Oh hi there, it’s your unpaid freelance life coach Daniel here again to brighten up your day with some unsolicited good vibes. I had a pretty cool aha moment this past weekend that I wanted to share.
You know, so often we get caught up in the daily execution of our lives that we are prone to miss out on being present in the moments where our initial vision and the manifestation itself converge into one amazing experience.
In my view, there’s nothing more exciting as a human than creating something out of nothing; taking an idea or vision, then taking steps towards its creation and then finally experiencing it in real life is absolutely magical.
Whether it’s writing a song, designing and building a home, starting a business, planning a party, getting married, or raising a family – big or small, there are many moments that start out as visions, and sometimes it’s easy to forget how special it is to actually live them out.
Let me tell you how I recently got a nice reminder to appreciate these moments…
presence in the present
A couple months ago, the producers of a local variety show, Viva Variety, reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in performing at this year’s show. I said “no thanks” as I had a lot going on. They asked again a few weeks later and I politely declined again. I told them that I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do for the show, but if I thought of something that excited me, I would reach out.
That night while editing vocals on one of my pop-country songs that I’m releasing in the near future, I sat back and listened with my eyes closed. I immediately saw myself on stage singing the song, then I was joined by backup dancers and broke into a choreographed routine. Then at the climax of the song there was a big “Magic Mike” tear-away shirt reveal moment. I couldn’t stop smiling about how fun this performance could be.
I pitched my idea to the producers – they loved it! After a few rehearsals with my new backup dancers, and daily practices in my basement, I was reminded how hard singing and dancing at the same time is. I was excited as the show night approached, but I had lost my voice for a few days and my performance anxiety and perfectionism was creeping in as the day got closer.
This past Saturday, the night of our two performances, I wasn’t feeling as confident as I’d hoped; I’d never done a performance like this before, my voice wasn’t fully back and every time I thought about the performance I felt like I was going to puke. This was supposed to be fun!
For our first performance, there were some technical issues and my mic wasn’t on at first. I got in my head, and even though I made it through and the performance was well-received, I was hyper critical and anxious about it all. Again, this was supposed to be fun!
Then, before the second (and last) performance, I stood backstage and closed my eyes. I put my hand on my heart and took a few deep breaths. I had a flashback to that moment sitting at my computer when I downloaded the vision for this performance. I thought about the moment it all came together in my mind’s eye and how much fun I thought it was going to be. I could feel the energy of that moment when I saw myself as a disco cowboy singing and dancing on stage, hearing the audience roar throughout the song.
That’s when it hit me: this is what it’s all about. It was in an incredible moment of presence, remembering my initial vision and preparing to literally step into the manifestation of it. It was such a beautiful thing to realize that I was about to live out the exact experience I had envisioned. Too often, I find myself looking back on a great experience. This time I wanted to be fully in it while it was happening.
The lights went down, I stepped on stage, the song started and something took over. I fully released myself to my song and let the energy of the crowd take over. That performance ended up being amazing – I was so dialed in! I felt totally present, my voice was back, I owned the stage and hit every step with my amazing cowgirl dancers… and I had a total f!@#ing blast!
The crowd loved it, I loved it. It was a total win. When I watched a recording of the performance that night, it was like having an out-of-body experience. I didn’t even remember the performance! I was so into it in the moment that watching it back felt like a completely separate experience.
Truly, this was one of the most clarifying experiences that I’ve had recently. I fully recognized the power of presence in the present. Sometimes you’ve just gotta put on your cowboy boots and two-step into the moment.
living the plan
This propensity to forget that you’re living in a vision happens to me all the time at Vortex. With the hustle and stress of running a business, sometimes I have to slow down, sit back and look at what we’ve created. Steve and I are always go go go and it’s easy to forget how big we dreamed and how we executed the vision beyond what we even imagined.
When Steve and I designed the space, we created it on bristol board, laminated drawings of the equipment, moved it around and then drew some walls. The next thing we knew, we had legit architectural plans and were building this amazing studio from nothing.
With all of the trials and tribulations of working with trades, deadlines, supply chain during the pandemic – it was a wild ride – and it was easy to lose sight of the initial vision.
Luckily, I had a particular moment during the building process that I’ll never forget: I was sitting down on the concrete floor of Pod 3, leaning against the drywall looking at the architecture plans – and it hit me like a truck – I was literally sitting inside in the plans we made! We went from a simple drawing to a real life building. I hadn’t experienced anything like that in my life – existing in the midst of a manifestation – and now I’m writing this from the studio that we sketched out a few years ago.
creators gonna create
From inspiration to manifestation, bringing an idea into the world is about as magical as it gets. And whether we work hard, or whether it flows easily, we’ve got to remember to actively experience the life that we’re creating.
This natural unfolding of a vision isn’t something to be taken for granted. It’s meant to be revered and appreciated. Appreciation expands proportionately; the more you focus on gratitude for what you have, the more experiences you’re given to be grateful for. It’s too easy to go through life feeling like it’s happening to you instead of for you – and it’s even easier to lose track of the fact that we’re constantly walking into the real-life version of our visions.
Let’s not get so busy in the bustle of life that we forget that we are creators. And as we create, let’s not forget to enjoy the process and the payoff.
