Diamond Mike Watson's Blog, page 3

To Adoptees- Enjoy the Ride of your Journey

For the first 32 years of my life I was an only child. There was no one I ever met that shared my eyes or nose or skin color. Events like my birthday or Mother’s Day always made me wonder where I came from and who was the mystery woman who gave birth to me.

By the next half of my life I found my bio parents (although already long gone) and seven siblings!

Although the road was bumpy, I am thankful for my exhilarating quest. I am thankful for the virtue of perseverance and positive intention, the encouragement of my adoptive mother, the comforting shoulder of Carmen, and the Fabulous Five.

To adoptees like me: Whatever you find at the end of your long journey- be thankful for the ride that took you there, and find joy in all things. I hope you find what we are all entitled to- our roots.

The Belt

Walking briskly on the sidewalks of Los Angeles a man wearing shabby clothes hobbled passed me.  Our eyes never met as he gazed straight ahead with determination.  Although it appeared he was wearing a belt he was struggling to hold up his pants.  Either his belt was broken or the waistline of his garment was way too large.  

I could have given him my belt.  I have plenty of belts.  Probably way more than I need.  We probably wore the same size.  My pants fit fine.  I didn’t even need a belt.  I turned and saw him stumbling further in the distance.  I felt a rush to run back and offer my belt.  But I didn’t.  I just stood in the middle of the bustling sidewalk like a fool as the scruffy man disappeared around a corner. 

I do not know the moral of this story or the lesson to be learned.   But I feel ashamed.  Unlike beggars that hold signs or empty cups to be filled, this man seemed perfectly content. 

If I reread this many years from now I’m sure I’ll realize I missed the chance to alter the universe in a positive way.  Instead, I gawked at a human in need as I kept checking the time on my gold watch. 

And writing this post doesn’t make things better.  This moment in time will never repeat itself and I will never see him again.

Oh, well.  Gotta move on.  Time is money, they say.   Must return to the 10th floor to make sure my customer’s two-carat diamond is being set with exquisite perfection.

Please Get Vaccinated

In 1985 I was transferred from Indiana to Kansas to manage a jewelry store.   The morale was low and many of the old-timers were grouchy.  So it made sense when many complained the following year about the new seatbelt law.  On January 1, 1986, many drivers in the US would have to attach their seatbelts. (Most cars have been equipped with seatbelts since 1968 but no one was required to wear them.)

I’ll never forget how two of the old men said they would defy the law because the government would never control them and said being forced to wear seatbelts took away their freedom. 

The law did not protect other drivers but it certainly reduced injuries and deaths of all drivers and passengers who wore the belts. 

For over a year, we have lived the roller coaster of sporadic mask mandates for the prevention of spreading a deadly virus.   The difference here, unlike the seatbelt, is that these mandates are less selfish for they are mainly designed to protect others instead of oneself. 

Like the seatbelt and the mask, mankind has devised a way to minimize the hostile living conditions that we are usually responsible for. 

Today, with world teamwork, we have devised a vaccine to combat our new enemy.  Joyously, the vaccine is safe and highly effective.  It has been successful in virtually eliminating the possibility of severe illness and death-

for the vaccinated. 

For the unvaccinated, the virus happily makes us sick and die.  It is a raging pandemic.  And, like the seatbelt, there is a selfish quality to the vaccine- it protects the user.  The person who suffers and dies is the unvaccinated.  I continue to wear a mask to protect you, but finally there is something that protects me. 

I want to once again live in a world where we can freely breathe without covering our faces. It is now second nature to click our seatbelts and to make sure our passengers are safe and secure. I am happy to live in a country that cares about my well-being. 

We’ve come a long way.  Let’s put this virus behind us.  Please get vaccinated now. 

Is God Inside or Outside Us?

My birthmother had a Christian upbringing. My birthfather was a Sephardic Jew. His father was a rabbi from Aleppo. I never met my birthmother or father. Although their acquaintance was probably brief, I wonder if they ever realized the holy books of their religions included the first five books of the Bible.

And here I am as the offspring between these two great religions.

I am so lucky to have experienced the life as an adoptee from loving parents who encouraged me to grow in wisdom by searching deep within myself.

