Tag: blog

Success — Artistic and Otherwise

Recently a few friends and I have started a weekly artistic round table of sorts. We check in with each other onc-day-a-week and discuss what we’ve worked on during the week, whatever challenges might have come up, and plans and goals for the next week. I love it. This has been just one of the factors that have helped me be so productive lately

My two cohorts in the coterie are Lori Buff of Future Relics Gallery, an enormously talented Potter and Web Designer and someone with whom I’ve been friends the longest. and  Deb Seiz of Moon Wolf Photography & Paintography whose creations are quite beautiful. Anyway recently on her Future Relics Blog Lori had a wonderful article that explores what is success from an artistic point of view. (Go ahead and read the article and check out some of the lovely pieces that Lori has made, also check out Deb’s photographs / paintographs, I’ll wait here.

After writing the article, Lori sent email to Deb and myself asking for replies. I find the subject intriguing enough (the question of what makes for a successful life has been something that I’ve struggled with for quite some time) that I’d like to share the exchange with you

 

Deb answered:

“

Hmmm…

Ponder…

Ponder…

“Success” to me is creating something that didn’t exist before, therefore making the World a NICER place.

Further success would be knowing that someone thought enough of my work to pay $ vfor it and hang it on their wall.

FURTHER Success would be to make ENOUGH $ so that i can make more sizeable charitable donations to the folks who do the TRULY IMPORTANT work of saving other species.

ULTIMATE SUCCESS would be all of that, plus recognition of my work – MY version of “Immortality”….

My Reply:

Damn I like Deb’s answer =)

Seriously, This one I struggle with so much

OK success artistically–people you know like what you produce and give you positive feedback–then the next step–strangers like what you produce and the same–then people whom themselves produce things your respect etc — then selling some commercially (tho some of the artists who museums hunger for were not commercially successful in their lifetimes)

What part does artistic integrity play in this, holding true to your vision?

Does money = a successful life?

I really like Deb’s answer about charity and even more about creating something that didn’t exist before?

That means to me, that we are successful every time we make another person smile especially if they were hurting before

and making laughter exist where it wasn’t before? a miracle and riches beyond belief

OK Gary, you’re getting impractical

Success to me would appear to be a matter of having enough. Enough time,  money and space to be able to do what we love. Loving and Feeling love enough (and for so many of us, allowing ourselves to feel love seems so much harder, convincing ourselves that we deserve it )Enough connection to spirit so that what we do has meaning.

Material success, ok, Charity, very cool, Shining out as ourselves and bringing more love and light to the world, priceless =)

Hope that was practical enough

Peace, Love and Blessings,

G

 

 

Random Bits–48

Cool!
This could just be the result of around 4 nights with less than adequate sleep but I came up with the perfect birthday celebration project for myself (and its just the right size) 48 short film bits stitched together into 2 or 3 vids that can be about anything or nothing. Gary 101 so to speak. I’ll start filming the bits today and give myself until tomorrow evening to finish it. It will either be great fun, a colossal fail or both.
As far as turning 48 goes–This party rocks!!!! So glad I was invited. or maybe I crashed it. Naaah, it’s not like the guest list is exclusive. Oh, the occasional fight or drama happens but overall, wow, Things to see here that can’t be found anywhere else…and anybody who’s anybody can be found here. I’m going to go find some munchies. Talk to you soon.

Storytelling and The NewTribes-Musing

Before the invention printing press-communities (or tribes) would gather together in a circle and tell stories and entertain each other. The creator of the story would get instant feedback from his listeners, perhaps in stories of their own, perhaps in shouted out opinions.

With the invention of the printing press, people would read printed books and broadsheets, they could seek out the author and give their opinion, perhaps even invite him (or her) to a community gathering where he and they could address each other but the possibilities of direct feedback were limited. It was also possible now for a writer to avoid either responsibility or credit under a pen name .

With the advent of the electronic age, with radio, movies and television, several more layers of anonymity were introduced. It becomes progressively rarer for the audience of a story to even know (or care) who the author is. They may still gather in circles to see or discuss the story but now the storyteller and the audience rarely meet.

Now with the internet, social networking and shared video such as YouTube, once again we gather together in tribes, maybe not in the same physical location but we of similar natures band together, we share stories, give feedback and once again become part of each other’s stories. The main difference now is that we are spread globally but we share much of the same idea space and heart space.

What does this mean exactly? I don’t have a concrete idea. I do find it interesting tho…

Giving Thanks

Today has been Canadian Thanksgiving. A day when traditionally we give thanks to whatever deity alive or dead we may believe in for all the good things that we have in life. Believing on some levels in most deities I find myself very grateful :). This year in particular has been a fantastic one for me. It has been a year of putting things in perspective, with lots of new growth and perception. I have a wonderful family, one that sprawls out in all directions both birth and chosen, so that where some people have family trees, i have a forest that consists of some growth that I’ve planted myself. I love and am loved with a wonderful partner and children. I have friends both ones I’ve met and ones I know only virtually, and they have all been amazing. This year has been an amazing one, meeting so many great people through Spirit Refuge , Seventh Fire and YouTube,
This year I feel that I have become awoken spiritually after years of letting that part of myself lay fallow. It seems apparent now that there were things I had to experience in the mundane world before I was ready to work on that area of my life. Yet I realize now, that tho it may seem to be a matter of different paths, there exists but one path, one adventure, just different foci. I don’t believe that anyone falls away from their path, whatever we experience, there our path lies.
Last but not least, this year has been an amazing one of self-expression for me. I’ve written more than I have in years, made videos, and found that I have more talent in expressing myself visually than I ever believed that I have.
Thank You Universe, Thank you fellow beings, Thank you Mother Gaia, Thank you flesh that encloses my being.
This next year will be even more awesome 😀

