Just Say Yes!

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Yesterday a friend told me a story of how her bike was stolen and that she needed a new one but that she was broke. I happened to have a mountain bike in the garage. I don’t use it anymore, favoring my more comfortable Townie beach cruiser these days. I told her she could have the mountain bike for free.

This is a good bike. It has 21 speeds, quick release wheels and is in virtually new condition save for the cobwebs and deflated tires that come with sitting idle for a few months in a hot garage.

Perhaps it is human nature not to trust the simple, easy answer when it’s presented. Or perhaps it’s that something that is free holds no perceived value. Whichever it is in this case, she had myriad objections, none of which were “Gee, I’d really like something other than a mountain bike.” That would have been honest and I get that. But her comments ran along the lines of: the seat is too low. It can be raised. The handlebars are too low. They too can be raised. The tires are flat. Here is a pump. We can pump them up. I can’t take it now. Come back later. On and on this went. Ultimately, she left without the bike and I was left shaking my head.

It made me wonder what roadblocks to happiness and success we put up without even knowing we are doing it. What opportunities are we missing because of them?

I love the phrase, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” If opportunity presents itself for something we want, are we ready? And how prepared do we really have to be? Maybe sometimes it’s just a case of being open to possibility. And then, perhaps instead of saying no first, we just say yes. Such a small word, yet it comes with such big baggage. But it also comes with big rewards when opportunity and chance meet with someone who is ready.

 

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Marketing: Applying A Fresh Coat of Fun

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By Liese Gardner

Although the tools may change, marketing has always been about telling a story in an effective, engaging and memorable manner. This has never been truer than today when we have so many outlets available to do so. As always, the goal is creating an emotional connection whether you are branding yourself or, say, a can of paint.

In the New York Times — Sue Kim, color trend and forecast specialist at Valspar.Naming color to create an emotional connection. Photo by Peter Hoffman for the Times

As I was preparing material to this effect for a seminar I’m giving at the end of the month, the New York Times published an article that directly related to what I wanted to say to attendees. The subject was the recent marketing efforts of leading paint manufacturers to use the names of paint colors (or rather, NOT use anything resembling a paint color) to create an emotional experience for the buyer.

As the writer, Katharine Seelye states: “In a redoubled effort to capture consumers’ attention in this sputtering economic recovery, some paint companies are hoping to distinguish their brands with names that tell a story, summon a memory or evoke an emotion — even a dark one — as long as they result in a sale.”

“Dead Salmon” in the kitchen

And in the hall, “Hey There!”

In lieu of such uninspiring names as Apricot 1 or Apricot 2, Valspar has created a shade of brown that is called Weekend in the Country. Sherwyn Williams has a color called Synergy, Ace Paint has come out with a pale yellow called Hey There and Benjamin Moore now offers the home designer some Old World Romance. And the English paint company, Farrow and Ball, has introduced a taupe called Dead Salmon. For the record, their marketing director explained “dead” as meaning “matte” in Britain and said customers on both sides of the pond had responded well to it as something fun.

But while they have fun with the names, these leading paint companies take it seriously. Valspar for one has created a series of vignettes for their colorists that encourage story telling and they conduct mind-stretching experiences to get their creative juices flowing.

The article didn’t give any sales figures to say whether the new approach was working but it certainly caught the attention of the media and has re-energized the brands. And honestly, determining ROI from this type of merchandising would be hard to determine. These days, there is no quick road to success for customer engagement.

The main lesson to take from this is that it’s always a good idea to update your brand, story and marketing with a fresh, new coat of fun.

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Because the World is not Flat!

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By Liese Gardner

I was half inclined to title this post “How Cool is This?” because that’s what people generally say when they see the latest evolution of projection mapping in action. It certainly was the first thing I thought when I watched a video (located at the end of this post) sent to me from Bart Kresa, projection designer and owner of Bart Kresa Design in Los Angeles.

Kresa has been at the forefront of digital art installations, working in large-scale projection environments for years. As the technology develops, artists like him move with it, sort of like the mapping itself. Last month he premiered a show at InfoComm 2011 in Florida that was created using powerful projectors supplied by Christie, a worldwide leader in digital projection and display technologies.

 

“To do this show,” Kresa says, “I invited artists from Japan, France, Italy, the United States, India and Poland. We wanted to show off the best features of this evolving art form, demonstrating how it can totally transform a space rather than just be a projection on a wall.”

An evolving artform, digital projection has been around for years yet continues to change as technology and artists who want to use more technology in their work, diversify. Today, image projection on building facades is used by lighting directors, projectionists, fine artists, and others. They continue to push its limits, taking the techno-lution to the next level.

In a nutshell, video projection mapping literally “maps” a surface using specialized software so the projected image conforms to any architectural element and contours of a building façade and create a 3D effect.

 

Josh Weisberg, president and COO of Scharff Weisberg, Inc., a New Jersey-based lighting/video/audio firm, published a piece explaining and defining 3D mapping. The difference between 2D and 3D mapping, he writes, is that 3D takes into account the depth, not just placement, of architectural elements so the video literally wraps around the building.

When new effects are debuted, often the first inclination of the artist is to put it to use without considering content. But to Weisberg this new technology actually makes content more important. “Having been involved with a number of façade projections, one of the aspects we’ve noticed is that content projected on building facades carries an additional burden compared to standard video presentations. Because this video content is situational and exists in tandem with the architecture, it must support the context effectively.”

In other words – the images being projected need to show some relation to the building, not rely on the gimmick itself, and have a sense of drama and wit, otherwise, “it’s just a movie displayed on the wall of a building,” Weisberg writes.

“When done correctly projection mapping transforms space without showing any technology,” Kresa says.

I think when you see it, you too will say: “How cool is this?” At the very least, it’s new technology for you to wrap, or rather map, your mind around as you consider its use at events.

 

Projection mapping from Christie on Vimeo.

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It’s About the Work

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By Liese Gardner

If you didn’t have to work, what would you do? I had a friend that used to say he’s too busy making a living to get rich. It’s true that sometimes just taking care of every day business can stunt our creativity and eat up all our time. And so I’m inspired by those people who work even when they don’t have to. Their life’s work is precisely that.

In the last couple of weeks the stories of several people have intersected in my mind and stayed with me. The first was that of Richard LoGuercio, owner of Town & Country Event Rentals in Los Angeles. He built up Classic Party Rentals for 20 years, then sold it. During the five years he couldn’t work in this industy he longed to get back to it. When he did, he opened Town & Country and has proceeded to compete successfully with Classic on a local level.

Richard LoGuercio accepting Hall of Fame Award. Stage by AOO Events. Photo: Brightroom Event Photography

At BizBash West this month, when he received the Hall of Fame Award, Richard imparted advice based on what he’d come to learn about himself during those five years off – “Don’t ever retire. Do what you love until you drop.”

Then last weekend, I read two articles that continued in this same vein. The first was a story in the Los Angeles Times on the “titans of tech” in the Silicon Valley; those people who have come into great wealth through selling their first, and maybe even their second tech start-ups. Yet, their lifestyle has changed very little. Many continue to live in the same apartments and drive the same cars as before and all of them continue to work long hours on their next start up ventures. They donate a lot of money and yet several mentioned that they feel they don’t sacrifice enough.

In fact, on his Facebook page, Mark Zuckerberg has famously cited living a minimalist life and eliminating desire as his goals.

It’s clear that these people are about the work they do, not the money they make.

The very same day in the New York Times I read a story about Alice Walton, the daughter of Sam Walton and heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune. She has spent the past decade of her life developing Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, a world-class museum in the small town of Bentonville, Arkansas where Wal-Mart was founded.

The model of Crystal Bridges, slated to open in September

She told the Times, “For years I’ve been thinking of what we could do as a family to make a difference in this part of the world.” And then for years, she’s been making it happen. But all great work doesn’t exist in a vacuum. “We want to share, we want to borrow, we want to loan, we want to have active partnerships with museums worldwide,” Walton says.

Zuckerberg wants to live minimally and without desire. Alice Walton wants to live to build, create and share great art. Richard LoGuercio wants to live simply for the joy of doing events. These are happy people because they are doing the work they feel they were born to do. What were you born to do? Only you know in your heart. As author Marianne Williamson says, “Maturity includes the recognition that no one is going to see anything in us that we don’t see in ourselves. Stop waiting for a producer. Produce yourself.”

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Book It!

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Design Trend

The more high-tech we get, the more that which is low-tech seems to gain status, or at the very least, our interest. Take books. They have long been used in home interior design, but they are finding their way into commercial and event design.

In the lobby of The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, one of the rotating projections on the columns is a strikingly visual, contempoarary library. And last year, that same back-lighted library projection look found its way into several Hollywood events.

