Travis Hellstrom's Blog, page 7

What If You Were Me and What If I Were You

Threw a line out to pull you to me.

If you don’t get it, then you don’t get it.

You made your mind up before you knew me.

If you don’t get it, then you don’t get it.

Take my hand for a minute.

We’re in it – imagine all the pain that might be forgiven.

What if I had your heart?

What if you wore my scars?

How would we break down?

What if you were me and what if I were you?

What if you told my lies?

What if I cried with your eyes?

Could anyone keep us down?

What if you were me? What if I were you?

Had a dream of a new tomorrow.

If you don’t get it, then you don’t get it.

I took a step hoping you might follow.

If you don’t get it, then you don’t get it.

Take a chance for a minute. Jump in it.

Imagine if you asked yourself for a minute:

What if I had your heart?

What if you wore my scars?

How would we break down?

What if you were me and what if I were you?

What if you told my lies?

What if I cried with your eyes?

Could anyone keep us down?

What if you were me? And what if I were you?

To the ones who make it better,

find to get out, gotta touch the other side.

What if all that it took to save our lives together was to wise up.

What if I had your heart?

What if you wore my scars?

How would we break down (break down)?

And what if I were you?

What if I told your lies?

What if you cried with my eyes?

Could anyone keep us down?

What if you were me? What if I were you?

What if your hand was my hand?

Could you hold on or let go?

What if your life was my life?

Can you love what we don’t know?

What if your hand was my hand?

Could we hold on or let go?

What if your life was my life?

And what if I were you?

 

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Sometimes I find a song and listen to it on repeat for about 10 or 20 times. The lyrics make me shiver a little and get goosebumps. When I find songs like that, I want to share them here with you.
This is one of those songs. What If by Five for Fighting.
If you’d like to listen, check it out here.

 

 

How Tunga Changed My Life (Spoken)

I’m playing with the idea of recording Enough as an audiobook and thought it would be fun to start with this chapter about my wife Tunga.

You can listen below, on soundcloud and also read the chapter here.

 

 

 

Thank you Mozart for the inspiration to record this!

You Can’t Lead People Unless You Love People

You can’t lead people unless you love people.

You can’t save people unless you serve people.

- Tavis Smiley

I really enjoyed this interview today with Jon Stewart asking Tavis Smiley about his new book The Death of a King: The Real Story of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year.

In it he says this,

Whatever happened to the notion of love in our public discourse? And that is not a laughable concept. King put love in the center of the public square. Gandhi put love in the public square. Bobby Kennedy put love in the public square… Let me ask you this. Can you name 3 people in leadership in this country who you believe love you enough to die for you?

Pretty deep topic for the Daily Show! And it was recorded on September 11th no less, 13 years after the day that changed that date forever.

Tavis’s comments remind me of one of my favorite quotes from Gandhi, “There are many causes I would die for. There is not a single cause I would kill for.”

I love what Tavis is pointing at and the reason he wrote his book. He says in the interview that he doesn’t want us to remember King as a black man or a martyr. He wants us to remember him as the kind of leader that all of us can be, a leader who speaks the truth and works to make the world better for everyone. He led with love and we can lead with love.

I couldn’t agree with Tavis more. Serving is the only way to save others (and ourselves for that matter).

And the only leaders I admire, the ones with pictures up on my wall, are the ones that truly love others.

That’s the kind of leader I hope to be.

The Invitation

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, ‘Yes.’

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

 

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I was inspired by Mozart to share and record this poem after he opened his incredible class with it. Thank you for the inspiration Mo!
If this poem speaks to you and you want to record yourself reading it, just go to Soundcloud and make a recording. It’s that simple.
When you do record it, please share. I’d love to hear your take on it!

How to Destroy Writer’s Block

Whether you’re a writer or not, we have all felt a lack of creativity or inability to focus and get something done.

As a writer, I know there are times when I feel inspired and writing comes easily. I can write pages in what feels like no time at all. Other times I can spend 30 minutes and only get a sentence or two. It’s crazy!

This weekend I watched a 30 minute class by Mozart Guerrier called How to Destroy Writer’s Block and it was fantastic!

Mozart is a good friend (you may remember him from his awesome Everyday Humanitarians interview this summer) and I think the advice he shares is amazing.

Here are his 10 Big Ideas briefly, including many I hadn’t thought of before:

Inner Writers’ Script – we all have voices in our head, rewrite your script and make it positive
Accept the Help – before you take in more information (books, blog posts, etc) act on the help you’ve already received
You Deserve a Three Minute Experiment – write for 3 minutes at a time, that’s all – just get started
Community = Life – all great writers don’t just do it alone, they have communities of support – find yours
Going Deeper with Quality Music + Books – you get out what you put in – find work you adore and consume it again and again
Embracing Distraction – don’t be ashamed, leverage what you love and make it into something great
The *Body* is Bigger than the Brain – start with breathing (4 seconds in, 6 seconds out), talk a walk, take care of yourself
Speak It Out, Yo – ever had talker’s block? Of course not. Write how you talk, record yourself – it works wonders.
Chunking and God’s Business – focus on the why, not the what
3 Magic Questions – Ask these questions to characters in your story: Have you ever been accused of something you didn’t do? Do you know the circumstances of your birth? Have you ever almost died?