My Hero Zero (Nothing to be considered)

Tonight I find myself thinking about nothing (I wish). Actually My thoughts float around the idea of zero.  Funny, as a number and as a concept, zero was first seen in the Mayan civilization(Those ahead-of-their time advance civilization type Mayans again :)) They used the concept of zero as a place holder in their base 20 numerical system.  0 was represented as a shell, 5 as a rod (or line), 1 as a stone or dot.

Why am I thinking about zero? Why does it seem all for naught as it were? 🙂 Earlier tonight a friend tweeted (what one does on twitter) something like “What is good or bad anyway?” The Wheels started turning. At first, I thought, wow relative concepts in a dualistic system but then I went deeper. What constitutes good? I then free-associated  (which was good, these days I can’t pay to associate, it gets too expensive and people tend to look down on it 🙂 ). Good makes us happy, good gives us joy, no, not exactly, good gives us pleasure, ah good is a thing of the ego, what’s good for me is what satisfies me, you satisfy me therefore you are good or what is good for you is what I like, good is the opposite of bad, we split things into two piles good and bad, this pile is better than that one, we discriminate, saying something is good, always involves some form of discrimination, but in a non-dualistic universe, it all becomes very relative, something may feel bad but it exists so we can grow, learn and evolve, it has already happened, it is happening now, it will happen sometime in the future and then we ascribe value to it. It all becomes part of our path, our journey so it becomes equal. So then everything is at the neutral point, the zero point between good and bad.

Then I thought about a cartesian coordinate system where 0 is at the intersection of two lines to form a plane or of three lines to form a cube. So then from zero we can go from width (horizontal) to height (vertical) to depth. From zero, we can jump dimensions, from a zero point emotionally, we can go in any direction, from a zero point emotionally we can jump to any mood, it all seems to be about getting to zero. When we quiet our thoughts in meditation we arrive at zero, from zero comes everything. When we return to 0 we return to infinite potential. Anything can come out of nothing, King Lear’s adage to the contrary.

Also zero is indivisible, therefore non-dualistic…

How is your enlightenment going? :)

Today, I was watching the latest video from rawlucas and early on in it he asked his viewing public, “How is your enlightenment going?” Hmmm. Thanks for asking, Lucas. Overall it goes well Seems the less I worry about how fast I proceed or where It seems to be going or whether it seems to be going, the better it progresses. So it goes 🙂 I’d imagine that you could look at anyone’s life and describe it as their path to enlightenment. Everything in continual process, life  existing in motion as a verb.

But still I like the fact that the question made me look at myself in this space and time and ask, “Well what have I learned lately?” or even “What do I seem to be working on?” So without further adieu, some of my current curriculum, things I’ve either come to realize lately or things I try to practice.

  1. Feeling grateful for the good things in life rocks. Feeling grateful for the lessons that I might not enjoy but need to go through would probably be a good idea too. Gratitude shows appreciation and appreciation feels good. I find so much to appreciate, the sun on my face, grass under my feet, Aaron’s warmth, Zev’s wit and intelligence, our generally good health, amusing pet’s, watching Zev, Amanda, our friends and Aaron and myself constantly find new ways to grow, flowers, waves, mountains, Moments when I just feel good (especially when it involves connection to either another being or to a place.
  2. There is a First Nation’s blessing “Walk in Beauty”. Recently I’ve come to understand that that doesn’t mean to always walk in beautiful places as much as having the awareness of the beauty that exists everywhere. In that way, you carry the beauty with you wherever you walk.  Again, it comes down to making choices. Sometimes choosing moment by moment and sometimes deciding to be a person who has that level of appreciation as often as possible, not berating myself when I don’t do that as much as gently pull myself back into it.
  3. See with the eyes of the heart, seeing connection with other’s , finding ways to identify with rather than separate from those around me. Again, seeing this as who I want to be and working at it, catching myself and continuing further.
  4. Learning how much, my less-than-positive reactions towards people is my own stuff and how much of it seems to come from guilt and either expecting too much from others or too much from myself.
  5. “What you focus on thrives.”, OK other peoples’ words but true. It makes me wonder how so many people focus on the negative so often and then wonder why they feel so unhappy and so unsatisfied.
  6. Diet seems to play a key factor in my physicality. My physicality seems to play a key factor in my emotions and attitudes.
  7. Love rules. Always. When I take time out to feel love for the people around me and as importantly allow love from them (this also goes, in general , with feeling love for and from the universe, as spacey as it may sound, it feels awesome!!!) I feel more entered and ever so much happier.
  8. Always find the funny. Laugh.
  9. We all face times when our moods, attitudes, etc don’t feel optimal. When that happened, I used to seek a cause for this, something to attack and I identified way too much with the mood. I have found a big difference in seeing it as emotional weather, a storm going on that will pass, I don’t need to be that mood or act on it, just watch it and let it past. A bit like the fear litany in the Dune books by Frank Herbert.
  10. Meditating for at least 10 minutes a day, finding that quiet space and time, can make a huge difference in my life and my perspective.

