Tag Archives: Encouragement

Reticent Moonrise

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moon and sea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo credits: this talented individual

From the belly of the ship

I emerged in quiet haste

As the captain slumbered, believing he always had his way

Into the night, in pursuit of escape

One leg over, in blinded faith

Clutching the rope as I slid down the line

Save my life, boat

Freedom, freedom

Ring- ing in my head

Into the night, I found my way

Lapping water like a stray

Gainst the sides of my saving grace

Once I was out of sight and could finally

Breathe audibly

I let my arms rest

Like moses in the wilderness

Reaching up to touch my dampened locks

Where dying flowers revealed my lot

That matched the stench of death

Seeping from my dress

I could lean over and see

The saddest version of me

I cannot run for long I knew

But the punishment that would ensue

Would be worth these few

Moments on an open sea

Free from captivity

And sea-borne illness

That in a week

Would in final silence cover me.

~leah marie

Home: Not quite where the heart should be

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Image

Photo credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anguskirk/

Some reasons I don’t think I’d like to spend my money on large homes, fancy cars or copious material goods… Unless of course I have the opportunity to live in an Irish castle someday.

  1. I don’t want to spend all my time and efforts creating an environment I never want to leave.  I love to see, go and travel too much to invest so much in the four walls where I could merely sleep and eat.
  2. I don’t want to invest copious amounts of money into something that will only feel big and empty and where recesses are there not touched by light, laughter and music.  And should I need room to breathe, I should not look to a larger cage, but a natural expanse of space. Should I desire to fulfill my senses, I can take to the mountains, the forests, the waterfalls.
  3. Investing in large homes, fancy cars and diamond rings sometimes gives one a false sense of security.  Feeling safe in a world of man-made objects should never be the goal.  Rather, one must test ones comfort zone.  You must allow the world outside your door to become not a puddle you dip your toe in but rather an ocean in which you plunge into with reckless abandonment.
  4. Having a modest home will remind me of who I am and where I am bound.  To have the things we need, with these we shall be content.  But to be rich in travel, experiences that take our breaths away, people who change us for good, learning to give of what we’ve been given and hope of a future, with these my life will be abundantly full and blessed.

truly thoughtful Tuesday- have one 🙂

lme

Thursday wisdom from Seth Godin

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IMG_0260Some thoughts from Seth Godin and my own commentary to remember as you navigate the music industry.

1.  Safe is Risky– So, then the smart thing is to dwell at the fringes.  How does this apply to musicians?  You can’t dwell in the “what’s already been done” area.  You can’t think- oh this worked as a great marketing tactic or facebook contest.  If you’re studying everyone else’s music career, stop.  You can’t expect the same scenario to be recreated.  Because let’s be real- we are all living different lives, know different people and have influence in different circles.  Can you draw ideas in regards to revenue generation and creative strategies? Of course.  Just study for a little while and then be willing to launch out into some uncharted waters.

2.  Not everyone will want what you have.  But that does not matter.  You need to find those who desperately want what you have.  Find those who are obsessed about what you do.  How does this apply to me?  Well, here’s the cold hard truth.  Folks, people will not always love you (gasp?).  Yes, I get upset about this as well, because who does not want to be well-liked.  The need for belonging is deeply entrenched in our psyche.  But it’s time we shook off those who would rather move on and say it’s alright.  Maybe someday they’ll change their mind and return.  After all, no use in crying over spilled milk.

3.  Sell to those who are listening- and maybe they will tell their friends. I’ll take this a step further and say that not only should you hope for good fans who will tell their friends, you should also REWARD them for spreading the word.  When you have great fans who are willing to share, you should give back.  Give them swag, host a concert in their home, send them a holiday gift, write a thank you card.  We are losing true connection with our fans and people in general.  When we lose this, we lose a massive part of what music is supposed to do for us: connect us and unite us.

