Tag Archives: calm

JON

TAKING IT NICE & EASY

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Over the last little while, my output both in writing and doing my assorted creative projects have slowed down. In addition, I find myself not worrying so much about re-starting the various things that I set out to bring back, at least not at this time. Hell, even my output on this site has slowed down considerably over the recent months. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t admit to feeling at least a twinge of guilt and sorriness in not doing these things. After all, I prided myself into jumping back in feet-first with a heavy-duty routine doing various things, when I felt the time was right.

But moreso in place of guilt and sorriness, I have actually felt a sense of easiness and pride recently. I let what I loved doing entrap me, so much so that at times, I couldn’t do the things I enjoyed without worrying over a deadline or a commitment or a meeting or whatnot to tend to. But now that I am running my own race at my own pace, I find that the creative projects I continue with come much easier and much more effective and productive when not stuck in a box.

As I’ve alluded to in several blogs in the past, I have a penchant for taking on many things at once, so much that it makes the wheels of my mind bog down in the sand and muck and I wind up stuck in place, not being able to go forward or backward, just being crushed by the weight of all that has piled on top of me. It’s took a lot of learning and getting used to, but running at a slower and more calculated pace with a lighter load on my shoulders has reaped major benefits for me.

For the first time in months, I can actually do the things I enjoy doing, without having to worry about having enough time for them. I can play my guitar as long as I want, I can tackle my broadcast media time capsule project and add to it whenever I please, I can go for long, slow walks in the late autumn sunlight whenever.

Though getting back into what I did before is on my mind (and will happen in a not-long amount of time), I can sleep better at night knowing that those creative flames will simply WARM me, without them CONSUMING me. Through the help of friends, therapy and a higher being/beings, I have accrued needed wisdom in my ever-evolving life as a creative. Before, I couldn’t see the trees for the woods. But now, after a long, occasionally arduous but always healing time, I am learning how to balance work and play, and how to love both simultaneously.

I hope you have a very wonderful Thanksgiving ahead, and in the comments, talk a little bit about you learned to balance work and play, and what you have learned in slowing down at times!

As always, much love & may God richly bless,

-Jon

JON

PERFECTLY IMPERFECT

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Too often in our lives, we worry about being perfect. We’re all guilty of it in one way or another-we could be making a dish and spend hours on it, but we’ll fret if it’s slightly burned. Or we could have a poem or song idea spring to our minds, then we’ll kick ourselves afterward over a chord we missed or a note we didn’t hit. Or we could write someone a long letter, make a sales pitch, or see someone we’ve not seen in 20 years, and we’ll spend the time afterward chewing our fingernails past the first knuckle about what we should have said or done in the moment. Furthermore, we spend who-knows-how much time worrying about ourselves. Our eyes. Our hair. Our weight. If we have enough of a tan. How our smile looked in a selfie. How our voice sounded on a call or message. The list goes on and on.

I am guilty of this in my own right, especially in creative endeavors. Many, MANY times after interviewing someone, I will have those thoughts of, “well, why didn’t you say THIS,” or, “why didn’t you ask them THIS at THIS time,” etc. And many times when making videos for my ongoing radio/TV time capsule project, I’ll watch them back through and think, “why didn’t you include this piece of audio? Why did you have the audio clips in this order? Why did you cut out this much of a song?” Even in writing these blog posts, I’ll often find myself wishing I’d have gone longer, or included one more photograph, or posted one extra blurb about x, y or z.

It can be a draining and seemingly never-ending cycle. The vampire of perfectionism is highly persuasive. But in the course of a lifetime’s run, we begin to discover that, instead of being perfect, the most beautiful and genuine thing we can be is imperfect. ❤

I am spending this month of April writing various pieces of poetry, as a challenge a friend and I are partaking in for National Poetry Month. This morning, I posted a tanka, a haiku-like poem but with two extra seven-syllable lines tacked to it. It read as follows:

“dewdrop pearls shine
as forest daylight finds us
in each other’s arms
kisses on the riverbank
it’s a beautiful morning”

I shared it with her and some others that are writing with me, and our own Em pointed out that I had only four syllables in the first line when I thought I had five. After some conversation, I realized that the word pearls is only one syllable-at least in most dialects! I had spent most all of my life thinking the word was a two-syllable word, and when it was pointed out to me that it was only a single syllable, I felt highly self-conscious about my voice and largely Southern dialect. Until it was pointed out to me by my closest poetic friend Silvia that, although I had been mistaken, I had still written a beautifully-worded tanka poem for this day of the challenge. Something beautiful had sprung from this Parnassian imperfection. And without realizing it at the time, my 30-out-of-31 syllable tanka poem resembled a pearl-a sacred verbal geometry created by irritation and formed by grit. And it put everything into perspective, and showed me what to write this blog post about today.

In the constant tug-of-war we find ourselves in between striving for perfection and doing our best, we can lose sight of what our true intentions are. Renée, my closest friend and co-creator has clashed many times with me over the notion of “done is better than good”. I fought tooth and nail against that notion for so long. I had it in my head that, if something was worth doing, it was worth doing to perfection. Until I realized that perfect is just a pipe dream, something that is pumped into our heads from an early age. Perfect may be achievable in certain fields or passions or lines of work, but the width and breadth of it is that perfect is something we can only chase after. Doing your best is more than enough in most situations! And most times, doing your best will lead you to the most beautiful of situations, scenarios and places. Being yourself unapologetically will be worth more to you than any amount of silver or gold.

