Living CrazyBrave
Living CrazyBrave is a philosophy, a strategy and an action. It’s a way of living that addresses this weird limbo we creative types often find ourselves in.
The concept of living CrazyBrave is about getting out of your own way, forging outward with a renewed sense of energy and investing in the gifts and insights that come naturally to you. It’s about letting go so you can be more of yourself, so you can be happier, less burdened and more courageous in your life. Living CrazyBrave is about standing up in your art and falling in love with yourself again. Some may call us Crazy and some may even call us Brave.
If your life is a messy mountain and the blood in your veins ring with hope and dreamlike visions, then I am speaking directly to you. And there is an answer.
For this e-course, you will have to adhere to a few items of change. It involves 12 postulates, 3 months and a willingness to look at yourself – the good, the bad and the nasty. The postulates are foundational elements that will help us define our deeply held beliefs. These postulates are not a religion or a set of moral values. They are simply ways to begin the process of deep self evaluation and meaningful change. It is a psychological approach designed to link to our emotions and help clear out the mud and blocks of life.
I will need you to be committed to finishing the full 3 months. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be a sustained effort to the end. I welcome your personal stories and input. It means a lot to me and will help all of us work toward loving ourselves more.
E-Course #1 Details:
- FREE
- 12 weeks: Jan 2 – Mar 26, 2012
- online access
- willingness to commit to weekly exercises and comment on the forum
- willingness to look at yourself and be open to change
REGISTRATION CLOSED —> New course in Spring!
STORY
I have always been a creative. I am a loner by nature, live in my head, and am generally mystified by things like rules, regulations and consequence. Along with my dream-like naiveté, I am also a super-sensitive. My heart hurts for people over things like natural disasters, domestic cruelty, slavery and the Nazis. When I say it hurts, it really hurts. Like, I-want-to-drink-myself-under-the-table kind of hurt or take enough opiates keeping me this side of dead.
I wish someone had known 40+ years ago how to help a kid like me. It would have come in handy understanding why 4th grade mathematical fractions made no sense, or why my thinking resembled shuffling car radio stations instead of focused cruise control. It would have helped to know that I wasn’t stupid or misguided and that I could actually do something special in the world. Of course, no one had discovered ADHD yet or understood that gifted creatives would someday change the world by pioneering a new way of thinking in business, education, and art. For a little girl growing up in the 60’s it would have meant a lot to have had someone help bridge the enormous gap between what the world expected of me and what I expected of myself. I had one great teacher in elementary school who took an unorthodox approach to education and I think she noticed something in me too. But she too wasn’t given enough tools to help in the education of people like me. It was clear. I was left to my own ingenuities to figure out how to make it in the world.
Thank God, I had a secret weapon. A place I could go and get away. MUSIC.
I discovered music the summer before 5th grade. I signed up for a silly elective like “General Music Ed” and at show and tell, some girl took out a beautiful chrome flute and played it for the class. It would not be an understatement to say that in that moment I found Jesus. It was a mind blowing and brilliantly life changing event for me. I begged and pleaded with my parents to get me a flute ASAP and after nagging strenuously over months, they finally acquiesced.
The day I got my flute, I staying up all night learning how to make a sound come out of it and by morning I could play a rendition of “Camp Town Races” with modest proficiency. I surprised even myself. But even more surprising was the hours of intense focus I experienced that first night. This was a new thing for me. It was like I was Columbus and I had just discovered the new land. Music became my refuge, my addiction and my first love.
Flash forward to now. I am a voice teacher, jazz singer and psych-shrink working with singers and musicians who want to create something beautiful in their art. I call them the chosen ones and I love the work that I do.
Over 15 years of teaching, I’ve noticed a few things about my students:
1. They are almost always insecure on some level
2. They struggle with relationships
3. They feel deeply about everything
4. They are often naïve
5. They have a critic in their head telling them they suck all the time
6. They are moody
7. They are dreamers
8. They are scared
9. They are depressingly sad people if they cannot do their art
10. They have a lot to say to the world
And the list goes on.
I wanted to launch this CrazyBrave E-course to address some of these issues and to simply… help. I was always told that if you were going to write, write about what you know and since I am a musician first, I will be writing from that vantage point. However, creativity is creativity and those who want to understand their creative efforts will benefit from this blog series too.
Yours Truly,