4.  Acknowledge that what has worked before does not necessarily work anymore.  We used to think of marketing in terms of television where if you could buy enough ad space, you could change the world.  Then we think advertising- push it on the world.   It gives the idea that you are in charge and you’re going to get things done.  But with this idea of connection and social media came the rebirth of the Tribe.  It is something that people have wanted forever.  We have work, spiritual and community tribes.  The internet was supposed to homogenize us but rather it has created silos of people with similar interests.  You can connect if you WANT to be connected.  It is not that you force people but that they want to connect.  It then becomes a movement.  So, as an artist, what characterizes your movement?  If it sounds like something you’ve heard before, get back to the drawing board.

5.  You can’t do it alone.  Begin to find your supporters and build your inner cabinet first.  Find trustworthy, dependable people who you enjoy working with.  Don’t waste your time with people who drag you down or who do not support you in your vision.  1000 true fans is the solid foundation to get you to the next rounds.  Work on cultivating those relationships and be true as the tribe leader to the vision.

Some final thoughts from Seth Godin:

Who are you upsetting?  If you aren’t upsetting, you aren’t changing the status quo.

Who are you connecting?  People want to be a part of a culture and they want to be missed when they are gone.  Do you create that sense of community for them?

Who are you leading?  They’re waiting for you to show them where to go.

So, get goin’ 🙂

And remember…. “It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory.” ~Proverbs 25:27

~lme

Put your heart into it… or better yet, put it elsewhere.

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Photo Credit and rights: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mararie/

This phrase is heard often in our post-modern culture.  “Seize the day- and put your heart into it!” What, praytell, is “it?”  Well, “it” can be anything we want to fill that absence within ourselves- religion, sports, music, academia, philosophy, writing, etc etc.

But I’m going to pose a new way of thinking about our tangible pursuits down here.  What if we don’t put our hearts and all of our focus into so many various parts of our life.  What if we do live a litte “air-hearded” in the sense of all of our everyday affairs, choosing rather to meditate on the spiritual concepts floating above our heads?

Put my heart into music?  No, then i’ll just be anxious and bummed when recognition often escapes me or when I see others who are farther in their successful careers than I am.

Put my whole heart into the stock of what others think, say or my actual relationships?  No, people will disappoint and I’ll spend my time vacillating with each relationship and worrying about how I’m inadequate or how much they’ve hurt or disappointed me or my ego.

Put my heart into creating such a comfortable nest I’ve created here that when it comes my time to fly this coop, I think, oh, but I love my life and stuff here. I’ve invested  so much of my heart and energy into this place.  So, then maybe it behooves us to put our energy and work ethic into what we do, but not our total hearts into what we do.  What do I mean?  Well, maybe our clutch should not be as tight as it is to our image, our talents, our loves (leah speaks to self).  What if we’re called to sacrifice whatever it is?  What if what we thought was our greatest contribution to the world is later revealed as merely a stepping stone to a greater plan set forth for us while we were yet being formed.

We should guard our hearts and, as Rudyard Kipling says, “If all men count with you, but none too much,” we must somehow learn to separate the situations in which we find ourselves and our emotions.  They must not be what drives us- rather, there should be something of far stronger weight acting as our anchor.  If heart is where your treasure is (Matthew 6:21), then where is this anchor?  Investing my heart elsewhere will lead me to less attachment and disappointment in the mere here and now.  Putting my faith and trust in a God who is vastly more powerful than myself will help my perspective be more fixated on better things.  I wont’t get as anxious or worried over politics, broken relationships, stressful moments in the hustle bustle and angry over what I feel I deserve or am owed.  This is part of the strangeness of life.  We see what others have and we want it too.  But sadly, those who have everything we long for often aren’t the people we’d really want to be if we were honest with ourselves.  Do I get giddy over talented musicians?  Why yes, yes I do.  Do I want their often dark and depressing vh1 behind the scenes life or their broken marriages or their exhaustion or addiction to pleasure?  I’ll be honest- aspects of the music lifestyle are incredibly tempting to me.  But then I think deep down, there is a part of me that knows there is so much emptiness in it as well.  I’ve experienced it- the heartache, the sadness, the decision by those I love to leave all for the music at the expense of themselves and others.  And about this whole getting famous bit?  I don’t think it’s that hard to do.  When you’re willing to sacrifice everything- family, friends, dignity, money- for music, you’ll make it out there.  But is that really who I want to be….. someone who has spent their whole life in devotion to self?

