Inspiration is...

Inspiration is an endless source of food to my soul, Inspiration lies in places to which only you can testify; it's in between the beat, it's the voice that speaks, it's the words that are spoken, it's the actions taken, it's the footsteps that amount to miles. Inspiration is an endless source of food to my soul and propels me onward...

Get Out Of Your Own Way...

There comes a point in every part of development where we think we “know it all”, and for those of us who were born with this “know it all” mentality, we have had to develop a way to fight not only the pride that we acquire through knowledge and experience but fight the natural urge to “know it ALL”. Because if someone has not already told you, or if you haven’t looked in the mirror and recognized that you truly DO NOT know it all, you’re missing the passage to the next stage of your life. So I am here to empathize and let you know, that I too, have to constantly get out of my own way… Get out of my way so I can let other things develop; so I can step into a greater position, a higher level of understanding and greater source of power that we naturally possess but forget we have. The well to your self development has been in your backyard your entire life, yet we forget to tap into it and drink of it. GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY… Stop getting in the way of your having fun, your loving fully, your being free, your ability to create, your smiling, your losing weight, your power to develop business and ideas, your making more money, your spending more quality time, your giving of yourself, your feeling encouraged, empowered, inspired, your willingness to laugh and smile, your taking life lightly and your living to your fullest potential.

You can’t be mad, irritated or annoyed at anyone but yourself if you refuse to change and use your abilities. Tap into what you have already been given. The source is not some mystery God send that no one can seem to find. It's right there waiting for you dig it up, drink from it and get the hell out of the way!!!!! Then you can look in the mirror and say, “hello the next phase of myself, I’m glad we’ve finally met!”

If you can reach the point where you recognize that you’re the only one in the way, you’ve made it half way. Now deal with it, call yourself out, be compassionate with yourself and then tell yourself to sit down and shut up. We have to get out of our heads sometimes, surpass the emotion of a scenario and slap a Post-it on our foreheads that says, “Get out of the way!” Then look in the mirror and understand that if you’re not frustrated, you’re not going to progress. So get to sitting down and letting the next phase of yourself stand up and change your ways. Try it for two weeks and see if you don't notice a change in your relationships, your planning, your ideas, your thoughts, your happiness or just an increase in how much you smile. Get out of your way so you can love openly, love freely, strive harder, learn more, encourage deeper, inspire greater, reach further and finish this portion of the race.

We’re waiting…

What Is Time Spent?

Webster has a clear definition of each way we use the word time. We use it to describe duration. We use it to describe an occasion when something occurs. We use it to describe the exact hour, moment and second. We use it to describe seasons and lifetimes and a person’s experience such as “a good time” or “going through a hard time”.

We use it in music to describe tempos and rhythms.

Do we count the amount of time and calculate that as a conclusion of how much someone cares? If they have a poor work record can we find a correlation between how much time is spent towards that work? Are we so fixed on time that we have designated an amount that is equal to such things as caring, loving, wanting, desiring, working hard and working toward? Have we put a cap on things in a timely way and forgotten there are exceptions?

Here it is bluntly, forwardly and as honest as I can convey it…

I want to spend time. I want to spend it like money. I want to spend it like it doesn’t matter and like it might be gone tomorrow. I want to spend it like it there may be an abundance left but maybe not for one of us. I want to spend time like, like, like I really care. I spend time with my family and I treasure each moment because many of us know that all to often time runs out and we feel like we didn’t spend enough. So I want to spend time like if it could be measured with smiles and passionate moments. Like if some women like the 1-minute man and are not afraid to say, “yes, thank you, that is a damn good time.” And like the women who can’t get enough and where long nights don’t seem like they should end and 1 minute just keeps duplicating. Like we were meant to meet and time is on our side. Like we could write a book on how much time we’ve spent by laying out all the crazy places we’ve kissed or weird looks we get. Like dinners and busy days. Like long schedules and catching up. It could be written with the many streets we’ve traveled or the 2 just around the way. It could be with laughter and how many jokes we tell or how many we play. How many silly faces we make and weird expressions. How many times we’ve said our hellos and goodnights and in how many languages. Or how many sarcastic remarks are said lol. It could be written in time with just the measure of how much we could look in each other’s eyes and not want to look away. It could be written in the fact that you like a certain food that I hate or the amazing way you pull me close or the funny way you act out an impression of people in this horrible, not-even-close impressionist way and the way it makes me laugh. We could measure it in silence or in the number of footsteps from your place to mine as you walk me each time. We could measure it in gratitude. We could measure it in books read, risks taken or skills learned. In stories told or stories written. It could be measured in challenges taken or how much humility we’ve accepted. It could be measured in the number of accidents, buckets of ice, silly stories, hard moments and workout schedules. In daily routines and what we eat.

