? Well, at least that’s the way I see it. So let’s jog back to the question.

Paranormal activity, is it true?

Well, perhaps it is.
I’ll be the first to tell you that I have seen amazing things happen in my lifetime that defy easy explanation.

That, however, is not really what makes me scratch my head. What puzzles me is why, when we think of “paranormal activity” do we most often conjure images of the negative?

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m a pretty strong horror film buff. So, I have no intention of discussing this from some moralistic, standing on the mount position. I wouldn’t even know where to begin that treatise.

By the way, I tend to go in for horror films that lead me down the path to the intensely psychological horror haunts within our own palpable imaginations. Some great examples would be films like the original versions of “The Uninvited” or “The Haunting”. Or throw me in front some Hitchcock and pass the popcorn, yes, with plenty of butter. But, you get the picture. (No pun intended, no really!)

But, back to the point, why, when we think of “paranormal activity” do we most often conjure images of the negative?

How about we turn the prism of this term “paranormal activity” a wee bit and allow this light to refract from a slightly different perspective. Perhaps then we can appreciate a wider spectrum of its colorful options.

Working in hospice I have had people share with me, sometimes within months or hours prior to their passing, that loved ones who have preceded them in death have come to them, visited them. They typically report that these visitations bring them great peace about the event of their own passing that awaits them. The reports of occurrences like these are well known by those of us who have worked closely with people who are near death. And I will tell you, many explanations are offered for why it happens and one of those explanations is “paranormal activity”.

However, now look broader with me for a moment. I find it fascinating that major religions throughout the world, continuously give honest credibility without hesitation or question, in their great books of wisdom, to human beings talking to disembodied spirits and entities or to inanimate objects that may suddenly project voice and personality. Now think about it, again we can find all kinds of words to wrap around those tellings, but logically wouldn’t the term “paranormal activity” work pretty cleanly?

Now these same powerful tomes, the very ones, which have come to define powerful civilizations and underpin many of the laws that conduct them, discuss extraordinary events and awesome feats created or caused in what can be considered to be supernatural ways or could this too be thought of as “paranormal activity”?

Hmmmm, what an amazing thing “life” is……

So, paranormal activity, is it true? You tell me.

I talk to you all the time about the moments that count. However, I understand there are a lot of you out there who think that a bunch of your moments do not count for as much as you’d like them to. So you’ve asked me if, well, you can store them somewhere for later use.

I’d love to tell you, “Yeah!”

Ahhh, but, no……

Where ya’ gonna put ‘em? In your pocket? In your shoe? In the food pantry? On the other hand, maybe you’d set up a special safe deposit box at the bank? Or maybe you would like to carry ‘em over like extra minutes on your cell phone plan? You know, then use ‘em next month, ‘cuz it feels to you like this month’s had way too many moments that you had to spend in ways you didn’t really want to, so you know next month will be better for spending the moments that you want to count.

Or better yet, remember that incredible Jim Croce song, Time in a Bottle?
What a poet he was….

Well, Jim put it really well when he wrote:

“If I could save time in a bottle
the first thing that I’d like to do
is to save every day….”

What if we could do that with those moments we felt we’d “wasted” or the ones we count as ill used?
What would we do differently with those moments than we did with them the first time they laid in the hands of our clock of time?

Remember another part of that song?
I mean the one that says,
“But there never seems to be enough time
to do the things you want to do
once you find them…”

So, my friends, I smile an easy smile as I blow a kiss in the air to Jim and look back at you all and say, I too, so, so wish there was some amazing, magic bottle to save those moments of ours in. For I too, want Jim’s magic words to come true.

But, until the day that bottle we want washes up on our shore, I guess we’ll just have to learn to count the treasure in all the moments as we spend them.

It can be difficult to see how to draw the best out of what appears to be a lost chance.

But if we take a new look at a relationship and see it through fresh eyes our personal world might turn in a whole new direction.

