I am a poet. I write in a lot of forests. Its because I believe trees are the storytellers not the human. Pretty weird thinking right? We're all on our own journey. How you get from each corner is determined by how much energy you place in a reason. On this podcast the collections of words placed on a giving tree's gift to those who enjoy writing, I'm going through the methods of calm madness on pack up day at the camp ground. Documenting what it's like to hold everything just experienced inside this forest and now you've got to get back to a world of business and lifestyle survival. Moving through the moments we invite while grasping onto the circumstances we'd rather remain free of. Dealing with reality. Nobody wants that! Nobody wants change either. Yet we find ourselves always in a place of packing up to move on. You might have the same career as ten years ago but your emotional baggage isn't the same. We change more than just everyday. We evolve every hour. Then we pack up and move forward. I think the reason why we eat too much is based on trying to create mile markers. Every morning at 4:00 I question my memory. What did you have for lunch yesterday? What do you remember watching on television last night. Who did you send text messages to? Mental exercising. Because today and every day is pack up day. What are carrying forward with you?

A wealthy businessman once said to me "You cannot be successful without conflict." This taught me to walk into every meeting expecting to make disconnections. The true winners are those that make their way back to a solid foundation of building tomorrow before it gets here. Behind closed doors we all admit to having good and bad days, struggles and far too many loses then victories. In front of the world the cast image is that of bright smiles, solid handshakes and a conversation that truly has nothing to do with reality. I'm a people watcher. I study body language. The best form of entertainment is sitting back at the airport, Starbucks or some place very public and watch how people fake their way through the conversation. Or! Sitting at a red light. Look around you at those using a Blue Tooth to talk on the phone. Body language is everything and it almost never matches the words slipping from your lips. There are many conversations I'd love to go back to patch up. I live my life by being present in the "Now" that's not fair to the purpose of growth. Rebuild your bad conversations this moment forward. Retie the broken strings with someone you've lost or need to reconnect with. This moment forward. The weight of an hour ago still has somewhat of a voice but what was said three years or twenty ago really means nothing. Living life in forward motion is a choice. There's always an open door. If you see it closed then you decided it to be.

I write in a forest. There's an energy there I can't seem to explain. I go there to listen. I finally started paying attention in 2015. The Billy Graham Library in Charlotte. The journey didn't end there. After a year of scribbling junk into the trunk of a tree now paper... I realized something was moving through me. I heard a calling. Because I write in a forest you see plenty of things on the cluttered floor. Pine needles and leaves. Fallen branches and other people's writing instruments. That's how careless or uncaring we are. I endlessly locate pens on the surface of this planets skin. With no question I pick them up and use them. Somebody must have left it there for a poet right? On this podcast we grow within the body of my most recent pen discovery. It was cracked and yet so useful. Put ink it and let it do it's job. Then from out of nowhere I scratched into the page, "Put ink it and let it do it's job like the way of the world of business." Ouch. When you look in the mirror whose eyes do you see? You give so much of yourself to the people that write your paycheck, have you taken on their image? Married people do! Eventually you begin to look like each other. You can't help but think of the writing instrument found on the forest floor. We're cracked and still able to write. Just put ink in it and let it do it's job." No matter how many times you're bothered the moment you walk into your place of business, you perform. Then one day you'll become 50 plus and have no paper trail as to how you got that far so fast. You always had ink inside your system of delivery. You performed. Is that really how you want to give your life away? When was the last time you found a birds feather floating freely on a street corner or front yard? Were you grateful for the connection? Feathers always seem so peaceful as they float within the wind. Your life is a rock compared to it. Awareness clears the path. Mindfully being present becomes what you can control. Your next decision make it about your ink well. Let your mind body and soul be filled with your vision. If every song on the radio is about the musicians life. Why did they get to live and you chose to walk ahead. Locate the lyrics of a new song. It starts with a broken writing instrument found on a forest floor.

One of the most abused words set free to roam the planet is Trust. Too many times it's shoved out there to help calm those in question or just seeking truer shapes of leadership without having to dive into a vat of worry or fear. Politicians and preachers thrust trust onto our daily plates and because they said it we are required to participate with the presentation. The moment a business leader uses the word Trust I begin to tune out. Here comes the sales pitch! On this podcast we get a little preachy but not in the way of catapulting the word Trust over walls or through mountains. Within my journals these words appeared, "When I feel a spiritual connection the last thing I reach for is trust." God is unconditional. Trust in 2019 is a 50/50 shot at winning or losing. We are trained to trust only to be injured in the end. You don't get the energy or time back. You made the effort to trust with no return on your investment. When you remind yourself that God is unconditional there's never a question of trust. It's unconditional.