Post that selfie of you in a baggy t-shirt and sweatpants! Sing that song or read that poem in your beautiful voice and dialect! Embrace your eyes, nose, smile, belly, stretch marks, beauty marks, anything that makes you uniquely you! Your imperfections do not define you, nor do they make you any less of a person. They each make you your own beautiful and evergreen kind of perfect ❤

I hope this blog finds you well, and in the comments, talk a bit about how you embrace perfect imperfection!

As always, take care, much love and may God richly bless!

-Jon

JON

WHEN EVERYTHING IS GOING RIGHT

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When a period of calmness, peace, stability and overall good vibes enters our lives after an extended period of darkness and mental downtime, it can be a bit of a foreign feeling to us. We may not know how to handle it, temporarily. It may register an air of surprise within us, or we could view it as nothing but a fluke, a flash in the pan. But I am here to tell you that it is NOT a fluke. It is something you and I both deserve, after the doldrums we experienced over the fall and winter months. Spring is coming, both in and out of our lives, and it is going to be a time of rejuvenation, rebirth, second chances and new beginnings!

We must take the steps necessary to ensure the feelings of peace, stability, etc stay in our lives. Treat it as if it were a garden: You planted these seeds in the soil of your soul, and now it’s time to water them, fertilize them, and watch them grow! They could be flowers that pop through for color and beauty to add to your own life, or they could be various foods growing from the ground, to help feed and nourish not only yourself, but everyone around you. Either way, if we treat the good days and moments and good mental & physical health days like a garden, I think we could turn those seeds we planted into a booming, colorful and tasty bumper crop of bright days, laughs, golden moments and memories for a lifetime!

Aside from ensuring the good days arrive to stay, we can also funnel the energy we have for this into manifestation. Maybe you have a long-awaited goal that is finally within reach. Or a project that you can start on, after several false starts. Or a blooming love inside of you that you can share with the apple of your eye. It could even be just seeing a new town or city for the first time, or trying that new coffee shop or pizza place. Great new things are awaiting us in our lives this spring, and the room we have to grow is limitless and waiting to give us the stage to do so. With careful considerations from our hearts, minds, souls and gut feelings, we are primed to start writing a new, exciting chapter in our lives and journeys. 2023 is the year of US, brothers and sisters! Let’s pull our shoes on and don our best sunglasses, and walk out into this upcoming new, refreshing and inspiring season with smiles on our faces, and joy and hope in our hearts ❤

I hope this blog finds you well, and in the comments, tell us about something you aim to do or start on this spring!

As always, take care, much love & may God richly bless,

-Jon

JON

IN THIS VERY MOMENT, EVERYTHING IS OK

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Many times in our lives, especially this time of the year, we often catch ourselves hung up on all that has transpired over the last year, or looking ahead to what may be coming in the new year. We may fret over projects we have completed, or a job opportunity that passed us by, or deadlines and commitments. I am not above this, either. Quite frequently over recent days and weeks, I have found myself worrying over friendships, partnerships, when to commence recording music, when to start writing my first poetry book, plus starting therapy soon, getting my ducks in a row for a potential move in the new year, taking care of my new feline friend Vidalia, amid many other things. It can get to be a slog. Until seven words cross my mind. Seven words that immediately put my mind at ease. Seven words that is a saying, one that my dear friend and musical co-creator Kim Ware taught me to abide by:

In this very moment, everything is OK.

I will repeat: In this very moment, everything is OK.

These seven words have become a big help to me lately. It helps me center and focus on the now, instead of worrying about what I should have said or done in the past, or worrying about what the future might hold. I can apply these seven simple words to heart and use it to see the good that is around me at this time: I have a cat for the first time in over two years. I am starting therapy, the first part of a brave, new leg of my journey. I have confirmation that a poem of mine will be published in a physical book. I have a head full of creative ideas. In this moment, I am listening to a podcast and doing something I love doing, blog-writing.

In this very moment, everything is OK.

Never has seven words been so freeing to me like these seven are. Anxiety has always been a bear for me to whip, and so too FOMO, the fear of missing out. But these things cloud my view of life, and as a result, it makes me not see the trees for the woods. Taking in the good around me, the glory in front of me, the sights of my dearest friends, co-conspirators and creatives stepping up to the plate and crushing home runs in their endeavors-and the fact that I’m here to watch it and cheer them on!!! It’s a blessed, refreshing and welcome feeling. Too long I have spent in the midst of fear, uncertainty, the hungry, biting wolverines of my yesterdays and the grim, brooding specters of tomorrows.

I’m alive.

I am six feet above the ground.

I am surrounded by some of the best people a man could ever ask for.

Is every day red and rosy? Not by any stretch of the imagination, but by taking in the good and filtering out the bad in my life, I can see that today isn’t so bad. Nor is it fleeting and forgettable. Every day that I wake up and see the sunrise is a blank canvas, my opportunity to make a masterpiece out of it. And I intend to create many, many masterpieces in my time. ❤

I hope this blog finds you well, and in the comments, tell me about something positive that happened to you today, and how you savor the little moments of your day!

As always, take care, much love, and may God richly bless,

-Jon