Face the music

On some level, each individual dreams of being an artist with limitless creative energy. Yet, many people prevent themselves from discovering and expressing their energy. Rather than learn the laws of life and inner balance and make choices to promote a sense of completeness, many people make decisions that don't embrace the source of their energy. How many people do you know who permit themselves to openly express what they think and feel without prejudice?

One reason why people hesitate to take risks involved is because they would have to look deep within themselves and face the music. Each of us would have to be willing to confront whatever we have refused to admit or acknowledge, whatever difficult situations or memories we have been ignoring. Only be embracing all emotions you experience, and learning to understand them, will you learn to accept even hidden or dormant parts of yourself. By choosing to explore this process, you will begin to connect with your true essence. As you build courage, you realize why you wouldn't ultimately like to settle for devoting yourself to anything else.

I know a politician who has developed impressive magician skills during his spare time. Although he will rent out his services intermittently for children's birthday parties and other events, he has not yet developed the confidence or initiative to promote his talent further or to develop other avenues. He prefers to spend most of his spare time learning new magic tricks to deceive his friends in jest. He hasn't yet taken his creative juices seriously, so as to focus his energies where his heart is.

I know a businessman stuck in a rut in a tech industry, who is also a thrill-seeker and adventure sport enthusiast. Although he has an extrovert personality, and the practical potential to build a new outdoor business, he refuses to swallow his pride. His mindset perpetuates a vicious circle of deepening problems. He hasn't yet realized that transferable skills he has gained and lessons he could learn would be well-suited to establishing new goals and taking new risks.

I met a taxi driver who nurtures an interest in carpentry work, and has taken some of his products to weekend markets. Reception has been positive, but he is shy and lacks faith in his abilities. He often wonders what his life would like if he was able to focus only on the primary source of his creative inspiration. He doesn't realize his self-defeating attitude holds him back. He hasn't developed trust in himself to explore real demand for his skills in building industries or other places. Nonetheless, he designs new creations to nurture a dream whenever he awaits his next fare.

I know a woman who has the ability to sing beautifully, but her mathematics degree led her to pursue a predictable career in teaching. Although competent and comfortable in a classroom, her fear of standing in front of large audiences has convinced her she could never pursue a musical career. Her embarassment has relegated her to singing talent in the shower, in the car, in parks, in cemeteries or, wherever she feels convinced she is alone.

Such examples remind us all that changing the way we regard our perceived talents and attitude, can change the way we value ourselves and our potential. Each of us has the power to transform our lives and the world with what we can offer, providing we don't convince ourselves that we can't. Realize that less value is found in holding onto unfulfilling lives than in devoting yourself to realizing dreams. How do you feel?

Uncover the crux of bondage

What is it that prompts you to make the sacrifices you've long felt would be necessary to devote yourself to your passion? How is it that you came to be experiencing the path of surrender to your inner self? Who entered your life to support and encourage you in ways nobody had before? If you haven't yet taken a quantum leap into this unknown, you're more than ready.

For a long time, most people are conditioned to follow a logical path, that which is understood and even defined by others. Real, enduring success is defined by your intuition. It's not based on what you learn outside yourself, but a layer of reality you learn to listen to inside. The how isn't taught. Rather, its something you discover in phases. You'll find it reasonable to skip steps followed by other people on their own quests. You may feel no desire to sit or wait for events to unfold, and feel convinced apathy really has no point for you.

In order to grasp what path to success you do desire to define for yourself it may be useful or even necessary to experience the impact of laziness, aloneness and pure solitude. You may need to sort through the difference between your reality and self-created illusions. You'll need to determine which among your choices may become a hindrance to your true path. Some individuals will tell you feeling lonely is simply a phase. Being alone is how you perceive yourself always, whether a success or not because you perceive yourself separate from people.

If feeling lonely or experiencing human connections is incidental, then separating yourself from the familiar is vital to isolate your view of success. Solitude allows you to evolve as yourself, to get back to yourself and to define the road to success only you can clarify. Becoming a victim of loneliness is like the impetus to seek an escape route back to others, back to dependency, back to a situation that prevents you from being truly honest with yourself.

