I realize #45

To listen is not merely to hear.
To see is not merely to look.

I realize #44

Growth, improvement and change is the natural order of things. Happiness is the result of challenging ourselves.

I realize #43

The best control is when we are least aware of it. When attention is focused not on control, but on letting go and naturally responding to whatever happens.

I realize #42

Surrender yourself (or your 'Self') to life. Don't do - Be. Disassociate from the 'doer'. Let Go. To be joyful costs nothing. Doubt is the only enemy. Control is a myth. Everything is, was, and will be as it should be. Have faith - You'll always float once you trust the current.

I realize #41

A lack of commitment will always lead to failure. However, one has to be willing to accept the possibility of defeat if he is to succeed. One is successful not when he clings to success, but when he can celebrate failure.

I realize #40

“Listening is the primary musical activity. The musician listens to his own idea before he plays, before he writes.” - Suzanne K. Lager: The Musical Matrix

I realize #39

The intellect, all that we call knowledge, and the cultivation thereof is but the means by which we play a very interesting game in our life, a very interesting act, but which however is not totality of life, but only a part of it for indeed it arises from it. Therefore we must not succumb to the confusion of identifying with this game of intellectual pursuit, of discussions and debates, of playing hide and seek by placing big distances between what we 'know' and what we 'don't know'... This game is just like any other game that is played for the pure enjoyment thereof, because it is interesting - and in that sense it is also significant. This game is not something serious, for it arises from thought and thought is immaterial and in constant flux, it has no substance except in relation to this game and other thoughts. Take it too seriously and we become blind to the fact of its non-importance, out of which its very sense of importance arises, as if to justify itself. Play it, and play it well by enjoy yourself while doing it, always remembering that if it ceases to be a game and becomes something 'serious', something terribly important, something which in one way or another IS life, then it loses all its potency and becomes a drag, makes one anxious and hopelessly stuck.

I realize #38

Enlightenment = En+Light = With Light = Being light as a feather

Cling on and you lose it.. Let go and you have it!

I realize #37

Whenever you try to convince others what you are really doing is trying to convince yourself. The more you get offended, raise your voice, assume an indignant stance and fume out of your ears, the more you can be sure that you are afraid of seeing that your cover's blown, that you are in fact lying to yourself, that you are afraid of the notion that there is no one truth, and you become desperate to convince and reassure yourself about that, because what you observe as 'yourself' depends upon it for its existence.

I realize #36

There is no point in creating or acquiring anything -both material and immaterial- if it is not shared with others. It is not yours; you cannot claim ownership of it any more than you can claim ownership of water, or the sky. Its function, the reason it comes into being and into your reality is precisely so that you, along with others, can make use of it, enjoy it for what it is and gain more happiness, more fulfillment, perhaps more liberation even from it.

All that one possesses comes to naught if it is not used to enrich others besides ones' self. And there is always plenty to go around for everyone. Otherwise it lives and dies ingloriously with its “owner”, destined to find expression and fulfill its purpose elsewhere.

I realize #35

Yearning for a solution is what creates the problem.

I realize #34

It does not matter where or how one begins. It is sufficient that one begin, and begin immediately.

I realize #33

You cannot use rational thinking to resolve irrational behavior.

That is another one of the cunning strategies by which the irrational -the resistance within- attempts to protect its existence and misguide you by convincing you that you chose it consciously at some point and that therefore it must have some rational basis, some basis in 'reality' and therefore belongs with you, it is a part of you, maybe it even IS you...
It makes you believe that by using your rational faculties you can get rid of this proverbial splinter in your mind and essence that stands in your way. Do not believe it, do not get sucked into its alluring rhetoric. You will only be running in circles.
You can not reason with the irrational. See it for what it is and reduce it to nothingness. It is a lie, a misconception, one that you did not chose anyway. It stands in the way of your freedom.

The objective of awareness is freedom of experience.

Freedom is not found in learning ways to win the fight against resistance but rather it is being without resistance. The process of enlightenment is getting rid of resistance in perception, action, thought & experience. Why learn to manage that which you do not need in the first place?

Resistance can acquire many forms and be perceived and understood in many ways; fear, anxiety, doubt, suffering, self-limitation, negativity, temptation, criticism, depression, anguish, despair, attachment, egoism, not being present... All those and many more are the result of but one thing, a perception of reality based on resistance and a meaning created through the filter of resistance.

Realize that meaning is not truth, and that there is no one truth, but only the truth you create and choose to be your truth, and you will be on your way to freedom.

Buddha said simply, " I teach suffering and the end of suffering."

Asked whether he was a god, a man or something else, he replied,

"I am awake."

I realize #32

Restriction kills inspiration,

and inspiration -the ability to go beyond yourself in your work- is what enables one's unique creative expression to manifest itself, and that is where the true value of the artist lies. It is his/her only true power; the ability to access inspiration, that invisible but potent force that guides and directs and touches and leaves its mark on both the artist and the work and enables tremendous personal and actual accomplishment.

What we call talent seems to me to be nothing more than the intuitive observation that someone (perhaps ourselves) possesses the ability to 'plug into' inspiration and deliver creative work that transcends the commonplace, the bland, the indifferent and in some way forms a connection with the people coming in contact with it. Without allowing inspiration to work itself through him or her the artist must settle with imitation, a mere performer of premeditated gestures and applier of intellectual concepts, a slave to all the tools he has acquired ostensibly for the purpose of enabling his own creativity to manifest itself. A pitiful and endlessly frustrating predicament.

The artist's job is to obtain self-mastery at least where inspiration is concerned, otherwise he can never flourish. He or she must realize the causes of them restricting the flow of their inspiration and instead learn to ride on that wave that leads them closer to themselves, closer to their artistic vision, their artistic truth.

Without inspiration there is only imitation. It may be such a successful imitation that it'll fool some, but it has no vitality, it is lacking in true meaning and purpose for existence and such it is but an orphan in time, it is ephemeral and lacks the substance to impact anything long-term. The only way for the artist to guard against this is to give himself entirely to the creative force, open the gates of his mind to inspiration without judgment, without expectation, without attachment to the outcome and allow it full reign in his work. Then, in the eyes of others who do not know how or will not surrender to this force that all readily recognize behind every great work of art, the artist becomes Godlike.

I realize #31

People fail because they settle for being a failure.

I realize #30

Be willing to jump off a cliff creatively... sometimes you will fail in spectacular ways and other times you will take off.

"Only the mediocre are always at their best."
- Jean Giradoux

I realize #29

You cannot reason with unreasonable beliefs - you can only get rid of them and choose the ones that are aligned with the truth as you see and want it to be.

I realize #28

In art one is either oneself or nothing at all.

To pretend in art is a crime, it is but the worst form of self-negation that inevitably leads one to despair, confusion and disappointment. The artist who doubts his own heart, his own desire, his own creativity is the most miserable individual of all. For the artist to blossom into authenticity he must first embrace himself and place his faith solely upon his own creative power.

If at the critical moment the artist abandons confidence in his own creative ability and seeks external securities his own unique voice will be stifled and his creativity will not find complete expression.

I realize #27

The highest form of understanding is application. Wisdom is not to be had, but to be lived.

I realize #26

#1 There is no “good” or “bad” music aside from technical considerations. There is only music that engages emotion, thought or sensation and music that does not -all of which depend almost exclusively on the needs, preferences, expectations and judgment of the listener.

#2 It is just as (if not more) difficult to create meaningful and engaging music with a few tools and/or skills as it is to do with more of them.