What does YOUR world look like?

WHAT DOES YOUR WORLD LOOK LIKE?

I have spent the last couple of years so focused on my mission of creating a “Brave New World” out there based on the belief that everything in the world needs to be fixed, altered and changed due to war, killing, famine and just overall negativity.  Now, all these things are very real when you tune into the news and media channels, but more importantly, when you walk out into the world with the perspective that the world is negative and people are crazy and bad.  Although I spend a great deal of time planting positive seeds in the garden of my mind, sometimes I need a reminder to look inside and realize that the Brave New World I seek to create is ALREADY HERE when I choose to see it that way. 

LIFE IS PERSPECTIVE.

If your perspective of the world is one that views the world as a mess, screwed up and headed towards apocalypse, well, YOUR world WILL look exactly like that.  You may find people mistreating you, bad things happening to you and you may find yourself gravitating towards the media channels that glorify negative activity in such a dramatic resolve that one is left grasping for more like the needle to a heroine addict.  This causes upset, stress, anger, resentment …. and you ultimately live in a world of FEAR!  

OR YOU CAN LIVE IN ANOTHER WORLD. This world, my Brave New World, is a world I CHOOSE to see no matter what is going on OUT THERE.  

This word is one in which .... 

• I see people smile and help each other
• I see others serve the needy
• I spend time with loving friends and family. 
• I see inspiring projects that are making a difference in the world. 
• I see Compassion, Humility and Love expressed in Action.  
• I see more people living their dreams
• I see more people standing up for themselves
• I see thousands of organizations coming together to irradiate hunger.  
• I see health food stores everywhere.  
• I see yoga and meditation as the most popular thing to do now.  
• I see people loving themselves.  
• I see others reading books that make them a better person.  
• I see events that uplift and inspire people going on EVERYDAY.  
• I always have front row parking, wherever I am “supposed” to be.
• I see Cultures from all over the world are communicating through the internet talking about things that matter.
• I see People are moving toward simplistic, sustainable living
• I feel like a child exploring the moment very moment
• and on and on ad on and on and on and on  

I am truly amazed because it seems each and everyday gets a bit more dynamic and alive.  This is not saying that I negate and dismiss all the negative acts going on in the world, no, much to the contrary, I observe them, look inside, see what I can do in my given situation to help, do what I can, then give no more thought or energy to them whatsoever, because doing so would be giving my power away, and, I AM DONE GIVING MY POWER and MY JOY to anything outside of me.  

What does your world look like? I would love to hear all about it.   

Shine on Angels! Rest safe and walk light, we are ALREADY in a BRAVE NEW WORLD if you choose to see it that way :-)

A Happiness Generating Tool Box

Lately I have been getting many responses to the "High" video labeling me as the Happiness Guy.  As I am honored and blessed to receive such a label and know the video points towards that conclusion, I can tell you that this inner joy expressed is backed by extreme effort, awareness and incredible discipline.  

Look around the world as a whole, most of us are fighting for something, whether it is a cause or just plainly our survival, there seems to be some form of struggle and I know, at least from my experience, that any form of struggle, resistance or fight is not usually backed by a smiling face and the lightness of joy in the heart.  

I look around at the revolution uprising and wonder how many people out there marching for change have found the peace in their own heart that is required to make a lasting change, internally and ultimately externally.  Now I am not one to say that this is right and that is wrong, this is a very dynamic world we live in and we all are here starting our own revolution in every moment that we step out into the world.  The revolution that I like to stand for is the inner revolution, the one in which we find the depth of our inner happiness and we go out into the world and "Give Our Love Until The Fear Runs Out."  

Now, I am not saying that we should ONLY experience happiness in our lives, no no no, that would be extremely boring.  My deep rooted emotions are what make me a dynamic person and I would never give them up for the world.  I just feel there is a lack of true joy and an overabundance of stress and resistance, so, time to tip the scales and do a little balancing act. 

