art blog

Can I Do It? (Part 3)

Can I Do It? (Part 3)

We have to face a breaking point.  That is the truth.  We have to face a huge abyss where there is nothing but nothing.  We stare at the darkness and call out but only a distant echo of our voice is heard.  Our dream will lead us to this.

The good news is that the dawning of every great idea or personal story had to come to this breaking point.  It has to come to a point of utter exhaustion, overwhelming doubt, and chronic confusion.  What do we do next?  How will this work?

These questions reverberate in the void.  At those breaking moments they come back completely unanswered.  We get and got nothing.  Our willingness to go for it and invest into a future reality has led us to no return and perhaps only a loss.

Can I Do It? (Part 2)

Can I Do It? (Part 2)

Can I do it?  A fundamental question of humankind.  Yet almost erroneous from the start.  The subject and focus of the question is us (the “I”).  Can I do it?  It assumes sort of an isolated go at the whole thing where we bear all responsibility. 

And in today’s corporate understanding of responsibility there is the loaded word “accountability.”  People are held responsible to produce certain results or be let go.  Trying is not enough.  Outcomes demand results, not logged office hours.

But ownership is a good thing.  Certainly.  We want people to “own” their endeavors.  Yes.  But what most people mean by that is make sure it works, or succeeds.  Hence the hubris and the fear mongering.  Can we really know what will work?…

Can I Do It? (Part 1)

Can I Do It? (Part 1)

This is the fundamental question of the ages.  It reverberates throughout the halls of time.  Especially into the future.  Do I have what it takes?  Am I a contender?  Will people recognize my talent?  Do I really have talent?  Do I have enough?

These are important questions to answer, especially for creative people.  Some might argue that even entertaining such questions with consistent intensity is part of the creative process.  The answers come back with great uncertainty. 

Some will try to scientifically minimize the emotional angst of such questions with simple, probing questions: what is it you are really after?  How do you define success?  How will you know when you find it?  These are meant to help…

To Love What You Do (Part 5)

To Love What You Do (Part 5)

We have discovered that what you believe infinitely changes your reality. If you believe something is possible, it is. Our accuser lives, as we have also said, to convince us not to believe - to shut us in on ourselves. To render us powerless.

To Be or Not to Be (Part 4)

To Be or Not to Be (Part 4)

So eventually we must take a leap. We must literally move our feet in a direction in which we do not know the outcome. We must be willing to live in that state of ambiguity without guarantees.

That is the necessary risk-jump and every business or humanitarian effort has had to take. It started with one person willing to risk their own comforts in their own futures for the sake of a dream birthed in faith.

Don't give up because it is hard. Don't give up when it seems like you made the wrong choice. Don't give up when you feel discouraged, unsupported, neglected by those who have committed to serve.

Right around the corner is a break. Not all breaks are good ones but they all lead to increased clarity. That ultimately is what we're after. But we will not get there without a serious amount of determination.

*So we keep climbing. And we realize that the struggle for life is life itself. There is no better way to live, no greater use of our short time on earth, than to struggle on behalf of others with our gifts. There is nothing else to do.

To Be or Not to Be (Part 3)

To Be or Not to Be (Part 3)

There's an absolutely huge responsibility to know and foster the right sort of ideas, primarily because ideas become reality.  We become what we think. Or we create what we sync up.

It's the secret behind Murphy's Law. Once someone imagines that life is picking on them they literally start to create realities that line up with those ideas. And things literally do start to happen to them.

It's almost as if their thoughts go out and seek the kind of things that will vindicate or prove their suspicions.  Their thoughts will quite literally send vibrations into the universe seeking affinities. It becomes sort of a closed circuit of self-fulfilling prophecy.

What most do not realize in that state is that if they are able to change the way they think, realities will line up differently for them.  Our most valuable asset in the true sense of our freedom is found in our thoughts. We really are in charge of what we think about.

To Be or Not to Be (Part 2)

To Be or Not to Be (Part 2)

Discover, I did. Self-control is just what it sounds like: Control of the self. No one else will do it for us, Not even God. There are two things we must always protect and control: our thoughts (mind) and our heart (emotions).

All behaviors start in our minds. We let in thoughts through memory triggers and our brain’s powerful auto-flow. These thoughts create or utilize pictures and windows from our history to either inspire us or shut us down.

Like the brilliant animated movie Inside Out captures, our emotions can control which memories are triggered and can lock in windows in our mind that can ultimately shut us down. At least it feels that way. It feels like we don’t have control.

We do. We ultimately have the final say as to what pictures are allowed to be utilized and created. We can choose what we think about. Any unwanted windows can simply be closed. Another one will need to be put in its place.