a little hope, laughter and love

This weekend I got a tattoo. It is my first. I was really nervous about it but the dream I had the night before was so vivid with this word written on my body that I just had to get it done. I had remembered this part of a movie where they spoke of a Japanese man who wrote positive words like love, light, peace in bottles of water and let them set for a day or so. He also wrote on another set of bottled water negative words like hate, anger, fear, kill…also letting them set for a day or so. He looked at the water under the microscope and discovered that the water crystals had fundamentally changed. The positive words caused the water to have bright, distinctive, beautiful and structured crystals. The opposite was true for the negative words on water. The crystals were fragmented, discolored and jagged. You can read his studies on the link above. Pretty fascinating stuff. You can see a few of the photos of the water crystals at the end of this post.

So since we are made up of mostly water, it would stand to reason that the same principals would apply to the body as did for the bottled water. Thus, my tattoo was born.

I’ve gotten a lot of great comments and people have stopped me in the Starbucks to say how much they love it. It seems that reminding others of love works for everyone. If you are interested in getting a great tattoo, i can HIGHLY recommend Brendon AkaSye Perry. Look him up on Facebook. He’s a superb artist…and it was a real honor getting my first tattoo done by him. If you cant get a tattoo done by him, please send him thanks and appreciation and love for doing such a great job on mine! Thanks for reading and have a great day filled with love, light and laughter!

Harold

A very wise person once told me that anything I put my attention on will thrive and grow.  Seeing this image today reminded me of that.  I forgot that also means that if I’m not putting my attention on what I need to deal with, then I’m putting my attention on other things or feelings…avoidance, regret, fear, for example.  And if I put my attention on avoidance, regret and/or fear, they grow…a lot.

When I have a project in front of me, no matter how daunting it may feel at that moment, if I put my attention on it for any length of time it always comes out beautifully.  So, the question is, what are you NOT putting your attention to, that if you did, would make a difference today?  I think you know what to do now…

Have you had one of those days recently where it seems that inspiration has clearly left the building?  Like, where the hell did it go?  I was doing so great with everything and then it all just suddenly stopped moving forward.  The inspiration is gone and it feels like it happened all of a sudden…gone!

Possibility and inspiration have a very short shelf life.  It’s like milk…it has an expiration date.  It usually lasts for a week, two, even three sometimes.  But when it expires…it really expires.  This morning, and even this weekend a bit, I played the same music, I did the same workout, I walked the same route, I drank the same coffee, I reread the words to my favorite song and I listened to podcasts that inspire me.  Nothing seemed to work.  This morning I woke up and felt like all the possibility had slipped from my grasp.  Not even my Good Morning America friends could brighten my day (and they always do!)  So what to do?  Who to be next?  What to create next?

I heard a great quote this morning from my favorite podcast (Make Shift Happen by Dean Dwyer).  He said “Inspiration won’t wait for you, but persaverance will provided you resolve to nurture it each and every day.  So today I will nurture my commitment to my health.  Today I will nurture my commitment to be successful.  Today I will nurture my commitment to be an inspiration.

Whatever brought you here to read this, it must have been what we both needed.  I hope it inspires you to action.  I hope you find that spark again today.  It is there…provided you resolve to nurture it each and every day.  Let’s just start with today shall we?

Have a great day!  Harold

(By the way…if you click the picture it will take you to Dean’s website at MakingShiftHappen.org.  If you aren’t subscribed to his podcast do it.  If you haven’t bought his book…do it.  You can also click the book below to read excerpts and buy it.  It’s good stuff.)

So I wanted to update my blog with a new look and feel.  I started this process about a week ago and found a couple of really cool themes for a great price.  I thought…this should be fun!  Well…I’ve had to have a completely immersive experience to learn how to update the formatting and get downtownharold.com back up and running very quickly.  I’m a pretty smart guy.  But I’ve never felt dumber in my whole life than I have in the past couple of days.  I was so annoyed and had to ask for help from the tech people at the different websites I needed.  I hated asking for help because I think secretly they are judging me and wondering why I didn’t leave this to the professionals.  Sitting at my kitchen island with my website not working and chatting in a little window to get it back up can be quite daunting.  I know this didn’t have to be my experience.  I really could have relied on countless other people to do it for me and spend the money to get it done.  But this was my project and I needed to teach myself how to do it.

So I’m back up.  I’m not done by any means…but it’s a good start.  I now need to create a logo for my blog.  I also need to create a few other things but it’ll all work out.  I did lose a couple of posts I did earlier today…screw it.  I’ll post a few things to make up for it.  The whole reason I started this was to have a place to share, to inspire, to motivate, to discuss and to express myself.  And looking back over the last couple of days of learning and panicking I learned that it doesn’t have to be perfect but I am certainly glad the hard part is over.  So here’s the next iteration of downtownharold.com.  Thanks for everyone who reads and to those who subscribe and are even slightly interested in what I care about.  It’s great to be connected to you.  And it’s good to be loved by you.  Harold

When I was younger we had to do a project in school.  I was very excited about it, because once my teacher told me what the project was going to be, I immediately knew what I was going to do!  I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want anyone to take my idea!  (Something I continue to do to this day for some reason.)  Anyway….we had to create a poster demonstrating Fire Prevention…it was Fire Prevention week as I remember.  The Fire Marshall and Smokey The Bear were going to come to our school and judge the posters for the best one!  I was so excited.  I loved Smokey The Bear.  I had a hat just like this one when I was in school…and I just loved him so much.  

