The principles that guide me are more foundational and provide the perspective, the framework if you will, out of which I operate on a daily basis. I’ve done my best to capture these below.  These originate from a synthesis of ideas I’ve picked up over the years from extra curricular reading and general life experience. I think these speak for many of the people I’ve met who seem to be on a similar journey trying to define a new paradigm here in the US.

Keep in mind that these are foundational; this is the bottom most point I could go… even beneath Though Shalt Not Kill, or Don’t Pollute. To me these address “why” you wouldn’t do either of those things.

1. To live from the heart

2. To recognize the great mystery and be in awe of how it manifests around you

3. To feel the deep river of connection beneath you, and thus to honor all of life and realize it is part of you

4. To be still, to release the nagging fears that pound on your doorstep

5. To expose yourself, to fully participate

6. To accept and love what is

7. To hear yourself, and act for yourself, to learn and build your surface life from this

8. To recognize all of the others in the silent, sometimes awkward, and always powerful inner journey

9. To live in the pocket – being one with the flow of life

10. To build a world out of these principles, where achievement and success is measured by how true you are to yourself, and can only be measured by you

Please… enjoy and share with others if you like it, and leave your thoughts below. I’m interested to read your feedback.

The modern civilization design we have in place is on a crash course that affects all of us – potentially further down the road – but definitely now. The sea change I and so many of us talk about and experience is about lifting our heads out of this river, pulling our bodies ashore against this great current and establishing our feet on solid ground to build a new, more grounded, and rooted form of co-existence.

This new way needs just enough definition to help us see the next step in front of us. And the old way needs just enough definition to see where not to step next. As always, I look to all of you out there to help me see our next step. Onward.

In the case of the new social paradigm we’re creating, the challenges are daunting.  With any daunting challenge, procrastination kicks in. Where to start?! So many things to work on, and so little time and money!

Ahhh… but wait we do have the time – it’s right now.  And money, well, what is going to create real social revolution requires no money at all.  It’s simply a shift within each individual.  Perhaps you think that simplifies it too much. These are some of the ways I’ve found myself contributing to a larger social revolution. These have cost me very little time or money, and all provide powerful returns. May you have as much fun with them as I have!

1.  Walk to a place you need to go. It’s easy for me to drive to the gym. It’s also easy to run there or walk or bike. Each day I’m confronted with the option. Interestingly, when I choose Ped Power, I always feel better. The fresh air… ahh!

2.  Camp in the woods. Within an hour of your house there is probably a rural campground. Pack up the car, drive out there, pick a spot, start a fire, roast some grub, and admire the stars. This one may cost a bit of money, but think of it as an investment for your soul.

3.  Grow some food. I’ve had friends and family grow vegetables in pots on their condo patio, several levels above ground. You can get your hands into soil, and home grown into your belly just about anywhere.

4.  Barter a skill. Everyone has something to offer, and there is always someone who will find value in it. I’ve bartered coaching for free WiFi in the past. We trade babysitting nights with neighbors. Bartering creates a social IOU that can only be redeemed through another social interaction. How cool is that? It’s the original currency.

5.  Gift something. This can be anything, but the idea is that it comes from deep within your heart. It’s not just getting rid of something in your house. My favorite gift to give is a heart-felt letter, deeply intentional and pointed. My wife has gifted homemade yogurt, pillows, and baked goods. Yum!

6.  Meditate. This is the root of it all. You can do it where you are right now. No exceptions.

7.  Run. After a good jog, my mind feels like my teeth after brushing them with mint toothpaste. It almost always cures what ails me.

8.  Be Present in Conversation. All you need to do is listen to the person talking. When you find your mind drifting, notice, and bring yourself back to their words. Let them finish their thought. Then say your part. Be with them.

9.  Appreciate. Most likely you don’t do this enough. I know I don’t. There’s so much to be thankful for but if we don’t do it then we just “take it for granted.” Take 5 minutes at the end of your day to write down 5 things you’re appreciative of. Do this for a week and see if you recognize a difference. Each time I remember to do this, and get in the habit, life lightens up.

10.  Envision the world you want to be part of. Take some time to dream up the ideal world (not your personal life, but the world at large). Keep doing it. We need that vision out there in the ether. If we can get enough people thinking positive visions privately, then eventually we’ll all be pulled in that direction and we’ll have created it.

11. Surround yourself with people you admire. Invite them on walks, engage them in The Conversation. According to Paul Ray’s study, most of us Cultural Creatives think we’re alone… but we’re not!

12. Host salons (group conversation over topics of choice). I stood in a bar one evening months ago, surrounded by hundreds of people. I consciously detached myself from any particular conversation, and released my focus on any particular sight. I just tried to take it all in. As I floated there, it became clear to me that within a matter of minutes a small book’s worth of information was exchanged just in that bar. In that minute across the world, the equivalent of thousands of novels must have been exchanged. There was a cacophony of conversation. It was stunning and beautiful. Now imagine channeling all of that energy on a specific topic, for a short period of time, in a group setting. That is a salon. They’re awesome. Try one!

13. Read all that you can online or in library books. There are your local people you can surround yourself with, and then there are those whose thoughts exist online and in books. All of my life changing realizations were either received from or bolstered by books or articles that I’ve read. We are social creatures and we seek validation, regardless of how self-assured we may be.

