This is a subject that can easily be taken and or read wrong. Open your heart and face the base of the mountain and realize that no day goes by that we aren't handed some sort of rejection. I'm still not convinced that the human frame was designed to receive such an emotional change on a roller coaster of events. We all act differently. I study the art of a sales person who faces rejection hundreds of times a week. I watch and try to become stronger only because I don't understand how a sales rep makes their way through a day after being rejected. Has it made me stronger? No. Being a creative person is an extremely difficult place to stand because I've yet to meet the imagination that doesn't bring forth their art to be accepted not rejected. While writing in the forest I did bring up a question anyone would invite to the surface of paper. When the church sends you a rejection letter for employment do we have the open space to wonder where God is? If all that we are and grow toward is in his name why does the business of church feel your gift doesn't fit into their purpose and plan. That's the answer right there. Their purpose and plan. God doesn't take his eye off his needs and requires you to be exactly where you stand. God isn't a business but a loving and forgiving provider. Being outside the church serving Christ is far greater more impacting then sitting in a chair listening to someone preach. God needs teachers. Listen closer to the calling and realize that there is no reason to believe your season needs more added weight. Serving a church is a beautiful gift but working at a church is a job. Understand the difference. Our dogs greet us at the door with tremendous joy. It's a feeling of acceptance. It's unconditional love. When you walk into your church it should be the same. Don't let rejection serve you a plate of silence.

I sat in the forest with my newly adopted Pointer. She was on a leash. I mean those are the rules right? As a writer I took note of her path and where it wouldn't grow only to learn that each of us are on leashes as well. What are your dreams and what's keeping you from achieving your greater success? It's funny how we all have incredible excuses as to why we are in the moments we live while others find mind blowing journeys beyond our nearest reach. Why is that? When we don't locate the instant answer we are easily turned off by the presence of someone that could teach us how to make the path more of a paved highway toward bigger moments. It's too easy to quit. It's too easy to let others be in their glory. I'm shocked they don't charge a fee to watch how they are locating more money, more happiness and more whatever. Then again we don't know of the leashes they're on or will soon face. What we see is never the true story. We observe through eyes of assumption. Just because isn't the answer. I'm not going to say we are lazy in our reasons for not asking questions. You get to a point where the leashes that we wear keep us from stepping closer to the idea we can become everything we feel. That leash looks horrible around our necks. But what if it could stretch? It will when you begin to understand where you are in this moment. The leash that keeps you from growing is actually teaching you to learn from the moment. Heal in the moment. Be accepting of it's rightful place. But that's not who we are in 2018. We're either living in a past we can't change or a future that we can't design. The leash has you here. Be present. Be here. Trust me it's a moment you have the power to control.

Each of us are introverts. The digital age has turned us into travelers to very far places without taking a step in any direction. The moment someone puts a little pressure on our system of choice the idea of correcting the corners of the jagged circle is put aside. That's when the imagination is fed some pretty incredible plastic food on the digital device so willing to share its treasure chest of booty. If we truly are connected to so much information then why aren't we activating what's being shared? As that introvert we are. Maybe not outside the human shell but deep within the caverns of thought it's become this assumed safe place and or always filled with adventure. We have chosen to listen to the voices in our head and heart rather than the actual word formation of spoken inflection. How do we break free of a habit that's easy to identify but horribly difficult to correct? The idea of sharing an out loud vocal conversation with a person feels a lot like eating spinach. Within seconds our fingers begin to tap out messages by way of emails or texting and then assume the emotion of the person when a thought is returned. I'm not good at digital message exchanges. Just by reading this paragraph you can easily see I don't speak like a normal person. I haven't a clue what's shooting through your thinking right now. You may not see the positive and because I don't hear from you then it must be negative. How do we get back to talking in an age where people want to take sides? A man asked me yesterday, "Wow where does your energy come from?" It took me five seconds to decide if he could handle what I was about to set free. Five seconds! I simply said "God." He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Ok...."

The slightest things change my direction of choice. It's not that I'm always studying the GPS of life but rather I want to make sure that everything I am creating forward has a purpose and plan. Maybe it's a generational thing. In my twenties I didn't care about the ticks on a clock and what happens when you allow most of them to fall off the wall into memories that fade with the rising of a new sun. The older I got the more I realized none of this is about me. The art of the performance isn't having the best radio show and it sure wasn't going to include the greatest laid out vacation. If you stop for a moment and listen to the elements that make up the present. Everything that is seen, heard, felt and delivered is headed straight for the mind body and soul of a passerby. All that you are isn't for the greater being of wow look at what I am doing or did but rather look at how someone took the strings you once held and allowed them to reach a person of need and not greed. Words mean a lot to me. So much so that taking your word for what it is can easily become poison. How it was presented and or assumed is a crazy place to stand. A man of incredible inspiration yesterday spoke the truth about how I find tremendous joy in saying very little. More often then ever it's seen as being standoffish and not trying to save someone from wasting their time listening to whats being offered. Saying very little isn't teaching. It comes across as you're not listening. In this age of Twitter and extremely short Facebook entries it has curved the development of my heart. To hear that doesn't match how I daily write. You can't get me to shut up enough. Again I take words seriously. Statements such as the presence of Christ is now knocked me off my feet while at Elevation Church. I didn't think of the presence of Christ as being the presence is now. In this moment. Not yesterday. Not ten days from now. Why at this age did it hit me in the way we are moved by movies and books. Just the other day I reminded myself of how I've given my life to Christ. Everyday! I never miss a holiday. Then why do I question this present place I stand? Think about it. In giving my life to Christ that means he's controlling the decisions, reasons and purpose. Little things such as very short sentences change my way of walking. To the very bright man that said I don't speak enough I respect your wisdom during these days in a very noisy world. But I believe in the willing way of making a point. If it has caused assumption and or any other emotions I can't apologize for how you've chosen to listen and or receive. There's always a much larger answer to be shared by way of communicating face to face not Tweeting or texting. We are the cause of the effects of disconnection.

