You have talent

I spent last night down at Hotel Cafe in Hollywood listening to a friend of mine,  Jodi King perform, check out Jodi’s music by clicking here.

The Entertainment Industry often tricks us into idolizing a “few” people who we are told have “extra special” talent. Actors, musicians, writers etc are pawns in the hands of industry giants who make a fortune (and pay these artists a fortune) by telling the rest of us apparently untalented souls that we could never sing and dance like Brittany Spears.

We are not sold hope, we are sold wistful despair. So we turn on our Ipods and for forty minutes we imagine what it would be like to “be with” or to “be like” our  ”incredibly talented idol.”The fact that our “idol” shits on the same crapper and can’t do maths is never allowed to enter in to the illusion.

You have much more talent than they will have you believe and if we do this right the internet will allow us to even the score.

If you want to go faster… slow down

Sometimes I feel frantic in my work, like a piece of wood tossed and thrown about in the white water on a very rough river. I fight for air, I battle against the current, I lose perspective, I have no idea where the water will take me… I panic. In short I have forgotten to trust myself and I have forgotten to trust the water. 

On the river if you want to go faster then you need to slow down… being frantic doesn’t help and it’s never an enjoyable ride. Slowing down enables you to be deliberate and insightful, it allows you to make good decisions and to navigate a path through the twists and turns of life.

There is power in slowing down and there is sense of joy in trusting the river…

Terror on the white water

Trusting the water

The truth?

Are you an artist who wishes to create work that resonates with truth? Do you wish to create a masterpiece that rips away every layer of crap and self indulgence? Do you wish to present yourself in a simple, undefiled, uncluttered and pure form?

An artistic masterpiece is free from the need to preach, to conceal, to convince or deceive; it needs to do none of these things because it is the “truth” all it has to do is exist, it is in its essence undefiled and “free.”

There is a way to achieving such excellence with your art, it is very simple yet it will cost you everything you have…

You must make friends with the poor, the homeless, the sick, the mentally ill and the down trodden in our world… you must know them as friends and you must love them as brothers and sisters.

It is impossible to create a work of truth that excludes, alienates or fails to acknowledge these wonderful people in our world…

My Fascinating Saturday

I spent this morning hanging out with a bunch of around 20 guys in and around the Entertainment Industry in Hollywood. This then segued on to lunch with Demore Barnes, a very dear actor friend from the television series “The Unit” and an English writer called Simon Jones. After which I drove across town to Burbank and my old friends at en2go where I took part in a test screening of “Slave Girl Direct to You,” a documentary about Prostitution in Las Vegas and its inherent link to human trafficking and slavery… both fascinating and horrific.

I then headed even further into the valley to the Armoury in Glendale which is currently home to some 200 plus homeless people, who have been hammered by the heavy rain in California. Imagine a gymnasium filled to the brim with camp stretches, there I met Paul and Kathy, a homeless couple in their sixties; Kathy has terminal cancer and is living on the streets in between her surgeries. I also met a very cool guy called Richmond who creates the most incredible paintings on the streets of Los Angeles.

We live in a fascinating world…

Incredible people

Who is the person you admire the most and why?

Pride comes before a fall

I think Pride is one of our enemies… it is impossible to learn when you are proud. It is impossible to relate to others when you are feeling superior. Pride affects creativity because it refuses to explore (because you know everything already anyway) and it also stops you from seeing the world from another persons perspective.

Pride is a constant enemy and we need to watch our backs because it longs to possess our souls. We know we are proud when we refuse to listen to advice or when we find ourselves jealous of others peoples success.

Trip through customs

After travelling through the worst turbulence of all time I arrived back in California late last night. With the thick beard that I am sporting I was expecting a tough time clearing US immigration. I made sure that my accent was distinctly kiwi and I waited with a dry mouth and a fair share of perspiration in the queue at customs…

It’s not that I’ve ever broken any immigration rules… for some reason immigrations queues make me feel guilty even when I am innocent. So I stood there praying and trying to work out which Official I would eventually see; would I get the friendly young guy or the stern old woman? Turns out I got “stern” but stern turned out to be friendly… she didn’t ask any questions and let me straight on through.

Phew… Does he anyone else feel wrongly accused at airport security these days?

On a plane again

In less than an hour I will begin lugging two heavy suitcases halfway across London to Heathrow; in big cities getting to the airport is definitely the most difficult part of travelling.

I am so looking forward to going to Los Angeles again and getting stuck into the business of raising finance for my projects. I have several possible meetings lined up and I really enjoy this side of the business.

It’s also great going to a city where I already know so many people and have a large number of terrific friends. I think that is what makes a city enjoyable or otherwise… the people that you know. I surprise a lot of people when I describe Los Angeles as one of the friendliest cities in the world. When you pass a stranger in the street they nearly always say hello… that’s why I love LA.

Fear, Greed & Gratitude

Fear and Greed are the two emotions that motivate people when it comes to money. These two states sit at opposite ends of the seesaw and people often bounce from one extreme to the other… it’s a very anxious and uncomfortable way to live.

I found myself a prisoner of both fear and greed when I tried to learn how to trade currency online a couple of years ago (a dark art if ever there was one).

I find that gratitude is one of the keys to avoid the fear and greed seesaw, not gratitude for what I will have in the future but gratitude for everything that I have right now in my possession. In the West, we are of course all incredibly wealthy but because of our capitalistic environment we cannot always appreciate or enjoy our own wealth. There are people around the world who would kill for the hot shower that you had this morning, and the very fact that you have computer on which you can read this blog means you are already in the top 2% of global wealth.

You can cultivate your own grateful attitude by writing down three things you are grateful for every morning.

Think big like Federer

I watched Roger Federer win the Australian Open this morning. I could watch Federer play tennis every day of the week, he is so inspirational because he’s simply so good. I heard that  he will train for four hours each morning, that in the off season he goes to Dubai and trains ridiculously hard in the heat.  It seems like he never tires of winning and he never tires of playing tennis… because he loves both things so much.

Loving being good at what you do is so important and trying to perfect your craft is vital if you want to be truly successful. Whatever you do… you can always try to discover new ways of doing it better. Enjoy exploring and live life like Federer plays tennis.