Spirit in the Village

Susan Boyle, Memories and Why Empowering is Better than Judgement

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

My sister sent me the video of Susan Boyle that is going around the internet. Like many I was amazed at her voice, her courage and especially the response of the audience who seemed to dismiss her at the beginning. She has become a phenomenon overnight and I hope that she is able to use her abilities (and new fame) to find a niche, earn some money and live her dream.

Why are we so quick to judge?

As a society we tend to judge harshly on appearance, success, status and other factors. Her song brought for me memories of grade 6 where I was in the school choir, performed solos and duets and had one of the better (tenor) voices in the class. I was 11 years old, incredibly shy with no confidence and my grade 6 teacher asked me and another boy to go on stage in front of the class.

He asked us to both sing separately.

The other boy had a cracked voice and kind of an airy, forced tone that could hurt the ears. Mine was pretty smooth with a nice tenor sound. He said to the class, "Who do you think will have the better voice when he gets older?" Most of the class looked at me and then were amazed when he said the other boy would have the better voice because often a cracked voice changes and improves, whereas a tenors can lose their range.

Same Words - Different Outcomes

As an 11 year old boy those words from my teacher were devastating and I felt embarrassed standing on that stage that day. My confidence was shattered and eventually I stopped the choir and in grade 7 quit music altogether. It took almost 30 years before I eventually picked up the guitar, learned to play and brought music and singing back into my life.

Back in 1990 I was in a pub and recognized the name of the singer as that boy with the cracked voice. I'm sure the words from our grade 6 teacher gave him great confidence to continue singing and pursue his dream.

Those same words took away my confidence and set me on a completely different path.

Judging Less and Encouraging Everyone

As a society, as teachers and as people we should learn the power of our words and responses to people. We should learn to judge less, encourage and look for the positive in everyone. Our world would be a much richer place if we did.

Susan Boyle Interviews

Here are a couple of video interviews since YouTube doesn't seem to allow embedding for original performances. If you want to see her performance click here for the video.

Food for Thought Fridays - Life Balance, Good Friday & Song Writing

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

This week was crazy with a lot of distractions, interruptions and my own difficulty managing my time as events came up. Despite the craziness there were insights that are worth sharing.

Managing Life Balance in the Midst of Chaos

Sometimes life throws curve balls and our best intentions and plans can get thrown off. As I write about Life Balance I find my biggest test is bringing balance into my life during those times of chaos. Chaos can arise from external events, emergencies, our own or other people's challenges.

When chaos erupts my advice is to simply allow the flow of life to happen, be flexibile, be positive, stay focused on the job at hand and listen to your intuition. Remember every day is a new day and your goals and plans will still be there.

Good Friday

For millions of Christians around the world Good Friday represents the heart of the Christian teachings: the crucifixion of Christ. Many will pray, fast or spend time with their families and in three days Easter Monday will celebrate the resurrection of Christ. We have built a tradition of giving little chocolate eggs and bunnies to celebrate this day. I’m not sure what chocolate has to do with it but I’m always happy to receive.

Image Source: Just Hungry

Many years ago I was listening to a talk from Marianne Williamson who is a spiritual author and teacher who appears a lot on Oprah. She was talking about the cross, the crucifixion, the resurrection and Lenny Bruce, the Jewish comedian.

Lenny said, “If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.” Source: The Brainy Quote

Electric chairs, can you imagine that?

The Resurrection

Marianne’s message was that millions within our religious communities remain focused on the crucifixion and as a result we stay focused on the burdens of our lives. Marianne says the real story of Christ was the resurrection and Christ’s teaching of how to overcome the burdens of life. I’m not saying that we throw away the crosses because they are important symbols for people, but I do believe that focusing on the resurrection in our own lives is the key to finding inner balance, peace and happiness.

To all Christians, Happy Easter and to our Jewish friends, Happy Passover.