The point is it can be measured in any old way. It just can’t be fast forwarded or be put in reverse so the point I’m trying to make is, whatever the amount of time is, I want to spend it. I want to indulge in it like a fat kid and cake. I want to empower it like the ancestors’ struggles. I want to embody it how a butterfly does a caterpillar. I want to sing to it like a medley of Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin and Patti Labelle. I want to work it out like a body builder and a daily runner. I want to encourage it like a teacher and capture it like in the eyes of a child. I want to share it like a story and soak in it like a walk in the rain. I want to sweat in it like a passionate night and lay in it like hammock. I want to play it up like a jazz solo and harness it like the beat to our favorite songs.

I want to simply and utterly, no matter the measure on societal clocks, I want to simply and utterly be with you in this space at this exact moment to spend time and...

spend it with you…

The Meat and Potatoes

Men, and some women, love the meat and potatoes. The detailed story with all the hype and emotion can often be misinterpreted as flowered and unnecessary. “Sometimes I just want you to hurry it up and give me the Meat and Potatoes.” The long story, well, "that’s what you have girlfriends for."

Now, do women love to chat, tell stories and get the details of every little thing down to the very smell or taste of emotion that covered the air? Yes, we often do. Now, can we oftentimes get lost in the background story and forget to get to the point in a decent time? Yes, this is true as well. Oftentimes, this is the fun part of the journey. Oftentimes it’s the stories within the stories.

The guts of things. Sometimes you have to cut through the skin and know at which angle you cut in order to understand how I am feeling about the guts. Sometimes you need to know the angle, the color, the knife shape, where it was manufactured, what the weather was outside and the strength behind the knife to understand the premise for the guts. Sometimes you have to set the stage before you can start the play.

I guess other times it’s important to avoid being a slow movie with a slow developing plot. Sometimes we want the gist of the plot and not the movie. Give me the trailer with an ending! Sometimes we want the back of a movie cover with a quick picture and who, what, when, where, and maybe the why, but usually that is left to the other 97 minutes. The Meat and Potatoes. Sometimes I guess people perceive story telling like a grandmother in a nursing home as she gives you every detail and the background of each leading thing all while taking 4 hours to tell a 10 minute story, but sometimes she just wants to share. Take it as a compliment!

In business it is especially important to learn about the Meat and Potatoes. If it takes too long to understand, you can lose other’s interest in what you have to say. Sometimes we take too long to get to the point. Sometimes we make a movie in our minds and forget to sum it up quickly. Sometimes people can do without the details, but sometimes they won't understand the kind of meat or why red potatoes instead of white if the background and details are not given first. Other times it is best to simply give the outlined version and hope that interest will fill in the blanks as you go.

I’m not sure there is a right or a wrong, but more of an adaption that can be made on either side! Give a little storytelling and take a little Meat and Potatoes. Learn and be open to it. It doesn’t mean your girlfriends won’t listen to the drawn out and detailed story over cocktails on Wednesday, it just means right now the man, and some women, want only the Meat and Potatoes.

Don’t be afraid to give the cliffnotes version but remember to ‘give and take’! It could be the changing aspect and life and relationships are compromise. Life is too short to not give and take and smile all the while.

So maybe I have flowered the Meat and Potatoes but I had to get my point across...