Applying Theory To Everyday Life: A Musician's Perspective

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 54 | Free Creativity

Theory: If you force yourself to be creative, often the result will feel ingenuine and mediocre at best. If you allow yourself the freedom to create what you want, creativity flows much smoother and, often, to a greater result.

Applying it: Let your mind wander freely throughout the creative process. It's not procrastination, it's finding your feet.

 

When I was preparing with the folk trio for the performance exam, our aim was to prepare 20mins of music for the exam. However, we chose to ignore the information and concentrate on our repertoire regardless of time constraints.

Our rehearsals were extremely laid back. We had lots of fun experimenting with ideas and arrangements of pieces. We had so many ideas that we could pick and choose the ideas that worked the best.

After we completed the arrangements of three pieces, we decided to do a dress rehearsal for the final exam and check how long it took. This included performing all three pieces and talk-time in between. At the end, we were amazed to discover that we had comfortably reached the target of 20mins, give or take only a few seconds.

Throughout 12 weeks of rehearsing, we never once let the target of 20mins influence our creativity. We also didn't need to force the creativity as we had lots of time on our hands. The flow of creativity was smooth and energetic: a very addictive force of nature!

This leads onto today's topic. The idea is that you should let no force on this earth determine your creative flow. Time constraints, money, and possessions should have no bearing on your capacity to create. If you allow these things to become obstacles for you, your creative capacity becomes rigid.

The most important thing to bear in mind when creating something is "What assets do I have NOW that I can use?"

The first thing that people will think of is something physical. For the privileged person, this could include a laptop with internet access, a car, an office, lots of money, a passport, and so on. For someone with less material possessions, this could be something much simpler like a strong voice, good fitness, good appearance, or even the most fundamentally useful tool: the brain.

Then there is the other aspect to consider: "How can I use these assets to create something?"

This aspect is the most important part of creativity because it requires sufficient imagination. Like any other skill, imagination is something you can get good at with sufficient practice. This could take the form of visualisation. When you harness your imagination, you can find all sorts of ways in which to apply it.

As a musician, I enjoy the art of composition and improvisation. Both of which require imagination and experimentation. When I look at a resonant object like a wok or a pan, my imagination comes to life with all sorts of ideas about how I can extract those sounds to use in a piece of music. This has been my latest project. I'll link an Instagram video that I posted a few days ago where I have (a bit too much) fun making music with some knick-knacks in my bedroom.

Essentially, these two questions should be the only thing that you need in order to let your imagination run wild. If you are worrying about how much money you have or if you think it's a waste of time, then go ahead and worry. You will be missing out on an opportunity to let your imagination wander freely.

The best part about letting your creativity flow freely is that you never know where it might lead you. I definitely never expected to become so fascinated with simple household objects.

But that is the ultimate benefit: your perception of existence changes with your creative ideas. No longer do I see my body as just "a body." It is, in fact, another percussion instruments. My hands are constantly drumming on my legs, chest, head, cheeks, and stomach with the desire to explore the sounds and rhythms that are possible. I often wonder what people at the gym think when they hear frantic body slapping in the shower cubicle!

If you can treat reality as a playground for your imagination to run wild, then there is never a dull moment. You will never feel like you're lacking something, nor will your need anything material to be creative. Creativity is a state of mind. You're never doing creative, you're BEING creative.

I'll also link a TED Talk from a composer called Mark Applebaum. He demonstrates how his creative mind led him to all sorts of endeavours through the simple emotion of boredom. It serves as a fine example for everything in this journal entry.

 

Instagram Post - Whacking Knick Knacks! (go easy on me, I'm a beginner on this instrument)

 

Pick of the day: The mad scientist of music - Mark Applebaum

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 55 | Frustration

Theory: Frustration is not an emotion, as such. It is the product of resistance to the present moment.

Applying it: Let go of the resistance in order to experience the true emotions that lie beneath.

 

About 2 hours ago, I left home to return back to university. It takes about an hour to drive from home to Sheffield. There's something about driving that I find very therapeutic. It's a wonderful space in which you can reflect on your life and your thoughts.

And yet, to so many people, driving brings with it a heap of frustrations! We happily allow ourselves to drive slightly above the speed limit, but as soon as someone overtakes us, they are the worst drivers in the world that ought to be put in jail!

I have since grown out of that phase. In fact, whilst driving up to Sheffield, I took the opportunity to look for the True Self. It was amazing to become aware of the subconscious processes of the brain that help to drive a car from A to B. I witnessed it in such a way that it seemed obvious that there was no 'me' driving that car.

But as I got closer to Sheffield, I noticed an old friend return to me: frustration.

This is no doubt a result of my constant criticism of my flatmates. It's not a good habit that I've created. It needs to stop urgently.

But when you shine awareness on frustration, it suddenly dissolves and turns into something else. Sometimes, it reveals a hidden desire for change that you have resisted taking action towards. Hence, the frustration.

When I let go of my frustration, what was left was a desire to separate from my flatmates. Here I am trying to develop self-mastery through success, fitness, healthy eating, and emotional mastery. But my flatmates don't share the same passions. They seem to have no desires of this nature. They are happy to let me cook food for them, motivate them to go to the gym and make most of the decisions for them without offering compliments. Otherwise, they would just eat microwave meals, binge-watch TV and take no action whatsoever.

This desire will eventually become a reality once I graduate and move back home. But there are still about 5 months to go. The last thing I want to be doing is resisting the present moment due to the mere presence of my flatmates. It's come to the point where I feel discouraged from reaching my potential whenever they are around.

The best thing I can hope for is to start setting some boundaries. For instance, if they choose not to help me out with the cooking, I will refuse to cook for them. It seems harsh but it's a fair exchange. I'm not forcing them to cook with me. I'm giving them the decision to act for themselves rather than relying on me to do it. If they decide not to help out, I will follow through with my promise. If they would rather cook their own food, then fair enough. They can make the decisions about their own food without passing that burden onto me.

Think and Grow Rich has given me plenty of reason to believe that a strong desire for something can, and will eventually lead to the necessary action to get it. As I set these boundaries, my focus is on cooperation. There are flatmates who will happily sit back and expect their food to be cooked for them without contributing their effort. They will miss out on gaining cooking skills that will allow them to rely on something other than takeaways and microwave meals. I do it in their best interests.

Also, it makes my life much easier if everybody contributes in a small way. There should not be an imbalance of workload between everyone who wants a communal meal. If it were only me making tea for myself, I would happily do all the cooking myself without relying on anybody to do it for me. And there are times where I feel charitable and cook tea for people voluntarily. However, it's a very different story when flatmates expect you to cook for them every single day without compensation.

If I have learned anything today, I have learned that frustrations can be wonderful indicators of suppressed desires that call for change. Of course, sometimes the circumstance cannot be changed. And for those instances, it'd take a separate journal entry to talk about how to accept circumstances without wanting to change them.

However, my current situation is something that I know can change with sufficient courage.

In politeness, I would say sorry to anyone who interprets my entry today as nothing more than a rant at my flatmates. But I feel it's better to be honest about my feelings rather than suppress them. If anything, I am reaffirming myself of the importance of this desire within me. It needs to be dealt with urgently. Maybe then I will feel less inclined to criticize.