Thanks for teaching a great class Mozart, I look forward to seeing what you come up with next!

To learn more, check out Mozart’s class.

Here’s to ending writer’s block!

 

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I was so inspired by Mozart’s opening to the class with his reading of The Invitation that I decided to do my own!
On Friday I’ll share my recording with you as well as a copy of the poem. Check back or subscribe to see it then!

The Happiness of Pursuit

 

I’m very happy to say that I received an advanced copy of Chris Guillebeau’s book, The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life, which launched today in bookstores around the country and I love it! I’ve included my brief video review below.

I’ve been a long-time admirer of Chris and had a chance to sit down with him to ask a few questions about his new book. Thank you Chris for taking the time to share some of your thoughts with us and for writing a really fantastic book.

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What inspired you to write this awesome book?

Well, first I spent 10 years visiting every country in the world. After that, I felt like I had a story to tell.

 

What was your favorite part of writing it?

Learning that I wasn’t alone in questing. At first I heard stories of other travelers pursuing travel-related quests, but then I began to see that there were all kinds of other quests, too. It was great to see how people had applied the concepts of pursuing a big adventure in their own way.

 

What is a quest? Is it just a long trip or athletic pursuit?

A quest has a few specific characteristics: a clear goal, a real challenge, and a set of milestones along the way. Interestingly, while a quest is often an extended physical journey—like visiting every country in the world or circumnavigating the oceans in a small sailboat—there are many other kinds of quests as well. Over several years of research, I met activists, academics, artists, and others who chose to spend long amounts of time on something that mattered to them. I was interested in why they undertook such a mission, and what happened to them as they drew closer to their goal.

 

How do questers decide on what to pursue and what to avoid?

If you’re going to pursue a quest, you should choose something you’re really excited about. My quest was to visit every country in the world, mostly because I loved travel and enjoyed combining it with the structure of goal-setting. Others focus on their own hobbies or passions, turning them into the long-term pursuits: to knit 10,000 hats, to walk across America, to become a real-life ninja, and so on.

It also helps if there’s a deeper purpose to your quest. Many of the people I talked to for the book felt a sense of calling or mission, even if they weren’t religious. They were compelled; they simply had to pursue the quest. They knew if they didn’t, they would always regret it.

 

Is it important to document a quest?

One of the key themes of quests is that they must be measurable. They must have an end goal—you have to be able to say, “This is what I’m working toward and I’ll complete it when x happens.” Documenting the steps along the way provides tremendous momentum, since you can see how far they’ve come and how far still remains.

In my case I used a Wikipedia article that contained a list of every country. I copied it into Evernote and whenever I visited a new country, I’d place a big X beside it. As the years went by, the number of Xs grew until there were only a few places I hadn’t visited. Finally, I was able to visit those places as well. Just having that file gave me a sense of urgency as I made my plans and set out on another Round-the-World trip or 30-hour series of flights.

 

What happens to someone after they’ve completed the quest or achieved their goal?

Most of the time there’s a feeling of accomplishment combined with a sense of melancholy or even alienation. Quests are complicated! Very often, much of the identity of the quester lies in the quest itself. The best path forward is usually to take some time to reflect on the journey. Then—whenever the time is right—you’ll need a new quest.

 

How can people get involved in the amazing work you are doing?

I’m happy to connect with them on my blog or on their preferred social network. Oh, and I’m also doing a 40 city tour for the book. Please join us!

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I encourage everyone to go check out The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau, you won’t regret it!

 

The One Question I Asked the Dalai Lama’s Doctor

We all have heroes in our lives. One of my heroes is the Dalai Lama. So when the opportunity to attend a meditation session led by the Dalai Lama’s physician came up during my third year in the Peace Corps in Mongolia, I jumped at the chance.

It was a wonderful session and afterward I waited until everyone was gone and I was left with only him, my wife and my friend Jim who was helping host the doctor. I had been following the Dalai Lama for over ten years and had always wondered what it would be like to be near him. This was the closest I had ever gotten.

“I have always wanted to talk to the Dalai Lama,” I told the doctor, a little nervous, “and I’ve been thinking about what I would ask him.”

He looked at me with a deep kindness and respect, allowing me to speak and not rushing me.

“I’ve thought about it a lot and what I would like to ask the Dalai Lama is this, ‘How can I help you?’”

He smiled at me. “That is a wonderful question,” he told me, “one of the best.”