Click to play the Audio Podcast, Plenty of Fish

At what age do we take responsibility for our actions? When do we become accountable for our decisions? I learned a critical life lesson when I decided to use John Steinbeck’s East of Eden for a class assignment. I was 15. I haven’t forgotten the book – or what it taught me about myself. Brooke Leigh Sheldon.

We fear rejection.
We fear disappointment.
We fear silence.

But, when pain engulfs our life, the smoke and flames can blind us to the exit labeled SOLUTION.
Times such as these we need the eyes, heart, mind, and strong arms of those who can see the difficulties in our personal world with a fresh view.

We are enriched when we reach to those who care for us.
We are embraced when we reach to those who love us.

Humankind is a species dependent on its interconnectedness. In other words, the need to connect, to help each other, to hold one another close is what makes us, well, human.

And remember, when we reach out we offer something to the ones we reach to. We offer them the special opportunity to GIVE.

Life is an amazing opportunity to share time with each other.

Thank you for sharing your time with me.

I spend a lot of time talking to people about the meaning of their lives. I think we all want to know what our purpose is, why we are here. And I think it all comes down to understanding the power of choice and – well – making Moments Count.

Click this link to hear or download Living On Purpose by Brooke Leigh Sheldon

If you were to grab a box of colors and draw “you” what does it look like?

Which color would you catch first?

Where would you put the first mark? The left upper corner? The bottom right, toward the edge? Or, would you begin smack dab in the center of the sheet?!

Is the image in your head before you start? Do you know what you’re drawing already? Or is it something that will have to evolve as you go?

What choices define what you lay on the surface before you?

Will the picture be a specific representation of something literal, like a bridge or a tree? Maybe you see yourself as an amusement park ride or a totem, like an animal that inspires you? Or will you cast aside expectations of exactitude spilling out shapes and shades of only your own secret definition, something asserting the abstract within or about you?

You get to decide.

It’s all CORRECT.
It’s your DECISION of YOU.
Let your mind unfurl onto the wind of your imagination.

You can be lines along a graph, definitive and clear.
You can be dots upon a canvas, expressive and suggestive.
You can be swirls throughout the universe, cosmic and mysterious.

You can be anything.

Perhaps you’re a scarred and well-used solid work-worn steel hammer enjoying a hard earned rest, lying on a richly golden plank of virgin lumber.

Or maybe a white- and red-checkered tablecloth in the middle of a grassy plain on an exquisite day, stimulated and aroused by the tussle snap of the summer wind.

You can be everything.

You are the inspiration of your own art.

You are the inspiration of your own life.

Be your masterpiece.

The three of us wander aimlessly along the path next to Mission Creek in San Luis Obispo. Surrounded by the gracefully clumsy sounds of tumbling water and the flutter of October’s cool easy breeze ruffling leaves beside me, we amble.
Smiling, I silently remind myself “if I don’t look where I’m going I’m gonna fall on my face”.

We lope across the creek on a set of strategically laid boulders. Conversation is non-stop. The talk between us is fluid, expanding like water between glass.

We stop. I stand. I take it all in. My eyes drink the blue of a fall sky in early afternoon. Above me to the right, people pass on the bridge. The clumpy, thump, clump of each person’s passage echoes within the hollowed trestle of wood and stone. I love that sound.

Suddenly, I’m caught.

A voice is singing. I’m listening. He captivates me.

The depth of his crusty, aged understanding of the poetry he winds fascinates me.

His first song runs through me. The next song flies by me. Then, the song after that hovers all around me. He’s calling. And it’s as if he’s pulling me up the path with each collection of notes he strings together.

“C’mon!” I say to my companions, “I feel compelled to check out this singer”.

Off I am striding to discover the wizened troubadour of mystery who had locked my interest in his lyrical refrains.

I’m tracking the acoustic guitar’s picks and strums, all the while loving the unusual rendition of a song I don’t get to hear often enough, as I hunt my destination. Behind a brick wall atop the path, I round the corner and there he is……

Huh…..

He’s wearing a black golf cap, black shirt and a pair of black of shorts. His shorn hair is white-blonde. He’s maybe….what? Twenty-six years old!