Perhaps God is not just over here or up there.
Perhaps God is not confined inside a church, a mosque, or a synagogue.
Perhaps God is everywhere at the same time.
Perhaps God is both inside us and outside us.
After all, we are all born from the stars.

One Tree at a Time

Recently I posted about a tree I was trying to save from being chopped down.  A lady from Norway replied in disbelief, wondering why I was concerned over one tree.   I first thought she was being insensitive.  However, she posted a barren photo of the mountains where she lived, saying that the price of timber was high in her country and there were no rules to protect their forests.  Lumber trucks whizzed by her house every day.   In her photo, there was not a single tree left in view.  She said there was no more life, and her family could no longer pick fresh mushrooms. 

Her reply made me pause to reflect on the greediness of humans, a specie that I am sometimes ashamed to be a part of. I was concerned about one pine, which I helped save from the teeth of a chainsaw.  But what about the thousands of trees in our world that have no one to fight for them?

It is difficult to comprehend a million stars, a million Covid-related deaths, or a million trees that were removed from a forest. But we can relate to our personal sun star, or a favorite aunt who died from Covid. 

That is why I focus on one tree at a time.

A previous post, My Name is Apollo, touched many and annoyed others. The story calls out our wrongdoings. And although we cannot change the past we CAN influence others to be more responsible with the gift of trees that are given to us. 

Photo of my old friend, Jasmine, who I continue to miss every time I stroll around the pond at Brookhollow Business Park in Santa Ana, CA. 

Born from the Stars

Today I paused to print my family tree that was painstakingly assembled with the help of the most amazing women researchers who became my friends.  

As an adoptee who never met my birth parents, I always wondered how I got here.  Today I feel complete in knowing I arrived on planet Earth from the human race, from people who were probably no different than those alive today.  For thousands of years we have built and destroyed, nurtured and killed, helped and harmed.  We have had the same worries and concerns. 

I feel no conflict in knowing that my maternal roots were Gentile and my paternal grandfather was a renown rabbi.  Or that one parent was American and the other was from Aleppo, Syria.  I am not torn between choosing any religion, what god I should worship, or what holy book I should read. Although our culture shapes us, we must look inside ourselves to realize that humans are incredibly alike.  

We are all born from the stars.

The Truth Bridge

I talked to an old friend for the first time since I was a young teen. He was black and lived on an adjacent street. I used to sit behind him on his bike with the banana seat as we pedaled to the corner store for a bag of chips and a soda. I was probably one the first white boys in my mostly Methodist town to sport a full Afro and my friend taught me to carry a giant comb to keep my hair huge and fluffy like his.

As we spoke of old acquaintances, he told me Tommy died at 42 from an overdose, another friend drank himself to death, and Gary shot himself. He also told me I used to read the Bible a lot and one time I placed my schoolbooks across a railroad track and explained that the books represented a bridge. Apparently I told him the only way to cross the bridge was through Jesus.

He told me he remembered my “parable” throughout his life and it saved him from the same fate as our friends.

Although my search for truth has taken many turns since childhood, I do remember that moment on the train tracks. The lesson to be learned is that whatever you do or say now can have such a lasting impact on someone’s life.

That is profound.

Are we real?

Sometimes it takes the small talk of a friend to open up the door of our minds.

It was 30 years ago when I went to one of my jewelers to pick up a new creation.

“Hello. How are you?,” I always began.

“Oh, I’m great,” was always the answer.

After some chit chat the jeweler glanced up towards the ceiling, down to the floor, left, right, and then replied with a chuckle, “What is this?”

“You mean your office?” I asked.

“No. You know….life. What is life? Is this real? The jeweler peered around again and continued, “Are we real?”

I tried not to roll my eyes in front of the thoughtful man and finally replied, “I’m not sure.”

“Do you ever wonder of things like that, Mike?”he asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “But I try to focus on taking care of jewelry customers.” I tried to be sincere. I do hope it came out that way.

The jeweler eventually disappeared and I never saw him again. But since that enchanting morning in 1991, I have asked myself that question every day since. Is this real? Am I real? After all, we all live on a tiny planet, in a tiny solar system, in a tiny galaxy, in a tiny universe. Are we too small to be real?

