Dr. Covey states that our character is basically a composite of our habits. The activity and attitude that we entertain every day define who we are. He defines them as the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire. What to do and why + how to do it + wanting to do it = a habit.

Bad habits are caused usually because we want something now and desire leads our behavior and character. But if we knowsomething better will come along, and we know how to make it so, we can use good habits to achieve happiness, or as Dr. Covey describes it, “The fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.”

What does this mean for us as a society? Especially considering the state of flux that our current economic condition has us in, we need to start looking at the changes we must make if America as we hope for it is going to survive. Read more »

I read The 7 Habits of Effective People several years ago. Recently, when I moved and got rid of all of my books, it was one of the few that I held onto; along with First Things First and The 8th Habit. I have many goals for myself this year and thought a brush up on the book would be useful for me. Hopefully, sharing my thoughts will be helpful to you as well.

Dr. Covey begins the book by describing the difference between the Character Ethic that was taught as a guide to success by our forefathers and the Personality Ethic that has dominated the Self Help mentality over the last fifty years. He regards the Character Ethic as primary greatness, the true foundation of success including the principles of integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule. The Personality Ethic is a secondary greatness which teaches important skills such as personal growth, communication skills, influence strategies, and positive thinking, but only builds the illusion of greatness without building the foundation. Read more »

There is a revolution underway. It goes by many different names depending upon a person’s upbringing and station in life. It has been called the Rise of the Cultural Creatives, the Environmental Movement, a Spiritual Revival, the new Renaissance, and many other things. We have come to call it the Modern Hippie movement.

Though it is perceived differently by the subgroups of people taking part in the movement and by those on the outside looking in, it is heralded mostly by a growing awareness. It is defined by a choice to take a more active part in the collective life we are creating. It is a movement of conscious living.

The first Hippie movement brought an anti-authoritarian attitude that bucked the system, fought for peace, and found joy in the simpler things in life. Building upon the stamina created by the civil rights movement, this generation of rebels and dreamers all but defined the 1960′s. But alas, the rebellion eventually petered out and the dreams remained as only visions lost in the ether as many of its proponents gave up the fight and merged into the mainstream.

But the spirit of the movement, though it seemed vanquished, never truly died.

Four decades later, we look back past the caricatures of the tie-dyed pot smokers that have been portrayed to us over the years and see again the essence of what the movement was really all about. It was about caring for the environment. It was about helping your neighbor. It was about attaining world peace by attaining inner peace. It was about achieving social justice for all. It was about living simply and simply living.

That is the spirit we wish to celebrate at Modern Hippie Magazine. That is the revolution that is rolling our way once more.

We are constantly seeking creative answers to the questions that plague us. We are seeking a cleaner environment and healthier living in body, mind, and spirit. We are forging new paths apart from the antiquated methods which no longer serve the greater good. We are finding new opportunities to serve one another and build communities. We are realizing the potential to use new technologies to bridge gaps and to build a more solid foundation for the generations to come.

Forty years ago, this spirit seemed to die. We cannot let that happen again. Humankind has come too far to falter now. We, as a people, have developed revolutions based on agriculture, industry, and information. It is time for us now to come together and take part in the Revolution of Wisdom. Though we will surely find opponents to the good that we try to create, just as all revolutionaries have before us, there is a spirit in us that can never die and never be defeated. Let us hold dear to it, allow it to flow through us, and be created anew by it as it creates the world around us.

Welcome to the new Revolution.

Originally published in Modern Hippie Mag.

“Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”
Lao Tzu

Friday, the stores were mobbed with shoppers clamoring for the best deals. Today, it is anticipated that computer servers everywhere will be mobbed as well. Many will order gifts for others, and many will find things for themselves. Today, give yourself one of the greatest gifts that you can: be aware of what you already have and be content with it.

Lao Tzu says this better than I ever could. But before you spend the day stressing yourself out over finding the best deals, take a moment and reflect on the wisdom of contentedness. The Internet will still be here tomorrow. Sales will come and go as will all material things. But this moment will never pass again. Realize all that it offers you.

If you’re shopping today, you obviously have money to spend. If you’re buying gifts, you have people that you care about. If you’re taking part in Cyber Monday, you have a computer, power, and a roof over your head. Already, you have more than millions of others around the world. What more do you really need?

Now, what are your goals as an Artist? As we mentioned in the last chapter, it is imperative that you have a vision for where you want to be in five, ten, and fifteen years. Now that you’ve made the Commitment to succeed as an Artist, it is time we put Ambition into practice. What do you actually want to do with your art? To what heights do you see it taking you? Keep in mind that without the eagerness to see yourself successful in what you do, you can never attain it. Vision must come first. Include this vision in your life-plan.

Right now, on a blank piece of paper, write in one sentence your greatest goal for being an Artist. Imagine this as the penultimate line in your obituary. What would you most like to be remembered for? Don’t sweat this too much as it will probably change quite a few times over the course of this book and the course of your life, but it is important that you do it now because we will be referring back to it.

Now, write down what you would like to accomplish artistically in the next year. Then write what you would like to accomplish in the next five years, the next ten years, and the next fifteen years. Go ahead, we’ll wait…

(Jeopardy theme plays in the background.)

Did you write them down? Do you have a good idea of what you’re trying to accomplish? If not, take the time to do it. We’re serious here. This is your life we’re talking about.