I must let my love and pursuit of God and good things be what seeps into every facet of my life will make everything else just compartments.  Instead of giving God his little box, why not view our lives as many boxes and all of them are floating in the same sea of God.  They all become submerged and eventually sink into His greatness.

~lme

“People who feel nothing, DO nothing.”

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The heart-shaped hash browns a lad from bongo made just for me 🙂

I read this recently right here.  He’s right.  You absolutely HAVE to latch onto something “too.” Too edgy, too different, too creative, too friendly.  If we are not too something, we are not putting enough of ourselves into it.  If we don’t invoke feelings in other people that compel them to act, perhaps we aren’t really standing for anything.

Ask my brother and sister- I’m highly impassioned and moved by experience, emotion and relationship.  It’s in my DNA- maybe from both sides. Here are some things that I feel passionately about and move me in my musical pursuits.

~~Being a pioneer can be a lonely and uphill way at times.  Don’t TELL me I can’t do it and don’t tell me that since it’s never been done, I should sit down and shut up.  Because I won’t.  I believe there are other good-seeking truth followers who wholeheartedly adore music and yet they do NOT want to spend their evenings playing places where they feel they must compromise who they are and what they stand for.  If you’re out there, I want to meet you and shake your hand.  And I want you in my network, because I appreciate you.  I want to stand by my faith as well as stand with my music in hand and say- here are my talents and here is what I did with them.  “Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free.” Lest we forget- the guy who buried his talent was scolded.

~~Why is it that people can’t get paid for their gifts they have spent valuable time honing?  There have to be innovative ways to generate revenue in the music industry.  It can’t be that I’ll finally make a living at my craft after I’m playing arenas and huge venues all around the world.  Music industry crew- let’s stop being so narrowminded.  Let’s stop listening to people that tell us there is one model of success and it’s name is Ke$ha or Beyonce.  To follow that path is to be lazy. It’s already been done.  So get to the books, the blogs, the influencers in your community, the events and start brainstorming.

~~I want to change the way people see art and music as a career.  Because they are careers.  So if you’re reading this and shaking your head, then do us both a favor and stop reading.  My blog may not be for you, because you won’t like what I have to say. God is Creator.  And he put that into us as lights in this world, which is one of the coolest things in which we see Him down here. I long for respect for spiritually minded people who pour their heart and soul into creating art, music, video, etc.  And if you don’t believe that it is a valid and respectable career choice, then I want you to chunk your ipod and burn all your concert tickets and take all your books to goodwill, because that is what you are basically saying when you think such thoughts.  To artists- If we don’t start treating ourselves with respect, others won’t as well.  So buck up, hold your heart and head high and walk this path with me friend.

~~People always warn of the spiritual dangers in the creative fields- and rightfully so.  But consider this- Wandering from God isn’t merely constricted to those in the creative industries- the pull to go with the flow and follow the Liar is seen in all career choices.  But people rarely shake their heads in sympathy when someone’s future husband has high hopes of being a doctor or lawyer.  Do they warn them like they’ve warned me?  They should.  Yes, “pursuance” can transform into “idol.”  Yes, this can happen to all of us.  Let’s just be fair across the board is what I ask.  Though we be farmers, doctors, lawyers, musicians or teachers, we all have the ability to put something higher on the todem pole than God Himself.

What drives you in your creative endeavors?  How have you worked toward marrying your faith and your talents?  Feel free to let me know in the comment space below.

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Tidbits of thought from the wonderful world of music

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I appreciate comments people have made regarding my recent posts on reconciling faith and the creative industries.  So, on this note, I wanted to share the little tidbits of knowledge I have regarding the music business, the pursuit of making music your career and striving for the higher things in life.  Something to consider is the term ROI- return on investment.  What is it truly doing for you in business?