So how to create lasting happiness in life?  Well, funny enough, it is a moment to moment choice.  Every morning when we wake up we get a knock at our minds door that says, "Hello, I am happiness, I here to hang hang out if you will only let me into your life."  And usually, within the first few hours or even moments in my case, the demands of our life, our mission, our OUTER stresses close that door and we somehow think we have found our home in stress.  So we talk about it, release it in healthy and unhealthy ways, and have a few fleeting moments of joy that come and go based on some outer world circumstance that triggers some connection that we have made to a joyful experience of the past or some projected joy we foresee in the future.  

Well, what if, just what if, we could simply be present in this moment and be completely submerged in HAPPiness.  Well, to start, we are going to need a Happiness Generating Toolbox, so in those times of stress and resistance, which come quite often, we can look in our box and pull out the most suitable tool (action or Nonaction) to bring us complete happiness so that we can go back into the PLAYGROUND we call life and be JOYfull about the experience.  So, if you want to experience more joy in your life, then here is my offering of tools to achieve just that.  

This is what makes up MY Happiness Generating Toolbox:

Become Aware of the sensations in the body (my favorite - can use anytime, anywhere and will bring a deep sense of joy - you might want to do a Vipassana Course or some other course like it to establish this sensitivity, but once it is there, it never leaves)

Become Grateful (I have started a group on Facebook entitled Gratitude 365 where you can visit, post and read about gratitude, it may be a nice place to start)

Jump up and Down While Looking to the sky and smiling  - If you don't feel joy doing this then might as well call it quits!  This brings up so many happy emotions from childhood, concerts from youth and moments of dance, sure fire bliss!)

Meditate - when I simply follow my breath in and out for a few minutes, it brings joy back to the present moment in which our nature of joy and happiness already exist.

Go For a Walk In Nature - Connecting with nature always has a lasting effect on our state of mind.

Music - Give in. My Latest Favs include Matt Kearny, Of Monsters and Men and yes, Full Moon Rising :)

Watch a Comedian - Give in.  Actually Comedians saved my life from Depression in 2006 and there have been countless stories of people whom have saved themselves from various diseases by simply putting on some comedy and laughing.  And FUNNY enough, I think most comedians comedy is what saves their life.

LIsten to  Favorite Spiritual Speaker - Something always triggers inspiration and joy in me.  My favorites are Wayne Dyer, Tony Robbins, Eckart Tolle, Marianne Williamson, David Deida, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Osho and the list goes on and on - these people are quite the comedians as well.

Get Lost in a Book - Taking our mind off the stress for a few moments gives some perspective and allows the mind to get creative again which always brings happiness.

Take a Deep Breath and Hold it as Long as I Can - be careful, you might burst into laughter filled with tears when the light headedness begins to creep! :)

Laugh - :)

Go Vert - A headstand or some way of getting fresh new blood rising to the head always brings a sense of freshness and joy.

Sun Salutations -  Surya Namaskar - if you don't know what that is, just ask a anyone on the street, most people nowadays know it, google it, take a yoga class, this 12 step Yogic Posturing brings blood soaring through the veins and leaves you filled up with Love, peace and yes, happiness!

This Too Shall Pass - Remembering these words occasionally works, not active enough for me, but sparks good thoughts, but mostly that is the memory of a great friend whom used to say this too me all the time.

Don't Take Myself so DAMN SERIOUSLY - This usually bubbles me up with a smile

Be Around a Child -  I dare you to attempt not to smile in this scenario! :)

Call a Good Friend and LISTEN -  Sometimes a simple act of kindness, service or being there for someone you love will give such a deep sense of joy that all the world becomes like a happy pot of bliss for hours after the interaction.  This can be coupled with helping someone in the market, a person in need on the side of the road or any number of kind acts that we have opportunities to do at many moments of the day.  Get out of yourself and get into happiness.

Sing - Even if you think you cannot sing, it will make you laugh and if you think you can, then it will just make you peaceful and full of bliss.

Cold Showers - Here in the East, where I currently live, this is a major tool for lasting joy.  It has the ability to raise every happy cell in the body!

Exercise - If you have ever done it, well, you know!

Watch a TED Talk - Inspiration = JOY

Yell - This one could have reverse effects, but has worked at times in the past.

Do Something Crazy - Again, could have opposite effect depending, but most of the time worth the risk, one of my favorites to break a stressful pattern is to just spontaneously dance wherever you are. You could even do the "High" dance if you like!

Get a Message - Well, Yeah!!

Send a Positive Email Thanking Someone Daily - mmmmm, always works.

So, there you go, my list of favorites, some are obvious, others are more obvious and others are duh, but life is about repetition, and just by reading this I trust that something may have sparked to take a bit of action and cultivate a little more HAPPY HAPPY in the days, we all need it, need to share it, and need to feel it, it is our nature, just check out some childhood picts. :)

Please take a moment and share what makes you happy.  This Toolbox is not even partially full, I intend to fill it with more and more goodness as the days go on, because, truly, I love being Happy, in a happy state and sharing that TRUE happiness with others, if lifts me up, fulfills me and makes me HAPPY to be alive.  

We also did a PODCAST today on this very subject, Click here to enjoy. Click here to DOWNLOAD it.

I wish you all the happiness you could ever dream of enjoying and am HAPPY if this post served you in any way.

With love and gratitude

PLEASE SHARE

I Killed a Lizard and Transcended Today's Fast Paced Times

The other day I was happily troding along  on my Blue Bullet Love Machine, smiling bright, enjoying the breeze, swerving, swaying and then suddenly I saw right in front of me the most beautiful creature moving at a snails pace.  He was large, scaly and in his final moments, he looked up at me.  My body and mind did not react fast enough in the few milliseconds I had to swerve my monster of progress out of the way in order for the multi-colored amphibian to happily trot about his days, and then it was over.  The lizard left squashed on the road and me, left pondering this fast-paced world.  WHY. Why are we constantly moving faster and what we we rushing to do.  As if the notion of infinite time and space has done nothing for the collective consciousness.  Here we are, creating faster cars, faster trains, faster planes, we are building faster, talking faster, thinking faster, worrying faster, killing ourselves faster and we truly have no reason why, it is just what everyone is doing.  It is the status quo to feel like your life is moving as fast as possible toward the end.  Hmmm.  I cannot say that I don't enjoy the pleasures of a fast paced world, high speed internet, tons of connectivity, a fast bike, the ability to travel anywhere and create high quality products in the blink of an eye.  But from this experience I have had to take a look in and see where all of that desire and progression is getting ME, US, the WORLD.  well, I have to say NO PLACE FAST.  

About 2 years ago I spent almost 30 days walking through the himalayan mountains in Nepal.  During that time I have never felt so completely alive, ever.  my steps were harmonious to the rhythms of the earth, I was greeted by the trees, smiled at by the plants and from the insects to the animals there was a revery for one another.  We were all enjoying nature and all of creation together.  Yes, my food would be cooked for me in makeshift houses and served up on a plate and the animals and insects had to work a bit harder (I am not sure of that really as they do not have the mental aspect of lack so they are just naturally driven to seek out food) anyways, even in those make shift houses I was treated like family.  My days were full, complete and my connection deep.  And, it got me into a mindset of the Walking Man.  There is such complete joy in taking it slow, observing the little things and being able to stop OFTEN and smell the flowers.  I had lost a bit of that when I decided to actively pursue my music offering, but this simple interaction with the Lizard brought it all back.  So, here I am again, adopting a way of life into my mind to see how it works.  I am going to live in the paradigm of the walking man.  I harmony with the earth in all my steps gracefully lighting up the day.  Yeah, the probably does not mean that I am going to give up my fast-paced modes of transportation and the life of a man traveling all over the world, but it does mean that I will tread lightly and have the awareness, slow-down my breath to that of a walking man, take deep breaths and stopping often to smell the flowers and someday when I am ready, I will probably spend many of  my days walking.  I already have a plan actually. 

As for the lizard, well, I am sure his service to my mind has transcended him to altered states of reality.  His next incarnation might just so be an enlightened master, as he/she just enlightened me.  Grateful!

Brave New World - Created Like a Child Would Create

"Skepticism does not arise in children. It comes only in people who walk within boundaries. Children live in their fantasy world, a world of many possibilities, a world of innocence, joy, beauty and so much love." - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

This is how I choose to live! Lately, we have been having listening sessions for our new album Brave New World, and I have to say that there is so much skepticism about the concept. Phrases like "It is going to be really hard to market. " - "People don't want to hear various styles of music on one CD." I have to say that I KNOW PEOPLE WANT TO HEAR DIFFERENT STYLES OF MUSIC MOST OF TIME.....hence the SHUFFLE BUTTON on our mp3 players. So, what is the difference of doing it on 1 album?

Truly I understand the honest worry of each and every person that poses the same question about Brave New World. The truth is that the CD will be marketed in many markets to many different people thus expanding the message out to as many people from various backgrounds as possible. This is like the creation of a child, free of boundaries, a fantasy in the material world. A CD THAT YOU ACTUALLY CANNOT PUT IN A BOX (or Genre). HMMMM…Imagine that!?

I choose to create from the heart, a limitless expression of collaborative excellence. Are you ready for something new????

For more on Brave New World follow this link …..

http://www.fullmoonrisingmusic.com/bnwroots/progress/firstlook.html

Men! Please Read! "If" by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

VERY IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ!!

**WARNING** B9 Virus (also known as the "benign" virus) epidemic is causing massive outbreaks of peace. B9 is very contagious, especially among young children and the elderly. The most common means of transmission are hugs in excess of 20 seconds in length, and peace symptoms are also suspected of coming from long walks on ocean beaches or in deep mountain forests. Individual symptoms include difficulty in dominating other people, willingness to listen for long periods without interrupting, and forgetting to lock the house, as well as spontaneous outbursts of joyful singing and tears of gratitude. An epidemic may be indicated by improved learning in schools, shortages of workers, empty jails, and closure of military recruiting offices. Government epidemiologists say control is impossible, since the B9 virus will disassemble the DNA of fear media-cations with laughter. The prognosis is for long-term chronic peace to dissolve political and national boundaries, blend the races into one soft brown color, and marginalize the use of currency as a representation of value. The B9 virus is very dangerous to the status quo and should be treated with respect.

Trying to Manipulate Ones Experience

So many times I am finding that people are living their lives because of the experience that someone else has had in their lives. People constantly pushing other people to live their lives in a certain way because THEY experienced a great deal of success dealing with it this way. "I handled something this way so you should handle it this way as well, that will be best for you...." Who are we to judge what will be best for someone else's experience on this planet.

I had a situation recently in which my dear Partner is going through a situation that is particularly difficult in this time in her life. I had gone through a similar situation a few years back and found that when I stayed in the place of hardship, I was able to heal the wounds that surrounded that place and look at the place and my place in the place with brand new eyes, an open heart and an expanded awareness as to why I felt so much pain in this place. It was because of my association to it. I changed all the associations and rose into loving My native Place of Los Angeles, CA. So as she has meandered her way around past associations and hardships related to the native land, I have been pushing my way of healing onto her, thinking that it is the only way to get through something of this nature. A great realization comes when we realize that every being indeed has their own way of processing a different situation. And, if we push them to see it a certain way, we might be expelling them into a space that is actually stunting their growth in this lifetime. I actually had become an asshole and was doing things that would actually force her to have to go through an experience in the similar way that i did, when all she wanted to do was leave this place and process it from her safe place. Now, I judged the hell out of this desire as I felt it was weak and I also felt it to be running away from the pain. She saw it as a necessary way to deal with this particular situation in her life. And, the fact is, she has been stuck here having to go through it and has realized that this is the way that she must deal with it for now, away, in a safe space.

After weeks of resisting her place and wishing to force her into seeing my truth, I have expanded my heart, honoring her needs. It is not important for me to understand and see it her way, what is important is for me to be a friend, to honor her process and to Share what I have learned, not to force it. Religions have been manipulating people for centuries with this behavior and I felt no better then that for acting the way that I did. I am grateful to see it and have forgiven myself for my actions, taking responsibility for the nature of them. We will see when that great Divine gives me another opportunity, how I will behave in that space again.

4DALOVE