The Eight Promises Pendant

By founder Diamond Mike Watson.

Starshine  pendant. 

I created the Eight Promises pendant for a user to summon any positive virtue.  Forged in precious metal, the Eight Promises renders its power with positive thought. 

The inspiration of the design came from a sketch my adoptive mother, Martha, drew when he I was a child.  She admitted stumbling onto the pattern years before as she was doodling with pencil and paper.  She made a square graph of dots and connected them into the shape of a stylized cross.  Martha then embellished the negative spaces. 

The contour shone with beautiful symmetry and invincibility. 

Martha prepared another graph and taught the skill to me, her only adopted child.  The result was a magical eight-armed symbol that forever sparked my imagination. 

In my hometown in Indiana, I delivered repairs for a small jeweler at age 17 and became a diamond merchant at age 22.  At 23 I began jewelry design. 

Throughout the years, I found myself scrawling the image.  Because of my love for my mother, I associated all goodness within this enchanting symbol.  

During the following years, a deeper meaning arose from the drawing.  Since ancient times, humans have been fascinated with the virtual indestructibility of a diamond, which in its natural state grows for hundreds of millions of years into an eight-sided crystal called an octahedron. Being in the diamond business, it was easy for me to compare the mesmerizing eight arms to the faces of a fine rough diamond. 

I divided the components of the symbol into the virtues my mother taught me as a child. 

Each arm represents a virtue, or a promise that the owner agrees to keep.  The center of the pendant represents the source of all virtues- love, in which I believe all virtues stemmed. 

Watson’s illustration of his mother’s original sketch.

The Eight Promises:

I am kind. I am thankful. I am giving. I am brave. I am forgiving. I am joy. I am aware. I know. 

Other than the virtue of love, I could never arrange any virtue by importance because a virtue may be needed more at different times in one’s life.   Since I was rarely satisfied in the concept of ultimate truth, I loosely defined it.  I believed truth was a concept that was personal and relevant only to the individual.  This is easy to understand when comparing persons who are born from different parts of the globe and into different conditions and circumstances.  Because individual truth is important the virtue is blended into the higher levels of the pendant. 

In general, the promises of the pendant become more abstract as one moves clockwise around its arms.  The first promises stem from our basic principles to get along with others.  The last two arms are deeper in concept. 

In choosing the virtues, I used those which I felt had the broadest meaning.  Sometimes a virtue seems to stand alone and sometimes it may accompany another. 

For example, a person may need courage (bravery) to be honest and truthful.  If this is true, the virtues of courage, honesty, and truthfulness can share a single arm. 

Hearts and Angels  Pendant shown with garnet. 

However, being thankful may not mean one is generous.  Also, a person who is aware may not be kind.  Since these are unrelated virtues they must be found on separate arms. 

The difference between I am Aware and I Know. 

At first it may be difficult to understand the difference between the seventh and eighth arms of the pendant. 

Although the words “aware” and “know” are many times used interchangeably in conversation, the Eight Promises gives clarity to their individual meanings. 

Aware is an adjective.  When you are aware you are a spectator. 

To be aware means to be conscious or mindful of objects, thoughts and emotions.  It does not necessarily mean one has a deep understanding. 

Know is a verb meaning to confess as true.  It comes from the word knowledge and refers to in-depth understanding. 

This word allows us to take action based on our perception of truth. 

I am aware and I know are the last arms of the Eight Promises in which I wove my concept of personal truth. 

How the pendant was named. 

Since the pendant had eight sides I called it an Octalet.  “Octa” in Latin means eight and “let” comes from the word amulet. 

Because I knew it would aid the user before going to sleep I also called it a Dreamlet and a Dream Maker.  After the first draft was cast in silver I realized it was more of a talisman, which is an object that attracts positivity.  

Whatever name one gives to the pendant, it must be known that without positive thoughts the Eight Promises is powerless. 

A “Living” Talisman

The Eight Promises mirrors the needs of its owner. 

