The Secret to Creativity

You know that feeling where you wake up really early, but it’s on purpose and for something you’ve been waiting for? Maybe it’s a fishing trip with your friend, or to catch a flight somewhere you’ve been dreaming about, or to play golf at that new course? There’s a certain giddiness to the anticipation that overcomes the resentment of an early wakeup call. I love that feeling. Eager, ready, and excited for what I know is about to be something great.

It turns out that very feeling is the same key to my own creativity. I’m guessing the same is true for many, but I haven’t collected the data. When I'm in the zone, in the flow, the songs come through effortlessly. When I’m not in the flow, I can work a song for days or weeks and all I end up feeling is discouragement.

The big secret to the universe (though it’s not a secret, it’s just not overtly taught) is that if you make peace with where you are right this very moment - if you can find a way to feel good about your present set of circumstances - then that is the key to staying in the flow. And staying in the flow will take you downstream towards everything your little heart desires. I’m serious. It’s that easy.

Get happy now, no matter what it takes. The universe does not care what you use as your excuse to feel good right this very moment, it simply knows that you ARE feeling good, and it responds accordingly. The opposite is of course true too, if you get yourself focused on something that has you feeling crappy.

So use anything - your favorite memory, or something you’re looking forward to; your favorite song or thinking about your favorite animal. It doesn’t matter. Just get things moving in any sort of positive direction by thinking thoughts that feel good.

Have you ever made a mistake? Yeah, me neither. And you know how good it feels when someone helps remind you that it’s not a big deal, no problem, we can fix it? Instant relief. Well that’s what you’re looking for, but you’ve got to give it to yourself.

Then it’s just a practice, and you can get really good at it. Pretty soon you’re spending most of your time in the flow, feeling great, moving towards all of the dreams you’ve set in motion. And that, my friends, is the sweet spot for creativity. I have found that once I’m already in that zone, the songs flow like wine. The great ideas come easily. The new ways of saying something are fun to discover, not something to be agonized over.

I tell you what, I love being in my 50’s. I’ve never known all that I know now. And putting all of this together, figuring where I want to aim my joyful creative light, is the whole reason we’re here in the first place. Because doing that, over and over, is So. Damn. Fun. At least, it’ supposed to be.

The Future Looks Bright

Everywhere I look, I notice two different things. Over here are people who are wringing their hands, usually obsessed with their news feeds, and convinced that the world as it is - especially here right now in the US of A - is only getting worse by the day. And it’s not that they’re “wrong,” per se, and I can see the mountain of evidence supporting their claim.

But the other thing I see (and feel much more of, myself) is the polar opposite: an unbridled sense of optimism and joy at how people, typically in the face of immense challenge, get crystal clear on the type of world we want to be inhabiting. If you’re paying attention, I know you see some of this evidence too. People coming out into the streets to support neighbors they’ve never met. People joining hands and singing songs and crying for people they never met. And people connecting with one another, feeling the sense of “we are all in this together” like never before. Not even during Covid.

It’s funny how it works, but it’s predictable as the sunrise: Getting a gigantic taste of something you deeply despise can immediately show you, in sharper image than ever before, what it is that you do prefer. Seeing someone’s pain makes me want to be helpful. Feeling poor makes me want more money. We all have these instincts. These same beautiful, primitive instincts to care for members of our tribe. And while it can appear that we are more siloed, more tribal then ever, we also know in our primitive senses that our true tribe is the entire human race.

We see someone smiling and laughing, and something deep within us can’t help but react with a similar vibe - we smile, we momentarily feel good feelings like that person we’re watching. We can’t help it. It’s only moments later when we may color the experience with our biases, or what we think about a person of that race, or gender, or age, or the way they laughed, or all those judgmental places we humans also share.

The events in Minneapolis and beyond have created a movement that was already in motion before, but is gaining huge momentum right now. And it’s not simply a movement towards the right or left politically speaking. It’s a movement towards each other. Towards realizing that powering over someone is less sustainable than powering with them.

Humanity is leaping forward. We are evolving into our next stage of consciousness, and into our hearts. It’s lovely to see, even though the process of becoming is so excruciating.

So hang in there with me, friends. Keep loving, keep singing, keep your hearts open to others. I took the opportunity to invite my neighbors on each side over for lunch the other day, and it was one of the best and smartest things I’ve done in awhile.

Community is everything. We are in this together. And that’s a beautiful thing.

Group 7 and the Denver Scene

If you’re on TikTok or anywhere near it these days, you’ve probably seen posts related to “Group 7.” It seems to have sprung up out of nowhere, and the only coherent factors defining the group are things like “people who support each other, and who love nature, water, sand, etc.” So, Group 7 has become a group of people who want to support each other, period. That’s what makes them a group.

I mention this because my new friend Tyler Wright and I met for coffee today. He too is a singer-songwriter in the Denver area, and we talked at length about the vibe of a community that comes together to help each other. In Nashville, Tyler shared, groups of aspiring songwriters collaborate all the time. If one of them posts something, the others boost it on their own pages. If someone has a show, they rally to attend. When it’s time for recording, they play on each other’s albums, and are engaged in various levels of co-writing.