A simple but healthy thought fell into my process of growth the other day: It's all around you. Why aren't you taking notes? We take in so much mentally on a daily basis who would ever think that sitting down with a writing instrument and documenting it would carry worth with its weight? I'm the type of numb skull that wants to know why birds sing while its raining. Humans do all they can to bust free of the gray sky and bury themselves in a hot new television show or reason to run off to the mall. It's all around you. Why aren't you taking notes? If you think your job sucks what are you doing to add a better feeling to the atmosphere? Our choices rarely match how it is we are are feeling in the moment. If we took note of the actions versus the reaction is there still enough time to change or invite a newer way to walk. My Dad would remind me of how you can't teach an old dog new tricks. The purity of chance is holding onto an engaging chunk of what's next? The rules of the game are right in front of you. I love what Howard Stern says in a station promo, "Those that make it never stopped working hard on their performance." Why aren't you taking notes?

I've always been fascinated by the view of the creative mind. How living in the future makes a great connection for the collector or buyer to one day catch up. I use a painted rock found on a mountain trail as an example. How much did the artist know before letting the stone go? So often the creative spirit wants to be picky about who gets what's been released from their imagination. It's a protection thing. Nobody wants to be judged. It takes too long to recover. Yet artists have this energy about them that allow them to glide from project to project without worrying about the continuation of the process. Creative people don't always get that part. It's part of the process. When I write my daily pages I show gratefulness to the trees, the soil and the sky. Without their participation I'd only have my hand to put words on. Taking note of all things participating creates a place of peace for the artist. A huge part of that connection is the passerby that feels something in the moment then allows the art to grow with them inside a more private surrounding of acceptance. How do you deal with your thoughts that become art? Remembering that at any given moment those receiving it don't always have your permission to be present.

Perception feels like a word that best represents assumption. Not so... Dictionary.com says "Perception is the ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses." Whereas assumption is accepted as true or as something that is certain to happen without there being proof. I don't know if it's funny or a lack of common sense but we invest in both words like it's a hot commodity. Only to face the price of disconnection at the destination. Through awareness we might see what could become but how we interpret the situation is an open door to walk toward assumption. We can rely on experience but with so many distractions in the everyday world where is there enough space to better understand the perception of history? No wonder we keep doing the same thing over and over. The physical path of growth is covered up and or lost in what we perceive. There is no true proper method of delivery. Its almost as if we've stopped questioning the process and expect success. How healthy is that? Research shows right? Not if perception and assumption are caught kissing in the corners of your unwritten chapters.

We face those walls all too many times. I still can't figure out why we don't just turn and walk away. Unless it's because there have been several times in our everyday challenges where the grass has been greener on the other side. But getting back becomes the lifelong challenge that feels like defeat. Now lets turn it around. What if we are deciding not to cross through to the other side of the wall? We've decided that we are comfortable right where we are. But God wants you and needs you to help someone locate victory on the other side. How do you bend or react? Do you set it aside knowing the energy is only going to get louder and stronger? Or do you allow your presence in the now to become part of the process of required growth?

I think we learn early on that brothers and sisters aren't truly wired to get along. Too often though what drove us crazy as kids actually creates a lifelong wedge. One week becomes twenty plus years. Through hardheadedness and or just ego we agree to disagree to live in peace without having to deal with each others weight. Pauly Shore talked about this a few years back and he was extremely serious and strong with his word when he said, "You need to fix this right now. Because there's going to come a day when the one thing that brings you back together is going to be an event with your parents. Now you have two huge situations to deal with and it's not going to be easy to suddenly forgive the first bad problem." Fixing a squabble is one thing. Forgetting and forgiving are newer chapters that don't really work unless the situation has been bravely and honestly put into play. This isn't just a brother and sister situation. Bickering and depth of judgement goes really deep with coworkers and bosses. Even within the ranks of friendship. There has to be a time in your nearby life where it's time to make that decision to make peace. Don't expect miracles because it took a long time to stay silent. Build upon the present by being in the moment the entire way. It's no longer about yesterday. You're in the game of creating tomorrow.

The depths that we travel aren't always by way of choice. We can try to erase the paths that invited the moment to unfold but the elements that create purpose find their way back to the forefront of reason. Lets be honest. We all endure seasons. But do we learn from the steps taken or try to rebuild the trail to better suit how we accept the day or night? The answers are always there. We just have this way of always wanting to be the editor. Pay closer attention not to your vision and or decision to reach a goal or destination. The power of the universe has a way of knocking you clean off that thought. Jot down notes. Listen to the arrival of the present more than what you did in the past and how you think you've invested in the future. Build your foundation by listening first. The answers are there. Through choice you drop the ball.