“Baby It’s Cold Outside” by Leon Redbone/Zooey Deschanel is a song I love. In preparation for winter and those who are in the snow, I dedicate this song to you. I can pretend I am back in the snow I love to play in.
Here I sit “imagining” a blazing fire, a hot cup of coffee, lounging on a comfy couch with Cody as I watch the snow come down. Work with me here! It is cold outside and I am inside the house warm in my cozy sweats and happy, happy, happy. Oh, I am even happier, my best girl Nicole McKinney has come to visit and brought chocolate chip cookies. Could life get any better?
Here is a photo of me at Disneyland with Mom, but could not load it onto Wordpress with the other photo!! Gotta Love the Mini & Mickie’s Mouse homes in Tune Town.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to let our creativity be something that unites us, not separates us? Welcome creativity flowing in and through your life. We are creators. We are directors. We are the architects of our own lives. How about directing your life by welcoming all the greatness life has to offer you? Trust the hierarchy of your being that will set into motion the great possibilities you dare to dream. Let your brilliant mind express through you everything you can conceive in the future. What you can conceive you can achieve. Let the future come closer to you.
Mom in Disneyland at Tune Town
We are all given a divine spark of love and light to basically express the oneness of who and what we are. I am always inspired by Walt Disney, the creation and ongoing creativity during and since his passing. My mother BJ visited from Ruidoso, New Mexico to celebrate 75 years young and healthy. Mom told me that thinking of going to Disneyland after 20 years made her feel 5 years old again. We ran around like kids, met 2 wonderful people who surprised Mom and I with lunch and a birthday cake to celebrate. Thank you Silio and Nikki. You made our day and gave us memories that will last forever.
The song contained one of Dave Stewart’s favorite passages from Dr. King, which was hauntingly delivered the night before he was assassinated. King says: “I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!”
I quote Dave Stewart “People long for a connection— whether it is to music, to their country, or to a big idea. Regardless of what happens in November, Senator Obama has reminded millions of people that they have the power to connect to bigger ideas. He is, in essence, the embodiment of a new anthem for change. He has continued King’s narrative from what was once thought of as a dream to a reality. I find it especially relevant that Barack Obama will accept the Democratic Party Nomination for President 45 years to the day of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
When we were originally writing the song, Bono was crafting the words in a way that would make people think about the fact that ‘America’ as a concept was a truly great idea, based on the bedrock of equality. I find it more pertinent than ever to release it now; to the moment America finds itself in, daring to re-imagine itself and its place in the world.
When I set out to make a video for the new version of this song, I wanted to honor all of those millions of people, especially young people, who are, for the first time, feeling empowered to voice their beliefs. I wanted to capture how Obama’s message of change has echoed across the broad fabric of what is America. To do that, we’ve cast the film with an eclectic array of personalities, including Forest Whitaker, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, Cyndi Lauper, Barry Manilow, Joan Baez, Macy Gray and Joss Stone. They appear alongside veterans, teachers and everyday citizens— all of whom have been touched by this simple idea of change. As an Englishman, I’m not an expert in all the intricate details of American politics. But as an artist, I understand how rare it is to inspire a connection to a bigger idea or purpose. This video isn’t so much an endorsement of Barack Obama as much as it is a celebration of all those who have picked up a sign, who have registered to vote and are working to make the world a better place. So as Senator Barack Obama ascends to the mountain top, let us not forget all of the others who for the past 40 years have sung anthems of change to make this moment possible.”
LYRICS
This is my American Prayer
This is my American Prayer
This is the time to finish what you started
And this is no time to dream
This is the room
We can turn off the dark tonight
Maybe then we might see
American Prayer
American Prayer
And this is the ground
That keeps our feet from getting wet
And this is the sky over our head
And what you see depends on where you stand
And how you jump will tell you where you’re gonna land
American Prayer
American Prayer
My oh my
Couldn’t get much higher
Lets not kick out the darkness
Make the light brighter
And these are the hands
What are we gonna build with them?
This is the church you can’t see
Give me your tired, your poor and huddled masses
You know they’re yearning to breathe free
This is my American Prayer
American Prayer
American Prayer
When you get to the top of the mountain
Will you tell me what you see
If you get to the top of the mountain
Remember me
LIST OF GUESTS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
Dave Stewart
Forest Whitaker
Amy Keys
Macy Gray
Jason Alexander
Colbie Caillat
Whoopi Goldberg
Joss Stone
Buju Banton
Ann Marie Calhoun
Barry Manilow
Linda Perry
Cyndi Lauper
Sergio Mendes
Herbie Hancock
Mike Bradford
Margaret Cho
Cindy Gomez
Speech
Joan Baez
Daedelus
Pamela Anderson
Peter & Gordon
Sierra Swan
Nadirah X
Perez Hilton
It is through experience that knowledge becomes wisdom. Wisdom is a great gift. When used properly, wisdom can assist us to live a life of peace. What do you search and strive for in your life? For each one of us it appears in different forms. Hopefully at some point we become wise enough to see the walls we have built around ourselves that limit us. Allowing ourselves to release and let go of all that does not work in our life any longer takes courage and inner strength. These walls of resistance are sometimes invisible even to our own eyes. It is so easy to look at someone else’s life and see why things are not working out for them. Yet when we look at ourselves, we often miss what limits us. I know I want to be a happy little miracle maker. How about you? I think we all feel that way. Some serious contemplation and examination may be necessary (when you are ready) to make profound shifts in your life. There are millions of books on the subject of living a better, happier, healthier life. Why then is the world not filled with happy, healthy, successful, peaceful, fulfilled people? It is sometimes even hard to find people that are filled with true joy.
Our world seems to have sped up at a pace no one can keep up with. Everyone is busy, busy, busy. No time is the mantra everyone hears from each other. People want and need more time just to get through the day and accomplish tasks, just to keep up.
It is time to take the journey back to self, back to love. Living in the past will only complicate your life and do nothing to build a better brighter future for yourself and your family. The future does not exist yet. The moment you are in right now creates your next moments, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years. This is so simple, that we just don’t get it. The few who do live happy lives. How do you feel right now? Think about this, because it is all that exits. Imagine a tightrope. You are standing on the tightrope, which represents NOW. On one side is the past and the other is the future. Do you notice there is nothing there? Absolutely nothing. The past is gone as soon as the moment passes. The only thing that keeps it alive is your mind or a memory, that’s it. Imagine the things people could let go of if the past is released into the nothingness that it is.
Embrace the NOW moment. What do you want? In the fullness of this moment happening NOW, you get to decide. Your moments gain momentum and appear in the physical for you to experience. So, if you get to choose, wouldn’t you want something wonderful in your life? Every moment you stay peaceful, joyful, productive and take action towards your dreams, you take a step closer to the life you want to live. I want this life for myself and work towards it daily. Old patterns and habits are exactly that - old, and keep us stuck in a continual rut. I want out and am climbing that ladder one step at a time, one day at a time by practicing the art of living in the NOW moment. The more you can stay present, miracles do start happening. The phone rings, connections are made, people supply you with information or bring you something you needed (without having to ask.) Synchronicity is happening all around you. Oops! then we forget and go back to old patterns and get old results.
Remember to pull yourself back to NOW as often as you can, until it becomes a great new habit that will reshape your life. I did not say it would be easy in the beginning. Just get your foot in the door, use courage, and please trust that things will shift for you when you let go of the judgments and move into joy. What I wish and dream of for myself, I wish for and dream of for everyone everywhere. I send you love and support in your best life lived in the courage each of you represent to me.
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