Very calmly and with great attention to each word he looked right at me and said, “I’ve known the Dalai Lama for many decades and I think I know what he would say. He would tell you that the best way to help him is to be the best person you can be. Be the very best version of yourself. That’s how you can help him most.”

The world is a complicated place and everywhere we turn the cup of our attention overflows, but this simple wisdom, shared with me years ago, is still some of the very best I’ve heard. Am I being the best person I can be today?

This year I had a chance to publish Questions for the Dalai Lama and one of my favorite quotes from the Dalai Lama is this one:

“Today, despite all our wars, we find that the human population is greater than ever. This clearly indicates to me that love and compassion predominate in the world. And this is why unpleasant events are “news”; compassionate activities are so much a part of daily life that they are taken for granted and, therefore, largely ignored.”

I hope you don’t ignore those daily activities in your life, the little things that add up and answer the question of whether you are being the best version of yourself or not.

One day I hope to speak to the Dalai Lama and I have a good feeling that it will happen, but in the meantime I’m happy.

I know that what I do, today, right now, matters.

Happy People Have Projects

It’s easy to forget this little bit of wisdom: happy people have projects.

I’ve had lots of up and down times in my life, in terms of passion, meaning and happiness, but certainly when I had projects those were the happiest times for me. I know that personally to be true.

Science also backs up that hypothesis. If you read Happier by Tal Ben-Shahar or A Philosopher’s Notes by Brian Johnson, you’ll see study after study that shows that people who have projects in their life –  hobbies or activities they are passionate about – are happier. Whether it’s projects on the side or full-time projects, they are happier.

I was reminded of this when I watched this interview with Seth Godin below, which I loved. He talks about “art projects,” doing what you love, why it’s so hard to step out into that work and also why it’s important to realize what is stopping us. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

 

How to Be Great

By Leo Babauta

Start by admitting that greatness doesn’t come from the distraction and busywork that often fills up our lives.

It comes from making a difference in the world.

Now consider how you can make a difference in the lives of others. Consider your current work, which perhaps already makes a difference — how can you refocus yourself on this work? Or consider creating a side project, and carving out the time for this.

Be the example of compassion for others around you.

Know that it doesn’t matter if you achieve the compassionate result you set out to achieve — what matters is the intention to improve the lives of others. You can’t control the result, but you can control the intention.

And you can show up, every day. With that intention.

Carve out the time. Put aside everything else. Realize that this life is limited and precious and amazing, and you shouldn’t waste a minute of it.

Pursue this compassionate work with single-minded devotion. This one thing matters, and all else can be put aside for now, unless it’s in support of your work. (Good health supports your work, including a whole-foods diet, exercise, and sleep.)

Practice until you’re amazing.

This compassionate work, with good-hearted intention, pursued with single-minded devotion: this is greatness.

Why The Crazy Ones Succeed

by Peter Diamandis, Founder of X Prize
Excerpt from Peter’s book Abundance

In 1997 Apple introduced its “Think Different” advertising campaign with the now famous declaration: “Here’s to the crazy ones“:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

If you were to just hear these words, they’d seem like bravado — marketingspeak from a company not known for marketingspeak. But Apple coupled sight to sound. Accompanying those words were images: Bob Dylan as a misfit; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a troublemaker; Thomas Edison as the one without respect for the status quo. Suddenly everything changes. Turns out this campaign is not all bluster. In fact, it seems to be a fairly accurate retelling of historical events.

The point, however obvious, is pretty fundamental: you need to be a little crazy to change the world, and you can’t really fake it. If you don’t believe in the possibility, then you’ll never give it the 200 percent effort required. This can put experts in a tricky situation. Many have built their careers buttressing the status quo, reinforcing what they’ve already accomplished, and resisting the radical thinking that can topple their legacy — not exactly the attitude you want when trying to drive innovation forward.

Henry Ford agreed: “None of our men are ‘experts.’ We have most unfortunately found it necessary to get rid of a man as soon as he thinks himself an expert because no one ever considers himself expert if he really knows his job . . . Thinking always ahead, thinking always of trying to do more, brings a state of mind in which nothing is impossible.” So if you’re going after grand challenges, experts may not be your best coconspirators.

Instead, if you need a group of people who thrive on risk, are overflowing with crazy ideas, and don’t have a clue that there’s a “wrong way” to do things, there’s one particular place to look. In the early 1960s, when President Kennedy launched the Apollo program, very few of the necessary technologies existed at the time. We had to invent almost everything. And we did, with one of the main reasons being that those engineers involved didn’t know they were trying to do the impossible, because they were too young to know. The engineers who got us to the Moon were in their mid to late twenties. Fast-forward thirty years, and once again it was a group of twentysomethings driving a revolution, this time in the dot-com world. This is not a coincidence: youth (and youthful attitudes) drives innovation — always has and always will. So if we’re serious about creating an age of abundance, then we’re going to have to learn to think differently, think young, roll the dice, and perhaps most importantly, get comfortable with failure.

Read more here