Kind of amazing, all of those seem to boil down to two words, connection and perspective. When I choose (and it usually seems to come down to choice, tho sometimes a hard-won decision) to be happy, be aware of love and beauty and feel connected and grateful, the light shines through me.


Musing on Beginnings

I love the beginning of things. The blankness of a new notebook before you write on it. It has the potential to be anything. Who knows? Maybe something that is written in the notebook will change a person’s life. If not the writer’s someone else’s. Every word that I have ever read that has touched me could very well begun as marks on a page in a notebook.

Now, according to the calendar of my ancestors, a new year begins. Like that blank notebook, it can become anything. We have only to begin writing it. Oh I feel certain along the way there will be some crossing out of a line here or there. “Well that didn’t work” but by and large I love the mystery and the potential and have hight hopes for this one. After all the last one was amazing for me.

So to anyone who reads this and even to those who won’t, I leave you to your own notebooks. May the lives that you write in them inspire you and others with laughter, tears and the whole gamut and when this year’s volume is ready to be put on the shelf, may it be with joyful remembrances , love and awe and anticipation for the blank year to come.

The Rabbit hole beckons (A plain fancy)

The rabbit hole beckons and in an instance I must decide…
All day I’ve been getting spam telling me I was due for an inheritance.
Not unusual we all get it everyday….
but from about 10 different sources an hour…either the universe believes I am gullible or
something is in the air
or in the ground, jumping down
waiting for me to follow…. 🙂
Plus talking to people who
introduce new pathways…
and if I don’t follow them
there be neighbouring tunnels adjoining
Will I jump down that hole?
I will do what my nature dictates…
and all will be well.

In case of undue concern from anyone reading,
the hole is metaphor
tho a trip to Pellucidar or Wonderland may be nice…

Hitchhiking on the Hero’s Journey

I’ve always enjoyed quest stories, stories in which the somewhat innocent naive protagonist through undertaking a series of adventures reaches a defined goal (returning home, finding his/her fortune, destroying the one ring etc) and comes out enlightened in some manner. Perhaps reading these stories becomes in some sense a form of religious ritual for me. I imagine myself in the shoes of the hero or heroine. I become Jack going up the beanstalk and escaping from the giant. I find myself, stuck to the tar baby like Br’er Rabbit begging Br’er Fox not to throw me into the briar patch. I can see myself as Aladdin, trapped in the cave rubbing the lamp to get it lit, Alice down the rabbit hole and Luke Skywalker taking that last desperate shot to destroy the Death Star. Their journeys too I have undertaken within my imagination. It doesn’t appear to be restricted to words on paper. Movies and TV shows can also spark my imagination tho somehow it doesn’t feel as effective.

I go into Chapel Perilous, seeking the grail only to find I must encounter the darkness inside myself. I sit down with the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse to find that their word puzzles and inverted logic reshapes my mind into new insights. I take peyote with Carlos Castaneda and jump across the abyss. I fight their demons, both inner and outer (assuming for a moment that there exists a difference). If in facing their demons and perhaps by doing so discover and confront my down, can I claim a piece of the enlightenment at the end.
I don’t know.

Memes-Spread the word

Meme can be defined  units of consciousness or ideas that get reproduced  by repetition in similar ways to how genes get biologically reproduced. An advertising slogan can be considered a meme. So can a hook to a top 40 song. So can expressions that we hear commonly

“My bad”

“Sadly…”

“Weapons of mutual destruction”

“Don’t worry, be happy”

Any racial, ethical gender or other slur that gets repeated without direct knowledge would be a meme.

“The world will end in 2012”

“I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and gosh darn it people like me..”

All memes.

One of the most interesting qualities of memes to me would be the way they stick inside your head and echo till you find yourself repeating them. It could be a song that you hum…, or self talk…it could be a joke from a sitcom that you saw the night before but memes like to reproduce

Hmmm….so ideas that echo in our head that we think about and if our thoughts affect our reality….then the memes that enter our heads daily affect our reality!!!!

Sure makes a good argument for being  careful about what information we let enter into our heads and what memes we spread…

When people ask how we are doing do we say “Same shit , different day” or do we say “Every day a new adventure….”

How does saying each of those affect our reality?

How does the things we say affect the reality of the people around us?

Lots of great questions

Lots of awesome responsibility

Starting today I think i will start putting out….

Sorry couldn’t resist 🙂

I will start putting out a quote of the day, some meme that I’ve come across that I feel like sharing. I do this quite a bit on twitter.

Quote of the Day

“Act so as to encourage the best in others, and by so doing you will develop the best in yourself. ” — Felix Adler

sand angels

Making Angels in the sands of time