 

Pick of the day: Groove Or Die - Andy Timmons

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 56 | No Pain No Gain

Theory: If you want to reach success with your goals, you will have to put up with a lot of emotional pain to get there. Maybe even physical pain.

Applying it: If one of your excuses for procrastination is due to experiencing pain, stress, or frustration, recognize that this is a necessity for completing your goals and soldier on. Keep focused on your desire to complete the goal as you put up with the pain.

 

My guitar practice has become grueling and painful recently. There is a certain musical passage that I need to learn for my recital in May that requires extraordinary strength in my fingers. I have been working on this for months now and I am still met with failure in 99% of attempts. Every time I come to practice this passage, my mind screams "NOOOO!" 

But there is a very good reason why I put myself through the pain. Not only is the pain comparatively average compared with other things, but my main objective is to improve. I could very easily give up on that piece and learn something easier. But if I did that for the rest of my life, my growth would stop altogether.

The well-being of my fingers has been sacrificed for guitar-playing skills. My fingertips are hard with calluses and my fingernails are super short on my left hand and super long on my right hand. This would be undesirable for anyone who didn't want to become a guitar player. But I embrace it because of my deep love of guitar playing and music making.

I will concede that I was met with some emotional pain during my practice today. The aim was to spend 4 hours straight on guitar playing but after 2 hours, my will-power gave in. My fingers were extremely sensitive because of the pressure I had been putting them under in the name of progress. Maybe that's an indicator that I should spread out the 4 hours throughout the day next time.

Although, if I'd have just reaffirmed my purpose and not given up, I may have continued to practice.

Yesterday I spend a fair few hours working on that difficult passage. The results were pretty horrendous, starting from "not bad" and ending with "awful." Things seemed impossible for the time being. But when I picked it up again this afternoon, my first result was almost a complete success! I managed to play most of the notes correctly with only a few muffled notes on my first attempt. As fatigue wore in, my attempts became lower in quality and my fingers became sensitive again.

My theory is that if I can continue to focus on my desire to perform that passage perfectly, it will inevitably happen provided I maintain persistence. In the hours when I don't play guitar, clearly, something happens to my fingers that make them stronger and more able to finish the job the next time around. If I can just keep going with this method, I will master it eventually.

 

Of course, this is a very personal example from my musical background. There aren't that many coveted goals that require physical pain in order to attain them. In fact, emotional pain is the most abundant product during the pursuit of all goals.

If you're searching for that dream partner, you have to deal with all the people that reject you as well as the people that you must reject. If you're looking to start a business, you must be ready for the many failures and, in the worst cases, bankruptcies that will follow before you built the perfect business. If you want to maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle, you have to be ready to turn down all of your friends' offers to drink alcohol, do drugs, eat junk food, and so on.

That is why life after university is daunting me. I need to develop the courage to face all of these emotions if I am to succeed as a performing musician. I have done a lot of the hard work already to reach my level of mastery with the performance of music. The challenging aspects are going to be finding business associates that can help me accomplish my goals, developing a fan base, and earning money.

All I know is that pain will come on this journey of growth. Even the thought of accepting the "no-self" is a painful process. If I am to achieve any success in my goals, I need to start accepting that pain is just another form of resistance. If I accept the pain and open up to it, I can see it as an indicator that progress is being made.

Obviously, it's a very selective type of pain. For instance, I don't want to accept the pain of sawing off my hands. Nor do I need to be dealing with any relationship pains, friendship pains or university work-related pains.

All I need to do is accept that a price must be paid for my desires to attain a goal. Namely, time, effort, and PAIN.

 

Pick of the day: Salvation Army Band - Phil Keaggy

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 57 | Decisiveness

Theory: Success in any aspect of life largely comes down to your ability to make prompt decisions and stick with them until completion. Indecisiveness is a huge cause of procrastination.

Applying it: Highlight the aspects in your life where you are being indecisive. Start developing the habit of making decisions promptly and follow through with the necessary action.

 

Last night, I made the decision to come clean to one of my flatmates about how I feel regarding communal cooking. I told him how unhappy I was that not everybody was cooperating during the cooking stages. We talked it through until we came to the decision to start influencing the other flatmates to cooperate.

A few hours ago, we did just that. Nobody was sat watching TV whilst tea was being prepared. Everybody did a good job and tea was made really quickly.

This is just a simple example that shows the power of reaching a definite decision and sticking with it. In my mind, I was dead certain that I would refuse to cook communal meals unless everybody was willing to cooperate. Ever since I made up my own mind, regardless of everybody else's, the results have already started to take shape.

Before I came to a definite decision, however, I was getting caught up in thought loops that held me back from making a decision. I contemplated whether it would be unreasonable to motivate everybody to put in the effort. But all of this self-talk was a huge waste of time in the end.

I knew that it would be more beneficial for everybody in the house to take part in the cooking. Not just because it helped me out, but it would help them to become self-sufficient with cooking. It felt as though there was a lot of injustice in our past behaviors that needed to be rectified and, thankfully, I spoke my mind and made a firm decision.

This is perhaps the pettiest piece of bullshit to have ever disgraced this blog, so let me add some substance!

During a discussion with my guitar teacher about building a successful career as a musician, he gave me some wonderful insights into the methods of developing a successful career. With all the research I have been doing myself, I was able to pick up on many of the underlying principles in his information.

One of those underlying principles was definiteness of decision.

Having been a freelance musician for 15 years, he noticed that the most successful musicians tend to be the ones who focus all/most of their energy into one "product" or "service." This could be a band, a teaching school, a workshop leader, a solo artist, and other things. He also said that many of his musician friends struggled during the first 10 years of freelancing because they kept wandering from project to project.

What a beautiful insight!

Maybe I can take a 'shortcut' through those 10 years of indecisiveness if I focus on my definite chief aim in life and stick with it. For years now, I have been dreaming about the lifestyle of a master guitarist who performs new and innovative music around the world. This insight gives me all the more reason to pursue this dream like a motherfucker!

In fact, I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm my decision to pursue this goal. The lifestyle of a master musician is the one I seek. Not a mediocre musician, nor an expert musician. A MASTER musician. The kind of musician that can create the most beautiful and innovative music ahead of their time. The kind of musician that copies the work of no other musicians and, likewise, no other musicians can copy his. The kind of musician that fears nothing regarding criticism or poverty.

There are no IFs or BUTs. As far as the present moment is concerned, this is my definite life purpose. No other path in life will satisfy the creative muse within me. It may mean that I do other things like teaching in order to fund my pursuit of becoming an artist. But that will only continue until I make that "lucky break."

I don't know every step that I need to get there yet, but my best bet is to start busking on streets, make recordings, shoot videos, develop my website, and general things like that which will make my "product" a lot easier to market. 

And also it won't be easy. It will mean turning down other opportunities and startup ideas that come my way. But so long as my definiteness of decision is absolute, I will be giving myself the best shot at becoming successful.

So there. Was that enough substance?  

From the research I have done and the insights I have received today from my guitar teacher, I cannot question the importance of being decisive. Not only is it important regarding big decisions in life like career paths, relationships, and so on, but it is extremely important in the smaller aspects of life. This could be your choice of clothes, food, hairstyle, phone brand, bog roll...

