Rockin’ Down to the Wire…

Wow! I got a ton of response from yesterday’s post.

(Self Promotion Reframed)

Thank you so much for being willing to get “real” with me. What I love about this whole thing is that the “stuff” that comes up for me as I increasingly go “all in” with my life, work, relationships and health is that there are no bad days. There really aren’t. When stuff is up and things feel challenging, daunting, difficult and discouraging, I am more and more “getting” that it’s all perfect.

In fact that’s the whole point of my book, “What if It’s Perfect? A simple course in making your life Magical”.

The stuff that doesn’t work out the way we want  is often bringing waaaay more value to us in the form of learning and experience than if we hit a home run every single time we show up at bat… More about that in a moment but first,

This message from our sponsor: (That would be ME LOL)
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Just in case you are local and still want to join us tomorrow night for the Concert of both of our lifetimes, please note that there are only 7 seats left that come with painting bonuses. And whether we sell them today or not, the bonus offer EXPIRES tonight at midnight Eastern Time. You may still be able to buy tickets tomorrow during the day… or possibly at the door if they aren’t all sold out, but the bonus painting deal is done tonight and you risk not getting in at all because we will very likely sell this baby OUT.

here’s the link  for the 400th time just in case your ready to commit ;o)
Mark Shepard and the Rogue Mystics Last Concert Bonus Painting Tickets

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Now to get back to today’s Mind Mastery Message:
The whole point of shifting our responses and reactions to life events that are outside of our control is to actually get back into control.

This is something that I work with a lot of my private clients and audiences at my Bullying Prevention Assemblies. We can’t control what other people do or say. We CAN control how we interpret what they say or do as well as how we respond.

And when “stuff is up” as I like to say in polite company… ( I say something ELSE when we’re keeping it edgy and real), that “stuff” is sheer and utter GOLD, for growing yourself out of suffering and into EMPOWERMENT.

• Someone disses you.
• Your boss passes you over for promotion (again).
• Your significant other doesn’t seem so attracted to you anymore.
• A parent or friend passes away.
• A sibling stops talking to you.
• You get stopped by a cop with an expired license or insurance.
• You get a flat tire in the rain.
• Your dog hurts herself and needs thousands of dollars worth of surgery…

the list of “stuff” that can slap us in the face without warning is HUGE. Endless really.

But ALL of it will absolutely not matter the minute after you are dead. And we are ALL going to be very dead for a very long time.

So the very fact that we have these things called PROBLEMS is FREAKING AWESOME!

If we weren’t alive we wouldn’t have them at all. And if you’re reading this, guess what?

YOU ARE ALIVE! Pay attention!
You… ARE… A LIVE PERSON!!!

And wrapped inside each and every one of these unwelcome experiences is something that can literally send shivers of delight and joy bursting through your neurological network.

You can choose to be a victim or a victor. That’s it.

My big dream of getting my music out has sometimes TORTURED me. For 40 freaking years I’ve been told by people who experience it first hand that it is AWESOME.

At the same time for 40 freaking years I’ve been FORCED by my own limiting beliefs, lack of experience, shyness, social anxiety, introversion, business cluelessness and other “stuff”, to work on my self.

Even when I didn’t want to work on myself. ESPECIALLY when I didn’t want to work on myself.

I’ve been FORCED by events that didn’t work out the way I wanted them to, to work and work and work some more on all of the areas I was weak.

I can’t remember if I told you this story before or not, but at one point my 2nd LP was finished and the recording studio that owned it chose to do nothing to promote it.  I was contractually bound to them for 10 years! It took my 5 years but eventually I bought the master tape from them and got free…

and then?

The company that I paid several thousand dollars to to cut the wax master and press the records had a little “stuff” come up. The engineer that was supposed to “cut” the wax master ended up stabbing his wife and going to jail. His business partner had a heart attack upon hearing the news (seriously he had a literal heart attack).

So no record. No money. Just another “learning experience”.

Looking back? All PERFECT.

And weirdly the studio engineer who recorded the album with me (not the one who stabbed his wife), one day just dropped dead. In his early 30’s. He was getting his tennis racket out of the trunk of his car and just dropped. That woke me the Freak UP. It had a lot to do with me stopping whining and starting to get my “stuff” together. The guy who played drums on that LP? He got a brain tumor and died young as well.

Another wake up call. There is no guarantee that we will be here tomorrow folks.

So no matter what our challenges and troubles. We are still ALIVE right now…

And whether I finally get this music of mine out to an audience of thousands or millions is basically not that important.

What IS important is working resourcefully every single freaking day, to catch the songs as they come in. And to learn constantly as the process of sharing them with others forces me to grow.

• So if you have a dream.
• If you have a great love of something or someone.
• If you have a fire in your belly or a song in your heart.

I implore you to be patient with the process of honoring that dream, that love, that fire, that song.

THAT’S what makes life thrilling and satisfying. It’s the journey. And every journey has potholes and bumps, twists and turns, hills and valleys, raging rivers that must be crossed and unexpected events that must be responded to.

and in the meantime, we live in the absolute best of times. I can click a button after writing this and instantly send my thoughts and ideas to the world. At the moment it’s a small circle of friends and acquaintances…

But it IS growing. Almost every day someone else finds us and joins this Transformation Tribe.

And tomorrow night, something significant is going to happen.

My son and his video production company will capture a very special moment when I create music with 9 other very, very dear musical friends. And when it’s edited and uploaded to this thing called the “internet” it will literally be preserved for generations to come…

(as long as the power stays on ;o)

So today my Transformation Nation Friends, remember for a moment all the things that have challenged you deeply so far in your life and look back upon them with gratitude for the growth they squeezed out of you.

Then, take a deep breath and look around at all that you have. All the tools for transformation within the reach of your fingertips that were basically just dreams 15 years ago…

1. Google. You can learn ANYTHING you need to learn with  a few strokes of a keyboard or mouse.
2. Facebook. You can pretty much find ANYONE you ever knew there and keep up with them.
3. Youtube. Who knew 10 years ago that people would be making their LIVINGS by posting videos of their lives, adventures, ideas, and expertise?
4. Smartphones… more computing and multi-media power in your pocket than was available for the entire space program and landing on the moon…

You get the idea. We are in the midst of one of the most significant transformational moments in the history of the human race. And the very fact that we skinny little, hairless Primates, called Homo Sapiens, actually can talk to each other much less text and email each other instantly ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD is seriously COOL.

Why DOES it work out better that you can possibly imagine?

Your Mind Mastery Challenge today is to Keep dreaming AND start DOING.
Do the things that scare you.
Take some kind of action with full knowledge that it may not turn out the way you want it to in every single way. But you can’t adjust your path until you are actually out there walking on it.

Take a step out on your path with heart today… and then another… and then another… and… ask yourself this:
What IF It’s ALL Perfect?

So thank you from my heart to all of you who invested in me as well as my band, the Rogue Mystics (which was simply a dream back in August) and in YOURSELVES.

And one last time, tonight at midnight the Bonus Painting disappears. The last 7 tickets may be gone.
But YOU my friend will most likely still be breathing and interpreting the world around you.

Interpret it in the best possible way.

Peace and groovyness!

– Mark

p.s. Here’s your transformation Tune for the day