Song Writing and the Creation Process

My process of creating and writing songs generally develops a life of its own and I find it important to get out of the way, listen to my intuition and write down the inspiration that comes. When my mind is too involved, nothing happens.

When I wrote the song A New Day & Who Ever Thought (about Barack Obama and his election to US President) the song began from a conversation my wife had with some business associates in California way back in 2007. Over the months that followed I was influenced by events of the campaign, and from a musical side, chords and styles of music came to me.

In this case some of the influences were Robert Johnson (Awesome Video), The Beatles (Video), and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Video).

Nothing was written down and the actual writing of the songs did not come together until after the election on November 4th. On the Friday after the election everything began to flow and within a couple of weeks of casually picking up my guitar, coming up with chords and writing lyrics the song came together.

My New Song - Developing a Life

There is a new song that has been building in the same way and developing a life of it’s own. The process has evolved a little differently and started with chords and a little riff that sounds more like a North American Indian drumming song. Since then the music has progressed to more of a harder rock tune. For the last two weekends I began coming up with words, but interestingly the words were not flowing.

Over the last few days some events emerged that have given me a topic to write about. Last night words started to flow.

I’m still not sure where this song will go but hopefully over the next couple of weeks I’ll have something to work with.

The trick to song writing is to allow the song to come from your soul.

That’s it for now… have some important work to complete today.

Observations, Mind Stuff, Visualization, Goals & People

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

The last few days have been interesting. In my post on Monday I spoke about 6 steps for letting go of our mental resistance. Yesterday I spoke about Anger and how it can be a motivator to help us to move forward. There has been so much going that I thought today’s post could offer some tidbits from what I’ve been learning.

Mental Resistance

Remembering the old adage what we resist persists. When we hold rigid opinions, judgments or beliefs about ourselves or others we are in resistance. The way to let go of our resistant thoughts is to become flexible in our minds, identify those thoughts that limit us and then shift our perception toward a more positive thought. When you let go of your judgments, rigid opinions or negative beliefs your mind relaxes and you feel great.

Here's the link to the 6 steps.

Negative & Positive Emotions

Positive and negative emotions are part of our experience as human beings. When we experience negative emotion it’s okay to sit with the feeling, meditate and know that like the flow of life this too shall pass. Contemplate what is bothering you, meditate and move your mind toward the positive thought. Staying in negativity too long can harm us. Sometimes we need triggers to bring us back into the positive, friends, family, books, music, words… whatever it takes… reflect and bring your mind back into the positive state.

Positive thoughts and emotions are the only way to go.

Meditation & Visualization

Sometimes our dreams and desires can seem elusive. We have our goals, we know what we want but at times it may feel like a pipe dream if it hasn’t yet happened. Some will give up and say this impossible, move into a negative mind state and stop the pursuit of their dream.

Let’s say you have a goal for your career. Here are some tips: write it down, let it come from your heart, start to see it happening in your mind, meditate and when you meditate visualize and see yourself in that place, in that position, working with those people, networking and having those positive experiences. Do it everyday for just a few minutes. Keep your goal front and center, focus but at the same time let your mind relax and see yourself doing and experiencing what you love. When negative thinking or negative resistance comes in just know it’s temporary and do what you can to get back into a positive frame of mind.

Visualization can have huge benefits in helping you to move in the direction of your goals.

People, Stories & Gratitude

Last night I had a chance to attend a song writers competition at a pub in Guelph, Ontario. Although I wasn’t participating (here's my song page) the talent was amazing and I couldn’t help looking at the musicians who got up on stage and being awed by their creations. Some of them were nervous, others seemed more relaxed, some already rock stars in their own minds but each one of them had a story to tell.

Over the past few days I discovered each one of us has a story to tell and the real essence of our lives is our stories. Finding our true passions is part of the story we tell and part of life’s journey. For some reason last night time stopped for me as I realized...

Finding our true passion is the only real truth in life.