Because I understood virtues could be interpreted in different ways throughout one’s life, I stressed not to cling tightly to any definition.  Throughout my own life I have assigned different levels of importance to each promise. 

Moon Glow  pendant.

The promises assigned to each arm may not contain the one needed for every moment.  Therefore, the Eight Promises should be considered a “living” talisman which can be transformed at any moment to benefit the needs of the user. 

It must be known that each of the eight promises reflect my personal philosophy at the time of this writing.   Since I believed that one person’s truth may not be another’s, I also  believed any definition may change or become more or less significant throughout time. Therefore, the user is encouraged to modify any promise to reflect their present understanding of their life’s purpose. 

Love.  (The source of all virtues.)

Love is the center of the Dream Maker.  It is the origin of all virtues.  Knowing we are loved shapes us into who we are.  Only when we know we are loved can we love ourselves.  When we love ourselves, it is easy to love others. When we love others, our world becomes our beautiful home.

The Eight Promises from top right:

1. I am Kind.   I care about the well-being of others.  I treat others as I would like them to treat myself. 

2.  I am Thankful.  I have immense gratitude and appreciation for all things.  I am thankful for my dwelling, my body, my food, my senses, and all those who add richness to my life.  I am thankful even for my perceived suffering and shortcomings which strengthen my character. 

3.   I am Giving.  I give cheerfully and abundantly without expecting anything in return.  My smile or a kind word can be one of the greatest gifts to another.  

I give back to our earth by being careful with the gifts it gives to me.  It is not what I have but what I give that is important.  I  give more than I take. 

4.  I am Brave.  I live without fear.  I grow in wisdom and understanding every day.  I wake with the excitement in being the master of my reality.  I gain courage when I realize the world is a realm of unexplored wonder. 

I  make my bed, have confidence in my abilities, shake off my anxiety, get freshened up and take the first step.  The world needs me today.

5. I am Forgiving. I forgive others and even those who do not ask for forgiveness.  When I ask for forgiveness it is sincere and comes from my heart. 

6.  I am Joy.  I find joy in all things.  I am peaceful without worry.

Joy does not come only from an experience but from how I react to that experience.  It does not come only from what surrounds me but from what is within me. 

Joy comes from my response to the morning starshine on my face, the fragrance of a flower, and the embrace of someone I love.  Joy comes from my response to a rainbow, the laughter with friends, the patter of rain, and the calm darkness of night. 

Joy comes from thoughts of love I hold in my heart.

7.  I am Aware.  I am conscious of the present moment- the here and now.  It is here I hold our galaxy with its family of stars in my mind while being aware I am the integral spark within it.  

Star Guide pendant.

I am aware I am the author of the book of my life. 

I am aware the moon may evoke wonder to one person and loneliness in another.  We each experience life differently.  My truth may not be another’s truth.

8. I Know. I know I am loved.  I know I am awesome.  I know I am a living masterpiece. 

I know the amazing thing about every day is I create it along the way. 

I know my words and thoughts have the power to encourage, inspire and heal.

I know life will give me every success with perseverance and good intention.  I know I can accomplish anything through the door of unlimited possibilities and boundless imagination. 

As I wake each morning, that page of my life is blank. Although my past has already been written, I know I can write each succeeding page with whatever I desire.

It is here I Fly Up. 

How to use the pendant.

The Eight Promises can be used anytime yet the best time is when one can dedicate a quiet moment of reflection or before falling asleep. 

Some believe dreams hold the power to solve perceived problems in waking life.  By carrying positive thoughts into one’s dreams, one may awaken with renewed purpose.  Using the Eight Promises at night is a wonderful way to fall asleep.

One should first memorize each arm.  It is a good idea to read through the definitions of each virtue, feeling free to add or modify a thought beside a particular promise that has a current or special meaning to the user. 

The Unforgettable Acronym

The first letter of each of the eight promises is KTGBFJAK.  An unforgettable way to memorize these letters is to read the following acronym:  

Moon Glow pendant.

Kangaroos That Grow Big Feet Jump And Kick. 

Now that this acronym should forever remain in the reader’s brain, one simply needs to align each letter with the corresponding promise. 

