Silent Night and Holiday Hype

Another holiday season is ramping up towards the frenzied, shop-til-ya-drop, crash into the new year, and hope we all survive it… season we know and love (sorta). I often feel very anxious this time of year as a "creative business person", because I sense the need to "take advantage" of the opportunity to sell. I am admittedly not very good at this part, and I can get stuck beating myself up for not being better. So today, I am taking a time out. To simply enjoy the love I have for creating.

Last year I recorded a simple version of the song Silent Night that I have been singing for a few years. Perhaps you can use it as back ground for your own time out. This is a season of darkness, and the opportunity for quiet reflection. Winter is getting ready to settle in, and hold our deeper thoughts. There are things to hold ourselves accountable/responsible for, and there are the gifts we can give ourselves (and others) of being loving, gentle… letting go. I have much to be grateful in this season. Today I am going to sit and soak that gratitude up. I am going to do what I can in my studio, and share as much of it as possible… whether it is during this holiday season, or perhaps in the new year. 

It is my hope you find your own space of quiet reflection during the hustle and bustle of this season… and that what ever lights you up, you find more of in the new year!

Whispers of Wild Noise

Occasionally in life there are events where everything in our fragmented day to day, intersects…  a focus where the world appears crystal clear, and all the blur melts away. It is in these moments where we catch a glimpse of how it all connects. In these spaces we feel perfect with all the crazy imperfections we normally run from. When we breath in this air… we understand our tangled breath as the beautiful weaving of everything.

Last year at this time I stumbled into one of these moments. It was called Wild Noise. I spent these days in the magic shadows of the Santa Cruz redwoods… creating, singing, playing, eating (delicious food), growing. It was this week that I received my mastered tracks back for my first CD (Bag of Simple), reconnected to art that lights me up (Andy Goldsworthy), talked permaculture/used tools from Ecology of Leadership, and caught a glimpse of all of these things making up who I am.

Sadly… Wild Noise will not be happening this year. We couldn't inspire enough people to carve out this space in their life. Why is that? How do we invite people to find these gifts in their lives? I do not know the answer to these questions, but perhaps this is how Wild Noise is providing me focus this year… by giving me questions to be curious about, and the challenge of creating/manifesting what is important in my life.

Process (the journey) = the Good Stuff

I was hoping to be a little more active with my blog posts this year... instead, I have been putting all my energy into trying to produce. I have felt this huge weight to be creating. The weight leads to a debilitating stress, and then a lack of understanding about what it means to be productive.

In the past few weeks I have discovered (or perhaps re-discovered) the joy the process. It started about a month ago when I was faced with my 15 mile bike ride home, in the dark... on a not so bike friendly route. I was tired from my full work day, and not feeling much like peddling home. However, I had no choice. I began to refocus and redefine the task at hand. I decided that I didn't have to view the ride home as, "how fast can I commute home". If I chose, I could view it as an opportunity for a moonlit bike ride through the Napa Valley (oh yeah!). Something that was healthy, and potentially enjoyable. About 10 minutes into my ride a giant full moon began to show it self above the hills of Napa. Beautiful. It was like my little gift for redefining and refocusing.

I have found a similar gift in approaching my creative tasks (all tasks really). Attempting to let go of what I will "produce" has allowed me to savor the act of "producing". The result is better production, and more knowledge gained along the way. I can hear the questions in my head that lead me to better answers... the answers (and questions) that keep me right in the middle of the good stuff.