Someone asked me a similar question at the site Divine Purpose Unleased and I didn't have an answer. Today I feel I have that answer.

Barack Obama - Who Ever Thought & New Day - 2 New Songs

For the last 3 years Barack Obama has been visible on my world stage and like many who will witness in person his inauguration on Tuesday I connected to his message, his inspiration, honesty and what you can see (if you look closely) his desire to do what’s right for people and the world.

Over the next 48 hours Barack Obama will be swore in as the 44th President of the United States, bringing with him a real promise to make change not only within the ways of government but in the way America wields it’s influence around the world.

America needs this change.

After Obama won the Presidency in November I wrote a song that reflected my feelings about life and about the changes we go through as we face the unknown.

The song Who Ever Thought starts with a story of woman who decided one day that she no longer wanted to sit at the back of the bus. Her decision to sit at the front of the bus, a simple act for many of us today, resulted in riots and bloodshed and eventually a change (in the segregation laws). At the same time a preacher man came on to the world stage and through his ability to inspire helped to birth a nation into the recognition that all of its citizens are created equal.

Barack Obama is the manifestation of both Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King’s dream of a nation where all are equal. Yes it is true that still have racism, inequality and a society that serves the interests of some better than others, but if you look back on the last 40-50 years we have come a long way.

The challenge of the 21st century will be to take this same message of hope, freedom and equality to not only the citizens of America who still struggle, but to all the citizens of the world. Barack Obama is a good person to start that journey into a new phase of our growth as a global community.

Even with the chaos prevalent in the world today our planet is evolving. We’re growing step-by-step and beginning to recognize that something needs to be done. Something needs to be done about pollution and global warming; something needs to be done to create peace in the Middle East, something needs to be done to help to solve the problem of hiv/aids in Africa and other nations, something needs to be done about healthcare, job security and overall human rights.

Today, Martin Luther King day is the launch of my two new songs, New Day and Who Ever Thought.

These are two versions of the same song one with a more pop feel and the other my attempt at bluesy. The recording quality is not the greatest since I am neither a professional musician or recording artist... I used my home computer, a microphone and some recording software I bought from Best Buy.

• The Story behind the Songs - New Day and Who Ever Thought
• Writing, Recording & My Vision for the Songs
• Chords & Lyrics: (New Day) (Who Ever Thought)

Hope you enjoy…

Listen

Vote

Updates to My Song Writing Page

I've now added a landing page where people can go to get some background on my songwriting and the music side to this site.

There are a couple of links to check out:

• My Song Writing Homepage (For Updates and the Latest)
• My Soundclick Page (My other site)
• My Only Song so far - Love is Free (More songs to come)

Hope you enjoy...

Meditation Project details will be coming soon!

2008 Year in Review - My Top 5 Lists

With the election of the first African-American President and the Global Economic Collapse this has been one of the most interesting years since 9-11 and even 1987 when the Berlin wall fell. Here is my Top 5 List for 2008:

My Top 5

1. The American Election

The election of Barack Obama was significant because it represents a new course for not only America but the world. Although there is still a long way to go with respect to racial or gender equality the world can finally breathe a sigh of relief and say all of us have an opportunity to achieve our dreams.

2. The Global Financial Meltdown

Unlike other economic slowdowns we have seen some of the most powerful Financial Institutions simply collapse and our traditional way of doing business seems at risk. Personally I’m optimistic about the future since many times it takes a real kick in the pants to get us off our complacency. For years we have dragged our feet by not creating fuel efficient cars, letting go of our dependency on oil and executives have just lined up at the money trough, looking at their own pocket books and sending jobs to China.

I’m hopeful that governments & corporations will become more responsible, more responsive to demands in the market place (especially car companies) and that executives will align bonuses with the success of a company.

Little baby steps will be required moving forward but I think it will be important for the voices within the global community to keep everybody honest.