All of the little decisions require effort just as equally as the big decisions. If you allow yourself to waiver in your choices, you waste your energy. If you're someone who struggles to decide what to wear each day, become a Steve Jobs and wear the same outfit every day. That will allow you to save up your focus and energy on the bigger decisions in life.

 

Also, I've been thinking about doing voice narration with my podcasts. While it's only for a bit of fun, I think it would help me develop a good, strong speaking voice. When the weekend rolls around, I will adjust my schedule to accommodate time for this. Because as decisiveness is so important, I've already decided how my time this week is going to be spent!

I'll leave a link to one of my guitar teacher's videos as an invisible "thank you" from myself for his insights today.

 

Pick of the day: Express Yourself - Danny Maddocks

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 58 | Performing Solo

Theory: Solo performance will provide you with the biggest test of nerves possible. You feel the most anxiety when you perform on your own than with other people.

Applying it: If you really want to master anxiety, deliberately put yourself in these situations where you take 100% of the pressure. Once you master this, everything else will feel comparatively easy.

 

Today, I performed a few solo guitar pieces in front of a few prospective students for university. As my mindfulness has improved, the high levels of anxiety during performance have entered my awareness. Not only that, but this anxiety is at its strongest whenever I perform solo. Even more specifically, they occur when I'm performing very difficult guitar pieces. Replacing that with pinpoint precision, they occur whenever I'm performing fingerstyle guitar tunes.

To dial down the reasons for anxiety to such a narrow degree will be the first step in dealing with it. In any other performance situation, my anxiety levels are converted into excitement levels. This is great news because I can figure out exactly what the circumstances are when I receive high levels of anxiety. This will allow me to recognize what thoughts occur in my mind whilst immersed in these circumstances.

Those circumstances provide me with the highest levels of anxiety. In retrospect, they are not ridiculously high. But as my life purpose involves lots of solo performing, this will be my first major obstacle on the path to success.

As a result, I need to put myself in these situations and experience the emotions as often as possible. This will have to be done mostly through visualization because performing opportunities aren't daily. I may have discussed my success with visualization in my World Music Performance exam in a previous entry. By visualizing the exam in great detail, my anxiety levels were very low for the real thing.

It is a given that performing solo will cause you to feel more anxiety than performing in a group. This is because all pressure is on you to get it right. I'm not just talking about music. Any performance scenario is the same. Whether it'd be in a job interview, doing a best-man speech, teaching a class of school kids, or speaking at a funeral. In all of these scenarios, there's a part of your mind that wishes "Gee I wish someone could be here to help me out with this!"

It takes just as much courage to perform in front of hundreds of people as it does to ask your crush out on a date. Why? Because potential failure is riding on your shoulders alone! You have nobody else to blame but yourself. But likewise, if you should succeed, you have nobody else to thank but yourself.

To quote Think and Grow Rich:

Quote

Success requires no apologies, failure permits no alibis.

That one success can pardon an unlimited amount of failures beforehand. This should be an incentive to never give up regardless of the circumstances. Sure, I might be feeling slightly too high levels of anxiety during performance scenarios. But WHEN I reach a place where performance will be my life, it will mean jack shit because I will have reached my goal.

If I'm honest, I'm perhaps being cautious for the sake of being cautious. Despite my emotions, the performance was a success as far as the audience members were concerned. Perhaps I should let myself enjoy the success rather than numbing it down to heavy criticism.

I LOVE seeing facial expressions of awe and inspiration in audience members. Not because it's a way to build the ego, but because it reminds me that I am living in my Zone of Genius. On a deeper level than just music, I want to serve as a living example of what's possible in life. It just so happens that music is a wonderful conduit for that message.

THIS is what I must keep reminding myself of every day. I've just had the realization that my "mission statement" is not something that I actively embody as a motto. Perhaps its time to start embracing it. Because not only will it work wonders with my anxiety levels, it will replace those "negative" feelings with deep love, joy, and happiness. After all, nobody enjoys watching a musician perform if he looks terrified, bored, or angry (unless you like going to metal concerts. I can say that from over a year of experience in a metal band).

Well, that was a bit of a tangent.

All I can say is that doing things on your own is way more emotionally challenging than doing things in groups. So if you ultimately want emotional mastery, make sure that you can hack it on your own first. If you can do it on your own, it will feel like a breeze when you do it with others.

 

Pick of the day: Afraid To Dance - Don Ross

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 59a | Balancing Work and Play

Theory: Whilst it is very important to do hard work to improve yourself, it is equally as important not to lose yourself in the neurosis of working hard. You need to have some time to play around and enjoy life.

Applying it: Adopt a playful attitude throughout your day in scenarios that would otherwise be tedious or mundane.

 

Today, I received two great insights instead of one. So I figured it would be best to write two journal entries to document both of them! This is the first entry.

Last night, the most bizarre dreams came to me during my sleep.

In the first dream, I was in a cooking classroom with fellow students and a sinister, but attractive, female teacher. We felt more like slaves in this classroom than school kids. We all sat in front of our individual cookers and watched as pans of porridge came around on a conveyer belt to each of us. The teacher then made us cook the porridge using the hobs on the highest temperature. Then it just so happened that the porridge would reach such a high temperature that it would somehow cause the classmates and myself to die. Execution by porridge. This dream kept repeating itself in the hope that I would find an escape from it.

The second dream involved some kind of theater production. I was playing a worshipping monk with another person. We would kneel, chant, and praise the thing that we were worshipping. This turned out to be an old guy in a dressing gown who seemed to be scratching his itchy arse. I could hear the audience laughing at this scene like a comedy but I kept reaffirming to myself that I must not join in with the laughter. I must remain focused on my job. I left the stage maintaining a straight face.

When I woke up, my initial reaction was "What the hell was that about?" I'd be surprised if anyone considered those dreams as being normal. They seemed so completely bizarre that I could have just passed them off as "a weird experience that I will never be able to understand."

However, I dug deeper. I spent my morning analyzing the details of the dreams to see if there was a connection between them. What insight was my subconscious mind trying to give me?

Then it dawned on me...

In both of these dreams, something mundane is presented to be something way more meaningful than it needs to be. Cooking porridge was turned into a 'life or death' situation and the old man with his itchy arse was decorated to be a figure of godly importance. Anyone noticing the subtext?

If not, here it is: Stop taking things so seriously!

Cooking porridge in the real world is not a 'life or death' situation and old men with itchy arses are no more godly than the rest of us.

In my own life, I had been working so hard on my performance that I took it too seriously. I'm making way too big a deal of music performance than it should be. Practice was getting me down recently because of my constant self-criticism and glorification of music performance.

Those dreams were made to be so bizarre and ridiculous that there should have been no way of missing the main message: Chill the fuck out!

Ever since I made this realization, I have been acting more playful today: singing in the shower, singing on my way to lectures, enjoying the playful vibes in the lectures... Today has just felt magical since the insight.

So if you find that you're working yourself to death or overestimating the importance of something in your life, take a minute to question "Why can't I be playful about this?" If you end up with some bizarre dreams that communicate a similar sort of message, listen to them!

 

Stay tuned for 59b 

 

1st Pick of the day: The Funky Avocado - Michael Hedges

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 59b | Confidence and Decisiveness

Theory: Self-confidence is directly proportional to decisiveness.

Applying it: If you want to grow in self-confidence, practice making prompt decisions AND following through on them.

 

Today, I received two great insights instead of one. So I figured it would be best to write two journal entries to document both of them! This is the second entry.

So now that I have read Think and Grow Rich, I am starting to follow the action steps detailed in the book. One of those action steps is to follow a "Self-Confidence Formula." This is a small sequence of steps which you should read aloud and follow once every day.

Midway through this exercise, the insight came to me that my self-confidence is related to my ability to follow through with the decisions I make. It stands to reason that if you make these promises to yourself and then fail to follow up on them, you are going to beat yourself up about it. Therefore, when it comes to making the next decision, your confidence is lowered because you remember the previous times you failed to commit to them.

It's a very simple insight that doesn't need much explaining. Yet, it was a mechanism that I only just today became conscious of.

One of the decisions I made today was to bring up my commitment issues in a band meeting. Last time we met up, I was very reserved and shy about speaking the truth about my lack of commitment for the band. Today I demanded of myself the self-confidence to own up and speak my mind.

When I got to the band room, it turns out that the bassist is the only player there. We've been pretty much best friends throughout university and we can both speak to each other honestly without worrying about offending each other. He is perhaps the only friend I have who has this quality, which is why I think he's awesome.

Therefore, I required a lot less courage on this occasion to speak my mind. Once I told him that I felt uncommitted to the band, not only did he understand but he agreed with me that the future of this band is not looking promising. Once he said this, I felt no further need to explain myself. We spent the rehearsal session looking at his recital pieces and then grabbed some food at the pub to catch up.

The main thing is that my definiteness of decision about telling the truth had paid off in the end. Of course, I will have to tell the others at another time. But as of my goal for today, I can sleep peacefully knowing that I accomplished what I set out to do.

By making a definite decision AND following through with it, my self-confidence will be slightly raised for the next decision that I make. It's as simple as that.

So to wrap things up with my own unofficial Self-Confidence Formula:

Definiteness of Decision + Completion of Goals = Self-Confidence

 

Don't forget about 59a 

 

2nd Pick of the day: "Zakir Hussain & Rakesh Chaurasia"

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 60 | Reflection 

So today was going to be the day that I would start recording my voice along with entries. It's all recorded ready but I don't like the idea of it being a downloadable file. Also I don't know of a private place online to store the audio files. Plus, its been a lot of effort. I won't completely give up on this cause but for now, it's looking a little less likely.

So in reflection of the last week or so, I've made some pretty decent progress. There were a dodgy few days when I moved back to Sheffield though. I was getting very frustrated with the behaviors of my flatmates. Not to mention that they waited for me to deal with the mouse problem in our house. My flatmates aren't the most decisive people around so they wait for me to make the decisions. It's good for me because I get to practice being decisive but it doesn't help them, which is a shame.

After the bumpy start, I gradually let go of my frustrations and returned to a place of love and happiness by the end of the week. I've been taking some of the action steps laid out in Think and Grow Rich to help me develop a success-oriented attitude. Granted, success isn't everything in this life. However, as graduation is approaching, I need to be mentally prepared for life after university.

My goals for the future are very ambitious and definite. I am certain that becoming a music artist is the way forward for me. I want to become a masterful musician who gets to share his story worldwide. If this doesn't contribute to my ultimate life purpose of serving as a living example of what is possible, then I don't know what is.

So not only am I focussing strongly on my future, I'm now starting to act more playfully in the present moment thanks to those mind-boggling dreams the other day. Especially in a musical context, it can be far more rewarding to play around whilst creating the art than treating it as a profession or a job.

That is why I believe the "artist" route is for me. If I decided to become a "cruise ship band member" or a "covers band guitarist," my ability to be playful in those occupations would be restricted. Those jobs seem pretty severe and lacking in fun. I know this from similar experiences in my past, performing in musicals and 'strict' bands. Whereas if I chose the "artist" approach, I can compose new pieces and experiment with different sounds to my hearts contempt.

I'm still going through a process of figuring out how I will achieve this goal. I chatted with my guitar teacher about some ideas for employment after university. He mentioned all sorts of things which sounded pretty good but the option that resonated the most with me was busking. He said that my playing style would probably work great in a street performance because of its flair.

This seems like such a cool idea! I've started to do 30-minute visualizations each day about the person I want to become. It seems quite easy to imagine myself street-performing in many different cities across the UK. There's a deep feeling inside of me that makes me believe that if I chose to follow this path, it would lead on to some bigger opportunities in the future.

Of course, the only thing I need is the courage to go out and do it. I've done a bit of street performing before. Enough to know that it can be very scary to present your music to thousands of passers-by. Of those thousands, no more than a hundred will stop and listen to one of your songs. If you're very lucky, two or three people will actually stop and talk to you.

But I believe in my ability to make this work. My guitar skills have grown radically over the last few months alone. I'd like to believe that my music is marketable to audiences who love guitar playing. All I need to do is to pluck up the courage to go out, busk for money, and advertise myself to the world.

 

Pick of the day: The Song of the Golden Dragon - Estas Tonne

 

Edited February 10, 2017 by Liam Johnson

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 61 | Today's Decisions

Theory: If making and following up on decisions promptly can boost self-confidence, then having a list of daily decisions will encourage you to complete this process.

Applying it: Rather than using a To-Do list, start making daily lists of the activities that you DECIDE to follow up on.

 

This follows on from Entry 59b.

I've talked about the importance of scheduling time before. But once you get into the habit of doing activities on a daily basis, it no longer feels necessary to rely on a calendar to remind yourself what to do. Everything feels natural after a while.

One habit I've been working on is the Self-Confidence Formula from Think and Grow Rich. After doing this process for a few days, I came up with my own self-confidence formula:

Definiteness of Decision + Completion of Goals = Self-Confidence

Today, it dawned on me that if I make daily decisions about how to spend my day and follow up on them, I would be certain to grow in self-confidence.

I've never been one for To-Do lists. They always feel like an obligation rather than a choice. However, by shifting focus away from what you HAVE to do and onto what you WANT to do, you can start living in a way that feels authentic. Making daily lists of the decisions you make can provide you with this shift. It only takes 5 minutes maximum.

So I made myself a list entitled "today's decisions" and added tick boxes next to each one. This way, there would be no excuses for missing out on any of them. If I ended the day with a few decisions that weren't met, I know that it would lower my self-confidence at worst. At best, it would stay as it is without improvement.

On my list, I included 2hrs 30mins of guitar practice, 1hr of university work, to cook for myself rather than communally, and to read a chapter in Think and Grow Rich. Seeing these decisions on paper filled me with a determined exhilaration that fueled my actions. I plowed through the list like a motherfucker! I've only got the book chapter to finish, which will happen after I've finished this entry.

I don't feel different in regards to self-confidence at the moment. Maybe that's because there's one more decision left to follow up on. But when I finish the job and am left with free time to do as I please, it will hit me. An emotion that I think is underrated by the majority of my friends is the sweet satisfaction of having completed everything you set out to do by the end of the day. That's what awaits as I tuck myself into bed tonight!