So you should have at this point some idea of what you’re trying to accomplish as an Artist through the next fifteen years. For your first goal, your one year accomplishment, you’ve got 8,760 hours to get it done. For your next goal, you’ve got 43,800 hours. Your ten year goal gives you 87,600 hours to become reality. And your fifteen year goal affords you 131,400 hours to reach it. Have you ever stopped to realize how much you can actually accomplish in an hour? If you think about it that way, it may just seem that you’ve got all the time in the world.

How much can you accomplish in a minute? For your fifteen year goal, you’ve got 7,884,000 minutes to get it done. Still think you can accomplish it?

Bear in mind, in that collection of minutes, you’ve also got to create your life. It’s safe to say that somewhere in those 7,884,000 minutes, you’re going to have to find time to sleep, eat, poop, shower, pay bills, exercise, pray, laugh, cry, stand in lines, wash your clothes, make your bed, make love, check your email, go to the doctor, read, entertain yourself, and address all sorts of other vagaries in life that elicit our attention each and every day.

Amid all of the commotion that comprises a human life in the 21st century, you’re going to do one of the most important things that anyone can do. You’re going to have to sustain relationships.

Chances are, unless you were a completely immaculate conception or raised by wolves, you’ve got family that want to spend time with you. If you’ve ever left your house long enough to smile at someone, you’ve got friends who want to hang out and have a good time. If you currently pay your bills by selling some of your minutes to other people, you’ve got employers and co-workers who require your consideration. And if you’re actively selling your art already, you’ve got a world of people awaiting communication. Not to mention the mailman, store clerks, government representatives, your mechanic, your barber, and all of the other people who symbiotically subsist on your livelihood in order to make their own living. In order to exist in this world, you’ve got to sustain a lot of relationships.

Who are the most important people in your life? List them on another piece of paper in the order of importance. Go on. We’ll still be here when you finish.

(People… People who need people are the luckiest people in the world…)

Did you make the list? Where did you place yourself? You need to be important to yourself in order to be important to others. Artists appear selfish to most, and often we are. However, it is not always based on our own self-importance. It is often based on a need to feel relevant in our art. Human beings do not make us feel good about what we do. They help, but it is the work itself that helps us understand who we are, and then where we fit. It is not until we are feeling secure about what we do and how we do it that we feel important to ourselves. Once we feel important to ourselves, we are more able to find our importance to others.

Integrity cannot be lost when feeling an eagerness for success. Integrity in your work reveals so much about you and your process. The quality found in great art is based on the intrinsic integrity within its confinement. It is not lost on me that we often push the very people away that mean the most to us when it is time to do the work and then go back and pick them up again once we have finished. It is important that when sustaining relationships that you explain this to family, friends and partners so that they understand that is the nature of the work and not a lack of caring. Communication is key not only between the vision we hold and the hands that express it to the canvas, but also to the relationships we sustain in the process. That said, pick up your list of important people, give it a kiss and lay it aside for a moment. They’ll understand.

Now, pick up that list of goals.

You should have at least five goals listed on the paper before you. Once for your life’s work, one for one year, one for five years, one for ten years, and one for fifteen years. Read them aloud. Is there a progression? Does the five year goal build upon what you plan to accomplish in one year? Does the tenth year build on the fifth? Imagine for a moment that you were only able to meet the one year goal. Would your life’s mission still be met?

Building upon the commitments we have made in the previous chapter, let’s apply these stations of life to our Ambition. For this, we need to do a little redefinition.

If you are political or have a succinct message to convey, you can use your art to make statements that are more easily stimulated in a visual setting than by mere words. If you are a writer, your language is your art, and the progression of letters and words that you use in your poetry draw your reader into a deeper understanding of not only your message, but the message that speaks through you. If you are a musician, the tones, notes, and inflections that rise from your instrument herald emotions and sentiments beyond everyday sounds. And if you are a filmmaker, the cacophony of sights and sounds that blend together in your work lead the viewer to an entirely new world. In any event, whichever means you use to express yourself, realize that your Ambition gives you the opportunity to always rise to new heights of imagination and communication.

If you want to be successful in a particular field of endeavor, I think perseverance is one of the key qualities. It’s very important that you find something that you care about, that you have a deep passion for, because you’re going to have to devote a lot of your life to it.
George Lucas

Opportunities are life’s little gems, and when you take advantage of them they move you along the path to your destiny. It is of vital importance that you recognize an opportunity for what it can do for you. If it works with your plan and your goals, then you should give it serious consideration. If it takes you away from your goals, then you need to take a long hard look at both your goals and the impending opportunity.

Ambition is the eagerness to attain success, the object of a person’s aspirations.

You cannot live in a small world and try to paint a bigger one unless you have the ability to see. To see is to imagine, and imagination is key to the creative process. As children we have it in abundance. Unfortunately, in preparation for life in the “real world,” our schooling often removes it.

By the time we are adults, our imaginations are often a thing of the past, something we remember with fond recollection as we watch our children grow out of their own. Many of the artists I know, including myself, are seeking to get in touch with our childhood imaginations, our ability to see differently than others and to create our own worlds. Perhaps it’s only a vague hope, but as we restructure our educational system I yearn for the day that we realize that imagination should be right alongside reading, writing and arithmetic.