4 points to ponder in this world of music:  

Community art in Chattanooga

1. Open mics are good only if you don’t use them as an end goal.  Should you be willing to try your stuff out on new audiences? Yes, of course.  If you want to work on trying to hone your and calm your nerves in performance, can it be helpful. Yes!  And it can also be great for meeting and gaining prospective contacts, booking people, band members and various talented people in the field with whom you should become acqainted.  But here is where I begin to caution you.  These “shows” should never be used as a landing pad.  They should merely be launching pads to bigger and better things.

It would behoove a musician who “eagerly desires to make music a career path” to not play open mics 3 nights a week (even once a week might be a little too much, do you really write that much “new” material every week to test on new audiences?).    My dad taught me an invaluable lesson this past week.  If you want people to see what you do as having value, then you should be willing to put a price on it.  I agree.  I want people to take art seriously.  For that to occur, I MUST TAKE ART SERIOUSLY, showing that it is a valid and necessary career choice.  And here’s a side tip, maybe we should start telling people “Oh my real job is blah blah blah and I play music on the side.”  Do you want to eventually make music your “real job?”  Then treat it with a little respect.

I recently helped an artist friend get paid for her work designing for a band in town.  Why?  Because I believe very strongly that artists are not just some creative children roaming the streets.  They are people who work desperately hard at what they do and deserve to be treated with respect (if they are fueling the same respect toward others in their industry and communities of course).

2.  Work toward finding creative ways to generate revenue.  I won’t go into a dissertation on how the music industry is a-changin’, and how record labels are going out of business.  We know this, but what are we going to DO with this knowledge?  Clearly you won’t pay your rent  or even pay for upkeep on your instruments if you play 3 nights a week for free, waiting for your “big break!”  Isn’t it ridiculous that we musicians have been taught to think this way.  I myself have thought if I could only meet the right person or get Jack White to notice my music (which will happen because I have a brilliant plan to hatch) or whatnot, then I’d be set.  Something quick and easy is all part of the American Dream baby.  If it’s hard or requires days of creative brainstorming and years of having your nose, mind, blood, sweat and tears to the grindstone, we tend to walk away.  Without sheer determination and innovation, though, we’d be sitting in dark homes without planes and trains and definitely with no blogs to read on laptops.  I encourage you to take heart commit to never. giving. up. (Leah speaks to herself here).

3.  Don’t spend copious amounts of time striving to please specific people in the music industry whether they wear the title of booking agent, venue owner, producer, or musicians who look at you blankly when you share your vision.  If you have to dig a mole out of a hole and practically die in front of someone to attract their attention, maybe the return on that investment won’t be as great as you’d imagined.  Let’s not forget the importance of growing an organic community of tribe.  Do you sit at home and hope for a music career?  No, but neither should you run yourself into the ground trying to prove to others and yourself that you belong in this creative realm.

Sit down, my friend.  Look inside and realize that if you are truly what you profess, then nothing can diminish your role as an artist or whatever in both a small and larger community.  Whether you sing to the trees in the forest or on a stage at Bonnaroo, you are still the same artist.  Don’t let recognition become your destination.  Rather, let it be something you accumulate in the form of blessings along your path.

4.  Be confident in your music, branding and the story of your product.  I truly am speaking to myself on this one.  I listen to so much music that sometimes it’s hard to not compare myself to others.  But I think that it is important to somewhat take a step back, say you can always improve on and hone your talents and then be confident that what you are creating is needed somewhere in the fabric of society.  This isn’t easy, but by creating anything original, you’ll begin to develop your own voice in your corner of the market.  People will then recognize that voice and eventually, people will come to want to hear that voice again and again.

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The river flows and on it goes

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It is never easy to “go confidently in the direction of your dreams.”  But when you’re given encouragement along the way, it can take any hardship you’ve experienced thus far right out of your mind.  I was definitely on some musical highs the past few days.

