“Anytime that you notice you’re not feeling well, ask yourself ‘What am I thinking?’ Usually it’s a negative thought.” ~ Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield usually hits the nail on the head when it comes to the how. How to take the law of attraction and make it a practical application to daily life. This installment sees him give some advice on things we can do everyday to change our lives and reach the goals we’re striving for. Good stuff!
Whenever I find myself having “one of those days” I think about my thoughts about what is going on in my life. It would be easy for me to say “Oh, X Y and Z is happening, and that’s why I feel this way blah blah blah.” But the real truth about what’s going on is my thoughts about X Y and Z and the blah blah blah.
One daily action I am working on making a habit is training my mind to work for me and not against me. Yep, it’s hard, but the benefits are immediate.
Comments Off on My Muses: Death Cab For Cutie “I Will Possess Your Heart”
Death Cab, like Radiohead, is one of those bands that I play all the time to the point that I wonder if it’s healthy for my son.
To give you an example, one day we were driving along the countryside in Dekalb county (Georgia, Atlanta area). It was a bright and sunny day, and as always iTunes was piping through the stereo. Death Cab’s “I Will Possess Your Heart” was playing. And my 5 year-old was singing it verbatim.
I realized that this must have been the thousandth time he’d heard this tune, and for a moment I wondered if it was normal, after all it’s a pretty intense song.
But then again, what is normal? I recalled the dark and hyper-sexualized songs I’d grown up listening to and never caught the real meaning until I was in college (some even later, like Frankie Goes to Hollywood “Relax” I had absolutely no idea that was about reaching orgasm until the new millennium, but I’d never seen this banned version of the video either, eewww!). I figured he’d be fine as long as I continued to balance out the Death Cab with Backyardigans, The Wiggles, The Muppets and less dark, more family-friendly bands like Coldplay and U2.
This particular tune has a play count of over 300 in my iTunes. That was after my computer crashed and wiped out my play counts. It’s right up there with the most popular songs from my Blood To Blood playlist, but ironically it’s not on that playlist. Nonetheless, I crafted a good amount of Justin’s interior monologue while listening to it:
I imagined Justin saying these lyrics, or something like them, in his head whenever he spent any time with Angel:
How I wish you could see the potential, the potential of you and me. It’s like a book elegantly bound but, in a language that you can’t read. Just yet.
You gotta spend some time, Love. You gotta spend some time with me. And I know that you’ll find, love I will possess your heart. You gotta spend some time, Love. You gotta spend some time with me. And I know that you’ll find, love I will possess your heart.
There are days when outside your window I see my reflection as I slowly pass, and I long for this mirrored perspective when we’ll be lovers, lovers at last.
You gotta spend some time, Love. You gotta spend some time with me. And I know that you’ll find, love I will possess your heart. You gotta spend some time, Love. You gotta spend some time with me. And I know that you’ll find, love I will possess your heart. I will possess your heart. I will possess your heart.
You reject my… advances… and desperate pleas… I won’t let you… let me down… so easily. So easily.
You gotta spend some time, Love. You gotta spend some time with me. And I know that you’ll find, love I will possess your heart. You gotta spend some time, Love. You gotta spend some time with me. And I know that you’ll find, love I will possess your heart. You gotta spend some time, Love. You gotta spend some time with me. And I know that you’ll find, love I will possess your heart. I will possess your heart. I will possess your heart.
That’s *so* Justin. Wow. Now that I’m thinking of him again, I need to run and write some more of the Justin story I’ve been working on.
For example, when I for whatever reason start putting off doing little chores at home, that procrastination builds and spreads, like a disease, to all the other parts of my life. Soon I am putting off big things and not staying on top of important things. Once I reverse this and address even the smallest of matters in a timely fashion (like finally washing those dishes, or replacing the batteries in the chirping smoke alarm) that energy also reverberates to the other sections of my life (staying on top of my work schedule, paying bills on time, etc.). Effective planning is a habit I am currently in the process of building (emphasis on effective).
So the message here is to make sure that what you do repeatedly, your habits, are serving you and facilitating the type of life you want to live. If they aren’t let them go, replace them with actions that do serve you, and watch how your life changes for the better. As Zig Ziglar says, self discipline is the key to excellence!
My trusty Blood To Blood YouTube Playlist includes tunes scooped directly from my iPod playlist, and served up via YouTube. These are the videos to some of the artists listed in the official Blood To Blood playlist. One of these days maybe I’ll be able to pipe everything directly from iTunes, but in the meantime, this little playlist feature on YouTube is kinda cool.
Anyway, I played these artists and their songs hundreds of times while writing Blood To Blood. Many of them are connected to specific scenes from the book. Hole’s “Violet” for example is for when Angel feels her new powers for the first time as she runs through the Maine woods with her family.
“What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.” ~Mother Teresa
Almost all of my characters are faced with difficult decisions that involve their family members. The theme of Family is one of the most prominent aspects of my writing. I’m fascinated with family dynamics and how the family serves, in part, as a cocoon, a catalyst that brings about dynamic change within an individual.
Some families are exciting, some not so interesting, but all are imperfect.This is the stuff I like to explore. The imperfections. How even a family who seemingly has it all, namely Angel Brown’s family, can have deep dark secrets, murderous thoughts and enough conflict to “keep it real.”
Many ancient cultures and modern day metaphysical movements espouse the concept that we choose our parents. That before we are born, our souls, on their unique missions to learn and teach, choose the human vessels which will help them accomplish their goal.
Many people may find this impossible to believe for a number of reasons, but personally I know that no matter how imperfect my parents were, my life didn’t improve until I could accept them for who and what they are and the lessons they taught me.
Robin Thicke is the inspiration for one of my favorite, and most obsessed over, characters: Sawyer Creed.
Two of Thicke’s songs were the inspiration for an entire novel and its heroine Angel Brown:
“Angel” (Why, oh why wasn’t an official video made of this?)
“Can You Believe” (I love when he says “If somebody’s watching, you would never know.”)
Check out the beautiful lyrics to “Can You Believe”:
Nothing can make you high Or put fire in your eyes Or give you a chance to fly When you need the wings When all that youve got is doubt And nothing can stop you from feeling down But oh I know, I know exactly how you feel
But can you believe now When youre on your knees now Begging and pleading now Can you believe When all that youve got is doubt And no one to pull you out When your heart is slowin down Can you believe
See the person I love the most Is so far away tonight And no other medicine or promise is Gonna heal me up right But I got to believe That her and me Will be together Cause thats all I got And Oh, I know When youre down at the bottom Can you believe
Can you believe when all hope seems gone When your mother and father cant keep you safe from harm Can you forgive in your heart Can you ask for forgiveness When nobody else believes can you believe Can you believe in yourself
If nobodys watchin You will never know If somebodys watchin You will never know If nobodys watchin You will never know If somebodys watchin You will never know If nobodys watchin You will never know If somebodys watchin You will never know
In fact, his entire album The Evolution of Robin Thicke played in nonstop rotation during the writing and editing of my book.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Robin Thicke for being my muse.
Comments Off on Weekly Word: Getting rid of the drama
I really like these words because I went through it myself.
I realized life is waaay too short to be caught up with people and situations that make you miserable. The time that it takes to deal with :drama” could be spent doing something you actually should be doing.
Maybe some of you have experienced this feeling too.
Eventually, once I learned how to exercise my power to choose who and what I wanted in my life *and* made those decisions without malice toward the things and people I didn’t want, my life changed radically.
Try it and see for yourself. I’d love to hear your feedback.
I am heartbroken to learn of the passing of my friend, the one and only musical genius, Quincy Jones. Quincy touched my world as both a cherished mentor and as also as someone I looked up to for his deep impact on virtually every form of American music.
