I have been fortunate to be invited to be a part of the growing process of an amazing non-profit organization called, "Upward Bound House (UBH)".  UBH provides temporary housing and a host of services for homeless families living in Los Angeles County.  Today, UBH will be opening their new facility in Culver City, "Family Shelter."  

Over the years, as I have gotten to know this organization and the people involved with it, I have been humbled.  These are people who year after year screen a lot of families for the "right fit."  They do not specialize in giving a "hand out," they offer a "hand up," and look for families that are ready to take that hand up and go as far as they possibly can with it (i.e. back into permanent housing and permanent jobs).   It is unfortunate that there are so many homeless families living in Los Angeles County, in California, in the U.S., in the world.  But, I am grateful to know that there are people and organizations such as UBH that are helping those who have lost their homes.  Family Shelter is destined to be one of those places that inspires and facilitates compassion and positive growth.

To learn more about Upward Bound House, visit www.upwardboundhouse.org

I love the American Standard by Irving Berlin titled, "Blue Skies."  It's one of those songs whose melody just instantly lifts me up.  This morning when I awoke, that song came flooding into my mind and for obvious reasons.

 Sitting here at my office desk I have a truly glorious view through my window of a steep canyon wall speckled in white blossoms with a farm house on its ridge.  Above that jutting land mass is nothing but blue skies this morning.  But, I mean the blue, blue skies.  There is not a cloud in the sky and the color is not the sky blue from a crayon box, but the deep, rich cobalt blue that you are more likely to see in a James Cameron film ... almost unreal.

If you've been reading my daily posts, by now you've figured it out that I am a bit in love with nature.  I always have been from the time I was a little boy.  I grew up surrounded by big woods, orange groves, swamps, and pastures.  Almost everyday of my youth, I spent some amount of time in a tree or on a silent wooded path or trekking around in mud that surely only a young child could appreciate.  Now, as an adult, I find that one of my greatest passions is still the natural wonder that is all around me.  I am blessed to live in a Los Angeles canyon that is protected as state land on all sides.  It means that nature is right outside my door, literally.  So, even on the days that I don't feel at my best ("crunchy" as I like to call it), I can step outside of my home or look through my office window and see the immeasurable beauty of the blue, blue skies.

I have a book of Eastern Philosophy that I read every morning.  It is filled with quotes for each day of the year.  Those quotes are usually about the impermanence of things, the acceptance of life's situations and death's certainty, and there are a great many entries about happiness.  The book refers to happiness not as a state achieved from external success, but from an internal place of practice, much like one would practice an instrument or a golf swing.  The more you practice a particular feeling, the more habitual it becomes as a daily state of being.  Children seem to have this naturally.  Happiness seems to come to them so easily from no place at all.  


I have used a tool for years that I call "Shifting Attention."  It is the simple practice of focusing on an object, a thought, a memory, a piece of music, or anything with which I associate a joyous, uplifted feeling.  If my mind is filled with thoughts of worry, pessimism, or fear, I use this exercise to send my mind, my thoughts, into a more uplifting, powerful direction.  It is not an attempt to stick my head in the sand.  Over the years, I have learned that worry, pessimism, and fear do not solve anything.  On the contrary, it only seems to add to the problem.  From a higher emotional vibration of optimism, joy, or happiness, I seem to have more energy and more internal "space" for a new perspective, a new moment of inspiration to enter into my mind.  This affects the way that I feel.  It is from this place of feeling that I seem to be able to move in a new direction with a new outlook.  I choose to affect the way that I feel right now and that seems to make all of the difference to my state of well-being.


There is always time for me to go back to feeling crappy, if that is what I choose, but usually once I have aligned my thoughts and feelings with a higher emotional vibration, I have no desire to go backward.

I get up earlier now than ever before in my adult life.  I've never really been an early morning person.  For years, I was on a late night schedule, but necessity has changed that in the past decade.  I've joked that I am addicted to sleep and certainly to dreaming.  So, staying snug in my bed on crisp, cool mornings like this one is a temptation that is all too attractive.  