This weekend held various blessings for me.  I had the privilege of being part of an old-time jam session at the Old Time Pickin’ Parlor down in Marathon Village.  I love this place.  The store, the vibe, everything just seems so good and enjoyable.  I felt like I can look back someday and possibly say here’s where it began.  I was meeting a banjo player, Brandon, on Saturday at said store.  From videos he had sent, I could tell he was quite talented.  We were able to jam together and with some new-found friends around the coffee table decorated with cigar-box guitars.  I also had invited a fiddler to come out, and he (Travis) joined our party as well.  It was exciting to hear encouraging words and also to be approached by the booking guy from Antique Archeology next door.  Gigs here we come 🙂

On Sunday evening, I met with a talented gal from MTSU who currently co-writes with various people around town, and she herself writes and plays guitar and piano.  Her style could be described in a Delta/ Civil Wars-esque vein.  I think our sounds and styles will work amazingly well together, so here’s to a future of collaboration.  It will be a whole new experience to actually work on harmonies with another gal!

Something I’ve learned in my short time on earth in regards to anything- music, pursuing passion, relationships- is that timing is everything.  Sometimes we’re taught to be patient while sometimes we get a green light blessing.  I’m not the holder of the future, but from where I’m sitting, it looks like some good opportunities are farther down the line.  And for that, I am excited and hopeful.  I also know I’m up against a lot.  The continual questions- how will you make money?  How will you uphold your faith?  How will you not let it eat your soul?  I don’t have specific answers to all this other than surrounding myself with positive influences, wise mentors, people who care about the eternal and making myself keep the right mindset when it comes to success or failure.

I’ll leave you with a picture from the fabulous Band of Heathens show at the Frist friday night.

The small hoorays in the darker days

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“Hooray Hooray

I’m your silver lining

Hooray Hooray

But now I’m gold”

~Rilo Kiley

Life is unexpected and sometimes it’s a pleasant surprise like Jenny Lewis says.  But on the other side of that coin, life is full of disappointments.  Wait, hear me out please.  Because these continual disappointments grow perspective.  And perspective can work toward your character building.  Believe me, I tire of the continual character-building, but these things all mixed to together ultimately puts us farther down the path to wisdom.  And I don’t think any of us would part with wisdom if it were given to us.  I am quite certain if you’re a human reading this, you’ve experienced some sense of disappointment in your life.  Probably even within the last week or 24 hour span.  It is a natural part of our world.  People disappoint, situations disappoint, and at times, we become altogether disappointed in ourselves and our placement in this life.  This is because we’re constricted here.  Yes yes- we’re in a carnal straightjacket.  And we’re dying to get it… pun intended. If you feel like sometimes your soul just needs to breathe, it’s because it does.  And it will.  In time.

So where is the positive in all this?  Perspective.  We have the opportunity, and blessing if we make it, to gain new perspective every time we are riddled with disappointment.   Disappointment teaches us 3 key things about ourselves:

1.  Disappointment teaches us we are imperfect.  We have never been and that is not easy to swallow.  We want our looks, our style, our relationships to be so ideal.  It’s pretty evident in the way we use facebook at times as a status symbol (how can we not?).  We are such visual beings, and realization that disappointment brings is the lie that our lives are so much worse than someone else’s.   This is a falsehood, told by the Father of them.

2.  Disappointment humbles us.  It shakes us up a bit and gives us a sampling of humble pie.  If I’m not careful, it’s amazing how quickly I can become inflated with pride.  When that bubble is burst, it makes it all the more deflating to my ego.  One of my weaknesses is the desire to want people to like me.  I think most of us do, but in the music world, this cannot control you.  If you let it be your guide, it will ultimately guide you where it will.  We must keep the humbling in our minds and remember that any praise or criticism should be weighed against the only One whose praise or criticism matters.

3.  Disappointment shows us our need for each other.  (Here’s a great song to demonstrate my point.) I can’t tell you the deepness of friendship that can grow from two parties realizing they have been in the same place.  My best friend lives in Texas.  We bonded over a similar experience with the same guy (albeit at different times:) What started out as a 4 hour conversation became a deeply rooted friendship.  These moments laden with raw emotion that the world tries to cause us to suppress are actually like fertilizer for deep roots in a relationship.  We all know that true friendship never rests in the superficial, but sometimes we lazily bob in the shallow end of the pool, afraid to delve into the unknown.  I challenge you to push your comfort zone.  Reach out to people you would not normally confront.  Give to those who can’t ever repay you.  And in your own circle, be willing to listen and possibly cultivate deeper and more meaningful friendships.