To be fair, not many of the decisions that I make in a morning require much courage. Rather, it requires determination and persistence, which is probably just as important a skill to acquire than the skill of being courageous. But as I continue to do this process, I can make more courageous decisions as I build momentum after each day. There are certainly going to be some decisions in the future that will require tremendous acts of courage.

But all in good time. It is probably better to approach these decisions strategically than to throw myself into them without a clue how to cope with myself.

What I've found is that it would be wise to make these decision lists after about 30mins of visualization. Specifically, when you visualize your future self living the life that you want to be living. By planning in this way, you can be sure that the decisions you make will align yourself with the visualizations. It puts all of your priorities into perspective.

To wrap things up, making a list of "Today's Decisions" will work wonders with your emotions, especially after visualizations. You will be able to convert the hope and faith in your visualizations into practical emotions of strong determination and persistence. Make your list realistic for a day's work and recognize that failure to follow up on your decisions will have a knock-on effect with your self-confidence.

Above all, recognize that the difference between a To-Do list and a Decision list is the emphasis on choice. To-Do lists are for stuff that you have to do. Decision lists are the conscious choices that you make about how you spend your time. By failing to follow through on your decisions, you fail to honor your highest values. You fail to live up to your Higher Self.

 

Pick of the day: Prokofiev "War" Sonata #7 Valentina Lisitsa Precipitato 3rd Mov. Finale

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 62 | Combatting Boredom

Theory: If you reach a point in the day where you are filled with boredom, perhaps it is because of your limited perspective on existence and lack of strategic thinking.

Applying it: Spend your day making conscious decisions and being present in the now. Not only that, question your perspective on time and how you think it works. Be open-minded enough to accept that your current perspective may be flawed.

 

Even though today has felt like any other, it provided me with an interesting observation.

When my flatmates came down to the living room (which is just opposite my room), I heard them talking about how bored shitless they were. They had spent the day watching films online and have not left the house today. Need I explain why they could possibly be feeling a little bit bored?

Also, I spoke to my mum on the phone who admitted that she was bored as well. She was having a "lazy day," which is fair enough. My mum is usually very active taking the dog for walks, cooking tea nearly every day, looking after Dad, and making house calls.

Then the question popped into my head: "When was the last time I was bored shitless?"

I pondered over this question for a few moments until it hit me: I can't remember when I last felt bored!

Of course, there may be subtle traces of boredom in my life that I haven't picked up on. But even the smallest traces of boredom have disappeared in a fleeting moment. I can't remember being bored out of my mind for a whole day. Why is this?

Although I've not studied boredom in great depth, all I can discuss is my previous experiences with the emotion from my distant past. Boredom essentially creates the illusion of a slowed-down time-scale that seems to drag painfully with each passing second. It feels hollow and empty as if there was no reason for being. It feels uninspiring, unmotivating, unpassionate, unrewarding. It leaves you feeling like a spare part in the universe.

All I can say is that my daily actions and mindsets are doing a sufficient job at preventing boredom. It could be argued that boredom is the emotion that your psyche resorts to when you don't consciously replace it with a more productive emotion. On a daily basis, I feed my psyche with the emotions of passion, desire, determination, persistence, and courage. All of these emotions have allowed me to be both spectacularly productive and present.

The closest I ever get to feeling boredom is probably in my morning meditation session. After around 40-45mins, my mind starts to become restless and starts questioning the time. The seeds of boredom begin to germinate. However, I am adamant that my focus should remain on the present moment and nothing else. I discipline myself to stay determined until the hour of meditation is complete.

The first thing to realise when combatting boredom is that you are where time comes from. Gay Hendricks described this as "Einstein Time" in The Big Leap. Time is an invented concept of the human mind. It is not a fixed entity in the universe. You have the power to perceive time as flowing, rather than flying or dragging. Recognise the insight for yourself and keep reminding yourself of this ability. It's one that you would be sorry for neglecting.

The second thing is to become passionate about self-actualization. This takes longer than just a simple realisation. Vaguely, the process involves discovering your life purpose, learning how to create success out of it, learning how to master your emotions, and IMPLEMENTING everything that you have learned to create an extraordinary life for yourself. If you can follow through on all of these points, you will have developed sufficient understanding to know that you have very little reason to feel bored at all. There's always something you can be creating in your life.

After all that, the final thing to consider is to allow yourself to enjoy "being." This involves meditation, spiritual work, enlightenment, and so on. If you can reach a point in your life where you can feel deeply fulfilled from being in the present moment, then you will lose the neurosis of searching for external factors to determine your well-being. You can happily sit in a quiet room, alone, and do nothing without any need for entertainment, surface-level pleasure or significant change to happen.

So "Why are my flatmates bored shitless today?" Because their perspective of reality doesn't facilitate these three pointers. They don't embody "Einstein Time," they are not passionate about self-actualization, and they don't allow themselves the option of simply being.

I'm certainly no master at either of these things. However, I am passionate about developing mastery over them. It is this passion that converts my boredom into determination. It has allowed me to become super productive with minimal effort and become increasingly focused on the present moment.

It seems boredom is more complex than meets the eye! But by simply being passionate about living an awesome life, it can be trumped for more constructive emotions.

 

Pick of the day: Lord of the Dance - Strings of Fire

[Wednesday]

I'm impressed - You are very dedicated to this journal!

Boredom is an interesting emotion to me. I guess all negative emotions are signals that we are unconfortable with the present reality, and that we feel the need to change the contents of that reality. Boredom (to me) specifically seems to call for a reality change such that you are being challenged or are growing in some sense. 

Like with all negative emotions though, you can "avoid" dealing with bordem using high intensity distractions (such as TV) that simply don't give your consciousness the space to feel much of anything. But you're not really addressing the cause of the boredom, i.e. your disatisfaction with your personal growth. So you'll feel bored once again when that TV switches off and will move to the next distraction.

I don't get bored so much these days because I've largely weened myself off of those high intensity distractions, and the time is spent doing something more productive. Even with nothing to do, you can simply think about interesting things or meditate. Whenever I do get bored, it's because the environment is uncomfortable and I want to avoid that discomfort (a long flight, for example), or I'm dealing with some sort of difficult emotion in the background.

[Liam Johnson]

@Wednesday Thank you!

You sum up boredom far neater than I could. In agreement with your statement regarding high-intensity distractions, no good will ever come of avoiding emotions by resorting to some form of low-effort recreational activities.

I also feel empathy for people who are bored in their careers. On my way to lectures this morning, I saw a student handing out flyers with as much enthusiasm as a cabbage! It was obvious that he was hating every second of it, which made me feel pretty bad. If his job were to be given to somebody who was passionate about connecting with other students as well as the product he was advertising, you can guarantee that this person would be both more successful and more fulfilled with his work.

It pays to know what you are passionate about in order to combat boredom. 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 63 | Defining Yourself

Theory: Becoming too rigid with definitions about yourself can prevent personal growth and self-enquiry.

Applying it: Ask yourself "What am I?" Contemplate this over a few weeks, months, and years and be aware that all answers to this question are assumptions. Consider the possibility that these assumed definitions of yourself could be false.

 

After re-reading the topic summary for myself, I can recognise how much scope this question presents.

