Healing Your Mindset
In the last few weeks, I noticed some kind of behavior of myself that I don’t like. I found out that whenever an opportunity came along, my first reaction was to reject, saying ’no’, almost panicking, throwing roadblocks on the road. I’ll give an example.
A while ago, my co-producer Raoul and I had a listening session in the recording studio to think about which vocalists would be suitable for my tunes. After listening to one particular song, Raoul immediately said he was thinking about the perfect candidate: a pretty famous vocalist and remarkable musician, living outside the Netherlands, my home country.
My first reaction was: no, it’s not possible, it will be too expensive, he will think I’m stupid, he’ll say no anyway. In short: I rejected the idea before even looking for possibilities to give it a chance to succeed. And this is one of many examples of me, dealing with opportunities that come along.
So, I’ve decided to change that mindset. Because it’s leading to nowhere.
Because all of those decisions are based on fear not being able to lift up to certain expectations -whether it’s my expectation or somebody else’s.
From now on, every time I sense some tension when a chance reveals itself, I permit myself to at least think about the possibilities instead of the impossibilities. To find out whether or not I’m ruled by my negative convictions before closing a door. Maybe you can relate, I don’t know. Let me know if you like. We even might help each other. Because I’m done with it. I really want to change.
Can you relate? And if so, what you’d like to do differently?
Craziness
There is some craziness in this world, people say. But what does it mean exactly? Is it some conclusion based on the majority view? Is there a general principle which not everyone is aware of, ergo those are the crazy ones?
Some people thought I was crazy when I decided to make an EP with ambitious songs, farfetched arrangements and zero experience in producing and recording whatsoever. To be honest, looking back, I’d say I’m glad I had no clue what a time consuming, stressful, money-grubbing (whoa, there’s more money leaving the ship than there’s coming in right now…) and sometimes frustrating kind of project this is.
BUT it’s also tremendous fulfilling in a way I’d never have imagined. To pick a few highlights: I made some new friends around the globe. I met some new, incredible musicians. I’ve grown as a musician. I’ve grown as a human being. I finally took the chance to create something I’m proud of no matter the outcome. I followed my heart -my intuition if you like- although there were times my head was screaming like a mad little kid saying it was stupid and crazy to leave my comfort zone.
So here I am, still alive and kicking! Am I scared sometimes? Hell, yeah. Do I feel desperate sometimes? Got a minute (or 15)? Do I feel stupid sometimes? Hey, I’m not stupid! (Am I?…) Do I think sometimes I’m the biggest joke on the planet? Sure.
But what remains at the end of the day is gratitude. Because so far it’s been a fantastic experience. What a ride it is. I’m glad you walk along with me on this crazy trip!
Be The Trigger
One of the questions people like to ask once in a while is: What’s your goal, what do you want to achieve with your music?
To be honest, I’ve been asking myself the same thing for a long time. But every time I come to the same conclusion: I want to inspire, make people feeling good (even it’s only for a very brief time) and want to share some positivity and awareness. Because I still believe there’s love in all of us. It just needs to be triggered now and then. I want to be such a trigger. Like others have triggered me. And for that, I am very grateful.
So that’s my goal, my calling if you want: to pass on what I received (i.e., the inspiration to write songs) and share it with you. I often think of my music as ”open-heart music”. My biggest hope is to reach out to people who are willing to open up so they can pass it on to whoever they want to share my message with.
Are you ready to get triggered?