“Don’t Die with the Music Still Inside You”

Those words, almost sounding like a command, quoted from the book,  “Ten Secrets of Success and Inner Peace,” lingered in my head long after they were said and my pen, just moments before, alive with vigorous writing as I tried to catch every word, became still in my hand.  I closed my eyes as the call continued on without my full attention.  That sentence was the perfect summation of the ultimate prize of my quest.  A culmination of my many months, years even, of soul-searching, work, and now at this place, self-actualization. 

The workshop, in just 60 minutes, summarized three areas of focus that many artists, myself included, have struggled with.  Focused Talk, Focused Action, and one that is a source of constant diligence for me, (and what Dallas Travers calls the missing link), Focused Thoughts/Mindset.  I admit to a slight hesitation when initiating the first of her tasks for Focused Talk.  I was to tell my goal to at least three people a day, while also sharing my goal (to several thousand) on her Facebook wall.  As I wrote the words, however, my hesitation quickly turned to pride and ownership.  This exercise is not only done to illicit those reactions within you but to also screen for their NYPs, in your life or the people who are “Not Your People.”  I, coincidently, had experienced this to such a degree recently that I had written about it.  Focused Actions, her second focus factor had caused major consternation with me in the past.  I hadn’t harnessed the power to say “no” to opportunities that didn’t serve my ultimate goal, thus veering me off my track and confusion my ambitions.    Dallas uses the phrase, “If it isn’t hell yes, it’s hell no.”  She challenged each of us to not take any action that didn’t serve our ultimate goal and to serve our goal every day with actions that do.  This, I know, will be a challenge but I’m willing to take it.  Lastly, the focus factor of Focused Thoughts/Mindset has been the biggest struggle for me throughout my life and the source of needing to take the long road back to myself.  Dallas talks about how your opinions shape your belief system which, in turn, fuel your actions.  If your actions our fueled by doubt.  How far can one expect to ever go?  Reject doubt and know that success is inevitable. 

That is the mindset I must take at all times if I’m to have a chance.  I have thought of this often since that workshop and call up my life’s command to not die with the music inside of me when I don’t feel as strong.  If I’m not careful, instead of inspiring me, those words will serve to haunt me.  In my moments of weakness, I can see the alternative road ahead that ignoring those words would bring; the regret at the end, the darkness.  And it is something I simply will not allow.