4.  Disappointment causes us to realize we are not, and have never, been in control of this place where we currently reside.  Like my own grapplings with faith and the pursuance of a life in music, I continually get hit with this truth.  I’d like to be in control.  I’d like to walk up to a producer, ask him to produce my work, walk up to my dream band members and have them say yes to playing with me for as long as we like and create music and lyrics that are so relatable that the world loves to sing my songs while being gladly willing to roadtrip and pay part of their hard-earned money to see our shows.  I’m not saying that won’t happen, but I am saying that life doesn’t ever (ever) turn out the way you map it.  There is uncharted territory. There are jungles.  There are enchanted forests full of blessings you never imagined.  There are even gifts bestowed that several years ago you would have never imagined or even knew you needed.

And along with all of this, there is disappointment.  Strangely enough, by tempering the good with the disappointment, we come to find this healthy view of the reality enveloping us.  And, we begin to see the good things in our life as immense blessings.  Our thought process begins to be revamped by our new attitude of gratitude.  From there, we can actually catch sight of little glimmers of peace and thankfulness and, as my dear friend said this week, the realization that we are right where we need to be. 

Any creativity or realizations that have come from those times?  As my mother told me “Good music comes from bad places.”  I believe some of the greatest art can come from some of our darkest days.  That being said, let’s look for the small hoorays even in the darker days.  Keep it up kids 🙂

~lme

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Who are you? 5 things that will determine where you land as an artist

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Who am I

and what I do

Is not what this world

Wants me to

I’ll trod a path

That’s yet unseen

You may shake your head

And jab at me

But some far morrow

A successful day

Will reveal

Truly creative will and way.

~leah

Ultimately, we all feel misunderstood.  As teenagers, as adults, as any human in the world.  We want so badly to be perceived for the way we see ourselves (though that probably isn’t in true light of who we really are).  Recently, I’ve come to realize, as a musician and as someone trying to spread goodness into the world around me for the ultimate Creator, that I cannot walk a conventional path with God and music.  Carefully pursuing music in Austin, I become connected with the independent scene, networking and getting out there by playing local shows in coffeehouses, a vintage clothing store and various open mics around town throughout a 2-4 year span.  There were aspects that I enjoyed- I loved meeting new people when I played open mics.  I actually determined one specific week to go to the open mic at Genuine Joe’s Coffeehouse- where I attended for consecutive weeks faithfully.  There were good conversations, memories of shows that have lingered like a familiar smell and friendships that are far but never forgotten. But, there were the continual often downsides to being in the wonderful world of music.

So, I am now challenging myself to brainstorm and create (when they say grassroots, this is truly grassroots) an unconventional business model for pursuing music in an often foreboding atmosphere.  There have to be people who look up for their inspiration.  There have to be people who stand for something true and right while also being creative souls.  I believe in creating a path where once was none, and a huge part of that for me involves the atmosphere and community with which I surround myself.  It is no more easier to be a musician and a convicted soul than to feel as if you are water and oil.  I have grappled with my purpose for years.  Why would God give me gifts but not allow me to use them?  Why is something so beautiful and amazing as music left to fend for itself in such dark places around America’s cities?  This is when I decided a different kind of atmosphere, people and touring would be some of the fire within my business model.  I would surround myself with those who would be ultimately striving for the same eternal goals, and I would find unconventional ways and places to share my gift of song.  So, that process is slow and in the making, but time pieces together things in ways yet to be seen.

Below is a list I’ve compiled of 5 factors that will determine where you end up as an artist in the world of creativity:

1. Your creative vision for yourself and the image you portray.  It’s true.  If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck….. Sometimes its hard to have people view you in unfavorable terms or to feel like if you don’t “sell- out” by portraying a certain image, that you’ll never get to where you want to be in the creative world and more specifically musical sphere.  Don’t listen to them.  Listen to someone who created you.  He knows better for you.  And listen to your intuition.  Don’t mold to a world that only wants to sell you as a product.  Be willing and courageous enough to be different.  In fact, being different is really in style right now.  Strangely enough, though, people are not as open-minded as they boldly claim to be once they learn the path on which you are walking.  But that doesn’t matter. Pay them no mind… just keep on your way.  “Play your music, write your songs, sing a little louder, and the world will sing along.”

2.  The people with whom you surround yourself.  The verse is truth “Evil company corrupts good morals.”  We can deny it all day long, but we know it’s true.  If you have sketchy feelings about people, or think “hey, I don’t get a trustworthy vibe from him,” remember that.  These are not the types of people you will want in your “inner circle” of musicians and businesspeople to work with.  Do people stand by their words?  Do they keep promises?  If not, I would be wary of doing any serious business venture with them.  Do people make mistakes?  Of course, and be willing to forgive and move past if it was an honest misunderstanding.  But remember, birds of a feather flock together.  And if you see characters in your group lacking character, it may be time to reassess the contacts you have made and accumulated.

3.  Your goals.  People say to write them down.  Listen to those people.  People say you can’t do it too- don’t listen to THOSE people. Writing your goals on paper makes it easier to go back and reference them.  It is also incredibly fulfilling to look at them and realize that over time, you have accomplished what you said you would.  Writing goals keeps them in your mind.  It also makes it somewhat tangible and may help you focus your efforts better.

4. Your attitude: toward both success and failure.  It’s rather hard to not take things personally.  I’m the queen of this one.  But taking it all in stride is the best way to approach each day- every compliment and every criticism.  Especially people telling you “your lyrics are just plain terrible” (yes, that really happened to me).  It’s important, I think, in the music industry, to not look around you too much for validation.  Your validation should come from God.  People will continually disappoint, and if you flounder in the waters of public opinion your whole life, you will never be satisfied.  Because, even if you end up on top for “glory moment in the sun,” life goes on.  And then, you will abdicate your temporary throne to the next newcomer on the music scene.  Enjoy successes- however little or large they be, but remember to keep it all in perspective.  You may be living large, but a slice of humble pie may be waiting around the corner.  Take the motto my best friend and I have done: “Everything at face value-don’t read into it much.” And to that I’ll add- let it roll off your sleeves.

5.  How you view your ultimate purpose and Who you ultimately serve.  Though this came last on the list, it really should pervade the entire list.  If you know Who you serve at the core of your life, then decisions will begin to fall like pages to one side or the other eventually. I know personally that I need to be asking about every decision- is this drawing me closer to Him or pulling me farther away? When others question your beliefs or a stand in one area (that they may claim is crazy), you will be able to know with every fibre of your being, that you are doing what you know to be right.  When your team of people is relatively small compared to others, when at times it seems that doors are closing and no windows are opening and when your dreams seem to be shed along the roadside and trampled by turtles? (great band), you can take comfort in this fact alone.  It doesn’t matter.  If you die poor and unknown, but faithful to God, the story will be a happy ending.  Even if you became the most successful musician and crowds of people could chant your name and sing every lyrical line you penned, none of that would matter if your mind wasn’t directed upward.  So, love what you do.  And do what you love.  But if God presents new and various opportunities, be willing to say “Here I am, use me.”  As much as I love music, often I clutch it far to tightly than I should.

So, here’s to finding like-minded creative souls who will be running for the same eternal goal and want to end up in the great land of promise.  If you know of anyone who fits this description or have any great resources in my efforts to pave a new path, feel free to shoot me an email at leahemusic@gmail.com.  I’d love to hear from you.  Keep walking toward the sun, and hold your hearts high.

~Leah marie

Chosen Vessels

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We are all chosen vessels

For such a time as this

A remnant for a purpose

Something that we wouldn’t want to miss

A calling we’ve been given

If we let the Potter work

To each, his given talents

Not meant to bury or to shirk

We, the Beloved Children

Of a Father, full of grace

Who placed us in each moment

Me, a resemblance of His Face

With hands to work His service

And a mind to seek and know

In a world, teeming with wonder

And into it, I go.

~le