Drew Marshall Show Replay

REPLAY: Drew Marshall Show, October 25, 2014

I was contacted by Drew Marshall of The Drew Marshall Show, "Canada's most listened to spiritual talk show," for an interview. Went on just before Starsky (how totally cool is that?) Very cool guy - fantastic interviewer. A good time was had by all.

Unwrap a bar, pour a glass, smoke a bowl (whatever strikes your fancy) and enjoy!

The Happier Story

No truer words. The tug-of-war of the mind. One feeds instead of depletes, one blesses instead of punishes. Faith and fear. One hands down a sentence and the other sets you free. Be brave and choose the happier story.

Love More

When our heart gets broken, for whatever reason, our primary instinct is to protect it – to shut it down, cover it up, build a wall around it, wrap it in so many miles of bubble wrap or bury it in a hole so deep that it won’t ever get broken again. But that never works. Ever. All it does is shut us off from the sunshine and oxygen necessary for our heart to naturally heal itself. And it does, or can – every time – if we allow it. Just like a cut finger or broken arm is programmed to heal itself if we give it the support it needs to do so. If your heart is broken DON’T STOP LOVING. Love is exactly the ointment, bandage, cast, splint, iv drip that the heart needs to come back to life. If your heart is broken, LOVE MORE. Love your friends more, love your family more, love your kids more, love your pets more, love sunshine more, love music more, love life more and, above all else, LOVE YOURSELF MORE. Love bigger, love better, love braver, love more fiercely, love more peacefully, love kinder, just… Love more. 

Broken Open

If you don't, Life will do it for you. Either way, BE BRAVE. Beautiful treasures spill out of broken hearts.

Surrounded by Assholes

Before you diagnose yourself with depression low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.” William Gibson

We spend so much time looking inward – which is good, and self-diagnosing – which isn't always but can, on occasion, be good that all too often we forget to just open our eyes and ears to the things we are surrounding ourselves with. Is some, or most, of your pain simply being caused by assholes around you? Are the assholes on TV and the assholes around your dinner table getting too much air time? If you’re depressed or living a far lesser version of yourself, tune in to the voices around you. Maybe it’s time to change the station and find a new table to eat at.

Poem: Kathleen Boylan

Once upon a time, there was a nameless Little One.
Life gave this Little One the first of many lessons.
"What should we call you then, Little One?"
Trembling, Little One responded, "Fear"

Time passed, and the lessons continued.
With each new teaching, came a new name.
"What should we call you now, Little One?"
Laughing, crying, screaming, Little One responded, "Joy.Despair.Rage"

More time passes, and more lessons are learned.
As the latest lesson is received, so was the latest identity.
"And what should we call you today, Little One?"
Standing staunch and proud, Little One responded, "Survivor"

Ran into Little One the other day.
Lessons still come, life still goes on.
"What name do you choose for this day, Little One?"
Smiling, easy, glowing, Little One responded, "I no longer wish to be identified by my struggles.
From now on, I wish to be called by my greatest strength. "
"You may call me Love."

Happy LOVE Day

Love. One of the simplest complicated emotions-experiences-feelings-desires we humans have. There are a million ways to feel it, to express it, to let it in and to shut it out. Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Love in such a way that the person you love feels free.” I cannot imagine a better goal to gage our loving by – not only for our beloveds but for ourselves. So often love is fettered, bound and defined by our deepest fears and limitations. We place ourselves and those we love in cages designed to keep us comfortable, safe and, most importantly, not alone. We know that we cannot truly love another until we truly love ourselves. Do you love yourself in such a way that you feel free? Do you honor and adore yourself to such a degree that you wouldn’t dream of having and being “less than” in a relationship? Do you soar to untold heights not only in the arms of those you love, but in the deepest places where you hold yourself? Be brave enough to embrace the paradox of letting go that you may hold, releasing that you may keep and unbinding that you may remain tied. Happy Valentine’s Day, Internetland. Love freely, freely love, and eat ridiculous amounts of chocolate.

My Own Little Traveling Guide

There was once a King who decided to hold a contest. He gathered everyone in his kingdom together at a certain place on a certain road that led to his castle and announced that he would give a great prize to the person who traveled the road the best.

Each person tried to outdo the next in creativity, strength and agility – dancing, spinning, walking on their hands, cart wheeling and hand springing… They created outrageous bicycles and other wheeled contraptions. They all did their very best - even when, one by one, they came upon a large pile of dirt and rocks in the middle of the road that they had to stop and climb over.

As every person reached the castle the King asked them how their journey down the road had been. And every person answered the same way – it was great except for that annoying pile of rubble in the way.

The King threw a feast for all who had participated and as the celebration was coming to a close, in walked one lone straggler – a young man, tired and hungry, hours later than the rest. In his arms he carried a large wooden chest. The king asked him what had taken him so long and he apologized for being late, explained that there had been a pile of rubble in the road that he had stopped to clean up. He had found the chest under the rocks and had come to return it to its rightful owner.

The king stopped the festivities - announcing to the crowd that this young man had won the prize, a chest full of gold, because “He who travels the road best is the one who makes it better for those that come after him.”

I think that’s what Life is all about – making the road safer and happier for those that follow. And I know it’s what I have committed my existence to  – not because I think I am super special or am after any sort of prize but because I really believe that is how I am to live my life. I have navigated ridiculously treacherous terrain, as have many of us, and I think that all any of us can do is to share where we are and where we have been with others that are traveling on the same road and do our best to make the journey safer and better for them. Just doing our simple best to ease the hearts of fellow travelers who feel the same pain we have felt and are climbing over the same obstacles we have – that’s all.

At times I have done my road clearing from an army tank, other times from a clown car. Now I find myself traveling in a polka dotted tank covered in hippie signs and Namaste bumper stickers that shoots bubbles and sunflowers and chocolate kisses. And occasional shots of Tequila.