He has a smile that speaks tomes about his love of tune and desire to please. He is sweet. He is touchingly vulnerable. The fixed image I had in my head, while down below, of what this balladeer was going to look like made me have to laugh inside, at myself.

He finishes playing that song I know so well.
His vision of it is tender. His voice slips easily into the creases of unresolved hurt and sorrow that this specific love song defines.

He sits on a tall stool on a patio stage facing twenty or so tables filled with a rambling collection of people. Many sit chatting with each other, some are working, while others read or eat. One intriguing woman places her small dog on top of the table and proceeds to converse with it at great length, as she grooms and hand feeds it.

But, all the people, at every table, choose to ignore the gracious songster before them, song after song.

He covers familiar songs. He sings original songs of his own penning. It does not matter. They do not care. They cannot spare the time, the attention, the courtesy, or the kindness to glance his way. Nor can they be bothered to place their hands together to offer him the simple appreciation of applause.

So, the three of us sit listening to a kindly street artiste, deserving of more respect than he is accorded.

And in the halcyon weather along the path next to Mission Creek in San Luis Obispo we drink in the richness of fine song. And we look our minstrel in the eye, we smile at him and we applaud his songs, his talent and his courage.

Your life is a quest for something. Are you searching for treasure or following the Dragon Path?
When we travel the path to our own truth, we may not always know from what direction a dragon may appear. What we do know is dragons will step out onto our path and we must be prepared. Therefore, I am offering up some helpful hints here for conquering dragons and empowering ourselves.
Come my friends, let the adventure begin!!!

Click to hear Dragon Path

John O’Donohue did much in his short life to popularize and demystify the history and lore of Celtic tradition and spirituality. His gifted authorship captures me its reflection of his own inspired living.

O’Donohue’s focus was on Celtic wisdom’s teaching that within each of us is a world of possibilities and that we must take responsibility for our own choices and our own destiny. He thereby sheds a light on the sacred views of the Celts, thus illuminating the familiarity and similarity in their traditions to the time-honored beliefs woven throughout the rich blankets of so many other world cultures.

Perhaps John’s best-known work is Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom.”Anam” the Gaelic word for “soul”, “cara” the Gaelic for “friend”. Therefore “anam cara” literally means “soul friend”. In Celtic tradition, this is the treasured recognition of love within friendship, the concept that souls connect and bond across time and space, through life and beyond into death.

Historically, your anam cara is a person to whom you look as the person to share, confess and reveal the hidden intimacies in your life. With your anam cara you can express your mind, your heart, the very core of your innermost self. Your friendship with your anam cara is not just a friendship, but also an act of belonging, a place of recognition. Therefore, the most powerful gift you can bring to your friendship with your anam cara is your attention and awareness. It is your responsibility to be completely present with your anam cara.

John points out, it is not unusual for many people to have an anam cara of whom they are not even aware. In other words, their anam cara may be one who offers them a space of light and peace, but they do not have this person often present in their lives. This lack of awareness “cloaks” the friend and sometimes it is only through the loss of the friend’s presence and the feelings of “distance and absence” this causes that the true awareness of the anam cara is revealed. Perhaps we know this tradition by a different term: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

Photo Credit: HBT

You see, in Celtic tradition, as John notes, “The stranger does not come accidentally; he brings a particular gift and illumination.” And this is why it is said “that the “anam-cara” perspective is sublime” for “it permits us to enter this unity of ancient belonging.”

Discussing the Celtic spiritual thinking that believes the soul radiates all about the physical body, this energetic experience is often referred to as the “aura”, O’Donohue explains therefore when you connect with another person, when you become completely open and trusting with that individual, your two souls begin to exchange energy. Or, explained another way, your auras flow together. When a strong bond of this type develops, they say you have found your “Anam Cara” or soul friend.

John O’Donohue explains: “The Celtic tradition recognized that an anam-cara friendship was graced with affection. Friendship awakens affection. The heart learns a new art of feeling. In Celtic tradition, the anam cara was not merely a metaphor or ideal. A soul-bond existed as a recognized and admired social construct. It altered the meaning of identity and perception. When your affection is kindled, the world of your intellect takes on a new tenderness and compassion. You look, see and understand differently. Initially, this can be disruptive and awkward, but it gradually refines your sensibility and transforms your way of being in the world.”