Consider Che Guevara wrote The Motorcycle Diaries. This chronicles his harrolding South and Latin-American adventures with companion Alberto.  Guevara's background in an upper middle class family, had prepared him for a medical career and a relatively sheltered life. The rustic, overland trip was Guevara's first exposure to the harsh realities of Latin America. In his book, he details how he interacted with widespread indigenous peasants, including mine workers and persecuted communists. Che's journey forces him to face his deepest hopes, fears and principles. He decides he desires to fight and die for the proletariat cause in Latin America. Solitude, forging friendships with strangers and learning to survive alone, enabled him to redefine his view of success, outside of his original mental bondage.

This shows how emptiness and dissatisfaction you create is valuable as you grow to discover what truth it hides. You can determine you have value whether you initially sense you're a 'nobody' or a 'somebody.' Che's view of success evolved into an extreme vision of independence. As you isolate yourself in your mind or your physical reality, and feel empty enough to permit your truth to flow freely inside, to feel as though you have no purpose and no value, you'll finally uncover the crux of what has held you back and components of your true success.

Drink water & be inspired by Nobel Prizes for rivers

Awakening with a dry mouth offers clues to why you may dream more about water. You may ask yourself how climate change affects rainfall and community water catchments that connect to your rusty faucet. Are you drinking the water you should each day? Did you know your water knowledge and choices affect more than your health? You can learn about national and international initiatives and nominate water management projects for prizes. This gives new reason to moisten your lips!

As for your own health, a university study reveals one glass of water shuts down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters. Lack of water is also a huge trigger of daytime fatigue and restless sleep. Preliminary research indicates 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on computer screens. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and you'd be 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer. Your water drinking habits clearly affect your health and well-being. They also connect you to the state of ecosystems, reminding you of interdependence.

Dreaming about the shrinking sources of water may also cause you to ask what is being done by politicians and water experts to adapt to droughts and find ways to restore and preserve water resources. Conservation authorities are designated to manage specific bodies of water. They decide what can be done where and how, based on interest and budgets. What is being done in your local area?

Initiatives like The International Riversymposium have evolved to recognize and promote better water management. This forum assembles river and catchment experts.  They share knowledge about how good science, community action and management can conserve, protect, restore river systems and fresh water supply. Learning more may help you sleep easier. You learn about ways you can contribute to solutions and support initiatives.

This symposium has become an key part of Brisbane, Australia's annual environmental and artistic celebration, called the Riverfestival. The prestigious International Thiess Riverprize is a global award or 'Nobel Prize for Saving Rivers. It is presented each year for outstanding achievements in river repair and management. Projects usually demonstrate a combination of successful restoration, education, management and scientific action, by multi-disciplinary teams and communities.

In 2006, finalists for the International Thiess Riverprize award for excellence in river and waterway management included, f our large river restoration projects; Kissimee River (USA), Lake Macquarie (Australia), South Saskatchewan River (Canada) and Sha River (China) . Sha River was the international winner Torbay Catchment, Western Australia was selected the national winner. Past international prize winners include river management organisations in England, Canada, United States, Israel, South-East Asia, Australia and France.

As of 2007, the organizing committee recognizes that increased environmental issues mean higher financial costs for water management. The international prize has been raised from AUD$225,000 (2006) of AUD $300,000 and the National Thiess River prize has been raised from AUD$75,000 to AUD$100,000. Both prizes are funded by the International Riverfoundation, established to advocate protecting and restoring the world's rivers and waterways for future generations. Winners are honoured at a special award ceremony during the International Riversymposium. Brisbane will also host the 10th water festival in September.

One of the grass roots projects to come out of Riversymposium is twinning programs. Strong links are understood between a nation's water management and its economic health. The International River Foundation sets up ‘twinning programs to partner a country knowledgeable about effective water management to assist developing nations to better manage river catchments. They learn from each other. Reflect on your water usage and choose to learn more about water projects.  Its a question of sustaining more than only human life. Change begins in you.

Pushing the envelope

So, you dream of improving yourself. Where would you begin? If you desire to walk through life, you walk. If you feel compelled to race, then you race. If you decide it’s time to rest, then you listen to your body and rest. It's your life, your choice. Why might you think other people should offer you their guidance or curtail your pursuits in ways that don’t permit you to learn to trust yourself? Would assuming that someone is necessarily superior or inferior to you not interfere with your path of inner learning? Maybe it’s time to redefine going to an extreme. If you see the bleeding edge of where you are, you’re ready to take life beyond its normal course.

