The Good Fuel (The Gift Is In The Song pt 2)

When you’re young you think you can outsmart truth and fulfillment.

You think you can side step what truly matters for the sake of what would be cool to have.

When you’re young (who am I kidding…even when you’re old) you think your legitimately strong drive for fame, notoriety, typical success, credit, respect, money, status will make up for the fact that you don’t really LOVE the work of writing and playing in and of itself. (Only you don’t tell anyone this and/or maybe you’re ashamed of it, because after all you gotta be “all about the music, man”)

You DO the writing of the songs and the playing of the songs, but that doesn’t serve as the fuel, the fame and money are serving as the fuel.

And that can keep you going…for a little while.

But fame and money are not sufficient sources of fuel. How many vh1 Behind The Music’s do you have to see??

So where is the good fuel?

What is the life sustaining source for pursuing a career in this wild west of a music business?

The good fuel is simply the opportunity to do the work.  The opportunity to do the work you have to do today…and then tomorrow its the opportunity to do that work, and so on…

It’s the most unglamorous, unsexy, unrockstar way of adapting your value system to the music business…and yet I dare say this is part of the golden ticket, the truth that you’ve been searching for.

What you DO today matters.  THAT’S IT.  THAT’S ALL YOU HAVE.  That’s the only vehicle you have to give and receive life and joy and hope and fulfillment through.

And tomorrow, no matter how much money, fame and notoriety you have or don’t have, this vehicle will always be reliable and will show back up for another whirl.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

The Gift Is The Song...And That’s It

As an artist, the gift that music brings you is what you experience when you write it and when you play it.

It owes you nothing else.

It doesn’t owe you a career.

(The funny thing is that once you truly understand and act on this you’re more likely to have a career in music)

The gift is being able to write the song, or to play the song.  

Don’t run past this gift so quickly in search of more.

p.s. If there isn’t joy, fulfillment and hope that regenerates within writing and playing the song (in and of itself, at the time you are participating in those activities), it might be that 2017 is the year you move on from writing and playing songs.

p.p.s. There’s a vast difference in hoping to experience hope, joy and fulfillment in writing the song or in playing the song vs. those things ACTUALLY occurring.  Many artists mistake their hope for fulfillment, etc as the actual thing…Which makes an artist constantly reach into the future (but never actualizing)  as opposed to realizing the value in/and experiencing in the present gift of music.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

The Next Challenge

It’s always coming. It’s always coming tomorrow.

Because nothing happens the same way twice.  You learn some things along the way and that makes you better equipped to face the next challenge…but you can’t avoid it all together.  That is, the next challenge you’re going to face.

Every day is a come back.  Every day you have to re-learn how it goes.  

You can’t copy and paste. 

Experience doesn’t remove the challenges, it just changes your perspective and hopefully your efficiency in hurdling them.

The point is not to not have a challenge coming tomorrow. The point is developing an attitude and posture that doesn’t get defeated by knowing there’s another challenge.

In the land of dreamers, the planner is king.

BUT…in the land of planners, the one who recovers is king.

Plans are a great, necessary process, and we base them largely on what we know, the flow of how we believe things will, could, should go.  As we should.

But remember the reality is things will not go the way you plan. They never do. They either go better or worse.

And there in lies a large part of the challenge that renews virtually every day.

Enjoy your victory today. The next challenge is coming tomorrow.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Five Golden Rings

It’s all about anticipation and pay off.

Once Five Golden Rings is introduced in the song, you look forward to it each time.  Everyone in the fam sticks out their chest, puts on their best vibrato, maybe even some type of strange accent, and belts it out.

And that final time, when you’ve finally reached the 12th day of Christmas and now you’re counting it back for the last time, everyone really gives it the gusto.

Five Golden Rings is the pay off.  But if every day of Christmas was sung like the fifth day it wouldn’t be a pay off, it would be the normal.  

And we don’t look forward to the normal.  We look forward to the payoff.

The normal serves the purpose of building anticipation.  The normal is the foundation for which the payoff is built on.

Faaaahhhhiiiiiiiive Golden Riiiiiiiiings

So Good.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

It Doesn’t Apply

We don’t learn things because the idea or lesson or advice “doesn’t apply to me”.

Or perhaps “it doesn’t COMPLETELY apply to me” and therefore the whole idea gets tossed out.

It’s a lot easier to learn and remember things that we believe completely apply to us (and that might be very few things or close to nothing at all).  It keeps us from having to do the hard work of discernment, critical thought and application.

But if we only take in and apply the things we believe completely apply to us, we’re missing out on a wealth of beneficial knowledge.

The truth is, most things apply to us.  Not completely, but most definitely.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

What Most Quickly Renews?

You don’t become known as the energetic one, the focused one, the creative one, the friendly one, etc by subscribing to that trait once or twice.

You become known as that because you’re “always” that way.  

However you know that you’re actually not always that way.  The truth is…

If you’re known as the energetic one, it’s not that you’re always energetic, it’s that your energy renews faster than is typical.  So people notice.

If you’re the focused one, it’s not that you’re always focused, it’s that your focus renews quicker than is typical.  So people notice.

If you’re the creative one, it’s not that you never get depleted (even daily), but your creativity renews faster than is typical.  So people notice.

If you’re the friendly one…

If you’re the goofy one…

If you’re the tasmanian devil one…

We aren’t always that way.  We are simply that way enough to be known for it.

We don’t need to define ourselves by that thing.  But others defining us as such is simply a nod to our distinct ability and willingness to be renewed in a certain area that is unique to the world around us.

So perhaps better than the What am I best at? or What am I known for? questions…

What most quickly renews in you?

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com