3. The Shoe Throwing Incident

If you listen to the words of the shoe thrower, Muntadar al-Zaidi, the shoes thrown at George Bush where a farewell kiss from those who had been killed, orphaned or widowed in Iraq. This event symbolizes for me all the conflicts that are going on in the world from the Middle East to Somalia, to Zimbabwe, India, Pakistan to Russia & Georgia.

George Bush as a leader has never acknowledged or taken responsibility for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have died and millions impacted as a result of his decisions. Whether the conflict is right or wrong today most conflict shows a lack of leadership & moral responsibility.

Only when leaders become conscious of their actions, accountable to their people and use war as the last option will you see a reduction in conflict. I’m hopeful there will be less conflict in 2009.

4. The Beijing Olympics

The Olympics became China’s shining moment and were fantastic. Like other countries China is gradually being forced to look at their human rights records, their laws for workers as well as their own environmental challenges. However 2008 was the year where China officially came onto the world stage.

5. The Rising Awareness of Social Media, Stem Cell Research & the Environment

I’ve put the 3 of these together, partly because I didn’t want to make a top 10 list but secondly I feel these 3 areas are still fairly new but primed for growth in the next few years. Barack Obama’s fundraising and campaigning success in the American election showed the real power of social media. Some of the innovations in stem cell research (without embryos) where very promising. As we move into 2009 the environment just keeps knocking on our door.

Top 5 Personal Events for 2008

1. Personal & Spiritual Growth

This has been an important year for me to develop greater clarity with respect my purpose and discovering the real creative side to who I am.

2. Social Media & Networking – Facebook, Twitter, Soundclick

The whole realm of social media has been a learning process for me and most of this year has been about reading, learning and connecting… I’ve learned so much this year.

3. Music – Songwriting, Recording & Networking

Although I’m definitely an amateur musician I find great satisfaction in creating music. Recently I recorded my first song “Love is Free” and posted on SoundClick. On the acoustic rock chart it went to #66 out of about 17,000 songs which is pretty cool. There are two more songs in the works, “Who Ever Thought” & “Broken Ego” that I hope to release early in 2009. The whole process is exciting.

4. Writing & Blog Development

My blog has been a great forum for me to share ideas and interact with others. I enjoy the writing part although the main issue for me has been time. With the advent of Twitter (and mini blogging) I’m looking forward to continuing on writing with some new ideas for 2009.

5. New Baby on the Way

My wife’s son and his girlfriend are expecting a baby in January, so effectively I’m going to be a Grandfather. :) Now besides being too young and too good looking I’m looking forward to the baby arriving…

Here are some other Top 5 lists:

Top 5 Books:
1. A New Earth – Eckhart Tolle plus 10 week class with Oprah
2. Money & the Law of Attraction – Jerry & Ester Hicks
3. The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama
4. Influencers: The Power to Change Anything – Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan, Switzler
5. The New Rules of Marketing & PR – David Meerman Scott

Top 5 Albums:
1. Neil Young – Live at Massey Hall.
2. Johnny Cash – Live at Folsom Prison – (new to me)
3. Bob Dylan Tell Tale Signs – The Bootleg Series – Volume 8
4. Sheryl Crow – Detours
5. Travelling Wilburys – Volume 1 & 3

Top 5 Web Blogs:
1. Webinknow
2. Problogger
3. How to Change the World
4. Intent Blog
5. The News I Read Today – Beatles Blog (my wife calls me a Beatles groupie)

Top 5 News Sources:
1. BBC News
2. CBC News
3. CNN
4. Huffington Post
5. PopURLs

Top 5 TV Shows:
1. The Hour
2. Larry King Live
3. Gene Simmons Family Jewels
4. Oprah
5. Biography

I’d love to hear your thoughts on events that impacted you in 2008. Coming in January there will be some great new changes to this site. Stay tuned…

Wishing you a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous 2009…

New Design & Updated Site for 2009

There will be a new design as well as some exciting new ideas & content for my blog in 2009. This past year has been a year of considerable growth for me in so many areas of my life from writing & blogging, to music & songwriting, to understanding some of the new technologies of the Web 2.0 world like Facebook & Twitter, to an inner search for meaning and finding my life's purpose, to many new friends, and finally insights on my career & what I want to move toward.