I have found two things that seem to help me to actually wake up with a bit more energy and enthusiasm.  I start my morning with deep, deliberate breathing.  Consciously, I pull air deeply into my lungs and feel any place in my body that wants a bit of attention --- a toe cracks, a stiff neck releases a little, my jaw comes unhinged.  With the next deep breath, I hold the morning air inside of me for a couple of extra seconds to feel the expansiveness of my lungs.  Then, a third breath races in to clear and calm my mind and body.  With this clearing, I list all of the things for which I am grateful --- the warm bed, my strong body, the pitch meeting this morning, the love in my life, the second wave of rain on its way, my unseen opportunities, my dreams during the night, my ability to breathe deeply and consciously.  In doing this, the day has already started with what inspires and motivates me.  The rest of the day is merely an extension of the deep breathing and gratitude that started my morning.

Breathing Deeply ...

Over the weekend, my writing partner and I held the first public reading of our script for just a handful of friends.  The script is a pilot about a "behavior therapist" forced to return to his family's mobile home estate in Central Florida after the unexpected death of his father.  Yes, it is a comedy.  
We worked on this script for almost a year and I found it therapeutic during the creation process.  The characters are inspired by my real life family and the over-arching theme throughout the piece  is love.  It was a wonderful experience to hear some great actors read "out loud" the lines that had been on the paper for so long.  And, along with that reading of the writing came a lot of realizations about the direction the script takes next (the arithmetic) ---- proof that art is truly never quite finished, it just seems to take breaks in interesting places.
The road ahead for this piece is unknown at this point, but the fact that we got it on its feet for a reading is very fulfilling.  Thank you to the actors and our handful of listeners and to my writing partner and, mostly, to my family for being the inspiration behind this humorous and inspiring story.  I continue to read, write and do my arithmetic, not only with this literary endeavor, but also with the stories that make up the script of my life.

We've gotten a LOT of rain in LA in the past few days, but this morning it is calm and quiet.  I look out from my office window and I can see two hawks circling the top of the hill that rises in front of me.  Behind and above the hawks are slowly moving wisps of gray, moist clouds that the weather report claims will later become another downpour.  I can see the hills around me are just beginning to blossom with all sorts of flowers --- a lot of white and sprigs of new green.  I pause from my writing for a few moments just to watch the world waking up after the deluge of rain we've been sharing.  I feel very alive, very grateful, and like the whole world is changing right before my eyes.  I suppose that is because it is.


A smile comes across my face and I am happy to be right where I am doing exactly what I am doing.  Life is good!

It is a rainy day here in LA and for us, that is a good thing.  We don't get a lot of rain and this past year was particularly dry.  I like to think about the rain as a time when old things get washed away --- sometimes figuratively and sometimes literally.  It reminds me of the impermanence of everything.  It reminds me that we all need watering from time to time and that it is good to receive a good soaking.  And, mostly, it reminds me that when the sun comes back out, everything grows a little bit faster.

My grandmother, who is about to turn 91 years old on Thursday, by the way, kept a picture on her kitchen wall that read, "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get."  This little saying always made me smile because I observed that in adults they did always seem to be stressed about time and getting things done.  Now, that I am an adult, I often find ... the hurrier I go, the behinder I get.  


Currently, I'm attempting to slow down and enjoy what I am doing as much as possible, and laugh at myself when I crank into high gear.  After all, I don't wish to get any "behinder."

Can you feel it?  It seems to be happening all of the time.  It IS happening all of the time.  For me, change is taking the form of new partnerships that offer head-spinning opportunities and a chance to check my own personal integrity, goals, and aspirations.  I'm letting go of what I no longer need to hold onto and moving with enthusiasm toward new ways of thinking and being.  The challenge in this is to let go without blame.  Everything necessary to get to where I am right now, internally and externally, has happened.  The next step is full appreciation for every step of the way, no matter what it felt like along the way.  


I don't control the circumstances.  Nobody does.  I only am able to inform where my attention and focus goes.  Right now, I'm keeping the focus on great possibilities and characteristics that I admire in others.  It makes change a welcomed companion.  And, to me, that feels good.

On the 6th day of January in Southern California the temperature is 70 degrees without a cloud in the sky.  Inspired by that?  YES!