The most difficult part of this current national financial crisis isn’t the constant crashing of banks and businesses. We haven’t seen the worst of times until the day we decide to move forward. I don’t mean in the way of borrowing more money from China then giving it away to car companies, bio fuel developers and sun robbers who act as if they have the answer for everything but a cloudy day.
No family walks the streets we speak who hasn’t been affected by the disappearance of the good times. The ache we feel and or felt will be carried to the next three generations infecting their lives with the negative energies we’ve given birth to.
I’ve argued for years with brokers and financial managers about slamming barely above minimum wage income into thoughts and ideas they project as profitable. Rather than hunting down the truths of an industry gone awry, we gambled away our life and style just as my father did as a child. He did it with cards and alcohol while stock market dreamers and assumed leaders hoisted their personal revenue on the idea of convincing the common person in America to invest in their educated guess because Social Security wouldn’t be there when sitting face to face with old age.
Call it what it is…financial terrorism. Fear was generated by masters of a craft used to gain access to levels of play that's left millions homeless and starving. What you feel today will be with your family well beyond the chapters your writing hand will create.
How can you change it?
Focus on the present. Get your heart out of the past and your future locked on the next thirty seconds. To recuperate requires a sense of calm, productivity and effectiveness combined with sanity. Attaining that as part of your daily performance isn’t going to be found in a book, on a billboard, Craig’s List or someone’s twittered message.
Focusing on the present needs your undivided attention. It needs to be practiced everyday. Your goal is to reach beyond meta-thinking: Thinking about what you’re thinking about. Without notice, you’re no longer in the present.
I bumped into several different mental exercises to keep your feet on the ground while reaching for the stars:
When you eat…just eat. Do one thing at a time. Don’t read or watch television while shoveling beans and rice in the trap door. If you splatter food on your shirt or pants, keep eating. Teach yourself to enjoy the flavor, the texture and whoa…who left the bone in the fish? If you were multitasking during dinner your teeth would’ve gnawed right through it.
Be aware. Know what you are thinking and how you react while thinking it. Awareness invites positive change. This is why I write every morning before sunrise, the mission is to create space for my already filled closet. Get it out or face the stinky socks and lost pair of undies alone.
Be gentle. Its 100% natural to live in the past. Accept it when you’re stopping by for a visit but gently get away. Julia Cameron says it best when describing that inner voice…it’s a two year old child with a king sized fit about to take off.
Exercise. It’s a pain to feel the pain. It’s complicated to reach beyond that urge to give up. It’s well documented that my journey through martial arts has nothing to do with kicks and punches but rather keeping the body and mind I own outside the school moving forward. My 3rd degree black belt test in October is a day of celebration in the way of saying thanks for getting out of the past and into the present.
Daily routines. Locate them and remain forever loyal. Writing on this computer screen is part of my daily routine. Keeping in constant communication with the worlds greatest sales staff is part of the plan. Designing commercials that penetrate a listeners thought process didn’t happen overnight…the journey begins with learning to listen and that’s priority one on my daily routines. Figure out your strengths and lift them to the top of the Pop Charts like Casey or Ryan Seacrest.
Send reminders. Put up a sticky note or send yourself an email. Focus on the present. Even if you instantly toss it into the trash…doesn’t matter the effects of your cause have already entered your process of growing.
There is no failure. From every mess up something new is unveiled. Ted Williams is the greatest hitter of all time in baseball. He’s a hero who fought in two different wars. Although he’s gone, his family’s current confrontation no longer rests on sports collectible robbers who fake his signature on baseballs and jerseys but rather the misconstrued concept that Ted is the frozen man. Yes his body has been preserved but how it got there and remains has nearly erased everything great about what this man once stood for. Members of his family believe it was a horrible mistake but through it a once shattered family is bonding in the way of redesigning how their father, uncle and grandfather should forever be remembered. Maybe Ted got his wish…for everyone to get along and love each other beyond this generation.
Put your focus on the present…songs have an incredible way to take you back to that special place but in the end you’re going to end up singing Elvis, “Are you lonesome tonight.”
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
No comments:
Post a Comment