What Does Your Whiteboard Say?

^ Note the whiteboard ^

When I used to work in Newtown & catch the train out from Parramatta to work each day, on the way through the back streets of Newtown, I noticed out the front of one particularly dirty looking town-house a ratty looking whiteboard with an interesting quotation on it. “Cool quote” I thought. The next day a different quote was on it & I was hooked. Each day I would go out of my way to pass by that house. I never met or saw it’s inhabitants but it was so refreshing to absorb a piece of wisdom/humour each day.

The point I am trying to get across to you guys is about the profound & far reaching effects our words, actions, thoughts & (initially) feelings have on the world around us. You may just be one person but no matter how little difference you feel you do or can make, EVERYTHING you do, say, think & feel DOES MAKES A DIFFERENCE.

Pay someone at work a quick compliment about how they look, *BOOM*, you may very well have boosted their mood exponentially. OR, Bitch at them about something minor because you are frustrated about something else & you just might irritate them enough that they end up bitching at someone else… & so on.

Laugh at that nerdy ‘loser’ kid at school when everyone else is & it just might be the last straw. He goes home & puts his head in the oven. OR, Tell him something that you genuinely admire about him (like his work ethic) & he just might pull through that tough day.

I’m sure you can think of a time when someone has made some minor act of kindness which has turned your day around completely… You can do it too.

I’ll try to be succinct here: As I have been planning to do for awhile now, I have a white-board that I take with me whenever I busk.

Music Is Not A Competition…

It looks like these two have not yet absorbed the message of this blog.

“If I promote other bands, my band won’t be noticed”

It’s not something I hear musicians say a lot but it is certainly often implied. This post is here to kick that way of thinking right in the ball-gina. Musicians, bands: I implore you, help support each other! Stop thinking about your own music as the only music deserving of praise & attention. There is lot’s of cool bands out there, lots of cool artists & many of them work just as hard as you do on your art.

Here’s the rub,

Creativity V Commercialism…

Tired Of The Sound Of Your Own Voice? I Have The Solution… (Pt3)

Mmmm, another idealistic portrayal of meditation. It's like how I think of smoking... The idea is quite appealing, but in practise it's a whole other story. PS. I quit smoking years ago

To bring you back to the present, it’s around 0500 on day 1 of my 10 day vipassana meditation course. my fellow students & I have been given some rudimentary instructions regarding the practise the night before in the hall just before the noble silence kicked in. Basically we were told to sit silently & breath through our noses. Not to control the breath & not the try to imagine any visions or images. We were also told not to verbalize anything, even something seemingly innocent like just saying these instructions to yourself. Just to focus on the sensation of the breath from the area above the upper lip to the area just inside the nostrils. We weren’t told much more than this. For me these instructions presented a challenge from the word go for multiple reasons as I will now detail (Disclaimer: Prepare for

Tired Of The Sound Of Your Own Voice? I Have The Solution… (Pt2)

Ommmm. Oh wait, I'm not allowed to say Om in Vipassana. Damn.

So there I am, asleep in my tiny bed in the dorm room, my dreams bouncing around through space, colliding with the 7 other unfortunate souls I was sharing the room with. I was probably dreaming optimistically about doing these ones (pic to the left) when all of a sudden…

*DING*

“Hmmm, that must be the bell, I think I’ll go back to sleep… ZZzzzzzz.”

*DING*

“That was a lot louder this time. I guess it’s 4am, great.”

*DING*

… & on it went, this dude walks around the whole centre colliding a rubber mallet with a large, resonant, hunk of steel also known as a bell every morning at 0400, then does another round at 0415. *DING* I decided to wait