Initially, this question might seem easy to answer. My answer could include "Well I'm Liam. I'm a musician, I play guitar, I'm a student, I'm a human being, I'm alive..." Notice how many times the word "I" comes into play here. There is nothing wrong with the word "I," but the way it is used, as an answer to this question, suggests that the answers are coming from a place of identification. In other words, the Ego.

These descriptive words (musician, student, human, alive) are what the Ego identifies with in order to create an identity which is "mine." But on further examination, aren't these words just an abstract invention of the mind? The physical body which we would refer to as a "guitar" doesn't have anything to do with the word 'guitar.' The word and the object are somewhat unrelated. The word 'guitar' is created by the human mind as an abstract concept to identify the physical body of the "guitar".

I recently fished out the very first document I wrote regarding my first enlightenment experience. The concepts described in this document appear to be largely Ego-based and very naive. It even featured the words "Don't spend precious time contemplating existence because it will be gone quicker than you know it. Focus on your life, your ambition and your dreams while you still can." It completely goes against the practice of enlightenment, but I had to start somewhere. Like every other person alive, that place is from a battle with the Ego.

But in that document, I tapped into something important about identity those years ago: "names and identities originate from the mind and are imaginary despite their usefulness." What I was on the verge of discovering was the no-self. Admittedly, I never understood the depth of the insight way back then but I knew that it was certainly worth studying further. Hence, here I am now!

Now, who is being sceptical every time the word "I" comes up on the page? I know you're out there!

The truth of the matter is that we can't just eliminate words like "I" and "me" from our vocabulary every day. If I tried to write this whole journal about my journey through life without using these words, you must appreciate that it would make very little sense. The words themselves are not the issue. Identification with the words is the issue. As I write these words, I must remain aware that I am not my words, or my thoughts, or my body. Although it is practical in communication with others, it does not contain an identity.

When you start to sever your identification with things, you can open yourself up to being more present and more aware of your direct experience. You can also notice when other people are highly identified with different forms in their life. Whenever I'm having a conversation with my flatmate, 90% of the content that he presents is about himself. "I'm feeling tired today. I've got a cold coming on. This happened to me yesterday. Guess what I watched last night? I can't be arsed to go to my lectures today."

As ironic as it sounds on my personal journal, I seem to have lost the desire to talk about myself in front of others. Most of my input generally involves asking questions and making statements about things that aren't personal. There are only a few occurrences where I've felt it necessary to speak personally in front of others. But most of the time, I would rather just remain silent and absorb what happens in the present moment.

Anyway, that was a nice big tangent!

The main point is to not become grounded in your definitions of yourself. If your life purpose looks very specific like "I want to become a rock star," then perhaps you are defining yourself too rigidly. That was my life purpose as a teenager, obviously. But now my life purpose has become "to serve as a living example of what is possible."

That could mean anything. Whether it be musical mastery, fitness, health, relationships, money, or enlightenment, this life purpose has been constructed to accommodate abundance and personal growth. When you start living to a life purpose as broad as this, you will no longer be bothered about defining yourself.

 

Pick of the day: Don't find a job, find a mission | Celeste Headlee | TEDxAugusta

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 64 | Thought Overload

Theory: Sometimes, unnecessary thoughts can come flooding into your mind, sucking you out of the present moment.

Applying it: If you notice this happening and it feels too powerful to stop it with awareness alone, force yourself to work productively on your life purpose. This will shift your concentration to the present moment.

 

Long before I became an official self-help student, this was the oldest technique I used to improve my spirits. Almost 10 years later, I can safely say that it has worked wonders on my life. Without it, I wouldn't be studying music at university and I wouldn't be half the guitar player I am now.

Most days, I would return from school feeling depressed about my day. At home, I would replay the many uncomfortable scenarios of school in my mind and make myself feel low. It happened so much that it felt impossible to stop dwelling on them. But I will always remember the "a-ha" moment that made me decide to become a professional guitar player.

After that moment, I would come in from school feeling depressed and I would get to work on the guitar. As I practiced, something magical started happening emotionally. No longer would I be replaying those tormenting school scenarios in my head. Instead, my mind was full of vision. A grand vision for myself that involved me playing guitar in front of thousands of audience members. Most people would consider that as wishful thinking. But at that point in my life, it felt as though there was nothing to lose.

As soon as my mind was filled with visions of the future, my learning pace increased dramatically. It didn't feel difficult either because I had made the decision not to quit, no matter what. The rest is history. My guitar playing has earned me some of the highest marks academically as well as awards for excellence in performance. All of my work started paying off wonderfully.

People often refer to music as a medicine. That isn't strictly true. The medicine is the combination of having a clear vision for the future and the definiteness of decision to pursue it against all odds. It just so happened that music was my salvation. For other people, it may be business, fitness, cooking, painting, and so on.

A thought overload came to me earlier today in a similar manner to my school years. It was just thought after thought of "I can't believe this happened" and "today was such a shit day." My first tactic was to just sit and be present with my thoughts in the hope that they would die down. Alas, they kept on coming. Every single thought that occurred was completely irrelevant in the present moment. I could see how unnecessary they all were. To combat them, I returned to the oldest trick in the bag: play some guitar!

By playing guitar, I am reconnecting myself with my vision for the future. As a result, I become more present.

Sure it might be a forced way of dealing with those thoughts. Some might say that it doesn't resolve the issues relating to the thoughts. But above all, the most important factor to remember is that all thoughts are optional. Thoughts are choices.

I notice the destructive thoughts in my mind. Then, I choose to replace those thoughts with thoughts of a constructive nature. Instead of obsessing about all the negative aspects of the past, choose to focus on what thoughts can serve you in the present moment. You don't need to spend time questioning negative thoughts if you have a clear vision for your future. If negative thoughts come, acknowledge them and replace them with positive ones.

For someone with an unclear vision for the future, it will be difficult to replace thoughts just like that. But for people who are visionaries, think the necessary thoughts that will cause you to take action on your goals. Don't get caught up in the drama, focus on what you can achieve today to create a better tomorrow.

 

Pick of the day: Tribes - Preston Reed

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 65 | Friendship

Theory: Your experience of physical reality is a reflection of the thoughts that you think. Therefore, your friends are included in this truth.

Applying it: Look at the relationship you have with the people in your life. Notice how they change when you start housing new thoughts and passions in your mind. As you grow on this self-actualization passage, you may lose friends along the way.

 

Friendships have been hit and miss for me. I've managed to create some wonderful friendships and lose even more of them. During school, I was forced to get used to life without a secure friendship. This caused me lots of emotional torment lasting many years. But ultimately, it has transformed me into a person who no longer feels needy about friendships.

As I've been travelling along this self-actualization journey, there has been significant changes in my life. One of those changes is my friendship with my flatmates. In particular, the friendship between myself and my 'best friend' is changing. I'm taking lots of action on a daily basis to make the most out of life whilst he continues to do the same activities that he's always done. Whilst I go to the gym, he stays in bed. Whilst I attend my lectures, he stays at home. Whilst I make the effort to cook healthy food, he cooks a ping meal.

I keep becoming frustrated at him for not wanting to keep up with me. But as wonderful as it would be to have a friend go through a growing process with me, it won't always happen. In fact, when I stopped cooking communal meals, he has slowly fucked up his eating pattern to the point of sickness. This suggests that he really can't be arsed to learn how to cook for himself. Furthermore, it suggests that he has no authentic desire to grow as a human being. He doesn't wish to lead by example as I do.

