Choke: 30th Anniversary? Say Not So!

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I just wrote a foreword to the (almost) 30th anniversary edition of DREAM PARK, which will be published prior to the publication of the 4th novel, THE MOON MAZE GAME, next year. Wow. A lot of water under the bridge. So much fun, and sweat...wouldn't have missed this ride for the world.

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The whole "birther" thing is impossible for me to take as anything other than mental dysfunction. Then again, my problem is that I don't believe in vast conspiracies. Really, in conspiracies that require more than a few dozen people, at absolute maximum. I suppose that the closest Liberal equivalent might be the 9/11 conspiracy folks. Is there a better one?

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My postings haven't been as regular as I'd like, and once again, it's because life is so busy right now...in the best possible ways. Television, film, fiction, non-fiction and lecturing are all popping at the same time. I'm dealing with my son's anger issues (BOY, does he hate to lose! Reminds me of someone...) and have finally, finally, after a lifetime of searching, have managed to balance all my different fitness, skill and health components in a single program that takes about a half hour every morning. My communication with my wife isn't just important, it is critical to our personal and professional life, so we have to take that to a whole different level. We are re-writing a film script at the direct request of a studio, preparing a television series pitch, I'm writing a science fiction novel with my mentor Larry Niven, writing the third Tennyson Hardwick detective novel with my wifie, researching a contemporary thriller involving quantum physics, National Security, and the damnedest cult you ever saw. All those balls in the air at the same time means that I, as the juggler, have to find a moment of peace in-between the times that the balls touch my hand. I have to sigh deeply, relax, let it go, and in each individual moment do only what there is to be done IN THAT MOMENT, without concern for tomorrow or yesterday. Yes, there are times to concern oneself with future and past. But when you are actually engaged? Only NOW exists. Only NOW has power. Everything else is a drag or a distraction.

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Where, in your life, writing, relationships, fitness...do you avoid the NOW? Where have you lost power in such a fashion? When have you let fear of the future, or guilt of the past drain your strength, throw you out of balance? If you can identify such moments, you can prevent them. The most important thing you can do is to strive to remain conscious of actions, intentions, and results, strive to be optimally appropriate in every moment. Try to catch yourself in lies and false justifications. Catch the areas in which your reality map is warped. How can you know? (We are all so damned good at lying to ourselves!)

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Simple, and ruthlessly efficient: look at the three major areas of your life. If your performance and results do not match your values, something is out of whack. If they are IN alignment with your values, but do not bring you far more pleasure than pain, something is out of whack. Don't pay attention to the voices in your head with a million justifications. Every worm moves away from pain and toward pleasure. If you haven't worked that one out, it has NOTHING to do with a lack of capacity, and everything to do with a lack of clarity, with value conflicts, with negative emotional charges anchored to actions and beliefs.

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This stuff must be sorted through, daily. Because the natural human tendency is to go back to sleep. To mistake the dream for awakening. And that can be disastrous to your chances for real happiness.