And then there is always the real thing as used by these two interior designers and highlighted in the Spring issue of Angeleno Interiors…

The Wellesbourne in Los Angeles. Owner and co-designer Sophie Huterstein told Angeleno, “I thought the only thing sillier than putting real books in a bar would be putting fake ones there.” She combed flea markets to find vintage titles.       

And at MyStudio, contemporary art books in a library design created by Gulla Jonsdottir are also real and meant to be read.

– Liese

Photos. The Wellesbourne: Elizabeth Daniels; MyStudio: Skott Snider in Angeleno Interiors

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Staying Upright

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Just because you have been doing something for a long time doesn’t mean you are doing it right. It seems that, whatever it is, there is always someone discovering another way to do it better, easier, or with more style. We long to improve and succeed yet so often we get in our own way, unable, or unwilling to change.

For instance, a friend of mine who has been cycling for years was recently insulted when a fellow cycler gave her some really useful tips. She was under the impression that her way was the best because she had been doing it for so long. But while she had been asleep at the wheel (or in this case, the handlebars), others had been challenging themselves, researching new technology and finding new ways to be more productive and efficient in their technique. Ironically, the correction she received was a way to engage her core strength to gain more power.

Creating core strength (in our bodies and our minds) is something we need to work on every day. Everything we do starts at our center and expands outward. But as we change and grow, our center shifts.

Sometimes life can feel like a rocking boat in which we are trying to remain standing.

The desire to remain upright comes naturally. But if we were to examine what it takes, we’d see that creativity, agility and knowing where to shift our weight at any given moment all come into play. So how is a business any different than a person when in that boat?

Every day I talk to people who are rethinking almost everything they have ever know to remain upright in business. Most of them come out better for it. But for every 10 who thrive, there is one who gives up the struggle on that boat and simply waits for the tide to carry it out. They aren’t afraid to fail. They are afraid to succeed.

Success means work, and sometimes, as in the case of my cycling friend, developing new muscles in order to work more effectively. Testing oneself may hurt, but the resulting inner strength is so much more fulfilling than atrophy. As always, there is a Chinese proverb that sums all this up: Failure is not falling down, but refusing to get up.

– Liese

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A Modern-Day Story Teller

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Fueled by: Natasha Chornesky, The Write Shot

By Liese Gardner

Before I even knew Natasha Chornesky as a friend, she sent me a book – The Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne Dyer. We had met through the wedding industry – at a meeting given by the Wedding Industry Professionals Association (WIPA) to be exact.

I was there because some of my clients from the corporate event world were crossing over into weddings. Natasha was there because her company, The WriteShot, produces stunning, four-color coffee table books for a variety of people and reasons, one being the documentation of a wedding, the couple, their life and their love (more about these books in a moment).

Natasha is the kind of person with whom one falls easily and happily into conversation (a trait that makes her very good at what she does) and our conversation that day evolved into a couple phone calls over the following weeks.

We were talking about life patterns and she told me that Dyer’s book was influential for her and that I should take a look at it. I wrote the name down for future reference next time I was in a bookstore. But there was really no need. When I got my mail two days later it was there.

The fact that she got off the phone that day and ordered the book for me was so impressive. Acting on impulse. Making something happen. Reaching out. All traits I deeply admire. It was then that I knew Natasha would be an important person to me.

Certainly her life and the unexpected direction it took is inspiration enough and testimony to all those things.

The year was 2005 and Natasha was at the end of a 15-year career in the independent school system, the last two of which had been spent as a middle school principal. She had gone into it thinking it afforded her time to pursue her passions – writing and photography. Soon her time was consumed with her job. But one day, after years of encouraging students to follow their hearts, she finally took her own advice.

She put everything in storage and, as cliché as it might be, she headed west. Her landing: Las Vegas.

I’ll let Natasha take her story from here …


Once in Vegas I immediately began shooting every day and eventually landed a job shooting a boxing match one Friday night.

I learned early on that as long as I was open to new ideas, good things and good people came my way. Yet it’s not always easy. Something like boxing — it was different. I had spent my lifetime in academia at the most elite level and, ironically it had taken me farther and farther away from the incubation of ideas and creativity; farther away from risk-taking. I had to actively stretch my mind, open it up.

One fight led to another. One night while I was shooting I met Chris Cozzone. He was an award-winning journalist and graphic designer, and a phenomenal mentor. I needed one, as boxing is quite possibly the most difficult event on the planet to shoot.

Chris was the first person who told me that I could do whatever I want in life and that I should follow my passion. I was terrified. He would gently poke fun at me and say (in the voice from a character in the movie Highlander), “Face your fears.”