Most important is the understanding that your anam cara accepts you as you truly are, cradling you in beauty, knowing you as light. The Celts believed the development of your anam cara friendship assists you in awakening your awareness of your best and truest self and helps you experience a greater joy in being with others than you know before it’s arrival.

The Celts also believed that this unique and special fellowship, when you lovingly and willingly open your life to another, brings with it a new dawn. You have a sense of belonging you’ve never known before, a deep sense of special companionship and all your needs for barriers, walls and shields tumble and collapse. That person has permission to walk, with love and care, into the deepest places in your spirit, your quiet and special places within, and the sacred ground of you, which you choose to share with them.

It takes tremendous courage to allow someone so close. However, when a friendship is of truth, of light and knows itself as a great gift it will remain open and trusting. O’Donohue quotes John Cassian who wrote in his Conferences “This, I say, is what is broken by no chances, what no interval of time or space can sever or destroy, and what even death itself cannot part”.

John O’Donohue’s makes the point that in everyone’s life, there is a great need for an anam cara. For in this love you are understood, existing in the love of your anam cara without mask or pretension. The half-truths, functional lies and superficialities fall away. You can be as you really are. This bond between friends is indestructible. For love allows understanding to dawn, and this understanding is precious for where you are understood, you are ever at home. So, when you are bestowed with the allegiance of your “Anam Cara”, it is believed, you have arrived at the most sacred of places, your true HOME.

Are you a “Leader”?
I don’t ask you the question as a challenge.
I don’t ask you the question as an insight.

I’m simply asking you a question.
And, I don’t know whether or not you have your own answer.

But, I will ask you to consider my question with honesty.

If you are a ‘Leader’ you are tremendously necessary to this world of ours.
We are a gifted and an empowered planet.
We need leaders.

We need conscientious and informed debate and problem solving.

The answer to my initial question will be “no”, for many of you.

To those of you who in pride or in hesitation choose “no” as the most honest answer to that question allow me to hand you an observation to twirl around in the elegant light of your consciousness.

Your current truth of yourself may be changed by an act that moves you,
an idea that motivates you,
a horror that challenges you,
an adventure that educates you,
a crisis that alters you,
a milestone that compels you,
a phenomenon that excites you,
an emergency that galvanizes you,
a life that inspires you,
or,
a love that defines you.

I am not attempting, in anyway, to deny your understanding or belief in your “self” or your concept of your “self”. My point is simply, our life redefines us in ways we never expect. When this happens — we change. It is as if the energy swirling within us and around us marshals forces of movement, impelling us to engage capabilities, skills, powers and understanding seemingly greater and/or more directed than we’ve retrieved before.

And I offer you this additional thought. Trust the change.

But, until it comes, if it ever comes….. I ask you to be the leader of that, which by its very definition, ONLY you can be the leader of – your INTEGRITY.

What do you have to give? Are you holding back because you think you can’t do enough?
Click the play button to listen.
Click to hear “57 Cents”

Okay, okay!!
Truth’s out!!
I’m one of those people who turn their music up really loud in the car.

No, I mean REALLY loud!!
Yup!

I won’t lie to ya’.
Make note of that.
I won’t lie to you.

But, back to the topic at hand, playing the music in my car….it’s reeeaaallllly
loud!
Why? You may be asking.
Well, honestly, I love the feeling of the vibe rushing through me, infusing me with the energy of the music’s intention.

And I listen to music that has intention.
Additionally, I embrace my own intention in approaching the music.

Music is with me in all things I do.
Music lights my scenes of thought, carving the canyons of my silent depths in subtle tones.
It dwells in me.
But never deny me playful beats or hip swinging rhythms,
because music also moves within me urging me to respond to its arousing invitation to a-a-a…..whatever.

I am addicted to music. Are you?

