Find your way UP!

I love this time of year between the holidays when I can spend some time thinking deeply about where I want to go in the New Year. For me, this will be a year of great expansion as I begin to present concepts that I’ve been working on for the past 15 years in music and consciousness.

But most of all it will be about keeping my energy UP!

Just yesterday I was lamenting the imminent end of days for our beloved truck, Roxie, who was featured in Finding Happiness, and how we will make our way without her. I was caught in a funk which led me down paths of consciousness that were not pleasant and certainly offered no solutions. All I wanted to do was lament and wallow.

Thankfully I went to a group meditation in the evening, raised my energy, and found myself back on track. The funk was gone, solutions began to present themselves, and most importantly I knew we were going to be okay somehow.

As long as I can keep my energy up, things always work out. The universe reverberates back to us our energy, thoughts, and attitudes, so we’ll see what comes.

But wait, there’s more UP!

As some of you may know, I have a dream of creating a professional ensemble that specializes in upward focused performance. A group that is expert at tuning in and bringing tangibly alive the inspiration inherent in every great piece of music. An ensemble that comes onstage with the conscious intent to keep their energy flowing upward in order to create a magnetism or vortex that has no choice but to lift the audience right out of their seats.

Since I’ve spent the past 12 years working with singers and musicians who knew more about lifting energy than they did reading music, I’ve directed many performances that left me soaring regardless of some imperfect notes. It is my goal to help musicians achieve this same sublime upward flow in performance, for that is what truly moves the audience on the deepest level.

Here are some simple tips to keep your energy UP:

1. Use your will power to stay positive, even when those around you are down. Will power is a muscle—your ability to stay positive increases the more you use it.
2. Watch your posture. Your mother was right! Stop slumping, sit up straight and see what happens.
3. Hang around positive people, avoid the negative. Definitely not the easiest thing to do, but environment is stronger than will power.
4. Take care of yourself: Exercise to raise your energy level, eat well, and sleep enough but not too much.
5. Watch your thoughts, and don’t let them slip into old habits of complaining. Your brain is engineered to adapt to new ways of thinking. Use this opportunity to start new grooves that feed you energy instead of draining it.

Gone are the days where it was cool to be down. We simply can’t afford to live that way anymore. Will you stay UP with me this New Year?

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall” – Nelson Mandela.