The very thing I had spent 15 years telling students was something I was not embodying myself.

A Story is Born

Chris also shared a dream of his — to build a storytelling business.

For a big fight, Chris shoots the fighters’ grand arrivals, their workouts, press conferences, the weigh-in, the day before and the main event on Saturday. A wedding, he thought, should be documented the same way.

He often says, “A love story and wedding or union is more important than a sporting event and it should be documented appropriately.”

Our culture encourages us to revere somebody else’s life over our own. We’re constantly enticed to compare ourselves to or peek into the lives of others, especially now with all the so-called reality TV. We’re so consumed by the stories of others that we neglect our own.

That was when we had the idea for WriteShot.

Up until that point, I thought my decision to walk away from a steady six-figure income, not knowing where my next paycheck was coming from, was the single most challenging nanosecond in my life. This was reinforced by the reactions I received when I shared my story with others.

Making such a radical change touches a chord in anyone who has heard the question, “Why don’t you go out on your own?” But hasn’t.

It touches people, especially women, who wish they had the courage to walk away from a professional or personal situation they are currently in. So many of us wonder if we could really “do it” on our own—do it differently—how we know it could be done. Even though we say we are high performers, deep down we know we are underperforming to ourselves. But we chicken out when it comes to change. I was finished with being chicken.

In hindsight that decision was easy compared to hanging out a shingle in a relatively obscure cottage industry — the personal history business. I remember thinking, “Wow, people make a living at this?” My next thought was, “From where will our clients come?”

We had a heck of a time explaining what we do. First of all, we not only wrote, but we shot our clients and handled all the restoration work needed on photos that may be decades old.

With all the time we were spending together on projects, it didn’t take long before our own love story began to unfold.

By the end of 2008, we had all kinds of projects coming in. We wrote books about people’s dogs, the text accompanied by photos. We wrote dedication books for husbands who wanted to give their wives the equivalent of the moon.

It was then that we were beginning to realize the potential in the wedding industry. Absolutely nobody was doing what we did. At that point, we had no way of knowing our wedding books would become the most greatly demanded of all our services/products.

Capturing Versus Creating A Moment

It’s funny, we derive the most business from the event industry, but it is also our toughest sell, because we are most likely the only creative partners on an event team that are capturing, not creating; crafting moments and environments, not following a script, template or following this year’s trends.

Chris and I are storytellers. We don’t create stories. We capture them as they unfold or as they have already unfolded. Every single book we create is rooted in the understanding that it will be enjoyed over and over again by the client, in the present, and the client’s family for generations to come. Every project we take on gives us juice.

The adventure fuels us.

Especially when somebody says, “My story is boring.”

That’s when we know we’re on to something. Fact: nobody has a boring story. Most people just don’t recognize the value in capturing their story. We educate them about that value. That’s when they start to get excited.

The trend in weddings, where we do the bulk of our work, is for photographers to fabricate moments. That’s fantasy storytelling. We don’t do that. There were times when I was tempted to cave into this trend. Chris really helped me avoid this trap. Together, we’ve held strong and even turned down clients and projects that we believed were not a strong fit for WriteShot. In the beginning, this was terrifying.

I’ll take it from here again…

I bring you Natasha’s story because I’m fueled by what she did, what she is doing and who she is.

Story tellers in our society are so rare. It’s not hard to figure out why. One — they are people who actually have a genuine interest in someone else. Two – they have the ability to listen and empathize. Three — they need to be able to see that everyone, not just famous people, has a story worth telling.

Natasha and Chris embody all this and the ability to take all three talents, focus them on a wedding, event, person or pup and then package the story with words and pictures.

And they never stop looking for that one defining moment to complete the book – that one right shot, if you will. Natasha sums it up best (naturally):

“I respect and appreciate the power of language in shaping my reality and that of our business. We are constantly refining our mission and our vision. We’re relentless because we’re pioneers.”

The WriteShot, www.writeshot.com

THE WORK — The following are excerpts from one of TheWriteShot’s wedding books. Just as a biographer would, they spend time with the couple before the wedding, talking and documenting them together. The result is something far more personal than a photo album of shots taken just at the wedding.

  

 

 

The finished products…

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Why I Wash My Own Car

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“When you are washing the dishes, washing the dishes must be the most important thing on your life.”
 -  Thich Nat Hahn

Whenever I do the dishes, or wash my car, or do any other small task, I remember this Buddhist quote. Focusing on what we do brings us fully into the moment turning even the most mundane things into a meditative act. 

