The cards talked about spending time in inspiration today and as I was scrolling through Instagram, I came across Chris Baron’s post about writing “Two Princes.”  He says, “Other songs I’ve written…I knew I’d written a really strong song.  With Two Princes I was just amused…but audiences really liked it.  And by audiences I mean kids by the fountain in Princeton, and later the 14 people at early Blues Traveler shows in NYC.  When I started working with Aaron and Eric they picked up on that song right away and…it became a juggernaut.  Anyway, I’m glad I finished it.”  What an unbelievable beautiful testimony to the power of following through on something that feels good, on following through with our gut, on being present and going with it even if we don’t understand it in the moment.  When we follow those signs, those moments of knowing that something is fun, it isn’t for what is coming down the road, it’s a matter of presence and joy.  Joy is the greatest inspiration.  It’s the key to creativity. 

The other important mark here is the idea of following through.  He easily could have stopped and said the song was silly, he was just tinkering around.  But when we follow through on something that feels right we somehow end up with exactly what we need.  Baron ends the post saying, “Let’s have a good week and go after some goofy ideas, eh?”  We’ve made this life so serious—not that there aren’t serious moments—but we somehow feel the more joy we strip out of ourselves the closer we will get to some goal.  But when that happens we end up with an achievement and no life lived around it.  Life is meant to be inspired and fun.  We are meant to be connected to our souls/spirit and to each other.  We are meant to listen to the sound of the wind, the call of the birds, and we are meant to speak that language as well.  It’s the language of being alive, of presence.  That’s what comes through when we follow what is calling to us.

We never know when those moments hit but I know I’ve heard/read enough from people to understand that it was in the heart of it, the sticking with it, and the follow through on what felt right that the greatest things happened for them.  The “greatest thing” wasn’t even the goal—it was being present with what felt good in the moment.  The world truly is heavy enough and we need to do our part to make it lighter—physically, visually, and viscerally.  We need to put down the weight of the burdens we’ve chosen to carry, the burdens we’ve created and we need to feel joy.  When we feel joy, we can’t feel anything else.  The lower emotions can’t exist (or be expressed) while in joy.  Sing because we can sing, write because we can write, dance because we can dance.  There doesn’t need to be an ulterior motive, we don’t need to be the best at anything to enjoy it.  We simply need to be present with it and allow it to connect with who we are.  Allow it to take over.  We never know what it will become—or who we will become because of it.