Monthly Archives: August 2014

Can’t Quite Put Our Thumbs On It

There are no jobs left.

The only thing that is left standing, or currently asking to be given legs, is the work of art that connects, leads, and changes us.

If one can’t quite put their thumb on that thing you are supposed to do in your field, industry, or line of work – that is good news. In that sense you’re not jobless. And therein lies the role of today’s working artist: take a client, customer, or the recipient of one’s art on a journey and move their thumbs on ‘it’…on enlightenment…on the answer…and even sometimes on the question(s) they didn’t know they should be asking.

It’s time for the proverbial car salesman to forget they don’t sell cars. This goes for all of us.

Or as Paul Valéry once said, “To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees.”

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Farmer Joe’s Like Button

The Law of the Harvest and the Law of Reciprocation…Two principles that forever change us if we allow them to have their way in our lives, relationships, and businesses.

Simply put, gardens give back where they’re given to.

While it’s never been easier to post something for anyone to see, make a statement or ruckus, or build the illusion that you’re gardening or farming, creating change in someone, connecting the unconnected dots, and making art that helps us all make sense of it all is where we – you – I – the farmers earn our pay and calloused hands.

The best thing a farmer has never had to be concerned with is the passerby watching his rows and rows of sown seeds and wondering about if that will be getting him any ‘likes’. Farmers don’t farm because it’s cute. They farm to produce. Come rain or come shine.

In the end, providing produce just may be better than providing a documentary of your lines and ways of production.

And in the beginning after the end, a nourished recipient can’t help but find a way to click the farmer’s like button.

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Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Isn’t it great when a film sneaks up on you and leaves you with more than a head full of Milk Duds? That is what happened to me this weekend with Jiro Dreams of Sushi. (Streams for free for Amazon Prime customers)

The documentary follows an 85-year-old sushi master, Jiro Ono, in Japan. It gives the viewer a look into his seventy-plus years of showing up everyday, studying his craft, getting better, and learning the art of sushi.

If you are purist, you’ll love it. If you’re a foodie, you’ll want to book a ticket to Japan to experience Jiro’s restaurant. If you aren’t either, you’ll be both by the time the credits roll. And if you think you’ve learned enough about your business, art, craft, and life, it will ask you to open another book and learn some more.

I had one major takeaway: don’t allow good to keep you from better.

Tanoshimo.

(Pardon two posts about sushi in one week. When the student is ready, the teacher appears)

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Gathering Color(s)

All sorts of colors show up when our heads are up, our eyes are wide open, and our ears are bent appropriately.

How bright are the colors that shine when we’re present with our moments and paused in wonderment of the galaxies that hold what’s next?

Vast varieties of colors with no names – just universal vibes – arrive when a soul offers availability to learn, a heart is checked by such a learned soul, and an open mind is sustained by such an in check heart.

A work of art starts with the work of gathering something to paint with…immediately followed by having something to paint for.

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