Life, as a Wave

My First Intentional Synchronicity

Back in 1997, my friend, Donna, and I were hanging out in my car talking when she reached down into her bag and pulled out a tape.

"Here, listen to this. It's about this thing called Law of Attraction. It basically describes how the universe will reflect back to you what you think most about. Now, keep an open mind, Carl. You never know what could happen."

We had 12 hours until we had to find a new home for our girl, Ezmeralda. Being a red-nosed Pit Bull puppy dog, she was the target of my friend Clayton's landlord. Hysteria had set in after a Pit Bull recently attacked a young girl in Los Angeles, and in response, people had already killed over 200 Pit Bulls in just a week.

It's Wednesday morning. I had just decided to blow off percussion class and open up the day for something else. The phone rings...

"Hey Carl, what you up to?"

"Hey there, Clayton, what's going on, my friend?"

"I've got a problem...."

There's nothing more frustrating than wanting to accomplish something, but, no matter what you do, you just can't seem to get anything to move. For whatever reason, you're just simply stuck.

It can be like sitting in quick sand - the harder you try, the more stuck you become - a twisted paradox that can get to the best of us! It only makes sense that the harder you work, the more you're going to accomplish. But as experience will tell you, sometimes this is simply not the case.

Sometimes what you need to do is "flow for it" ...

It’s day one of “rock drumming" class at Los Angeles Music Academy. The door opens to my left, and I see a guy with yellow-spiked hair, piercings, and tattoos bouncing up the aisle.

He walks up to the front of the class, puts his sticks down, turns around, and looking right at me, says, “Dude, bury the beat." He puts a metronome ("clicker") on my desk, and turns it on.

Click, click, click ...

A member of my Untapped Genius online discussion group posted a question on the notion of "hard work":

"I am thinking that this perspective I have about hard work could be a mistaken notion. So, I am open to hearing from anybody who has discovered that such intense effort alone will not accomplish much."

My response:
Ken, I can relate deeply with this and have done an about face on the notion of hard work so highly valued in the world. I know what intense effort with zero or little outcome is all about. I have tried forcing, pushing, sacrificing, and persevering while pursuing my dreams.

There were times during my music training days where I'd practice sometimes 12-15 hours a day, often to the sacrifice of sleep, eating well, and the integrity of my body. And when I wasn't practicing, I was listening to music, talking about music, and dreaming about music.