I so hope you are, because music is amazing!!!
Music is a rich art of all sound melded into melodies of our imaginings.
For music is in an easy whisper, a clap of thunder, a jangling of keys, the wind’s moan through huge trees, the persistent ring of an unanswered phone, the repetitious clack of a train track, a wooden door’s eerie creak, the burst of a firework’s color splatter.
Breath is music.
The slight soft echo of separation between the lips of lovers in gentle passion, this too is music.

Music is an art of sound structured by time and rhythm. It molds our emotions by expressing ideas with melody, arrangement, harmony and instrumentation.
It colors itself and us as it is absorbed within us. And we are changed.

Even music, as simply a mere sequence of notes arranged in time, can activate the same reward centers in the brain as drugs such as cocaine.
In PET (Photo Emission Topography) scans of the brain, music lights up the entire brain. This indicates that even with just basic exposure to music the full brain registers activity, shows excitation.

Now add to all of this discussion that music’s repeatedly demonstrated capabilities, validated by reliable research studies done by credible organizations and universities, to enhance learning, influence intelligence testing, assist in mental health, aid in memory retention, positively influence the comprehension of new information, mitigate the effects of immediate trauma and post traumatic stress disorder, quicken the healing in and throughout the brain and body, including severe damage from debilitating strokes. These are, literally, just a few examples I’ve chosen to name.

But now, my tendency to play my music (gulp!) extremely loud has definitely paid off!!! Come to find some wonderful researchers at Manchester University have found that LOUD music stimulates a part of the inner ear known as the sacculus. The sacculus responds to the beat in the music.

Apparently the sacculus, is sensitive only to very loud volumes, those above 90 decibels. An expert in the scientific study of music, Ned Thomas, explains that the sacculus is not thought to have any direct hearing function in humans, but it seems to be a part of a primitive hearing mechanism that has slowly been lost, as humans have evolved. He further discusses it has a connection to the part of the brain responsible for drives such as sex, hunger and hedonistic responses. (Heck, guess you know a whole lot more about me now, huh! LOL!)
At any rate, he elaborates further that when these desires are satisfied, the brain is stimulated into releasing “feel good” hormones that make us calm, happy and responsive.

So, I say, embrace the theory!
Turn up the music!
Release the “feel good” hormones!
Light up your brain!
And let’s all get freakin’ high………..on LOUD MUSIC!!!!!

All right!!!! Now, this is an addiction worth embracing!!!!

Everyday you get up.
Everyday……
You do.

You wake up.
Now, are you one of those people who greets the day!?! Or do you stare at it?

I spend a lot of time blinking at the ceiling. It’s white.
It stares back at me. My eyes are blue.
I like to fancy myself someone who begins the day embracing controversy….

Maybe you woke to the screaming rattle of an alarm clock?
Perhaps you roused slow, in a snuggling embrace?
Or maybe the kids pouched on you. And wide-eyed, you discovered yourself suddenly running rescue on a morning already in jangled mid-derailment?
Or was it your parent who intruded upon those last few moments in the blissful land of Nod?
Was the dog wanting out or maybe the cat was jumping on your head?
Or could you be one of those interesting people who sets your internal clock to pop your eyes open when the time is just right. (I think that’s cool! I gotta try that!). However you do it. You do it! You get up.
You begin the day.
You start the day.
You begin.
You start.
Get it!?

You do it everyday.
Everyday.

YOU begin something new.
YOU start something fresh.

A fresh day!
A new adventure!
You HAVE a CHOICE
EVERY
NEW DAY
how you will
CHOOSE to
LIVE IT.

How did you create yesterday?
How are you creating today?
How will you create tomorrow?

I too, have to remind myself over and over again to live – on purpose. I too, have to remind myself, over and over again to glance at my personal compass, then review the fold-up map of my life I keep in the back pocket of my mind and compare my position with the plotted landmarks.

I live with doubts, as you do.
I live with questions, as you do.
We are flesh and blood.
We are mortal.
We have limited time.
But we each have value,
incredible value,
to ourselves,
to each other,
to the world.