Hey it’s Arroe. I’m a Poet. One that just happens to write in a forest.
In 2015 I stepped into a very special collection of trees at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, NC
While there. I did nothing but write. But they weren’t my words. They were The Lyrics From Billy’s Forest.
Nearly two years later God spoke to my heart. It was time to grow beyond the library, to write within other collections of trees. Mainly my forest in South Charlotte NC.
In every place I’ve written the spirit of Billy’s Lyrics vibrate the purpose and plan God put into play.
I never know what I’m going to write about when I enter these forest. Which gives us plenty of time in the end to talk about it.
These are not my words. These are the lyrics from Billy’s forest.
Today we jump into the subject of what we do to fit in. I begin it by asking about how Jesus fit in. He didn't. He wasn't a shape shifter but a life
changer. Within our daily walks and decisions decided we too are given the opportunity to make a choice. How will we fit in? Is that your present
need? What serves your required steps of acceptance? Engagement by way of helping others is growth. Utilizing the strength of what's been
experienced so that pieces can actually become peace filled. Each of us spend a lot of time trying to fit in. Our feelings are easily injured. Our
dreams are set aside. Our next decision is based on how shape has shifted. What if that craving to want to belong was given a new stream
to flow through? Instead of fitting into the valley floor your decision was to help change something that's growing with you. It's a choice without
having to lose your identity.

I'm far from being the only one that asks this question and we'll probably spend the next 50 billion years still trying to locate the answer. What wakes us up in the middle of the night? On this podcast we talk about a 1:50 am stroll through the forest to do nothing but write. A forest is a very scary place to be alone. You truly can't see what's watching you. Will you be tripped by unseen vines? Snakes, owls, raccoons! Oh my! I've never kept my love for trees a secret. Native American's see them as great storytellers. A tree is extremely willing to sacrifice its life so that you have a place to write. And in return what are we sharing? The very late night extremely early morning walk without a path didn't come with a payoff. Just an open view as to how other things live around humans. How it survives without cable television, prepackaged foods, free music downloads and endless amounts of water. I think the one thing that stands out most about the words put down on paper is the writers need to know why had been woken. In his own handwriting style he asks "God was it you?" Big question with no answer. Laughing it off he blamed his lack of hearing on how noisy a forest is until just before sunrise. Writing and or being creative outside your normal comforts helps to clear the mind body and soul of habits shaped by mundane everyday-isms. When something feels out of the ordinary. Take the call. Be present in your now. Mindful of how getting knocked off the path builds inner strength by way of trusting the moment.

In Paul Stanley's new book Backstage Pass he brings up the differences between having a dream and holding onto a fantasy. One is real while the other keeps generating mental images of something you're probably not going to hold. Being part of a dream means you accept the pitfalls that go with the itty bitty victories. Whereas a fantasy keeps the door open for false actions and reactions that are materialized to help calm the fears connected to failure. I don't have a relationship with fantasy. The day I met actor Bradley Cooper was a dream come true. I didn't sit back and think of the potential of there being a meeting. Everyday I worked hard at what I was doing that eventually led to that door being open. I've never fantasized my podcast network would be as big as Marc Maron or Conan O'Brein. The dream was to be exactly what podcasting is... A niche. Hitting one million was a hell of a journey and well worth the tests and struggles. In your own everyday place on the planet learn to become aware of what having a dream is about versus the fantasy. Too often we see the musicians, actors, acrobatics and all others on America's Got Talent fantasizing of winning. What are they hoping to achieve? That one million dollar check and a date in Vegas? What happens when it's over? Do they try for American Idol of NBC's The Voice. Fantasies aren't real. Invest in making your dreams come true. Keep them real and extremely close. Protect what you're being called to accomplish. Don't let the fantasy of success be the apple you bite into and inside sits a worm. A true dreamer would eat that worm and shout out, "Give me more!"