Before sleeping, one may simply think about or touch the promise of Kindness on the top right arm.  Then one can move clockwise around the pendant with your thoughts or by touching the metal, silently repeating the name of each virtue while giving deep thought to its meaning.  One may think of each arm as a portal or a door to understanding each virtue. The user may spend as much or as little time contemplating each promise and how it is currently relevant in one’s life.

An easy way to use the Eight Promises is to simply trace your finger along each arm and silently repeat each promise:

I am kind. 

I am thankful.

I am giving.

I am brave.

I am forgiving.

I am joy.

I am aware.

Back side of the  Starshine  pendant showing Diamond Mike hallmark.

I know.

Other Virtues

Following is a list of other virtues that may be needed in one’s life.  Depending on what virtue the user is seeking, any of these can be assigned to one of the arms:

Docility: Willingness to be taught, to learn, and to grow.  Being open to new ideas and gaining knowledge. Good counsel: Seeking advice from a reasonable person one can trust to have our best interest at heart. Good judgment: Thinking rightly about a decision. Greatness: Seeking to accomplish excellent and superb feats that will benefit ourselves and others. Humility: Freedom from pride or arrogance.  Being humble. Leadership. To have a commanding authority or influence. Meekness: Being modest, humble. Having a serenity of spirit while focusing on the needs of others. Moderation. To avoid extremes of behavior or expression. To observe reasonable limits. Patience: The ability to accept delay or suffering without getting upset. Perseverance: The continued effort to achieve something despite difficulties or failure. To overcome the temptation to quit.Respect: Recognizing the worth and dignity of others. Responsibility: Fulfilling one’s duties and accepting the consequences of one’s words and actions. Self-control: Restraint over one’s impulses, emotions, or desires. Sincerity: Trustfulness and honesty in words and actions. Tolerance: Allowing others to have opinions that are different from ours. Wisdom:  The ability to determine right from wrong.  Hearts and Angels pendant shown with amethyst.

—————

Eight Promises for Kids. 

The Eight Promises is a great gift for kids and young adults to remember good virtues throughout their lives. It provides a precious moment for parent and child communication.  Words can have different meanings depending how they are spoken or read.  Depending on the age of the child, a parent may discuss a single virtue or all of them. 

Following is an abbreviated version of the Eight Promises that kids can understand. 

1.  I am Kind.  This is caring.  It is treating others as you would like them to treat yourself. 

2.  I am Thankful. This is the appreciation of everything.  We can be thankful for our home, our food, our mother and father and everyone we love. 

3.  I am Giving.  Giving and sharing with our family and friends.  Sometimes even our smile can be a great gift to someone. 

4.  I am Brave. This is having courage. It is standing up for yourself and for others.  Being truthful is also being brave. 

Courage is waking up being excited about a brand new day.  We must make our bed and believe in ourselves.  The world needs us today.

5.  I am Forgiving.  When we hurt others we must say we are sorry. We must forgive at all times and when we say we are sorry it must come from our heart. 

6.  I am Joy.  Happiness. This comes from thoughts of love in our hearts.  Joy can come from everywhere- from laughter, sunshine, the patter of rain, our friends, or from the hug of our mother or father. 

7.  I am Aware.  In this very moment we are important in the world.  We are aware sometimes the moon may make one person happy and the other person lonely.  We each see life differently. 

8.  I Know.  We know we are loved.  We know life will give us anything with good thoughts.  We know the amazing thing about every day is we create it along the way.  We know everything is possible with our imagination. 

————

The Eight Promises is a beautiful piece of jewelry that can be worn everyday, to be admired, and to remember the giver.  However, my hope is to also offer a new path to experience life to the fullest, to brighten the spark that we each contain, and to become a better person.  This, in turn, makes the world a better place to call home. 

Eight Promises is now available in an array of designs as a special order in 14K yellow gold, white gold, or in sterling silver.  

_________

The Dream Maker Talisman

The DreamMaker is a jewelry talisman I conceived to summon any positive virtue. Forged in precious metal, the DreamMaker renders its power with positive thought and intention.