We hesitate in the face of a powerful idea because we are frightened to BEGIN.
We stop on the surface of an inspiring concept because we are scared to START.

Starting.
Beginning.
They can seem so hard….. until someone does for you what someone did for me.
So, let me tap you on the shoulder, look you in the eye and remind you,
you are a pro at beginnings.
You are an expert at start-ups.

Here, do me a favor.
Heck, do both of us a favor.
Okay?!
Come on!
Grab a pencil and paper!
Got it?!
Okay, now take every year of your life and multiply it by 365.

Okay, got the answer?
Okay!
Now, take that number and add how many days have passed since your last birthday.
Okay, what number did you get?!

Great!!!!!!!!

That number is how many start ups you’ve mastered!!!
This number is how many beginnings you’ve completed!!!!
‘Cuz remember where we began this chat with you?
“Everyday you get up. Everyday……”
Get it!?!

So, I repeat, that’s how many start ups you’ve practiced!!!
This is how many beginnings you’ve mastered!!!!

Were they all successful??!!!!

Was it easy?
Was it work?
Was it a tightrope?
Was it a cakewalk?
How ‘bout yes, yes, yes, yes…..

And I ask you again, the question I ask myself all the time…

Were they all successful??!!!!

My answer -

Heck YES!!!!!!!!

Why?

My answer –

You’re STILL HERE!!!!

A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS IS ONE THAT SURVIVES THE DIFFICULT TIMES.

You’re ALIVE!!!!!!!!
You’re THINKING!!!!
You’re DISCOVERING!!!!!!
You’re CREATING!!!!!
Dang, seems to me you’ve done it beautifully because it brought you and I together on this page.
I like it.
And WE — YOU & I — both of us have a lot to accomplish.

YOUR LIFE has VALUE.

Each moment of your life is uniquely valuable!

Each moment is a new beginning!
Each moment is a fresh start!

You’ve got a lot to do!!!!

So, come on!!!
Let’s get crackin!!!!

Most moments are about a point of view. The person sharing the moment is as important as we are. We cannot control another’s point of view, but we can choose to be open, to listen, to hear, to learn.

Are You Listening?

Brave.
Courageous.
Great words.

I like ‘em.
Don’t’ you?
But, let’s be honest with each other. We only understand what they are if we acknowledge that we have stared into the flash-flame scarlet-hot eyes of РFear.

I know Fear. I’d introduce you, but I’m sure you two have met before.
Now Fear and I, we have spent way too many hours glaring at one another.
We have yelled at one another across deafening black silence and hushing white noise.
We’ve tangled and wrestled ‘til both of us are battered and bloodied.
And I am only too aware the day will ne’er come when I will be completely free of my too familiar adversary, Fear.

People constantly look at one another and assume others are so much more “together” than they are. They don’t experience Fear.
I will assert to you, they may experience it differently, but they do experience it. Our friend Fear is a cross species experience. It is not something only you are held hostage by.
So as you read this, I believe you and I can look across this page at one another and know we are similar.
None of us is alone in this experience.
Every one of us has felt Fear.
Every one of us has known Fear.
Every one of us has lived in Fear.
Fear knows us and we know Fear, too well.

But, thankfully, we know the other side of the coin.
We may not always find the energy to move forward, make it through, push ahead, get it to happen, pull it out, go for it all, etc., etc.
But LOTS of times we do.
Lots of times WE DO.

And when we do we are COURAGEOUS. We are BRAVE.

You see despite the albatross around my neck with the tattooed moniker “Fear” upon its breast, I move forward in my life.
Each time I do I evoke the power of the word Courage.
I’ve learned from the wisdom of those who love me, I am “Brave”.
I have come to own the truth of this, painfully at times, I admit.
But I understand what it means to let Fear go, to beat Fear up, to push Fear aside.

Courageous.
Brave.
Are they words you’re comfortable with?
Are they words you attach to yourself?

Can you be with the thought of being “Brave?”
Or, of being Courageous?
Are these words you only offer to the behavior of others?

Courageous.
Brave.
Hold the words for a moment.

Now, move them closer to you.
Now a little closer, there, that’s good.