To build on what you think you know, it requires you learn to think differently. This implies you desire to, as they say, 'push the envelope.' When was the last time you boldly embraced paradox or openly welcomed contradiction in a lively debate? Are you the kind of person who traditionally accepts things at face value? If you research a subject of interest, your opinion may evolve to oppose commonly accepted opinion. You could be building your knowledge and growing to better understand the world yet, hesitate to accept your intuition or discoveries if people don’t believe you. You may evolve to view the absurd as a reality that expresses a possible truth.

Consider Galileo's views on the Earth's motion. Astronomy sparked his curiosity. During his era, he published telescopic observations of Jupiter's moons, and used his interpretations to support the sun-centered, Copernican theory of the universe. This went against the then, dominant earth-centered view. Authorities of his time labeled him a dangerous threat to society. Galileo later went to Rome to defend himself against accusations of heresy. Cardinal Bellarmino handed Galileo an admonition specifying he not advocate or teach Copernican astronomy. Nonetheless, Galileo went on to publish his ideas, which got him into a bit of trouble. What are you willing to do to justify or promote your beliefs?

Although he tried to remain loyal to Church authorities, Galileo's belief in his own experimental science results, and what he interpreted as the truth they revealed, led him to reject blind faith in philosophical and religious authority. His desire to challenge assumed standards and theories helped separate science from control of philosophy and religion. This separation of ideas was a big change to how things had been done before. Galileo’s desire to question assumptions of his own time meant he was flexible and willing to change his own views based on his observation and perception. As he grew himself, he also prompted people to think more critically.

Guy Laliberté & 5 Strategies to juggle your way to the top

If you measure dreams and wealth in terms of craftiness and money, a unique person who stands out in Forbes magazine's 2006 list of billionaires was a trained fire-eater and juggler named Guy Laliberté. One of the original partners of the Cirque du Soleil theatre group, Laliberté acted on intuition and guidance to save the theatre group from bankruptcy early on, to expand it into a billion-dollar corporation. In 2001, Laliberté bought out his last partner, and became sole owner.

During Laliberté's travels at age 18, he was short of cash, but gained a wealth of experience. He met sidewalk showmen “off the beaten track” in alleys around key tourist venues. He scraped by ‘hand-to-mouth,’ and learned quirky arts like stilt-walking, which earned him change to get by. Its fascinating how Cirque du Soleil grew from jobless kids struggling to get bucks on corners, to Quebec's second biggest culture export (after Celine Dion). How did they do it? What could we learn?

1) They believed in themselves.  Laliberté’s adventurous youth backpacking with his accordion, spoons and harmonica invited circus training into his blood. Do you follow your heart and your intuition? He decided to devise ways to absorb unusual skills and build a dream. Back in Canada, he opted not to attend college. Rather, he recruited a troupe from youth who hung around hostels. Belief in himself convinced the Canadian government to sponsor a circus in a small cultural festival. After they succeeded with a profit, Laliberté dreamed bigger circus dreams, and sought like-minded people to pursue them.

2) They struggled.  Taking chances didn’t always pay off. Although the second season of their mobile theatre troupe tour in Canada ended a half million dollars in the red, it was received well enough to be deemed a national treasure. This reassured Laliberté and his peers. They felt that through struggle, they could learn to work out issues more effectively together. They sensed a collective potential to go much further.

3) They took daring yet, calculated risks.   Impatient for new success, Laliberté took a huge gamble by booking his circus for the opening of a Los Angeles art festival with no fee. He bet interest would be so great, they would develop a season there. “I bet everything on that one night,” he recalled. If we failed, there was no cash for gas to come home.” He wasn't afraid of that possibility. After all, he knew what it was like to have nothing, and he sensed he was capable of transforming his creative spirit into something spectacular.

4) They rode the wave.  When the L.A. show gamble was a hit, they didn’t permit a gutsy entrepreneur to buy them out. Instead, the troupe took advantage of media coverage, invitations for interviews and coverage in the national press. This created their modern circus reputation, and the L.A. season roped in ~$45,000, from nothing.

5) They keep innovating.  Building confidence, artistic integrity and a healthier bank account, the troupe branched out to begin to solicit corporate sponsorship, and they’ve never looked back. Greater financial capital and faith of the public who desired new kinds of fantasy, led Cirque du Soleil to develop mobile and permanent shows worldwide.