But, as I was washing my car this Sunday morning, I thought,  there are other reasons to do it yourself (and I realize that this might be a geo-centric issue living in Los Angeles where most people go to a car wash but it can be applied to any task). For one, it’s about taking responsibility. When we acquire something, we become responsible for its upkeep and longevity. Living a mindful life includes things as much as it does other people, our selves and our spirits.

Plus, in giving up responsibility of our things we lose awareness of them. When I wash my own car I can see if a rubber seal needs replacing, if a tire is getting low on tread or air, or a headlamp casing is becoming foggy from pollution. All these things can be fixed and if caught in time never go on to be bigger things that then cause undue drama. When the small things become the big things, life is out of balance.

I know this might sound mundane or focused on the material aspect of life but let’s face it — we live in a world of things that require upkeep. Our cars are important to get us to work or to that much-needed getaway. Dishes have to be cleaned, beds have to be made. Like the Zen masters say – attend to the small tasks with mindfulness; focus on them as if they are the most important things in your life. Not only will you be living in the moment, but you will also not become victim to circumstances that are actually within your control.

– Liese

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Profile of King Dahl

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Fueled By Structured Chaos

[A continuation of The Original Series]

By Liese Gardner

Although jazz music itself may be hard to define, the one thing that can be agreed upon is that the heart and soul of jazz is improvisation. And in many ways, improvisation is at the heart and soul of event design and production. Certainly King Dahl, executive director of event design at MGM Resorts Events, would say so. In fact, both King and jazz move to a syncopated rhythm that defies all the rules.

The Aria, New Year’s Eve, 2011

“Improvisation is the way I’ve lived my life,” King says. While this evokes the image of someone living in a pinball machine being bounced around by chance, King’s meaning is just the opposite. Because to him, the only way that true improvisation works is through total preparation.

 

Aria NYE 2011 – The Making of an Event from MGM Resorts Events on Vimeo.

 

“To live and work by improvisation means finding freedom through structure,” King says. “I use that in my event design and have a team of people who also understand this and are very good at what they do. Sometimes an event goes exactly the way we envisioned it. Sometimes it doesn’t. When that happens we have to improvise on the spot. And we find it just comes out so much more successfully when we are super prepared.”

When one learns that King is a trained jazz musician, his ability to riff and segue effortlessly into a new direction or rhythm all begins to make sense.

“You can tell when someone knows what they are doing and can mix color and texture, and you can tell when they don’t,” he says. “It’s the same with music. The musicians who understand scale and harmony in the most advanced ways are the best free jazz players.”

King DahlKing, which is short for Kingsley, attended Berkeley College of Music in Boston. He learned structure and foundation by day and at night he learned how to improvise by playing to live audiences. After college he moved to Los Angeles at the invitation of his brother, Curtis Dahl, of Curtis Dahl Photography. “After a little while, I realized it was not going to be easy making money at jazz,” King says.

To earn money he had been working for Cheryl Fish at her company, It’s The Main Event. “After about six months I went to Cheryl and said ‘I love this industry and the bass is going in the case.’ I was deep into my music but I knew to become just as good at event design I had to focus and dedicate myself. My goal then was to become a world-class event designer.”

Walking a Jagged Line

When Cheryl Fish sold It’s the Main Event and went to MGM Resorts Events in Las Vegas to produce events, King began his own company, King Dahl Event Design. Ironically, he would follow Cheryl’s footsteps to MGM Resorts Events, selling King Dahl Event Design to Carol Matteson. But the decision to sell and go corporate was not an easy one. For someone used to their own rhythm, having to fit into someone else’s, especially a huge corporation with 65,000 employees, was daunting.

“You need to get comfortable being uncomfortable. And to grow, I had to get uncomfortable,” King says.

“These three companies have been major segments in my life and all lasted a good amount of time,” he continues. “Each one was a wonderful experience, but I have not tried to duplicate what I had at the previous position. I’ve tried to evolve artistically and professionally with each new endeavor.”

Aria, Reveal, 2011. Highlights include 800+ linear feet of custom-created immersive video content from 36 projectors; 200 tables with custom designed linen, and a rotating center stage. Custom, digitally imprinted chair covers at Aria Reveal.