14. Smell the roses. Don’t forget to stop from time to time to smell the roses.

May you have a wonderful day!

P.S. You know, if it’s been a while since we communicated and you’re still reading this blog, or if you’re new to it, I would love to hear from you. It’s always helpful to feel the connection. Looking forward to it.

This is one of those questions that always gets me.  And it probably gets you too.  By the looks of it, looking around US, it gets nearly everyone.  It seems that in the modern developed world, our brains confuse fear of survival (or Safety on Maslow’s hierarchy) with “Keeping up with the Joneses.”  Or perhaps you’re more enlightened and you don’t feel the twinge of competition to surpass your neighbor, but you still feel the pang of fear related to saving up enough money for retirement, college fund, having a car that works, and a house in a reasonable neighborhood.  In either case, you never really feel “safe” and there is always that fear pricking you in the back of your mind.  So it drives you onward, continuing to sack away and be driven by fear because you are simply not able to answer the question of “What is Enough?”

Each of us is different of course and far be it from me to tell you what is enough for you.  However, I can tell you that I have found a way to answer that question and it may work for you too.  I’ve been working on hearing that question, recognizing it as a fear and letting it go.  I’ve been working on telling myself “yes, I have enough” despite my mind’s wondering.   I have a healthy family, an amazing community, I walk to work, fresh air, live in the richest country ever on planet earth.  I have enough.

In the past this question has been crippling.  Because according to everything I read, I definitely did not have enough.  Eventually I saw that there was no obvious answer to this question.  It’s a frame of mind, not a quantifiable answer.  How exhausting.

With recognizing that I have enough, the whole world opens up to me in that moment because the fear disappears.  It releases the chains and allows me to really focus on what matters most.  And what matters most is never whether I “have enough” for some later date.  It’s always, how can I love this moment with my whole.

It’s not easy to think this way, I know.  It’s still a challenge for me.  Nearly every marketing piece you’re subjected to (somewhere between 500-1000 ads per day) on a daily basis tells you that you don’t have enough, that you have a problem, and that this here product is going to solve your problem, give you enough, and calm your fears.  But of course, that doesn’t work.  It’s an ongoing cycle for you as the consumer.  It’s also an ongoing cycle for the producers of these products, because after all they are human and dealing with the same basic issue.  The people at those companies feel they don’t have enough (profit or market share) so they make ads to sell more (a message telling you that you don’t have enough).  This becomes a giant viscous cycle.

This moment is all that matters.  There may be those of you who read this and call me foolish as you acquire more and nicer things.  But I know you.  I know that you are dealing with these fears as well.  I challenge you to try this other way.  Try telling yourself that you do have enough and maybe for just that one moment in time you’ll actually feel what it feels like to answer “yes” to that question and be at peace with yourself regardless of what society is trying to shove down your throat.  And if you can do it for one moment in time, you can do it for all moments.

This is not just a personal issue, or an issue with how we “market” to each other in this country.  This is an epidemic of lifestyle and it affects the whole world because we are the largest consumer and the most powerful nation currently.  If we each individually start seeing that we have enough, then as a country we can see we have enough, and then we can start seeing our neighbors again not in fear, but in celebration of this moment.  Imagine what could happen then.

The very nature of this system implies that there isn’t enough. The value it proposes is saving – to spend little and save as much as possible.

The problem is that it’s looking at it all backwards. It’s looking at our capital as the man-made financial capital. What it isn’t taking into account is the unlimited amount of capital, true capital, you have brewing inside – your personal energy. This is the capital that is all yours while you’re alive on this planet.

In my own experience, I have found that the more I spend in terms of real capital, personal energy, the more I get back in return. The more I push myself away from fear and playing it safe, the greater the personal reward. The more I push myself to CREATE, the more people notice my work and appreciate it. I mean, you can just feel this. Think back to the last time you really threw caution to the wind and did that thing you just love to do. People can see it on your face. And no matter how much energy you were putting into it, you had an unlimited amount more to give even if you were tired. The feeling of squirreling away is the opposite of this. It isn’t the feeling that makes you come alive. The feeling that makes you come alive is saying “Fuck it, I’ve got to do this thing!”

So, to hell with the old way. Down with the old system of being scared and cautious and living life to squirrel away. Instead, I say reach deep down inside and find something you want to pour energy into… something that will make you come alive and then just throw caution to the wind. Spend all the personal energy you have on it! Spend it all! Then spend some more! Because you know what?! You’re not going to run out. The more you create, the more you will have. And the more you have, the more we all have. It seems paradoxical but you’ll find it to be true.

“That’s been one of my mantras: focus and simplicity,” Jobs told Businessweek in 1998. “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

I will show you what I have seen
and bear my excitement
I will expose my emotions
and converse from my soul without fear

Your power and energy
cycle powerfully within you, it is your source
and yet it magically feeds me as well
just by being near it

On a normal day
you are so strong it just surrounds you
and is made available for others to pick up

So on the off days when you are down-
a part of the natural cycle
I will provide for you
I will listen and help you up because it is not hard
because you have given me so much on the other days

You live life like a flame
beautiful and bright and lighting the world on fire.
Colors and patterns dancing about
Magically

I love you and want this for you
because I know that you are me as well.

~

P.S I’m talking to *you*