We Are Here, We Are Here, We Are Here!

"Where you from?"

This question has been offered my way with noticeable frequency over the past few days. Outdoor smooth jazz event ushers, music legends, my banker, and as of ten minutes ago, Netflix. Enough to grab my attention, to get me thinking and, ultimately, thanking.

T h e  P o w e r  O f  P o s i t i v e  T h a n k i n g:

How Amy From Chicago Made My Day

Or, The Story's In Our Hands After All

Or, Double Rainbow Oh My God!

If we've snoozed in the same zip code this month, you've probably heard me rustling all hours of the night, unable to lock into a steady sleep cycle. From not eating before bed, to eating sleep-inducing foods before bed, to reading, listening to music, breathing exercises, burping out both ends, stretching, quieting my mind, counting sheep, to counting thanks - I'm determined to renew my annual membership to dreamland.

Tonight I finally realized the perfect solution.
A nature documentary.

What's more soothing than families of beautiful wildlife set to the natural tune of James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman. If anything could slowly ease my mind into a peaceful slumber, it would surely be this. Disney's Oceans had deep sleeper written all over it. My eyes were closed, waves lapped the shore, the whales were singing their song, Pierce Brosnan assured me that it was more than acceptable to drift off into dreamy seclusion ... I really almost made it there a couple times. The film audio played out as the most epic and colorful book-on-tape known to man. Soothing as it was, I couldn't help but awaken to the closing dialogue, reminding me of this place where not only I live, but where we all come from.

I want my future grandkids to know the life that exists in the world. I want them to be proud that we got our act together, boldly affirming that we have mother nature's back as we do for our own sisters and brothers. I have a lot more listening and responding to do. Whether it be an ex-James Bond, a quiet semi-californian I meet on my way through a new town, or some underwater living being, I hear how every voice is making the call: "I am here, too."

I know that nighttime hasn't been keeping me awake in vain.
I love that we're here. And tonight I'm grateful for the inspiration to be here, better.

Ryan

( the view from where I got to say "I Am Here" last weekend )

Old / News

Today is a great great day!

So thrilled I finally got to enjoy the new Cafe Gratitude in LA last night. I Am Transformed. For dessert, the Makepeace Brothers cd release show at Hotel Cafe. Another awesome night of dance moves, sing-alongs, and shining within the electric current of so many brilliant souls. So grateful to the people who empower, improve, and elevate the lives of everyone around them.
I feel you.

On the topic of existential enhancement, my cells are ecstatic to utilize some badass new gifts from hearts I greatly admire:

Old juicer...

... New juicer!

Old microphone...

... New microphone!

Thanks to my incredibly generous siblings

for upgrading my already sweet life

to a whole new level of truly awesome.

Enjoy the best weekend you've ever had.

Starting... 

Now

Smelt It. Dealt It.

I admit,
I give some pretty good birthday cards.

Bumping Elbows With My Future

Tonight has been the best night ever. Dancing side by side with my mentors, my future and present-tense friends, my energy boosters and music growers. I got to sing with a roomful of voices, all putting our brains aside to simply let joy flow in and out and through everything. Tonight is proof that sometimes I prefer my meditation loud enough to dance to. It's truly amazing to visibly watch the sound of music take full control of our hips and legs and skyward hands. We are so lucky to be in such close proximity with anything-is-possibility.

Even more incredible is the way Life keeps showing up day after day with surprising twists in my never-dusty tale. I've been having so many detailed dreams of friends and close conversations lately, and so many waking-hour encounters of such surreality, that I honestly don't care which one is the dream. I'm hooked into my own personal Magic Eye whenever my lids are closed and anytime they're open. If you're reading this awake or if you're dreaming this as well, let me remind you how much love and infinite thanks I hold for the greatness that you are. Truly.

My Dream Would Suck Without You

So many hearts before mine have learned and shared that
all you need is love 
the greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return
intense love does not measure, it just gives

Love. One of the most remarkable things I can think of in my life is the power of learning something I "already know" for the first time (again). Tonight my new/old lesson lay in the lines of a song by my new friend Parker Ainsworth:

I only wish to leave one thing behind
only love

That's everything. Thank you to my future and present friends for your reminders, your willingness to befriend a stranger, your unmatched dance moves, and your unconditional love. And so many birthdays celebrated tonight! I feel so lucky, so thankful, so amazed to be alive during the same years as so many unbelievable people (and Penny Lane the puppy).

It'd be nice if I had pictures of the dancing and singing and salutations that came to light this evening to share with you. Just believe me that I am having a blast with this extraordinary life and I sure hope you are too.

That's the way, my friends, to completely forget you stepped in dog shit when you first got to the party.


ryan

Whatchu Listening To?

Every dawn is new. Every smile is the first. And every loud noise is the neighbor.

I love dreaming. ...And I love waking up. Every today is the only one. I don't know if this is the case with you, but each morning I rise with a song in my head. Not in the rear of my head, adding faint background music to my adjusting retinas, but unapologetically committing itself to being today's most prominent theme song.


I imagine I spend a fortune acquiring new tracks in the midnight hours from an exclusive itunes store accessible only to the lovers, dreamers, and me. As soon as I rub the morning blindness from my eyes, some internal jukebox kicks in, and I'm warming up to a tune coming through my wireless, weightless, totally stylish invisible headphones – for men.


I throw on some clothes, thank the morning california sun for looking as good as it does, drink my weight in H2O, lead my class of one in some improvised dancefloor aerobics - all the while, the song of the day is jammin' away. On repeat. All day. This aural gift could quickly turn nightmarish should the playlist suddenly shift to that old Christmastime With Kenny G & Creed collaboration, but lucky for me, my soul seems to carry only the greatest songs in its collection.


The best part is I don't have to think about the song or how to apply it to what's happening right now, it does all that on its own. Days have a heightened feeling of magic and meaning, as the dots are connected for me. Ben Folds sings "I am the luckiest" in tune with my savoring a delicious breakfast, a smile from a girl passing by on her bike, an awesome night sky, holding the guitar that loves to go wherever I go... Wow, I really AM the luckiest!


Today's song was "When In Rome" by Nickel Creek, wryly reminding the importance of staying true to you, to not give in just for the sake of fitting in. My computer screen even offered me the question earlier, "Is This True To You?" I sometimes worry that I stray or wander too far and wide in search of the sound of my own song, but today reminded me there is nothing to wonder about, that there are no set dimensions for the box I choose or choose not to pigeonhole myself within. Perhaps my life fort prefers to be boxless altogether.


It's a fun game to be on a bus, on the street, in a line of people at the post office, picking a person and guessing the song they're tuning into today. If you're getting too good at it with the crowds where you are, come to Los Angeles and you'll have a blast. I swear there are people dialing into inner radio stations that I couldn't even begin to comprehend, where the visible world re-emerges as something almost kaleidoscopic.
I'll have what she's hearing!

To sleep, I drift.
Grateful for every time I get to wake up with a song.


zZzzryan