Look... Nothing swipes the air from my lungs faster than reading another story about a comedian, actor, musician, famous chef or canvas artist that's stolen the life from the origin of ambition. I can't figure out why it feels like so many creative people are giving themselves permission to turn off the lights. Is it the world of social media? We get news and information so quickly that we no longer have enough space to allow word of mouth reach the human ear? I don't know. Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Gone too early. Nobody called it a suicide. The history of entertainment has endlessly been overthrown by stories of those who've let go. On this podcast we talk about those moments. Here's what makes it different. I don't speak only of creative people. No matter what you do in the everyday world you use that head and heart to get the process accomplished. Being creative is an everyday real thing for all people. We have to stop asking about what went wrong and begin the journey of recognizing the path before the storm. I hate television weather people because they aren't that good at predicting why we elected to stay inside while the sun shines so beautifully bright. We try to predict our own storms. I'm feeling like something isn't right. Guess I should keep to myself. What we need to be doing is respecting ourselves. Shout it out loud! Let your system of decisions and choices hear how much you truly care. Yes life feels like it sucks more often then expected. Respect yourself. Let your voice be heard without other people's judgement. I openly admit that it bothers me when the preachers layout the ground work of a happier life when you bury your heart in the book. It's a brilliant beginning but life itself shows there's no guarantee. Recovery from the remnants of dark storms isn't about the decision of going to Heaven or Hell. Respect yourself. I say three things every morning at sunrise, "I am not lost. I am not in fear. I am grateful for this moment." In my heart there's a lot of God but this isn't about that. This is about reaching all creative people on every path. No judgement here. Respect yourself.

No day passes that we don't feel like we're being pushed or pulled toward something. It's an invisible energy that may or may not have a positive destination. We just know that we showed up and answered the call. I wish I had the strength or knowledge to walk a path where the reply to this so called pulling is, "Hey! I've got this handled." Most of us aren't designed like that. The other day I spent a few moments sharing a conversation with Mike Love from the Beach Boys. An open field of message sharing fed by streams of awareness. Which means what? Because we both have chosen to live the lifestyle of making meditation an important part of our process we were united in being mindful of the moment. My meditation is Nidra. His is Transcendental. Although they both are part of our present atmosphere each are separate walks and take a long time to understand as well as activate. Nidra is how I learned how to locate rest during those 2am to 5am pop out of a deep sleep moments. I put myself in a place of awareness so the mind can invite peace. It requires action. Being aware of the moment of now. Whereas Transcendental meditation already has you here in the now. Being present in all things not just when you wake up 1:45 am. Nidra isn't sleep. It's resting the subconscious. REM has a way of filtering sounds out. You hear them but don't truly react to them and or remember. Nidra is meditation in the way of awareness. Although you are in an extremely deep mental moment of release you hear and understand everything around you. Therefore an early morning moment of meditation can last anywhere between five minutes to an hour and twenty minutes. Transcendental doesn't require that much energy. You're already there. No matter which direction you're being pulled at work, home or everyday life in a plain world, being present in your now without having to use energy to stay here is learning a more peaceful expression of universal acceptance.

I'm no expert but because we are presently living in the core of what's become the digital generation I still want to see the research as what it's doing to us as everyday walkers and talkers. I utilize the strength of digital. My life as a broadcaster wouldn't be where it was if we were still using tape and razor blades to splice and dice creativity. Where I begin to disconnect from the digital age is when I can be standing face to face with someone and literally feel distant. We've lost that connection. The atmosphere of being present. I'm the old guy here that won't do face to face time on a smart phone. It changes the colors of your eyes. The background is plastic and the idea of listening to a high tinned out voice because all things natural in our vocal exchange are being shoved through a tiny speaker or earpiece. You might hear the emotions shared but the digital connection thins the relationship. While lecturing the other night I stopped and thanked the students for using a pen or pencil while taking notes. Everyone of them were writing with their hands and not thumbs. My sister hates it that I won't respond to her text messages. Because of microphones she isn't typing she is speaking and the digital device is stamping those words onto that screen. Therefore the talker has no idea how much is being said and it's something I've not read. Taking the easy way out to communicate is like walking on a hot paved road with a wood sliver in your foot. This isn't bragging but when it comes to why my wife and I recently celebrated 26 years of marriage has everything to do with a ton of face to face conversations. I don't like calling her up while driving. We make it a point to talk while sharing the same atmosphere. Its a hardcore discipline that keeps the heart clear of the digital clutter.