This, my friends, happens to be the single best recipe for success - creating a community of supporters. Every independent musician I know has fallen prey to “shouting into the void,” as it were, on social media. “Hey, listen to my new single!” “Come to my show this Friday!” “I have new t-shirts available!” But you know as well as I do how quickly we all tend to scroll past posts like that. But all it takes is one, two, three friends sharing a post or boosting your latest blog to get a little traction. And traction builds momentum. And momentum makes the world go ‘round.

So while Tyler and I do our level best to bring the Denver music community together on an ongoing basis, I’m hopeful too that you will decide to join this movement. You certainly don’t have to live in Denver to become a supporter of the Denver music scene. We all know it takes a village, no matter the goal you’re working towards. But you know that saying about rising tides raising all boats? Let’s do this! Let’s become the tide that brings us all together, promoting all of our value, celebrating our diversity and stepping into a kinder, more connected world.

I’m moving that direction, and I dearly hope you’ll join me.

I've Found My Calling

For so many years I found myself trying to decide: Was I a singer-songwriter who had this day job as a therapist? Was I a therapist who would always aspire to be a singer-songwriter? Did I talk about my therapy life when I was on stage sharing my music? Or should I pretend that I’m a full-time musician, practicing that “act as if it is so” philosophy I’m so fond of espousing? I will confess that I received an inordinate amount of advice of these topics over the years, and it took my a long time to sort through it all, to eventually hear my own true voice beneath all the noise. But guess what, friends?! I’m thrilled to announce that I have found it. And by “it” I mean, I have found the thing I’m here on the planet to do.

And of course, it’s not just one “thing.” I will continue to write songs, and see therapy clients. I don't have to choose between them. And when I’m on stage, I totally reference my other career path. In part, because it’s a major player in who I am. But in part because my therapy life dramatically informs my songwriting.

The big “THING” that I finally figured out (and this will not be a newsflash to any of you following along at home) is that I’m really about HELPING PEOPLE FEEL BETTER. I do this daily in my therapy world, and it’s what I aspire to do with my music as well.

So while a few of the songs from my new album grew directly from my role as a school counselor (“Be One First” and “Stop, Walk & Talk”) the others are more universally accessible, speaking to that inner child in all of us. Music is such an easy way to feel good, and I’ve written a handful of songs that make it even easier. I hope you’ll give a listen, and if you like what you hear, I hope you’ll help change the world by spreading the word, sharing these songs, and getting us all singing songs that make us feel good.

Another Perfect Day isn’t just my latest album. It’s the culmination in my years of “research into humans.” It’s my answer to what I think we’re all looking for. And it’s my attempt to get us all singing fun songs, together. It’s ridiculously simple to start feeling better, and I’m very invested in helping us all move that direction.

Tour Time

Like so many of us early in our careers, I had my own misgivings about how it was all going to work out. Here I was, on the path becoming a therapist who specializes in music therapy, Gestalt therapy, and outdoor experiential therapy with kids and teens. And I loved it! But I was also writing songs, playing in a bluegrass band, and giving birth to all sorts of rockstar dreams. I was living near the amazing mountains of Breckenridge, at the same time when my heroes like John Mayer and Gregory Alan Isakov were gaining traction and blowing up. Man, I wanted to be on that path too! But I was committed to the path I was on. Married, fathering a young daughter, and scrambling to see enough clients to pay our mounting bills. But music…music never left, and those dreams only grew, even if in the background.

Years later, as I continued to pursue both paths, I remember the rush of adrenaline I felt when I first tapped into the thought, “Sure, I’m knee-deep in parenting now, but when Avery is older, like in college, I could go on tour…” And just the pure, unadulterated thought of that brought about so much joy. You mean, I could do both?! I could have it all? Just maybe not all at the same time? Ok, then. I’m in!

And sure enough, as my daughter has completed her first year college, I am finally, blissfully, on the doorstep of my first-ever tour. First ever! And I’m in my 50’s. That’s crazy cool to me, and really exciting. Sure, it’s only six shows over eight days. Not a World Tour by any stretch. But it’s MY tour, and it’s one that’s actually here and now happening. And I’m over the moon.

Some of my shows happen in venues, some are house concerts, one is a corporate gig that required me to carry liability insurance. Because, you know, we acoustic singer-songwriters can get pretty damned unruly. Look out for peace and love!

So as I make my packing list, plan my lodging, spread the word to try and see as many friendly faces as possible on this “Bend in the Middle” tour, I am overjoyed. This is something I’ve always dreamed of. And while I still relish the thought of being invited on the bus with Gregory or John or Noah or Hozier, I’m also content to follow my own path, the one that continues to unfold gloriously before me. And I keep an eye out for those little glimmers from my deeper self, the ones that know where this path is heading. For those glimmers are interwoven with my deepest desires, and it’s like catching the sparks from your roaring fire of dreams. They keep you alive. And if we collect them long enough, and continue to coax them into being, they become a full conflagration before our very eyes. Then everyone else can see it too. But in the meantime, I’ll stay content with loving where I am, and being thrilled about what’s coming.

Tour time, baby! Just like I knew it would be.