The Home of Steven Barnes
Author, Teacher, Screenwriter


Saturday, January 11, 2014

Join Us Today!


One of my teachers, the late Harley  "Gunnie" Reagan, taught me about direct and indirect attention, and the different qualities of mind produced by each.   I would be trying to master a throw, say a Tai-Otoshi and my opponent’s resistance would foil me every time.

“You’re trying to throw him,” Harley would say.  

I would lay on the mat, sweating, and look up at him with irritation.  “What was I supposed to do?  Kiss him?”

“Whatever floats your boat, but if you want to learn judo, more listening and less smart-mouth.”

I shut up.  He went on.

“You don’t want to throw your opponent.  You want to perform Tai-Otoshi. Your opponent cooperates.”

“What if he pulls back?”

“Then you go with it and surrender to a higher intent—completing a flow.  If he pulls back, help him.  Get there first and flow into an Osoto-gari.”  Roughly, the opposite throw.
Intention: completing a flow.

The partner who fights the flow will be thrown cleanly.  You can put your intent upon a particular expression of the flow, but attachment to it makes you vulnerable to resistance from the opponent.  So…no opponent.  No throw.  Just…flow.

Where the opponent stops the flow, a “throw” is created.
So where do I put my attention?

On the flow.  

In writing, if you concentrate on being the best you can, the most honest that you can, over time you develop style and skill, and those enable you to communicate whatever is within your heart.  And regardless of what the voices in your head tell you, if you simply speak the truth of your life with skill, you will rise to whatever level of success you are capable of achieving.

 John D. MacDonald, bestselling creator of “Travis McGee”, wrote 800,000 words IN FOUR MONTHS, working eighty hours a week,  without selling a single word.

Have YOU got what it takes to write a million words, and read ten million, without selling a word?  Then dollars to donuts you have what it takes to fulfill your dreams of being a writer.

But you can’t focus on the fame.  Or the money.  Do that, and you’ll lose your sense of self, and that is all that makes you unique.

In relationships, the SOULMATE PROCESS suggests that to find the person your heart yearns for, you have to stop chasing after them.  Be who you were meant to be, with sufficient amplitude and engagement with the world to send a strong mating signal, like a bird singing in the forest.   Out of those who respond, you learn to recognize those singing on your channel, at your frequency.  

Simple.

 Terrifying if you aren’t actually attracted to your own music.

  You CANNOT fake this, no matter how dearly you long to.  
You can’t look directly at the sun.  What you are seeking will come from your peripheral vision, not your foveal.

Concentrate on the throw, the fame, or the seductive chase and you will miss your excellence, lose your life, never experience the flow of simply being yourself and watching the world respond to you.

Today on THE DIAMOND HOUR we will speak of this, as touched on in THE SOULMATE PROCESS (bring your questions!) and THE SECRET FORMULA.

Two ways of looking at the exact same thing.   It is hard to talk about things that have no words.

But dammit, it sure is fun to try!

Join us, won’t you?

Diamond Hour January show. - Saturday, January 11, 2014 1:00 PM Pacific Standard time (4:00 PM Eastern)
http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/77111
Connect via phone or VoIP (Skype, etc.)
(724) 444-7444

No comments: