Thoughts and Prayers|

J. Michael Dolan gives the best advice to musicians!

Sorry for the long rant: The reason I haven’t written is because I just had quadruple bypass surgery and I was in UCLA hospital for a week! What a dicey time to be in the hospital, right? I’m hunkered down at home now, licking my wounds and hiding from Carona.The bad news is my chest hurts from the surgery. The good news is my chances of ever having a heart attack have been drastically reduced. Thank God my awesome wife is a nurse!

The other good news is that I really had to totally tune out the corona catastrophe and focus on my own personal catastrophe. My surgeon, who is also the chief heart transplant surgeon at UCLA, said that’s what he has to do: tune everything out of his head except the task at hand. Kinda like when you move all your other projects and distractions, not only to the back burner but completely off the stove! So you can give 100% to your most critical creative work. Reminds me that at any minute we have the opportunity to choose where to give our complete attention.

I’m also reminded that while the fear, confusion and uncertainty of our fate is very real, what’s most important is how we react to it. When I am hit with an unexpected catastrophe I immediately try to move out that which does not serve the moment and slam the door on gossip and rumor. Then I diligently scour the global info-sphere for factual guidance.

I’ve said this before, and I think it means more today than ever: when we find ourselves standing toe-to-toe with the demon of disaster the best thing we can do is trust the experiences we’ve had to teach us, honor the knowledge we’ve acquired to lead us, have confidence in our talents, abilities & skills to support us and have faith in that “deeper divine wisdom” we’ve attained to help us navigate the perplexing labyrinth we’ve unexpectedly found ourselves lost in.

That said, after we’ve secured our personal situation and settle into a “new normal,” we need to return to our work and look for ways to use our talent, imagination and creativity to help others and contribute to the global family. Now is the time to write songs that reach in and touch us, videos that inspire us and give us hope, and blogs and podcasts that remind us who we really are and what we’re capable of. There is absolutely no one on earth that can profoundly inspire us as much as you, the creative artist and risk taking entrepreneur. We need you now more than ever. Don’t worry about the money. Just use the awesome tools you have to express your art…and don’t stop! Overwhelm us with a flood of your work during this time of global uncertainty. We need you now to step up.

Never forget, you’re a crazy, independent, genius artist/trep! Now is the time to use your crazy imagination and creative talent to help us all get through these most challenging times in our lives.

Important because All things must pass and we are going to get through this. Not like positive thinking, more like realizing that thousands of brilliant scientist, specialist and billionaires around the world are working 24/7 to solve this problem. I trust them.

P.S. Just this morning I received this poem from best-selling author Steven Pressfield:

“Pandemic” by San Francisco poet Lynn Ungar

What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?

Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.

Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.

And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)

Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)

Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.

Promise this world your love–
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.

J. Michael Dolan is the former CEO of MCI publishing corp., and the founder of Music Connection and Songwriter Connection magazines. He is also a best selling author, beloved blogger, and private consultant to artists and entrepreneurs.

Copyright © 2020, J. Michael Dolan, All rights reserved.

http://www.jmichaeldolan.com

[Editor’s note: My personal long-time mantra in times of stress and anxiety: This, too, shall pass. Remember that when you’re freakin’ out about something. Get a good sleep, clear your head and mind, then you’ll be able to tackle the problem with all your strength, keeping in mind that “this, too, shall pass… if it hasn’t already after the good sleep.]

 

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