It's a shame that I don't feel motivated to talk about all of the positive things that happened to me today. Today has been such a good day from waking up this morning until about an hour ago. But there's no point pretending that the positive stuff is all that matters. It would be unwise to just document all of the triumphs throughout my day without mentioning the failures.

The main thing I need to remind myself is to focus on shaping my own life rather than the lives of others. Especially when it comes to personal growth. It seems that personal growth can only occur when it comes from an authentic desire within the person. Not many people have cultivated that desire. Therefore, any action that you try to induce them to take will eventually fall through in the end.

Another thing to remember is that friendships are ever changing. They are not needed for fulfilment. As one friendship falls apart, it opens up room for an equal or better friendship to take its place.

Something I desperately need to focus on is frustration. Rather than choosing to act upon frustrations, I need to remain present with the frustration and see it for what it actually is. The deepest reason why I get frustrated at my flatmate is because I feel sorry for him. I can recognise the subconscious mechanisms at play in his mind while he is oblivious to it. When he tells me that he can make the gym in the morning, it pains me when I can accurately predict what his true actions will be.

This is perhaps the most personal I've become on this journal.

I'm a little taken back by the realization that there really are few individuals out there willing to go the extra mile to better themselves. On the one hand, I ought to be extremely grateful for my position in the current state of things. On the other hand, isn't it such a shame that there are so many people who will go through life believing themselves to be happy, when in actual fact, they are far from fulfilled with life?

...

All things considered, life is about much more than having good friendships. They are not worth prioritising in light of some of the more mysterious questions in life. For instance, which is the truest reality: the conscious realm or the unconscious realm?

My plan tonight will be to contemplate this question even further. Last night, it allowed me to find the petty little dramas of human life completely laughable. They are pretty nonsensical in the grand scheme of things! They are certainly not worthy of your highest levels of focus and concentration.

I feel a bit weird emotionally, so it's time to stop writing.

 

Pick of the day: Evelyn Glennie & Fred Frith improvising

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 66 | Self-Confidence And Acceptance

Theory: The very nature of self-confidence is to willingly accept anything that the present moment contains, without the need to pass judgment on it.

Applying it: No matter what situation the present moment may bring, try to let go of any resistance towards it. Once you can do this consistently, you will be able to embrace it with full confidence.

 

I CAN’T LOG ON TO THE FORUM!

It can’t just be my internet because all other sites work fine. If there’s something going on with the website, I’m sure Leo’s working on it, bless him.

But anyway, I will continue to write my journal for today on Microsoft Starter. When the site is working again, I’ll upload it.

Today has been a great day in terms of maintaining high consciousness. This is possibly because of the new insight I have received regarding self-confidence. Throughout the day, I’ve been able to remain largely present no matter what situation came about.

The insight is that self-confidence links with the ability to accept the present moment without resisting it. It is such an obvious insight now I come to think of it. Every time I feel anxious or fearful about something, there is a resistance to the present moment that intensifies the emotion. Whenever the thoughts “I don’t want to be here” and “this isn’t what I want to be happening” enter my head, my consciousness retracts inward.

What this is mainly about is extending states of higher consciousness across every aspect of my life. For about a year now, I have had some enlightenment experiences now and then during meditation sessions. However, I struggled to maintain that level of consciousness whenever action was called for.

It feels much more difficult to remain in a high-consciousness state when you are taking action towards something. For example, when walking to work, watching videos, engaging in conversations, doing things at work, exercising, and all sorts of things. It is much easier to reach these states of consciousness in solitude.

Coincidentally, isn’t it true that you are the most confident when you are in solitude? I can always perform music much easier when I’m playing to myself than when I am playing in front of others. When alone, I am confident that I can deliver the music without making many mistakes. Yet as soon as I am aware of but one audience member, an anxiety develops within me as I stress the importance of not fucking up.

Self-confidence and acceptance are not the same thing. One is merely a product of the other. When you begin to accept and love the present moment unconditionally, self-confidence is able to grow within you.

I bumped into my flatmate on my way to university. He was the same one that I became frustrated with a few days ago. But instead of resisting his company and becoming frustrated at him, I accepted and welcomed his presence. Suddenly, I was able to maintain a deep level of peace as we walked into town. After dropping all reasons to resist the present moment, I embraced it and, in turn, the present moment embraced me.

To admit to myself that I have been falling for the trap of the Ego is something that I’m not particularly proud of. Although, I don’t feel it necessary to criticise myself for it. As far as my self-actualization journey is concerned, I am very much in the beginning stages. I have been resisting the present moment and losing myself in negative thoughts.

However, I am grateful to have developed such a mindset that has allowed me to recognise my mistakes and take action to learn from them. In fact, this journal has been so helpful for my mindset. Every day, it encourages me to learn something new each day. If I meet with failure, the journal allows me to dissect the failure and extract the lesson from it. If I meet with success, the journal is the place to document the lessons that helped me achieve the success.

Although today’s lesson perhaps wasn’t the most exciting one, it has given me a method to extend my heightened state of consciousness to include every aspect of my life. From now on, high levels of consciousness no longer need to be reserved for meditation and contemplation.

An important factor to consider is that I received the direct experience of this lesson. Without “connecting the dots” for myself, this lesson would not seem completely sound.

But to conclude, I’ve persisted with my desire to become more self-confident. As a result, a deeper insight has entered my direct experience.

 

Pick of the day: 

 

Edited February 17, 2017 by Liam Johnson

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 67 | Deeper Motivations For Money

Theory: Money serves a far greater function than to make life comfortable with material possessions. 

Applying it: Whenever pursuing a large amount of money, identify the root causes of the desire. It will often be deeper than the shallow desire for comfort.

 

So I’ve been following some of the instructions in Think And Grow Rich. As the title suggests, the book is largely focussed on developing a money consciousness. Although, most of the wisdom within it can be applied to any aspect of life that requires success.

The book has encouraged me to be certain of the amount of money I want to earn. I’m not going to be specific on this journal with my desires because that would give the game away. But as I was going through the exercise, I started contemplating why I wanted the amount of money that I wanted.

The first few answers are completely what you might expect. I would be able to buy a good home, travel the world in style, buy new instruments, treat my family, and live my life without having to worry about finances. These surface-level desires are similar to what most people would use the money for: to make life comfortable.

But I’ve been on this journey to recognise that there will be no fulfilment out of these things. Fulfilment can be experienced at any given moment. And rightly so, I feel very fulfilled with how my life looks in the present moment. 

But even though I recognise that these things will not create fulfilment, there’s part of me that wants to strive for the hell of it. It would be wonderful to achieve my goals because it would be my way of telling the world “if I can achieve this lifestyle, you can too.” It fits in with my motivations to serve as a living example of what is possible.

The contemplation never stopped there, though. I contemplated a similar concept to what Leo has described before as the “Million-Dollar Question.” If I had achieved all of my financial goals and had lots of money left over, why should I pursue even more money?

After a moment of silence, the answer presented itself: the more money I could earn, the more I could give away.