The holiday season (although busy with friends & family) is a time for me to reflect on where I've been in 2008 and where I want to go. I'm excited about 2009 and I'm looking forward to interacting with people on an entirely new level on this website.

Over the next few weeks I look forward to sharing some of these changes some of which will include:

• New Web Design


• My New E-Book & Project for 2009


• New Songs & Music


• Informative Video Content


• Easier ways to connect with me

I'll keep you posted.

Love is Free - Now on Soundclick

I've created two new profiles one on Soundclick to talk about musical journey and also on Twitter which is a quite a unique way to interact and connect with people around the world.

Here is my Soundclick profile:

And Now for Something Completely Different...

I have to admit I love that line from Monty Python and although I never saw this piece when it originally aired in 1971 I do remember the off-the-wall tone that Monty Python brought to comedy that would create the mood that would become the 70’s.

This blog for the most part has been my opportunity to talk to issues, events, people and ideas that interest me. There is another area where I have done little to no blogging however it’s a big part of my life – music and song writing. Now I admit I’m a novice with song writing and this is the reason why I’ve been hesitant to share. I’ve written a few tunes and I am by no means a Lennon & McCartney, but I do like the process of writing lyrics to a song, creating a melody, some chords or solos and then making something that sounds interesting.

Recently I had the chance to connect with someone I met at an open mic night and he spent some time showing me some of awesome software technology for recording music. We spent some time recording one of my songs and it made me aware of the huge potential of home recording. He also introduced me to SoundClick and I plan to use this as a base to share songs and connect with people.

So keep an eye out for some interesting stuff in the months to come…

Toronto, Sean Lennon and the Phoenix Concert Theatre

This past weekend my wife and I went to Toronto.  July 1st was Canada Day and for the weekend we did some touring around the city.  We took a boat cruise of Toronto harbour on Saturday afternoon and went for beautiful dinner at a nice French restaurant.  The place was called Le Saint Tropez and is on King Street in the theatre district.  There is a Lady who plays piano and has an incredible voice.  She sang both French & English songs and her energy made our whole dinner experience that very enjoyable.  I'm not sure what her name is since I can't find her on the restaurant website. 

On Sunday we went to the Beaches and walked around and did a little window shopping.  In the afternoon went back our hotel (The Metropolitan) and walked around Nathan Phillips Square, then to Queen Street finally up to Chinatown and back to the hotel.  In the evening we went to another nice restaurant called Fuzion.  Again this was another awesome meal and nice ambiance.  Finally on Sunday night we saw Sean Lennon at the Phoenix Concert Theatre. 

My wife wanted to get these tickets since she knows I'm a Beatles fan.  Now I had never heard Sean Lennon's music and had no idea of what to expect.  Somebody told me he played like a Bluesy-Jazz style.  I decided not to visit his website or download any videos from YouTube because I wanted to go to the concert with a fresh ear and let go of any expectation.

So how was the concert?  For me it was great!  Sean had some great original material and I enjoyed his style.  This was not a John Lennon reminisce concert.  This was Sean Lennon creating his own path.  The show was no where near sold out and I have to admit we were not a fan of the Phoenix.  There were no chairs and for those of us who are not in our 20's (and have no desire to party and get really drunk) it was a little too much standing for all that time.  Call it getting older but I prefer the theatre style seating. 

Sean Lennon shows a lot of promise as a musician.  At this stage he seems to be finding his grove and his genre.  He is purposely targeting the young (early to mid-20's) market which I feel is a good move for him.  To truly make it he needs to get away from any comparison to his father.  I did video a couple of songs but the quality was not the greatest.  Here is Sean direct from YouTube.