Leela Music Newsletter, July 2007Michael Stribling Here's an overview of what you'll find in this issue:
Just about the time I think I'm closing in on completion of the new CD, another TV/film project comes along. However, I'm beginning to realize that, if I want to release this project before the end of the year(!), I'd better rearrange my priorities. I'm doing that now. While, on the one hand, my arrangement with the Muse is that most music gestates according to its own timeframe (nature can't be hurried), on the other hand, setting goals and meeting deadlines is something else. At least, that's what advocates of conventional "reality" would suggest. In any event, here's hoping the new CD will be sent to the manufacturer by the time the next newsletter is released. There. I'm on record!
(The following content is just another memo to myself. You may or may not find these words resonate with you. As always, take what you like, and leave the rest. :-) Feed the Spirit wolf, not the ego wolf. When I worked in the addictions-recovery field, our spiritual director defined spirituality as "where you invest yourself and your energy." Take a moment and assess where you spend your time, energy, and attention. In a very real sense, those activities define what's most important to you and, therefore, is a measure of your personal spirituality. It appears that each of us only has so much energy available, and we choose, and are responsible for choosing, where we invest it. This energy can be dissipated among many things, or invested in a very few things. Where we invest ourselves is up to us; we can involve ourselves in positive things or in negative things. I find a couple of analogies helpful to shed some light on this idea. The first illustration comes from a story Wayne Dyer shares in his book, The Power of Intention, which I referred to in the January 2007 issue, although in a different context. If there are two wolves at war inside of me, a spiritual wolf and an ego wolf, both striving for supremacy, which one will win? The answer is simple: the one that I feed. If I spend lots of energy thinking about positive things, I feed those things; if I spend energy on negative things, I feed those things. So, feed the Spirit wolf, not the ego wolf. The second example has to do with campfires. (I referenced campfires in the May 2007 issue, although in that context the idea was more about the law of attraction.) If we liken our personal energy reserves to logs, which we can toss onto a fire to make it burn brighter, we have a choice as to which fires we feed. We can feed the fires of strife and envy, or we can put our logs on the healing fires, and fan the flames of love. Bottom line: we only have so much energy to invest, and whatever we feed, grows. So choose carefully. Feed the Spirit wolf, not the ego wolf.
I can't resist this. I received this humorous "interview" with the legendary New York Yankees catcher, Yogi Berra, who was famous for his, well, for his own way of describing things. What follows is Yogi's alleged description of jazz.
Interviewer: Can you explain jazz? Yogi: I can't, but I will. 90% of all jazz is half improvisation. The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, it's right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it's wrong. Interviewer: I don't understand. Yogi: Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so simple about it. Interviewer: Do you understand it? Yogi: No. That's why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn't know anything about it. Interviewer: Are there any great jazz players alive today? Yogi: No. All the great jazz players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead. Some would kill for it. Interviewer: What is syncopation? Yogi: That's when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In jazz, you don't hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be jazz, but only if they're the same as something different from those other kinds. Interviewer: Now I really don't understand. Yogi: I haven't taught you enough for you to not understand jazz that well.
Every issue, I give away a free CD (autographed, of course :-). If you're on the mailing list, you're automatically entered in every drawing. This month, the winner is Alison Lansing. Congratulations! ============================================================ That's it for this issue. Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you liked, or didn't like, in this issue, and any recommendations or requests you have for future editions. Thank you for your support. Please invite your friends to visit my website and sign the guestbook. Oh yeah, it's okay to order some CDs, too! They make wonderful gifts :-). I also have a page on MySpace.com. Have a look and join the list of friends at www.myspace.com/leelamusic I wish you peace, joy, and love. Namasté, Michael Stribling If you would like to be removed from my mailing list, please reply to this email and type the word "unsubscribe" in either the subject line or the body of your reply. Leela Music Newsletters
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