Times are changing for all of us, with the changing of the seasons we need to evaluate our work and life; to decide what to build into and what to set free and/or let go of. On one hand, I find change exciting; I have been a change agent for most of my vocational life. I enjoy working to improve whatever exists, and I love to be part of creating new visions, and to those visions become reality.

On the other hand, it can be difficult to let go of the things in our past that gave us affirmation. I enjoyed these past 15 years and all of the people I have been blessed to meet at events where I was a keynote speaker, the workshops I facilitated, or sessions I coached – and if you are one of these, this is not good-bye, just the announcement of change. Please Continue Reading …

I sat down in the stillness of the early morning, today, December 31, 2020 to write a few reflections in my journal, and after partially completing my thoughts, I decided to bring them here to the blog – to share with you as peer reflection.

About 1-2 months ago, I worked out an info-graphic to highlight some of the essential keys to resilience (above). One of the things that I discovered in the process of constructing this illustration was the interaction of emotion (emo) with all of the various areas. This has led me to contemplate how we can keep our emotional capacity up, so as to enable the various aspects of resilience. Please Continue Reading …

Good morning all!

Here is a link to the latest podcast:

Episode 4 – Purposed Imperfection

I won’t be posting podcast links to the blog in the near future – as the podcast is now available on Apple, Spotify, and other streaming platforms. If you’d like to continue to receive these podcasts, you can subscribe/follow there.

Be blessed in deep and abiding peace, through grace.

Hello to all!

Here is the Gracenote-EQ podcast Episode 3: Becoming

If you’re interested — you will soon be able to stream from Apple, Amazon, Spotify and more!

I hope you find the content and format to be helpful – and if you have suggestions, please feel free to write.

Have a great day!

Episode 2 – Reciprocity (& Circles of Influence)

I have been thinking about doing a podcast for a number of years now, and decided to take the plunge. However, the only reason to do a podcast is for it to be helpful to others in content and format.  So, I would be interested to hear any feedback you would have for me.

The idea for these is a simple, short (10 minutes), conversational-tone piece that helps to nurture resilience through the deepened understanding of the unforced rhythms of grace. I plan to do this podcast weekly on Saturday mornings – from my living room chair, staring at the lake in front of our home, as is my habit most mornings. Peace.

Here’s the link — Episode 1: Pause at Freedom 55  

BTW – here’s the view:

What is in power of a word; is it not simply a sound? Sounds are many and diverse. Some sounds need to be blocked out as they can damage our hearing – like the rhythmic pounding of a riveter in a ship-building yard. Some sounds need to be blocked out because they can create damage to our mental and spiritual health, like the sounds hurled at us by the schoolyard bully. Others give life and lift the human spirit, like the chickadee on a mild winter morning at sunrise, or the first song of the Robin in spring.

Though sounds can be brief, some can leave impressions that last a full lifetime — like the sounds of condemnation or betrayal from someone close to us.  We try to let them go, but they keep coming back to us as if they were imbedded in our flesh. Other sounds are so precious that we put great effort into holding on to them, and we fear that the memory of them will fade over time. Please Continue Reading …

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The longer this COVID season drags on, the more people tell me that they feel tired. Tired of adapting, tired of the steady diet of fear served through the media, and tired of the impatience of others. They often go on to state that they are concerned that their character is shifting; that they have a reduced capacity to engage life; that they are afraid that they will say or do something out of their present condition that will have undesirable and long lasting consequence.

Snow in Summer

I’m not the man I want to be – I’ve got no chance ‘til eternity
15-over but always short – Easy to hurt but hard at war
It’s like snow in summer – Like snow in summer

When I was writing the song Snow in Summer, I had the message down and the melody written, but I was still looking for the chorus/hook. It was as frustrating to find the right words as it was to be a better man – to live out of a fullness of altruistic character — and then, at just the right moment, I looked out the window. It was snowing. In summer. The window scene matched my current mood perfectly. The imposition of an undesirable event  in what should have been a more pleasant season: dissonance. Please Continue Reading …

“What difference does it make?” This was the question on my mind when I quit music ten years ago. There was more to it than this, (I’ll spare you the political blah, blah, blah) but the loss of felt impact was an essential element in my leaving music behind. Restarting again has meant coming to grips with the emotions of felt rejection – and I’m not alone in this; many artists wrestle with the vulnerability of placing their creation before others. Some deal with it well – I did not.

A good friend of mine captured the issue well when he said to me, “What makes us think we have anything that needs to be said, or that anyone should care to listen?” Please Continue Reading …