Monday, May 11, 2009

The wind can't be photographed....

As a solid member of the Commodores then deep into the trial and errors of a self guided solo project, Lionel Richie’s digits at the record store have toppled 100 million. Slowly walking through his house built on accomplishment, the singer, songwriter and producer takes the time daily to gently glide his fingertips across the brush strokes of layered gold on five Grammy Awards, an Oscar and an Emmy.



When asked to best describe his life and style and all that was required to create a single sliver of success inside a world that looks one way before you sleep then completely changes before sunrise, Lionel peacefully replied, “I invite you to push your car to 100 miles per hour…then stick your head out the window.”



Heard a radio disc jockey speak loudly about his tremendous compassion for small league baseball players, “A person can walk through the dugout or locker room during the worst of losing conditions and every player on the team believes they still have what it takes to make it to the major leagues.” The announcer stops for a moment, patiently gathers the ingredients of his current point of view then spouts, “What is wrong with these kids? Don’t they realize the odds of having a 95 mph ball pitched toward their bat in a big league field is one in ten thousand?”



In order to keep their products flowing and growing, American businesses have whittled their fields of opportunity to the slimmest numbers since The Great Depression. From the outside if one wants to land a performance as a bag boy at a grocery store chain it might one day require a degree in psychology.



The fine tasty folks at Doritos once said, “Eat them…we’ll make more.”



Colleges and technical schools are doing exactly that…they’ve got the students but the chips aren’t in the bag. The entry level positions they were hoping for have been taken over by former leaders and coworkers who’ve sacrificed their ambitions to reach the major leagues to perform under newer unexpected guide lines of doing whatever they can to survive.



The little leagues are brimming with dreams connected to pitchers mounds and home plates with no baseball diamonds to sink their spit shined cleats. How is one expected to attain a welcomed level of success like Lionel Richie if opportunity continues to lay silent?



Happiness versus despondency.



Whoa…and deep we go. But is it too deep? Depends on the level of thought you currently rest your visions or where you’ll be standing six weeks from the five month you decided to stop trying to shove your round life through a triangle hole.



A King from many moons and chapters back called upon a man, “You have something I want…” he was told. Looking quite surprised by the king’s figure of thought, he continued to listen, “I need balance, serenity and wisdom. I will pay any price to get it!”



One week went by, two, three, then six months almost a year. Becoming extremely worried, the king summands the man. The royal invitation wasn’t made of paper and brilliantly scented flowers but of many men of war who drug the visitor to the castle to give to the king the single item that he was waiting for.



A beautiful jade box.



“That’s it?” The king questioned. “You get all your power from a green box? You find so much happiness in the world and showcase valuable care for so many who’ve been brought to their knees in prayer because of a green box?”



Un-amused and completely losing patience, the leader of the great land fidgeted with the box, playing with it like a cat that didn’t get what it wanted. Once completely blocked by what decision to make next, the king discovered a secret compartment…inside a tiny piece of paper, pulled out the king read it, “This too shall pass.”



Looking at the man the king seemed bewildered, lost by reasons of assumption. How could a green box with a tiny piece of paper bring him the only thing he truly wanted as king: balance, serenity and wisdom. With confidence and not a sip of fear, the man turned to his king and softly said, “When you are happy, don’t be too happy, this too shall pass. When you’ve become weak during times of tremendous stress, this too shall pass.”



Every situation has fleetingness. When you become aware of all shapes and how they are transcended, your attachment to them lessons. It doesn’t mean you can no longer enjoy them…by grasping onto both good and bad sides of happiness your personal battles barely carry weight which allows you to enjoy the outcome of several situations.



By detaching yourself you gain a higher advantage because you’re no longer trapped inside them. Think of it as being an astronaut taking a spacewalk. When you create space there’s plenty of peace to grow with less pain to wade through, even late at night and there’s nothing good on television.



Self created suffering stops when you practice one thought: This too shall pass. Once you learn the art of understanding both sides of every emotion, you’ll need to fill what took up so much room with something that makes a difference in other peoples chapters. You grew and grew at your place of business only to see it suddenly disappear. All that energy inside still wants to play so work it another way, the Ronald McDonald House stands one year from opening in the Carolinas…10% of what keeps them going comes from McDonalds. The other 90% of their survival rests on the community.



There’s so much good and bad taking place in the world today we’ve become masters of many faces with no true clue where to turn when this personality bumps into this one, then that one, then from out in left field here comes a totally different mood and mode. Who are you at the very moment? If you sleep, when you wake would the world have already changed again and again?



This too shall pass…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

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