Dream Maker Talisman

The inspiration of the design came from a sketch my adoptive mother, Martha, drew when I was a child. My mother made a square graph with 36 dots, then connected the dots into the shape of a stylized, symmetrical cross. Then she embellished the negative spaces of the quadrants with a simple swirl. The magical contour of the cross gave the aura of invincibility.

She prepared another paper with 36 dots and taught the skill to her only son. The result was a magical eight-armed symbol that forever sparked my imagination.

I began in the jewelry business at age 17 and became a diamond merchant at age 22. At 23 I began jewelry design.

Throughout the years, I found himself doodling the drawing and inconspicuously published my mothers creation in my book, Tales of Imagination – Everything is Real. Because of my love for his mother, I associated all goodness in this enchanting symbol.

During the years that followed, a deeper meaning arose from the drawing.

Since ancient times, humans have been fascinated with the virtual indestructibility of a diamond, which in its natural state grows for millions of years into an eight-sided crystal. Likewise, I thought, the DreamMaker must contain eight arms. I divided the components of the symbol into the virtues my mother taught me as a child. To be worn, I knew any sharp edges would have to be softened or framed.

Each arm represents a virtue. There are four similar objects arranged as a cross and four other objects arranged as an X. The center of the DreamMaker represents unconditional love, in which I believed all virtues stem.

The eight virtues that form the DreamMaker represent (from top right going clockwise)

kindness, thankfulness, courage, forgiveness, giving, joy, awareness, and knowing.

Other than the virtue of love, I could never arrange any virtue by importance because a virtue may be needed more at different times in one’s life. The virtues established may not contain the one needed for every moment. Therefore, the DreamMaker should be considered a “living” talisman, which can be transformed at any moment to benefit the needs of the user.

A definition of each virtue is as follows:

Love.

Knowing we are loved shapes us into who we are. It is the greatest virtue in which all other virtues stem.

The Eight Virtues:

1. Kindness. This includes caring, compassion and empathy. This represents treating others as you would like them to treat yourself.

2. Thankfulness. This is the immense appreciation of everything that surrounds us. We can be thankful for our senses, our limbs, all living things, and all those who are significant in our lives. We can be thankful even for our perceived shortcomings.

3. Courage. Bravery. Living without fear. This includes standing up for one’s principles and for the well-being of others. Honesty and trust are also acts of courage.

4. Forgiveness for misgivings. This means forgiving at all times and forgiving those who do not ask for forgiveness.

5. Giving. Generosity. We can give money, we can give our time, and we can provide needs for others. We can give warm smiles and pleasant memories. We can give back to our earth by being frugal with its precious and finite fruits. It is not what we have but what we give that is important. We must give more than we take.

6. Joy. Real joy comes from the thoughts of love we hold in our hearts. This can be found through humor, laughter, and happiness through those who add richness and fullness in our lives. On this arm of the DreamMaker one may inhale with thoughts of joy and exhale with a smile.

7. Awareness. Consciousness of the present moment. This includes holding the entire universe with all its galaxies in the center of our minds. We are aware a star can evoke joy to one and loneliness in another. On this arm of the DreamMaker we understand we each experience life differently. Our truth may not be another’s truth.

8. Knowing. Believing in ones awesomeness and uniqueness. We know that we are loved. We know our value, self-worth, and that life will give us anything with good intention. We know we can accomplish anything with unlimited possibilities and boundless imagination. It is here we can Fly Up®, which I define as the highest level of human needs, named Fully Live Your Unlimited Potential.

How to use the DreamMaker.

Although the DreamMaker can be used throughout the day, some feel the best time is in the night time before falling asleep.

Some believe dreams hold the power to solve perceived problems by giving solutions in waking life. By carrying the thoughts of positive virtues into one’s dreams, one may awaken with renewed purpose. Using the DreamMaker at night is a wonderful way to fall asleep.

With little effort, one can memorize the eight virtues and where they appear on the DreamMaker. Before sleeping, one may simply think about or touch the virtue of Kindness on the top right arm. Then move clockwise around the Dreamlet with your thoughts or by touching the metal, silently repeating the name of each virtue while giving deep thought to its meaning. The user may spend as much or as little time contemplating the virtue of each arm and how it is currently relevant in ones life.