Category: Life Perspectives

Your Life The Symphony


 

Please view the above video, it provides a necessary context for this post.  You may not be a fan of Peter Cetera or Chicago, but hopefully you can appreciate what goes into the making of art and craft.

I love this song and have for many years.  The version in the video clip captures an artist who owns the work.  Unmistakable, how Mr. Cetera delivers something he birthed in 1976.  I imagine he had some say in how the song would be arranged and performed.  I imagine he had some say in who would perform the work of art as well.  You have a lot of power when a gift is in your hands.

After I found this clip, and listened to it a number of times, I couldn't help but see the similarities in the form of a life living and lived.  It gave me urgency around living out my Epic Life.  It made me stand back in awe of what the gift of life means…what it implies for all of us.  Do you know that your life is unfolding before your very eyes?  Do you understand that this is happening whether you choose to participate or not?

I want my life to be as beautiful and brilliant (like the sun) as the sound of a symphony.  Every instrument coming together to be somehting that could never be accomplished alone.  To be a voice that, if even faint, would be missed inside of something so beautiful.

I want the above for you as well.  My mission, my movement is to help you craft an Epic Life.

Aspiring To What’s Not Really There

Very easy these days to want success, fame and fortune.  I mean who wouldn't want that?  When the economy is not performing like we want or we're knocking on the door of landing a prized client, it kind of justifies our pursuit.  An understandable discontent to be sure.

But it's an illusion.  Think of it like a golden carrot that's always one step out of our reach.  And just like a drug, we keep coming back for more.  We always find an excuse for what we know deep down is true. 

In my experience what we aspire to should be Real and within our reach.  That implies that we can aspire to the wrong things.  And the wrong things create a question of trustworthiness.

Can you be trusted with the vision given to you?  Can you be trusted with the aspiration that comes along with?

The following are some tough questions to ask as you consider:

  1. Are you involved in things bigger than yourself?
  2. Can you be content even when nothing seems to break your way?
  3. Do you have a desire to find your limits?
  4. If you died today, what and how big would the void be?
  5. Do you have to "take" in-order to win?
  6. What charms you?
  7. Is there anyone besides God who knows all of your secrets?
  8. If you have attained some level of success, fame and fortune, could you walk away from it?
  9. If everyone you knew, and loved, recommended you give up, could you continue the journey anyway?
  10. Have you rejected comfort?

Resolving In Grief

It's been some time, but I felt now would be appropriate.  Losing, winning, missing all seem to have their place when a loved one passes.  In my case my dad almost two years removed.  

I've made some heroic attempts at understanding my relationship with a man named Charles.  Not sure I'll ever fully get it, but Sting's song Ghost Story is an ironic portrait of my relationship with my dad.  Kismet.  I thought I would share here as I make my way through a long journey.

I watch the Western sky
The sun is sinking
The geese are flying South
It sets me thinking

I did not miss you much
I did not suffer
What did not kill me
Just made me tougher

I feel the winter come
His icy sinews
Now in the fire light
The case continues

Another night in court
The same old trial
The same old questions asked
The same denial

The shadows closely run
Like jury members
I look for answers in
The fire's embers

Why was I missing then
That whole December
I give my usual line:
I don't remember

Another winter comes
His icy fingers creep
Into these bones of mine
These memories never sleep

And all these differences
A cloak I borrow
We kept our distances
Why should it follow I must have loved you

What is the force that binds the stars
I wore this mask to hide my scars
What is the power that pulls the tide
I never could find a place to hide

What moves the Earth around the sun
What could I do but run and run and run
Afraid to love, afraid to fail
A mast without a sail

The moon's a fingernail and slowly sinking
Another day begins and now I'm thinking
That this indifference was my invention
When everything I did sought your attention

You were my compass star
You were my measure
You were a pirate's map
A buried treasure

If this was all correct
The last thing I'd expect
The prosecution rests
It's time that I confess: I must have loved you

The Security Of Dreams

Had someone tell me last week that your authentic swing is found in the "letting it flow" zone.  Don't know why that analogy struck like it did, but Neal's got a good grasp on things.

Today I'm talking with a business partner and friend about the courage it takes to pursue dreams, and the courage to hold onto them when the head-winds come.  This is hard work.

What I find ironic and tragic about where we're at-America specifically-is most people view dreams as some outrageous risk.  In other words, something that only fools and gamblers engage in.

What if our dreams are directions to living out what was poured into us?  What if the Matrix is just trying to get us off course, so we will wake up to a life of regret?

There is no doubt in my mind that the greatest security and safety is found in our dreams-the authentic variety. 

Do you believe this?  If it is, what are you doing about it?

Answer The Why Question

Question mark 

You need to ask the "why question"-sooner rather than later.

Here's why:

  • All the success in the world will mean nothing without answering the why question.
  • Clients feel uneasy with organizations and individuals who haven't answered the why question.
  • Eventually the bloom fades, true beauty is rrevealed when the why question has been answered.
  • Truth can be found in those who've answered the why question.
  • Your organization will change the world when it answers the the why question.
  • Answering the why question creates the right type of urgency.
  • You'll find out if you're really an authentic leader, when you answer the why question.

The Limits

Limits, everyone has them.  Have you been properly introduced?  

The limits remind us of our humanity and introduce humility.  This can create an urgency like no other.  You begin to see that you don't have all that time you thought you had.  This is good.

I heard a story once of a man who lost his wife.  He gave some sobering advice:

"Save nothing for special occasions."

In other words, every day of your life is a special occasion.

Here is a post a I wrote some time ago that will unwrap this idea more.

It’s Called Falling In Love, Tiger

First, no judgement from me on Tiger Woods.  I'm made of the same stuff.  Temptation and mistakes are a one-out-of-one statistic.

I couldn't help but scratch my head when I heard a sports personality comment on Tiger Woods' situation.  He basically stated that Tiger should have kept himself single because the temptations would be too great for him to handle…considering his fame and fortune.

It's called falling in love.  And everybody wants that whether they know it, want it, hate it, deny it, or find themselves with a broken heart over it.

Unfortunately, most of media is focusing on endorsements, who the women were, website statements, and pure gossip.  A broken heart didn't make the headlines.  This says much about where we're at.

I'm confident only the broken hearted can understand what if means to be…