I ran home to put my poster together and I kept it all very secret.  I worked quietly on it in my room upstairs. The shag carpet burning my knees as I carefully placed each piece of magic on the poster board.  It was a white poster board.  So anything that showed up on it would be bright and stark.  I loved the white space…so much room to create with.

I brought my poster to school the day the judging was supposed to take place.  I was nervous.  I couldn’t focus on anything until I knew for sure Smokey had seen my poster.  I just knew he was going to love it.  And the Fire Marshall was particularly handsome, which didn’t seem unusual to me.  I didn’t know all the other boys didn’t care about such things.  But I just knew I was going to impress him, too.

We went to the gymnasium where all of the posters where hanging around the walls of the gym.  We all walked around the gym and admired each other’s work.  I already knew mine was going to win so all of this was just a formality you see.  But I walked around smugly and so confident of my work.  I even remember passing my poster thinking it was so awesome and brilliant.  And it was…and so was I for thinking of it.  Such a smart little boy I was.  Until…

The Fire Marshall and Smokey The Bear walked into the gym and walked around looking at all the posters.  My heart raced.  Would he love it as much as I’d hoped he would??  Would he break into applause?  How would Smokey show how much he loved me and my poster?  A hug?  A handshake?  I was ok with all of the options!

They walked up to my poster and were whispering to each other.  This was it.  It was a quiet conversation confirming the obvious.  The Fire Marshall took my poster from the wall.  He rolled it up and handed it to the lady who was walking around with the entourage.  They walked around the room to look at the other posters and I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest!  This was EVEN BETTER THAN I HAD HOPED!  They loved it so much they had to take it on stage with them to show everyone!  Finally…my genius would be rewarded!

They handed the rolled up poster to my teacher.  She looked over at me and smiled.  I grinned back at her on the edge of my seat.  They were going to ask  me to come up so I had to get ready to excuse myself down the aisle of losers sitting beside me.  Poor kids.  They didn’t know what was about to happen.

As I stood up and walked toward my teacher, she leaned down and said she was sorry.  My poster had been disqualified.  What the hell is disqualified?  What did that mean?  Did that mean it was so extraordinary that it had this special term I had never heard of?  Unfortunately, it did not.

Needless to say I didn’t win any awards that day.  I didn’t win anything but confusion and heartbreak.  I was devastated.  But I loved my poster and remembered what I had done for many years after.

One day, about 6 months ago I was reminded of that experience when I was on a shopping app on my iPad.  It literally made me gasp.  Did they know?  Was this a sign of some type from the universe?  What in gay hell had just happened??  There it was.  A piece of artwork that looked so similar to my childhood poster that the same body sensations I’d had so long ago were suddenly present all over again.  Smokey had came to my mind all over again.

The poster I made was made with matches that spelled out “DON’T PLAY WITH MATCHES!”

This was the poster I saw (and immediately ordered online!)

The art was done by an artist and here’s her statement about creating it:

Artist Dánica Conneely explains her process in crafting this work of art. “I laid each individual piece down with tweezers. It took me all night. I should have lit it on fire after I was done.” This print stems from a photograph of the innovative work that will inspire you to think different and create boldly.

I don’t have a picture of the poster I did.  But I never forgot it.  And now that I’ve got this print, which will be hanging in my office very shortly, I don’t ever have to.  I love what the artist says that it will hopefully inspire you to think differently and create boldly.  Which, even as a child, I was already doing.  Thank you Smokey!

P.S. I think it’s funny that I also got a link sent to me in an email several years ago if I remember correctly.  The link took me to this picture…which I still remember laughing my ass off….it still makes me!

I love this letter.  Every time I read it, it reminds me of the kind of man I want to be as I grow older.

Hope it inspires you as much!

I thought I would share with you my personal mantras for getting in action.
I’ve LONG lived by these, but never found as eloquent a way to share…so here they are:

Mantra One

Mantra Two

Mantra Three

My friend, Christian Andreason, wrote a really great song called Amazing Man.

I’ve listened to this song a lot lately and I can tell you it’s an Amazing Song.  Take a listen.  Hear the lyrics.  They are really inspiring.  It gives me a place of strength and a place to stand in when I’m not feeling so amazing.  So…thanks Christian.  I love you.  Thank you for the inspiration.  And thank you for letting me inspire you.  Much love to you.