Let them belong to you.
C-O-U-R-A-G-E-O-U-S
B-R-A-V-E

I want you to recognize, as I take stock of often of in my world, you have lived your whole life moving past your fears.
You’ve started new jobs or opportunities, aware they seemed intimidating to you. That was courageous. That was brave.
You’ve opened your mind to original ideas and possibilities despite the fact you would have all new concepts to learn. You were courageous. You were brave.
Maybe, you’ll open your heart to someone you feel exciting feelings for even if you are afraid of getting hurt. This is courageous. This is brave.

To try. Courageous. Brave.
To expand. Courageous. Brave.
To give. Courageous. Brave.
To share. Courageous. Brave.
To love. Courageous. Brave.

To live. Courageous. Brave.

]]> http://brookeleighsheldon.com/2010/11/fear-the-game/feed/ 0 http://brookeleighsheldon.com/2010/11/my-journey-east-of-eden/ http://brookeleighsheldon.com/2010/11/my-journey-east-of-eden/#comments Mon, 22 Nov 2010 03:09:54 +0000 Brooke Leigh Sheldon http://brookeleighsheldon.com/?p=256

At what age do we take responsibility for our actions? When do we become accountable for our decisions? I learned a critical life lesson when I decided to use John Steinbeck’s East of Eden for a class assignment. I was 15. I haven’t forgotten the book – or what it taught me about myself.

Your being here is not an accident. You are here with intention whether you are conscious of that fact or not.  Your life has impact. Participate with intention.

Your Being Here Is No Accident

The definition of who I am is a constantly evolving process.
What about you?
How do you see your life?

For me, I kinda see my life like an amazing journey I feel lucky enough to be on.

It’s as if I’m on a path.
Mind you, it’s nothing as clearly defined as Dorothy’s yellow brick road.
No, it’s more like a caramel dusty lane.
It beckons my attention and demands my contemplation.
The allure of “what can be” up ahead pulls me ever onward.
My wonder at what awaits me around the bend just feels too much like magic to ever risk letting it be a paradise lost.
I lovingly succumb to the romance of the adventure.

I don’t just travel during the light of day.
Matter of fact, this journey I’m taking with you, well it’s 2:24am as I write this missive to you.
So you see, while I let the rising fair moon and chasing handsome sun function as record-keepers of my journey’s length, they don’t necessarily determine the beginning or end of any of the mission’s progression.

When I stop, there is purpose.
Aside from the urgings of sleep, which I’m sure, tap my shoulder far more often than I probably notice, there is beauty. Everywhere I look I see simply elegance and enriching depth in the people and places my path brings me to find. I am changed. I am more for what they offer me in word and deed.
I have been afforded many opportunities on my trek.
I have taken each I could bear the responsibility for.
I have labored and been accorded much favor.
I have also known much sadness, much loss.

And I have learned, my friend, you must cherish if you are lucky enough to see, the exquisite bloom of the lovely rose. For, too quickly and without warning she may leave you with only the memory of her comeliness. If you are fortunate perhaps another spring offers you her visage again. But if not, her delicate, velvet petals lay scattered in your hand, a testament to a treasure you only thought was to be ever yours.

I look to the sky and search the stars to trace my place on my path, my place in the world.
Where is Orion? There he is. The hunter reminds me I must seek to be courageous and hunt for what will continue to satisfy my longing for adventure and wisdom.
Where is Pegasus? I see him. The winged horse, he is urging me to always be moving forward.
Where is Andromeda? Alas, I see her. The chained maiden, she in her bondage is my beacon. She urges me, demands of me, to free those who seek to open their world to all that life offers, all life can be.

On I go, traveling my caramel dusty lane with a satchel of all needed internal resources, a magnifying glass for personal review, vast amounts of humor, more than my share of fascination for all things, hopefully at least a little bit of graciousness, a collection of tears, an abundance of fairness, plenty of smiles, maybe a tiny bit of charm and definitely enough “smarts” to realize that the more I learn the less I know…….

Photo Credit:  Valli Keller