Hey Now

First, a bit of news. Yesterday, the print edition of Scribe to the Pantheon of Rome officially released. It is now available at most book stores!

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I first heard the song Hey Now by London Grammar Tuesday and I so liked it, I have been listening to it over and over since. I’ve been enjoying the Arty Remix, but I am sharing the official video here:

Over the weekend, a good friend said to me something to the effect of, “I am afraid of my power.” Certainly, we’ve heard people say that before. But what is the sentiment behind a statement like that?

Lately, I have been doing an exercise I refer to as harvesting excitement. It has been a blast. I created a playlist of my top favorite songs of the moment, and it keeps growing. With each song I listen to, I tune in to the musical aspect that I love. I also focus on the specific lyrics that speak to me. I, of course, place them inside of a larger context, as per my own fantasizing.

For example, a few weeks ago, I added Angel Wings by Mike Ault (from the Rocket League soundtrack). While listening to it, I visualize soaring “up in the clouds, way above the sky.” If I’m inside, I go to the window and look up at the beautiful sky and the clouds and even hold my arms out. [I’m sure anyone looking up from the trail thinks I’m a freak! :-)]

With Careless by Dusty, which I added last week, I bask with appreciation because I “Got everything” I need. I start each day there. All else that I desire is simply icing on the cake.

And this week I added Hey Now. The quality of Hannah Reid’s voice alone is moving, especially when she sings this part:

Ooooh, You know it is frightening.

Ooooh, you know it’s like lightning.

Hey Now…

Through harvesting excitement, I feel myself tapping into my power. I feel something building—like the humidity in the deep south when a storm is coming.

Behind and underneath that building of power, I can feel a twinge of fear.

Ooooh, You know it is frightening.

Ooooh, you know it’s like lightning.

Hey Now…

We all know about FOMO: the fear of missing out.

Well, this that I feel is what I would call FOLT: fear of losing this: the bliss, the joy, the love, the connection, the power, or what have you.

I don’t think we’re ever really afraid of our power. What we do fear is finding it, coming to know and experience the ecstasy and the bliss of it, and then losing it.

Abraham talks about it this way:

When you dream big, your stream runs faster. When you’re in the flow of that stream, there is no limit to the joy, to the bliss, and to the manifestations you will create and experience through it. However, when your stream is moving fast, it is paramount that you don’t fight it—that you don’t resist it. It will have it’s way with you if you do.

The pain of losing that kind of connection is fierce, in other words. It is the same as when you find the love of your life, hold him in your arms for a while, and then lose him. We’re told that: the more we gain, the more we have to lose and that: if we begin to live our most desired dreams, to then lose them will hurt.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

This time, I know it will be different for me because, instead of reaching for the manifestation of specific desires, I am focusing on the feelings themselves. Thus I am harvesting excitement directly. Doesn’t matter what inspires it now…or in the future.

In fact, because I am reaching the feelings of joy, bliss, excitement and love directly—because I am experiencing them first—I needn’t attribute them to whatever manifests. No one experience will be the cause of my feelings, but rather the result of them!

I may, at times, feel a bit of FOLT, but that’s OK. Through focus, I can let it go and get back on track.

Year’s ago, I followed what I thought was my purpose. There was this that I was supposed to do. Didn’t matter that it didn’t bring me joy. It was what I was supposed to do…and I assumed the joy would come as the reward.

Problem was, the joy didn’t come. The success didn’t come. It never seemed to work. And then I felt like the Universe wasn’t backing me up. “If this is what I’m supposed to do, why aren’t you helping me?”

I now know that I can’t start from obligation and get to happiness. It just doesn’t work that way. I had to drop the idea that I am supposed to do something specific and then start again—start with what I want to feel first, then let the path show itself.

As much as possible, I don’t do A to get to B. If B is what I desire, I reach for it directly. Find the feeling of B, what you hope to feel when you have B, and let the path to B reveal itself.

That’s what they mean when they say “Follow your Bliss.”

• Find bliss any way you can.
• Focus on the bliss rather than whatever may have gotten you there.
• Tap into that bliss as often as you can. Tend to it and, as I like to say, harvest it.
• Then see where it takes you…and what it tells you.
• If any one thing that once brought you to bliss doesn’t any longer, move on to the next thing. There is always another song, another beautiful day, another luscious hug, another delectable meal…

One last piece: they say the sum total of your past made you the person you are today. But to reach the person you want to be tomorrow, you have to let all of that pass. Don’t carry it forward forever more. If you try and hold on to yesterday’s bliss, you’ll miss today’s.

Start each day from here and now.

You may feel pride at having overcome this or that obstacle, but understand that pride is not the best feeling place you can experience. Bliss is so much higher…and bliss is an experience solely of now. You may be filled with anticipation of the future, but to feel bliss now, you have to be here now…fully present…even as you bask in the thoughts of what may be coming.

Hey Now…