I don’t trust words, I trust vibes. People can tell you anything, but a vibe tells you everything.

Do you ever get “that feeling” when you are speaking with someone? That feeling can be a complete range of energy across the full spectrum of positive to negative. 

That’s a vibe.

Filmmakers are especially good at creating the appropriate vibe during a movie, as are authors, musicians and any other form of artist. The vibrational energy that something emotes is unmistakeable. Given that our beings are just a massive conglomeration of vibrational energy, it is no wonder that our vibrations are sensitive to those from external sources.

Collectively we encounter countless vibrational forces throughout the day. They come through feelings and emotions, conversations, what we see, what we read, watch, listen or concentrate on. These vibrational packages intercept our internal vibrations in unique ways.

Da Vinci observed that if two pebbles are thrown into still water, each creates concentric rings that emanate from the point of entry into the water. As these waves encounter the waves from the other pebble, they do not flatten out, but rather, briefly intersect and continue in their original course of direction. From this, he reasoned how both sight and hearing work and vastly changed our understanding of the human body.

Given our understanding of wave form dynamics, it would stand to reason that when a different wave form, such as a vibe coming from another person, encounters the waves that are coming from our own being, that the outcome might be similar. There is a brief intersection of the two and then each vibration continues on their own path. 

As a direct result, the resonant frequency of the uncomfortable vibe that has passed through you, leaves you feeling uncomfortable because the wave of that entity has literally passed through your own vibrational field.

Some call it a 6th sense, and perhaps that is exactly what it is. Others just call it intuition. By any name or explanation, there is unquestionably an overall feeling that is cast by others. Finding our own personal sensitivity to such, facilitates our own ability to navigate through life with greater confidence and security.

Next time you are getting the wrong vibe, pay closer attention to why you might feel that you are sensing this and increase your overall internal alert to possible problems ahead.

Happy Thursday!

To live fully, we must learn to use things and love people, and not love things and use people.

BUDDHA

How many possessions in your life do you really love? Forgetting about the items that are life essential, and solely focusing on the ones that are in your life because you appreciate them for some reason or another, how many would you estimate you have?

In contrast, how many people do you have in your life that you genuinely love?

Whatever ratio you are able to produce from the two questions above will give you a metric as to the things in life that you ultimately value.

Morality is, for the most, part taught at home. An absence of such creates a void in a human being who works to traverse the world to their benefit while simultaneously missing some of the core ingredients that make for a fully realized life.

Without that morality, the person is left to find their moral compass through the observation of others while simultaneously transposing their life experience atop a series of variables that have manifest out of their own personal encounters with others.

When a person is enlightened, they recognize the higher value in another human being, and in doing so, they discover an even higher value within themselves. How could this not be so?

It is only through the personal determination to rise above societal norm that a person is able to look past their possessions in order that they might see the greater wealth in life that arises from meaningful relationships stemming out of respect for others.

Possessions are a wonderful accoutrement in life, but so many of us make the mistake of valuing them above and beyond everything else, and only through self realization comes the opportunity to transcend the attachment to those possessions in order that we might discover and even deeper value system within our own being. 

Happy Tuesday!

Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER

Have you ever met a real genius? They are incredibly few and far between. 

Many of them do not even realize they are a genius. They clearly know they are very smart, but usually it ends there.

In contrast, there are those who are self-proclaimed geniuses and they are (almost without exception) far from the mark, and more likely malignant narcissists. 

Deepak Chopra says, “This is the nature of genius, to be able to grasp the knowable even when no one else recognizes that it is present.”

The deeper I studied da Vinci, the more clear it was to me from his own notes that he clearly did not think he was a genius. He had a a healthy ego and thought very highly of himself, but his doubt that he could know and understand everything leaves me believing that even he did not see these qualities in himself. And yet, he is one of the only humans in history to test as genius in all 7 measurable metrics.

As life evolves, those of us who are working to invent the future, stand upon the shoulders of the giants who came before us, so that we may have a better glimpse of what could potentially lay ahead. 

In the path to climb upon their shoulders and assimilate information and experiences that they have amassed before us, we are treated to a connected dots experience of watching how they did it. It appears very linear and obvious (after the fact), yet with a genius like Edison, we get a greater glimpse of what it took…. In response to a question about his missteps, Edison once said, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”

Steve Jobs explained  his attempts to get Atari and HP interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer this way, “So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’ And they said, ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.'” 

When Bell telephone was struggling to get started, its owners offered all their rights to Western Union for $100,000. The offer was disdainfully rejected with the pronouncement, “What use could this company make of an electrical toy.”

Fred Smith, the founder of Federal Express, received a “C” on his college paper detailing his idea for a reliable overnight delivery service. His professor at Yale told him, “Well, Fred, the concept is interesting and well formed, but in order to earn better than a “C” grade, your ideas also have to be feasible.

Genius is such a rare find on this planet, but it is omnipresent and most of them do not even see it in themselves. 

Happy Sunday!

You are always one decision away from a totally different life.

We make hundreds of decisions every day. Most of them are made on a subconscious level. Others require more focus. Some are critical. And then there is the one single decision that can change everything.

What gives way to making a decision of that magnitude? Sometimes it’s circumstance. Sometimes it’s dire need. Sometimes it is driven by desire and other times by passion.

Regardless of the stimuli, when a decision of magnitude awaits our focus, we are intensely determined that some aspect of our current existence must change.

When we find ourselves at that crossroad, choices that we are facing could not have greater magnitude, nor greater consequence. If we are to accelerate into a future of our own making, we are compelled to face the tough choices. They may not be pleasant, nor easy to reconcile, but when that moment arrives, we have no alternative but to see the circumstances for what they are, intelligently evaluate all of our options, and then be decisive.

Making those tough choices and life are really one of the greater moments that define us. In some cases, they create limitations and in other cases, they open doors to a future that we could not possibly imagine.

In your quest to reconcile yourself to having to make such a decision, you might find strength by giving yourself credit for getting through some of those days in which you were certain you could not go on.

But, what if you have been assigned this mountain in order to prove to others that it can be moved? If you are feeling completely lost and helpless for a solution, may I suggest that the first step to turning everything around is believing in yourself? Because the reality is that you will never know how strong you really are until strong is the only choice you really have.

The truth is your life is not going to change with the same mindset that caused the problems. Let that sink in for a minute.

Rock bottom is the solid foundation from which I rebuilt my life, and discovering your personal worth in such a low space can be one of the most empowering options in life.

You really are only one decision away from completely changing your life. You just have to make it. 

Happy Thursday!

I do not care how many billions I have down the road, I am still going to treat each person just as I wish to be treated now.

BRIAN WEINER

We have all had the experience of being brushed off or discarded… Treated like we do not matter. Made to feel non important. This is the walk of life. 

In many cases, we are probably more sensitive to the circumstances than perhaps we need be. In other cases, the circumstances are what they are and we truly are being made to feel like we do not matter.

I think one of the true marks of a great entrepreneur is the ability to accelerate into stardom or success, and still remain every bit as humble as they were at day one. To me, that is a true status symbol. The ability to stay grounded, even when life elevates you to a level you have never been on before. I recently watched both We Crashed and Super Pumped and watched two entrepreneurs rise so high that they were wholly unfair to everyone who helped to get them there. What a great lesson to watch!

I was fortunate to have had a chance to visit for an hour with Katherine Hepburn when we had her on one of her last films, This Can’t Be Love, opposite Anthony Quinn. This film was loosely based on her life, and while I have never sought out to meet any of the actors on the projects I have worked on, the chance to speak with her was too good to pass up.  It was 1994, and I was still young in my career, in my young 30’s and walked up to her after she finished a shot, and we spoke for the better part of an hour about life, love, Hollywood, Howard, Spencer and everything about making a relationship work in the entertainment industry. If anyone had cause to be egotistical, with 12 Academy Awards to her name, it was her, but to the contrary, she was genuine, sincere and so warm. These qualities were never lost on me. 

As we work our way through the myriad relationships in business, we meet them all. Some amazing, others, not so much. We encounter ego on all levels, some over the top, others quite in check. To me, the lesson is simple…. The more powerful and successful you become, the more humble and nurturing to others you should be. You should never lose sight of what it feels like to be the “little guy,” struggling and doing whatever it takes to make life work. You should opt for compassion and empathy over arrogance and attitude. 

When given an option, go towards kindness and understanding over short temper, and an unwillingness to understand. Find your deeper inner being that guides your emotions and drives your corporal being through this 3 dimensional playground called Earth and let that inner being guide you to ever greater degrees of brilliance through humility and tenderness.

Life can be hostile in so many ways. The only thing that mitigates this for all of us is our collective ability to recognize that we have no possible idea what the other person is weathering and as such, we are well served to approach everyone with compassion and extra degrees of latitude.

Happy Sunday!

I know my worth. I’ve paid dearly for every ounce of it.

ALFA HOLDEN

Some days, life feels like all that you have struggled for, all that you have put your energy into, has ignored you. It may arise out of moments in which you are working harder than ever before for diminishing returns.

Or a specific key conversation with someone goes wrong. You find yourself overlooked for something you have counted on. Or you have an expectation of someone or some organization that does not go as expected. 

Those are the days that today’s aphorism must be stored in your metaphorical hip pocket. Those are the days that you have to seek your own validation because there is nothing in your hemisphere that is going to empower you. All of your empowerment has to come from within.

I picked this aphorism for today because it is Friday the 13th. A day that was put into my mind at an early age as being the unlucky day. Eight years ago, I was scheduled on a Friday the 13th to retake my black belt test. I had failed my first test for black belt because I broke my focus when some kid’s kindly grandmother smiled at me during my forms. I do not know why it happened, but I missed a beat and all that hard work had been lost. It was a fail. And failure is not an option in my life. So it was a hard pill to swallow. My instructor made me work an additional 4 months before he would let me take the test again. So I worked ever harder, turning my 3rd degree red belt into almost pink because of all the sweat I poured into making sure I was black belt material. Finally, Mr. Gyro told me I could retest on Friday the 13th. 

I would be lying if I said that the weird date did not spook me a bit. And, as fate would have it, it was not a positive day at the office either, we had some setbacks and my mind was reconciling them, while working to stay in the focus to get ready to test. I sat in the parking lot eating a black licorice and listening to Stairway to Heaven live from the Song Remains the Same concert (a ritual for my black belt exam) and I had one last thought before I went in to take this most important of exams.

“Maybe Friday the 13th is the luckiest day of the year for me! I have worked my ass off to get here. I know everything there is to know. So the only thing that is going to keep me from getting there is me.” I got focused, went in and tested. I got to the end of the test, and knew I had passed and once again, amnesia kept me from remembering I would need to break a 1” piece of pine at the end. We got to that moment and I was wasted. Drenched in sweat, exhaustion, set off by the joy in knowing I had finally gotten there. When he called me up and told me I was going to break this board with an elbow strike, I did not even think twice about it. He held the board, instructed how this strike would work (I had never tried this before) and when he nodded his head, my forearm smashed right through that pine and knocked both halves out of his hands.

Life tries to beat the crap out of you. Know your worth. You have paid dearly for every ounce of it.

Go out and make things happen.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything…

Maybe  it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t you so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.

Having spent my career in advertising and entertainment, I have watched our industry defend itself time and time again for the projected influence that any kind of claimant is making on a piece of media with an inference as to how it negatively impacted a person to do something improper in life.

In some cases, there are pretty applicable correlations to what somebody saw in a film or television show and what they chose to actually do in the real world. In other cases, it feels very much like an attempt to use all media as a catch basin for guilt.

My perspective is that the media is unquestionably a dominant influence in society. How could it not be? Between all of the entertainment, commercials, news, and social media, we are perpetually bombarded by all forms of influence, both positive and negative.

For any of us to pretend that we live in a bubble that is immune to personal susceptibility is, I believe, an ignorant posture.

We might find all sorts of positive role models in our entertainment that give us a reinforcement of any kind of moral code. We only need to look at the Kardashians to point out how celebrity influence is more rampant than ever before. 

The commercials that we watch create stimuli using Pavlovian technique and other methods in order that they might push a consumer into a decision that that consumer might not otherwise consider.

So with all of that stimuli, are we all having our natural life path significantly altered? I would leave that to each individual to determine for themselves, but as this aphorism points out, perhaps there is a necessary filtration process in order that we might weed out some of the negative stimuli and allow ourselves to continue to wake up into whom we are most destined to be.

Life is such a precious journey, taking some time to disengage from all of the messaging that is part of our perpetual bombardment is a very healthy option that should be considered on a very regular basis.

Happy Thursday!

She has been through hell, so believe me when I say fear her when she looks into a fire and smiles.

ECORONA

Winston Churchill said, “When you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Isn’t that the truth?

There are moments that make us, and quite often… they stem directly from the moments that look to break us.  We are put to extreme challenges over the course of time, and as we emerge, we are genuinely forged in flame and tempered like steel. They say that man is like steel, when we lose our temper, we collapse.

I am sure we all wish it were different, but the truth is that when we are working to achieve brilliance, there is seldom a path to such that is not fraught with countless obstacles, disappointments, fears, frustrations, and failures.

But something deep inside causes us to accelerate out of these moments of conflict and enables us to find our true course in life. I have tried on many an occasion to write about these intangible variables, in hopes that I might leave behind me a trail of breadcrumbs that will teach the next one in my path how they might approach the continuous stream of messages that try desperately to beat the living daylights out of our hopes and dreams.

And yet, the words never seem to do justice to the actual real experience. At some point, words fall short of the deeper, innate understanding that this is your calling, knowing deep in your heart that you are the right person to achieve it, and absolutely nothing will stand in your path.

The tenacity and indomitable will required to achieve those calibre experiences are imperative to getting there. If you do not have these qualities, then you will be required to manifest them. If you are scared, stop and stare fear in the face, if you are shy, suck it up and get over it, and if you lack faith in yourself, then you had best cultivate it.

Nothing shy of these qualities will enable you to traverse the insanity of the path you have opted to travel.

And then….one day… you too will look into a fire and smile.

Happy Wednesday!

You are the universe, expressing itself as a human for a little while.

ECKHART TOLLE

Antoine Lavoisier created the Law of Conservation of Mass in 1789 in which he stated, “Matter can change form through physical and chemical changes, but through any of these changes, matter is conserved. The same amount of matter exists before and after the change—none is created or destroyed.” In other words, the mass of any one element at the beginning of a reaction will equal the mass of that element at the end of the reaction. 

If that is the case, then the amount of matter that existed in the universe after the outcome of the Big Bang, is finite, and everything that has existed thereafter was created from the same set of matter.

When you look at this thought from a scientific perspective, you are able to more fully grasp that what Eckhart is saying must be true. When Carl Sagan said that “we’re made of star stuff,” he wasn’t being metaphoric. He was simply noting—in his uniquely precise and poetic way—that the raw materials that constitute our physical bodies were forged in the bellies of distant, long-extinguished stars.

As humans, we feel this intense sense of self importance. As a result, we are quick to point out the human soul and all of the possible variables surrounding it. I cannot speak to that part of the equation. Does a soul have mass? Is it energy? Is it even definable?

But to the physical form, we are created in the womb and from the moment the cell splits into two, we are growing. That growth comes from the nutrients in the mother’s body and each and every split of those cells delivers more mass. The nutrients come from mass consumed by the mother, and is converted to help grow the zygote into an embryo into a fetus and finally into a baby.

I like this quotation because it is both metaphoric as well as accurate. It places us properly in the larger scheme of the universe, and allows us to ponder where each of the atoms that comprise us have actually traveled and reconfigured over the 13.7 billion years since the Big Bang. 

If you take a moment and contemplate that parts of us were actually parts of millions of other things over time, you might consider what wisdom is potentially encapsulated in their essence, and then wonder is it even possible that we might tap into that stored wisdom, should that potentially exist.

Happy Tuesday!

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.

SOPHIA LOREN

A friend who was a new father asked me quietly, “when do you stop being afraid of everything for your child?” I responded, “that’s simple, it goes away on the day you die.”

Being a parent is perhaps the most cathartic chapter of life. There is suddenly an awareness that you are very secondary in your own life, and that your child has automatically risen to the top of your priorities. 

Add more children, and you continue to slide lower on the priority list. It’s just the way it is.

Having never been a mother myself, I can only use conjecture to presume the intense miracle of some living being growing from nothingness to a baby, ready to burst upon the scene. That experience must be among the most (if not, the most) profound experience a human can have.

Charles Stanley perhaps said it best…”Motherhood is a great honor and privilege, yet it is also synonymous with servanthood. Every day women are called upon to selflessly meet the needs of their families. Whether they are awake at night nursing a baby, spending their time and money on less-than-grateful teenagers, or preparing meals, moms continuously put others before themselves.”

Given their sacrifices made on our behalves, they deserve our undying affection.

Wishing all the moms the very happiest of Mothers Days!

Happy Sunday!