If I could be wealthy enough to give money away to people who really deserve it to achieve their own goals in life, that would be such a fulfilling experience to watch. I’ve received a performance scholarship of £3000 by a guy called Dr Mo Sacoor. His generosity has not only helped me financially to invest in my career, but the very act of giving the money has provided me with the ultimate incentive that performance is my vocation.

I aim to return my gratitude to him by giving it everything I’ve got with my performance. If I can turn my life story into a highly-successful one, he will be sure to feel a huge amount of fulfillment from contributing to it.

Once my life is sorted out, it would be an amazing experience to then assume the role of the money-giver and choose to help out people who are passionate about living an extraordinary life. It is for this reason that I feel compelled to earn the money I want to earn. Not to please myself, but to give to those who will benefit from it most.
In that sense, money becomes a baton that has been passed on from successful person to successful person. For that reason, there is no need to become too attached to money.

So when others complain about how bad money is in this capitalist world, I’d like to suggest that money is a powerful incentive even on a spiritual level. If it weren’t for that scholarship, I would have assumed that I was just an average performer with limited potential for the rest of my life. The money has given me reason to believe that I have the ability to create something special in this world. That’s exactly what I intend to do.

Pick of the day: 

 

[Liam Johnson]

FINALLY BY SOME MAGIC THAT I HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT HAPPENED, EMBEDDED YOUTUBE VIDEOS!!!

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 68 | Sharing Your Art With Others

Theory: Provided you have developed sufficient mastery of your art, you have the power to truly inspire everybody that you share it with. All you have to do is deliver it with confidence.

Applying it: Aim to share your art with as many people as you can. Maintain awareness of your thought patterns in the present moment as these are what you are communicating with your audience.

 

One question that always used to bug me was "How can I communicate through music?" Music communicates far more abstract concepts than language often does. Most people are also aware if a piece of music is expressive or communicative upon a few seconds of listening. Yet when trying to pinpoint what exactly is being communicated, the answer is not obvious at all.

But then I read a passage in Think and Grow Rich that gave me an insight into this process:

Quote

"Vibrations of an exceedingly high rate are the only vibrations picked up and carried, by the ether, from one brain to another. Thought is energy travelling at an exceedingly high rate of vibration. Thought, which has been modified or "stepped up" by any of the major emotions, vibrates at a much higher rate than ordinary thought, and it is this type of thought which passes from one brain to another, through the broadcasting machinery of the human brain."

 

In summary, thoughts mixed with a list of 'major emotions' are the thoughts that are broadcasted from one brain to another.

What this suggests is that during a music performance, the thoughts of the performer are intensified through emotion and communicated to the audience. I should mention that this quote was pulled from the chapter "The Subconscious Mind," therefore implying that this process happens subconsciously.

In my personal experience, this makes so much sense. Whenever I'm at a concert and I'm filled with love and desire, it comes across clearly to the audience. On the other hand, audience members have picked up on the fear I've experienced during concerts. This mostly happens when I have to stop performing and talk to them.

Love, desire, and fear fall under the category of a 'major emotion.' Thoughts mixed with these emotions are the ones that become broadcasted from one brain to another.

So here is the way to deal with it:

Quote

"Positive and negative emotions cannot occupy the mind at the same time. One or the other must dominate. It is your responsibility to make sure that positive emotions constitute the dominating influence of your mind. Here the law of HABIT will come to your aid. Form the habit of applying and using the positive emotions! Eventually, they will dominate your mind so completely, that the negatives cannot enter it."

 

From the present moment, right the way through until I take the final bow at a concert, I must aim to deliver thoughts fueled with passion and love for what I do. There must be no trace of fear in any of my practice sessions nor on the day of the concert.

I remind myself of my love for life every time I pick up the guitar. There is a lot of love and desire for what I do, but there is also a trace of fear. Particularly, fear of failure. These must be eliminated and replaced with thoughts connected with love and desire if I want to make the most success out of performance.

Once you start sharing your art form with others, you can use them as an indicator for how they received your broadcasted thoughts. If their body language and tone of voice reflect that of genuine excitement, awe or wonder, then you know that you've done a good job. If people are telling you nice things about your work in an unconvincing manner, there may be reason to believe that your desire and love could potentially be a lot stronger.

Naturally, you can't please all of the people all of the time. There will always be someone who finds it necessary to criticize your work. To which possibility, I present the following quote from The War Of Art:

Quote

"The professional learns to recognize envy-driven criticism and to take it for what it is: the supreme compliment. The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had the guts."

 

So to wrap things up, present your art to the world with as much conviction as you can muster and as little fear as you can achieve. Only then will you be able to convert "good art" into "extraordinary art."

 

Pick of the day:

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 69 | Acting On Intuition

Theory: Rather than relying on the logical reasoning of the mind to make your decisions, allow your intuition to guide you to where you want to be.

Applying it: If you notice a sceptical voice in your mind criticising certain actions and plans, be sure to recognise if that voice belongs to the reasoning faculty of the mind. Once you acknowledge it, look for a deeper understanding within you, tap into your intuitive mind, and act upon it.

 

I've recently emailed a colleague with a programme of pieces I intend to play at a concert in 2-3 weeks time. However, one of the pieces I've chosen is far from ready at the present moment. It's devilishly difficult to play and it will take lots of time to get it to a good-enough performance standard.

(Regardless of whether or not I've linked it before, I'll link the piece as my pick of the day. It's hilarious and brilliant!)

So what led me to make that decision? As soon as the idea came to me to pick that piece, the critical voice in my head blew up in outrage. "Surely you don't want to choose that piece. You can't play it all the way through yet, and it will take another few months to get it to sound good."

I noticed this voice and heeded its warning. But as I sat with the choice for a few moments, something was pulling me towards it. There was some kind of attraction about the piece that made me want to choose it anyway. Knowing that I would eventually have to learn the piece anyway, I decided to challenge myself and put it in the programme notes for the concert.

If I didn't know any better, I'd call that an intuitive decision. It stood against all logic, yet it felt magnetic in its attraction. It certainly aligns with my goals to become a masterful musician.

Not only was it an intuitive decision, the definiteness of my decision has been able to influence my learning capacity over the last few days. After just two days, I went from knowing half the piece to knowing the whole piece conceptually. All the work I have to do now is to become comfortable with it and practice lots using the techniques I have mentioned before.

Something tells me that this piece is going to rock when it gets performed! Thanks to all of my work so far, there are no doubts in my mind that things are going to succeed because I will make them succeed at any cost.

With such a decision to follow the intuition requires commitment, determination, faith, and willpower. Without these things, the necessary action will not be taken to achieve this goal. That is perhaps the reason why I have met with failure upon previous attempts to live up to my intuition. The combination of these elements allows you to make time for action to take place. There is no such thing as 'lack of time' when it comes to pursuing your goals. But there can be such a thing as lack of determination, willpower, commitment, and faith.

So when a situation calls for a decision, the first thing to do is to become aware of the internal forms that happen. There will be both brain chatter and spiritual forms that attract you to the intuitive mind. Once these things are distinguished, make the decision to follow the intuitive mind. Be unwavering with your decision, however, as there is a price that must be paid for it. Usually, its time and effort (or the sum of the principles described above.) If you can be willing to pay that price and remain focused in the long-term, your reward will eventually come.

Or to put it in the broadest of terms, don't choose the boring life. Choose the challenging one!

 

Pick of the day: