Photo Courtesy: photostream Center for Jewish History

Things that will affect you and who you become… so choose them carefully:

1. Friends.  Whoever they are, your companions will shape your thoughts, your perspective of the world around you and the direction you head in life.  To think that you will always be able to affect the negatives for good without ever surrounding yourself with some uplifting characters is foolish.  You need to pour good things into your soul as you go out to others and try to encourage them for good.  If the largest portion of your friends are not going the same direction as you…. Is it wise to believe that you will get where you would ultimately like to go?
2. Your career.  Now, this is a sensitive one, especially to me.  I believe there can be good and ill in any career you choose, but you may have more control than you think.  It is interesting to me that people seem to single out the creative worlds as being worldly when no one is ok with saying that a doctor who works to the neglect of his family or someone who lets a pursuit of anything choke out their spiritual health is not hurting themselves too.  So before you decide what you will do- whatever it be- think about how you can use it as your ministry for good and service.  What about you and your talents lend themselves to being really great in that market or in that workplace?  How can use them show light to the world in any way?
3. Your go-to places.  Where you go defines who you are.   Where are your hobby hangouts, your settings, your spheres of influence?  They tell a lot about you.  From to gyms to venues to service organizations, people will learn a lot about you from where you frequent.  Are you a healthy eater, a big coffee drinker, a late night snacker?  These choices will be evident by your hangouts and your credit card bill.  That being said, take a moment to think about how the places you go affect your life, your decisions, whether you are uplifted because of them or they are pulling you away from good and God?  For me, I have to carefully consider the places I hang out in regards to my music to determine whether they are keeping me walking the line or whether they are helping me drift a little farther away from where I should be.

Let’s all spend time carefully considering whether our choices are manifesting the good that resides in us or whether we don’t give much thought to them at all.  Walk circumspectly… and go about your day doing good to all. 🙂

Love you,

leah

Photo Courtesy: Swedish Archives

Self is so inclined to speak

Self is not to be

Everything you want takes the crown

and the others learn their patience now

Fish within your only well

But you will ferment in yourself

Real is what you say you’ve seen

You claim that real comes from only me

Truth and secrets can’t coexist

Real love unravels loneliness

Standing high above a precipice

But what lies below me is not goldenness.

~lme

Photo Courtesy of this photostream in Flickr Commons

I and my kinsmen

Were purchased at cost

into the sea

was where we were tossed

We were forced to relinquish

our treasures of old

Stripped of belongings

and traded for gold

Into a city 

Of pure pride galore

We were brought to live

in revelry

that would transpire into lore

Trying to taint us

While we strove to survive

They beat us, then bent us

Exhaling but sighs

And He told us

I will make a way in the wilderness

He told us to trust

To look for rivers in the desert

For we would find hope

after this bitterness

But the nations must flow

into the mountain of God

While those who despise

are brought low as the sod

For they dwelt in a land of images

They were mad over idols

The devil danced round his thrown

and the worshippers filled

their bellies full

We see no land of promise

In these idols we drown

They build their own safety

up from the ground

All day long we are tested

As they scoff like the crows

THeir heads bow in vain

While we stand with the God who we know.

And he told us 

I will make a way in the wilderness

He told us to trust

To look for rivers in the desert

For we would find hope

After this bitterness.

~lme

inspired by various scriptures

Photo Courtesy:  United States Library of Congress

“I know you have your doubts

They’re so hard to live without.”

~The features

Doubt is a part of everyone’s life.  We doubt what people tell us, their motives and even whether they will be there for us or disappoint us.  Doubts grow like weeds and take over like a Virginia creeper.  It starts with one tiny thing and then we begin to feed it and before long, we have tangled ourselves in a web of skepticism, doubting that even the people who care about us really even care anything at all.  We constantly seek reassurance that what we are doing and saying is acceptable.  We all seek approval in some form.  I believe that is something innately human.  We want to please people and we want them to like us.  Even those of us who believe we don’t care what people think about us are only in denial.  Each human cares desperately what others think.  This is where we get into trouble if it’s not channeled properly.  We have a need to please, because God wants us to want to please Him ultimately.  But sometimes, when that is misdirected toward the approval from others, we become Pharisees.  We should always seek to “obey God, rather than man,” but sometimes that becomes hard when those we seek to please are good people.  Being popular and well-liked as our goal, even in a community of great people, does not make it less wrong of a goal.  We must rest in the truth that our approval, sense of self and ultimate happiness should never come from anything but a Divine Source who loves us and sacrificed for us.  Doubt comes quickly and without warning, like a flash of lightning.  So when trust begins to give way to doubting, remember this.  Stop and take a step back. Know your mind can play tricks on you.  But also accept that people will let you down, disappoint you and make you wonder why you even try.  But also accept that we should “not grow weary in doing good.”  Just keep working as if the only person you are striving to please is the One who made you and knows you best.  This mindset may lighten the weight of disappointment and aid you in your search for contentment.

~lme

Photo Courtesy of this Flickr Page

Addiction is not something that only those who are enslaved to drugs and alcohol face.  Each of us is prone to addictive behavior.  When our minds are constantly on one specific thing, we may be addicted to it.  When we can’t spend an hour without looking at a social media site, we may be addicted.  When we can’t let our lives play out in certain ways, we may be addicted to control.  When we eat even if we aren’t hungry, we may be addicted.  When you spend every night of the week doing the same thing, it’s addiction (unless it’s serving others).

We need to be able to point out our areas of possible addiction.  And after we have realized what they can be, what can we do to keep from becoming addicted?

1. Intermingle your activities.  Don’t go to a show every night or a sporting event.  Rather, intersperse it with exercise or service projects or spending time with friends.  A truly healthful life has balance and if you are heavily weighted in one area, you will begin to be so focused on something that you lose sight of what is really important in life.
2. Tell yourself no.  Give yourself a fast of some kind.  Whether it’s no TV for a week or no facebook for a month or cutting sugar out of your diet.  It’s healthy to work on your self-control.  Maybe it’s waking up early for a period of time to exercise.  Pushing yourself to change is a huge mental exercise and should be done often in your life.  You may fail at the beginning but keep at it, because nothing worth anything comes without a cost.
3. Spend a few moments each week assessing yourself.  What are you doing to reach your goals?  What are you sacrificing?  How much do you focus on yourself and how much do you focus on others?  If there is something constantly flooding your thoughts- music, sports, work, money- then that is what you hold dear.  And if it’s not the One who created you, then it may quickly become an idol.  It’s also important to try to see a clearer image of how others view you.  Maybe you have no idea that you are inconveniencing others or that you are expecting more of them than they can give.  Sadly, some people who tend to get ahead in a business sense care nothing about those they must barrel over to achieve their dreams.  I’ve seen this in various people and their inability to truly see reality.  They have no concept that others do not share the fervor for their vision but continue to believe the world turns in their general direction.  May we all work to see a clearer version of ourselves and make corrections where necessary.

~lme

Photo Credit: United States Library of Congress

An excerpt I want to take to heart…

On one particularly memorable day, Hajdu leafed through a new score over which I had labored intensively. He muttered impatiently, “yes, some very nice sounds, but it’s not you.” Eyes closed, fist clenched tightly on his brow as if tugging at a thought lodged in his brain, he continued: “You are writing someone else’s music, and they are annoyed. Go sit in a dark room until all sounds and ideas have left you. Then, when you finally begin to hear your own music, write that down. Develop it; but keep it simple and direct,” he admonished. “Solo instrument.”

Thank you so much Derek Bermel.

I believe in the next coming months, it would behoove me and other artists to remove the distractions that plague our path.  We must get off social media, get outside, get lost, get found and learn to listen to a song emerging from our souls.

~lme

Photo credits: Keene and Cheshire CO (NH) Historical Photos

Like these people need a ferry, I need you.  We all need each other.  Perhaps it’s an acknowledgement and humility that we really can never get to very many plateaus without the help of some shoulders to stand (and cry) on.  That being said, I can see the importance in truly getting to know people as a musician.

I’d like to know you better:

~if you love music that has heart and well-crafted, touching lyrics as its sidekick

~if you want to see, meet and support the musicians you listen to and truly become a part of their circles

~if some of your favorite bands are groups of people who exude heart and soul and a general love for each other and their crowds (includes but not is limited to Head and the Heart, the Lumineers, Mumford and Sons)

~if you’re interested in people and their engaging stories, and you appreciate fantastically gifted raconteurs 

~you’d love to hear new music but you don’t enjoy going to clubs, bars so late at night it sometimes becomes less enjoyable

~you play instruments proficiently, harmonize and aren’t a songwriter (this is my pitch for band members)

My goal is to befriend 1000 people/fans true fans for my music by the end of 2014.  I have 21 months to accomplish this.  But I’ve also been thinking about my target market, my vision in the industry and what my end goal is.  I have been given opportunities to get to know and build an encouraging network of artists, designers, filmmakers, engineers and more over the past several years who I trust and respect.  Because come on, who wouldn’t rather work in an industry with people they actually enjoy being around?  I think a lot can be said of curating a talented team and people who are committed to their passion.

It has taken some pressure off my shoulders in musical pursuits to say, “I’m going to find my own path in this industry.  I don’t need to sell myself to a label or seek recognition from big whigs with money.  I want to run this ship in a positive and productive way without others steering me into ominous waters”  There is wonderful power in the hands of people and that’s who I want to share my music with- the people who love it the most.  So, Power to all you great people.  Power to the dreamers. Power to the passionate souls.  Power to the fire in our hearts.  May we be given Power from above to change this world for good 🙂

~lme