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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Friday, June 7, 2013

Starting Huge, Foolish Projects

"Start a huge, foolish project like Noah.
It makes absolutely no difference what people think of you."
Rumi,
(12th century Sufi poet)


It is possible that my current life could best be described as a series of huge foolish projects. After all, I left behind a tenured professorship with status, money, and job security to wander the hills and deserts of the Southwest in pursuit of poetry, spiritual revelations, and gigs. There are, no doubt, more than a few people out there who see such my choice  as foolish....but I think I am gonna take Rumi's advice where those people are concerned....

Because many people working at stable secure jobs are unhappy. How many people are pursuing their dreams? How many people are willing to pursue huge foolish projects despite the risk? How much are you willing to risk?

Ultimately, I am risking so much because I believe in my projects. I think that writing my poems and my books, getting them published, performing and speaking for righteous causes throughout the country,  and creating performance pieces, workshops, radio shows, and TV programs, among other as yet unimagined huge and foolish projects, are important and worthwhile endeavors. And I really cannot afford to care too much anymore what people think about my decisions. Not if I want to stay on course.

Because to do the impossible you must remove from your life all persons, places, and beliefs that would limit you to what heretofore you had defined as possible. To do the impossible is to be willing to have countless people laugh at your goals and discourage your dreams...because you know that ultimately thousands more will support them and benefit from them in the long run.

Pursuing the impossible after all is absurd. Accepting absurdity as an integral element of your life is par for the "huge foolish project" course.

Now, because of my early indoctrination into the scientific method (Bachelor's degree in Physics- what cha gonna do?) and my lifelong tendency to rely quite heavily, if not exclusively, on logic and empirical evidence to guide much of my life, this whole letting-go-of-the rational-in-favor-of-the-absurd path has not been an easy one for me to embrace.

I find myself falling back into fear, doubt,  and worry when I begin calculating expenditure/income ratios, or considering the probability of my becoming successful in certain fields, given existing stats available on the subject. I have to continually remind myself to have faith in my huge foolish projects, despite the apparent facts. I have to forcefully shift my focus to my successes and not allow myself to focus on my failures. I have to stay true to my vision and surround myself with people who have their own visions.

People who have their own visions will not be as ready to shoot down yours. They may give you constructive criticism and advice based on their own experiences, but they will never try to divest you of your vision. No one who has ever lived their life according to a vision would ever wish a vision-less life upon anyone.

People, on the other hand, who have abandoned all their dreams often resent the carefree dreamer. How dare I wander about the country writing poetry and meditating when you have to get up every morning at 6 AM to feed the kids, drive in rush hour traffic, and go to a job you hate? Misery really does love company unfortunately.

But visions also love company and the bigger a vision is and the more people share it the greater chance exists that it will be realized.

My vision is for the world. Through my writing and speaking, I am bringing people together to dialogue across difference. I am helping people to shift their individual lives into a higher vibration in order to assist in the planetary shift to a higher consciousness.

What is your vision?



Monday, June 3, 2013

Help: Writer is Rockstar-less!!!!!

 Its happened--what I have feared for  a long time--Rock Star has removed all the beneficial ingredients from its drink. I have been drinking this drink for ten years; it has been my mainstay, my daily ritual, my get-up and go beverage. I knew once the small company  was bought out by Coca Cola that there was a chance they would stop adding the expensive, healthy ingredients and turn it into a red bull, or some similar sugar-laden, caffeine pumped party soda with zero nutrients. I never suspected the change would be precipitated by a pharmaceutically- controlled FDA hell-bent on making sure Americans are restricted from access to nutritional supplements- (another rant for another day). But that is how it ultimately went down.....

The FDA told Rock Star that they could not use Ginkgo in their drinks as it was a supplement and the drink was being sold as a beverage? Say what? We are only allowed to take our supplements in pill form? What kind of malarky is that? Then there is the suspicious article that was recently published claiming Ginkgo was linked to cancer in rats. Seriously, people? Ginkgo is the oldest tree on the planet and Chinese medicine, which is centuries older than anything we Westerners ever thought up, has been prescribing the herb for various brain, heart, and circulation considitons for eons. But all of sudden, its dangerous because it has become popular?

Funny, but the  National Insitutes of Health has been touting the health benefits of Ginkgo for years...hmmm

I am wondering, now that we are in the Shift (in consciousness, that is). how long it will take for the FDA to be reformed? For the Pharmceuticals to lose their power? Hmmmmm....

But back to my all-important dilemma: I have no Rock Star! And while I do already take Gingko supplements twice a day and can just take a third dose to replace the rockstar, that is really not my idea of a good time. Supplements work but most people do not want to down numerous pills several times a day. Which is what made Rock Star so appealing. It tasted good and was fun in addition to being nutritious.

And unfortunately, Gingko was not the only winning supplement featured in the drink- which I will now have to replace with more tortuous pill-swallowing. It also contained Milk Thistle, Inositol,  Ginseng, and B-vitamins. Lucky for those who will remain loyal (I will not) the B-vitamins are still included. But hey, that Milk Thistle was cleaning my liver every day, that inositol was improving my brain function, that Ginseng was improving everything...

And hey, who knows how many crazy people were kept on an even keel by downing RS on a daily basis, given the studies indicating Inositol may be a useful treatment for psychiatric disorders?...think of the havoc that may be wreaked by the change in RS recipe. Do those crazy people even know they are crazy? Maybe they were downing rock stars twice a day for so long nobody noticed...Are they going to be able to rush out to the health food store and stock up on inositol before its too late? I, frankly, am a little bit scared of all the undiagnosed un-treated mad people already roaming the streets, but maybe thats just me.

Speaking of me, lets get back to my problem; I need to find a tasty way to imbibe more gingko, milk thistle, inositol, ginseng, and B-vitamins each day. Any suggestions?

Signed,
Desperate Creative seeks creative way to get vitamins on the regular