And MGM Resorts Events, being a completely different instrument in the band, gave King much to learn. “A lot of what this corporation excels at with regard to managing and developing employees is something that could help small business owners. Ultimately, the event industry has many incredibly talented people, but they are not always the most financially successful people due to their devotion to the craft. But that balance between fiscal responsibility, professionalism, and creativity has never been more important.”

Aria Resort and Casino “Reveal” – 2010 from MGM Resorts Events on Vimeo.

 

King actually underwent serious executive development training to understand the business of business. “I learned so much about leadership, how to get the most from your team and how to face the harsh realities when they occur and confront them.”

“Creative people like to be creative. It can be difficult to deal with brutal realities one minute, and then design something fantastic the next. We tend to shy away from confrontation; that’s what can bring so many companies down in the end.”

Through the security of the corporate world, King was given a large stage on which to perform and the tune is sweet. One needs only to look at the photos and videos of the events he and his event design and production team have produced to know that creativity is the cornerstone of events done under the MGM Resorts Events name.

What fuels King Dahl today?

Driven toward freedom of expression in all its forms, King has begun speaking to more groups than ever before. And in regards of his need for improvisation, he is fueled by new challenges. “I’ve been doing large appreciation events for our customers in Asia,” he says. “The fact that I’m working with 800-person events, in a different countries throughout the world, makes it all a challenge.”

 The Power of Love held at the Bellagio Resorts and produced by MGM Resorts Events was an annual charity fundraiser. The Keep Memory Alive Foundation raised upwards of $20 million at this gala. Exquisite dishes were prepared by Wolfgang Puck and Thomas Keller, Entertainment Plus performed lead-in numbers to Barry Manilow. Linen and custom printed chair covers were provided by Nuage.

Yet, like most artists, King is driven not by something external but internal. “I learned early on from music that what people think is not your business. It’s not about worrying what is commercially viable but about expressing yourself through an art form. Now, my art form is events and I give clients what I want as long as it achieves their objectives.”

The Power of LOVE from MGM Resorts Events on Vimeo.

 

From that note, King finds the refrain for his life: “I try to live by doing the right things and avoid doing the wrong things.” A subtle distinction that could be made only by a man who follows the syncopated rhythm of life and clearly sees a beautiful structure within its chaos.

For more on King Dahl and the work he produces with his amazing team at MGM Resorts Events, please visit the company’s website, it’s blog and Facebook page.

 

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Go Fish!

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 By Liese Gardner

 

The table was beautiful. Long, all-white, with a line of coral, tubes of white stone, Flowers sculpted to represent exotic sea flora, and … was that a goldfish?

 

 

This particular table from Rrivre Davies of Rrivreworks was built with an inset for water down the middle. Usually flowers or candles are floated on it. But in this case, floral design Gina Kim-Park and her associate designer, Daisy Kang, from Mille Fiori, were inspired to bring the table to life, literally. With the addition of a glass top for the inset, it was a perfect and beautiful temporary home for goldfish during a WIPA wedding luncheon. 

From the photos, it would appear that Gina just added several fish, but that wasn’t the case at all. “They all clustered under the coral,” she says. “I thought if we added more that the lack of space would make them head for the open areas.” Oddly, the more she added, the more they hid. Except for the brave one or two (Jonathan Livingston Goldfish?) the majority remained huddled together where they felt safe and unseen.

 

To be fair to the fish, it was a gorgeous hiding place. Gina used only one type of flower — green cymbidium orchids — to create this look. The green petals became to oceanic orbs while the middle of the flower was strung together to create the sea anemones.

Yet, the reaction of the fish to open water reminded me of something I noticed while on a road trip that took me across states known for their wide open expanses. After miles of nothing, suddenly a small outcropping of houses would appear beneath huge, beautiful rock formations. The buildings were designed for basic shelter — simple, squat, square, and built very close, if not literally on top, of one another while land spread out around them.

Perhaps it’s survival instinct. Facing open waters alone, as the goldfish know, heightens the danger of being caught. There is safety in numbers. Although we aren’t fish, “open waters” can be just as scary for us. Being different, standing apart, allowing inspiration to guide us rather than group think … it’s not something many people want, let alone seek. But we’ve all seen what can happen when people do and it’s interesting that it doesn’t inspire more people to do the same.

  

Let’s head for open waters. Away from what is known and in search of The More. More beauty. More energy. More compassion. More enlightenment. More glory. What awaits us out there is Self and while it might not be what — or who — you expect to find, neither will it be life-threatening or frightening while remaining under the coral, crowded and staring at other, scared fish, just might be. So go. Go, fish!

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