Jake Ducey's Blog, page 104

You Can Have Super Powers If You Meditate

Lately, just like you, I’ve had a lot going on. I am getting real close to finishing the first draft of my next book, working on turning my previous one into a film script, and it can get quite difficult to manage most other things. Or rather to do them without them feeling like total stress creators and drudgery.

I know that if I didn’t meditate every morning and night I would burn out, probably get sick, and get nothing done. I meditate because there is an infinite source of creativity and consciousness, which is the driving force behind this reality, our thoughts, and the energy that sustains us…  and why not connect with that?

“Nah, sounds boring! I’d rather watch television than do that shit…”

If you’re thinking that, I invite you to consider that meditation maybe what you need to bring into your life daily to take you to the next level of your success and fulfillment

Here’s three reasons to meditate….

1.)  It resets your nervous system. There’s no denying it: we live in a face-paced world that’s ever increasing. It seems like almost everyone is stressed. Our nervous systems are over stimulated with the busyness (and stress) from all our “to-do’s.” This lifestyle is too much for our nervous systems and that is why we get dis-ease, and unhappiness. However, focusing on your breath in silence (meditation) is the opportunity to bring yourself back to a point of stillness. This boosts our physical vitality, and immune system because we can balance out the over stimulation we are exposed to on a day-to-day basis.

2.)  It sparks creativity. At least for me, every time I am patient enough to stop and mull over my ideas or projects or life, great ideas come to me. I believe this is because the day is usually going so fast that it’s hard to think creatively when there is so many little things to get done. This is why I believe we should stop to meditation on our work.

3.)  It’s good practice to get beyond the ideas of “doing it right or wrong.” There’s no right way (or wrong way) to meditate. For me, it’s nothing more than the practice of moving beyond those ideas. It’s a time to not have to worry about the pressure of meeting someone’s expectations or judgments of you. It’s a time to be totally free, and then take that freedom back into your daily life.

 

And here’s three tips to remember when you practice it today…

1.)  Don’t over think it; you’re not doing it wrong. Meditation is about getting out the constant conversation within our minds, and the judgment we always have about “if we’re doing it right,” and simply being aware of how we feel.

2.)  Just breathe. You’re meditating if you simply close your eyes and focus on your breathe. (Try a breathing cadence of 5 seconds; 5 seconds in/5 seconds out, and repeat it for 5-10 minutes).

3.)  Just do it! Often we never try it because we think we “don’t know how.” But there’s no right way. It’s just about trying it out and using your intuition to see what is the best ways for you. This comes with practice.

 

 

 

 

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Women’s Rights: “The Oprah Of Afghanistan”

Imagine what our world would be like if even a few thousand of us were willing to risk our lives for the freedom of all humans…

This thought was inspired after I had the privilege to meet “The Oprah of Afghanistan,” Mozhdah Jamalzadah, this weekend. After hearing her speech on her story of rebelling against the Taliban and standing for human rights (specifically women’s), I had to get to know her. Thankfully, I got to spend two or three hours sitting with her and talking.

“The missiles were firing over our heads but I’d become accustomed to them by then. I was five years old.” she said.

And what a life she’s lived, becoming THE superstar of Afghanistan for her beautiful singing voice, which opened the door for her to have a talk show on television in Afghanistan about human rights. There she pushed it to the limits so much that while she was in Canada, a rumor spread back home that she’d been killed by the Taliban: decapitated, ears cut off, and limbs severed.

Still, she returned home. Shortly thereafter the chief of police of Kabul (along with many government officials) essentially forced her out of the country because they felt it was any moment that she was going to be killed and made an example of by extremists who didn’t believe in women’s rights.

Listening to her talk left me in tears. She didn’t even care if she died. She knew she had work to do, and had to get it done.

“I need to push the limits as far as I can,” she said.

And can you imagine where we would be if we all did the same?

But do not worry as I am writing in detail of her story in my new book “The Purpose Principles: How To Get More Meaning From Your Life.”

For now here is her Facebook– https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mozhdah-Jamalzadah/70625019078

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When Your Plans Fall Through…

If your plans have fallen through, perhaps they weren’t your plans at all, you just thought they were, and life has let you know that they aren’t yours. I realized this in the most unusual of circumstances.

Part of the work of being an author is speaking engagements. The expectation is that, you keep doing more and more. Things were going really well. I had the expectation to travel all across the nation all through fall and winter to speak, hopefully everyday.

However, I was on a walk after running a workshop in Oregon two months ago, and I got this feeling that I should take a break from events. That’s a pretty “dumb” decision for a first time author in the first year of launching a book. Three weeks later we’d cancelled almost all my events, which is also “dumb.”

I just felt like something was happening. But I had no idea what.

Then one night I got the inspiration for my new book “The Purpose Principles,” and in that creative spurt I decided it’d probably be a good idea to make my first book “Into the Wind” into a short film. I could then submit it to film festivals and basically use it as a taster for the film world to make it into my goal, a box office release, full-length film.

And as of today, all of that has unfolded. I’ve even landed a wonderful and experienced partner in the industry, Krista Allen.

I am happy to say that we start working next week!

Through this all I’ve realized a few things: 

1.)  we are not moving through life alone. There is a higher order to this all, and we need only to obey. Often times our intuition may seem foolish and crazy, but I believe they are the roads to great fulfillment and fortune.

2.)  When your plans fall through, or feel like they are, don’t panic. Trust there is something greater unfolding.

3.)  Don’t be afraid to have a dream so big that most people laugh at you…Why not?

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What’s My Writing Schedule? How Do I Write?

I am what one would call a “writer.” It’s how I live and pay for what I must pay for. I share this because some of the most common questions I get asked by people who are curious of my work, are, “How do you write? What tips do you have? What is your writing schedule?”

I figure that the best way to respond to questions is through blogs or videos. That way others who may have similar questions can see too.

A little background I feel maybe helpful is that I picked writing as a profession because I like the lifestyle: being in quiet places, no distractions or much external stimuli, opportunities to reflect on life, be creative, and be myself. I figured it’d be a fun way to spend life.

I realized that just like any profession, it’s competitive in regards to you need to produce good stuff or no one will buy it.Knowing this, in order to write my first book, I bought two weeks worth of groceries and went to Palm Desert by myself and wrote all day everyday for two weeks, without internet. I did this two or three times to get through all my drafts before it was submitted for print.

I believe in immersion and compulsive focus as the mode to highest productivity and greatest results. This does NOT mean that I believe productivity is the most important thing in life. Thus, I DO NOT write everyday.

Yesterday I didn’t. Today I’ve marked out to write for at least 8 hours though.

Personally, I will not start writing in a day or night (unless it’s just to write a few minute blog) unless I allocate at least two hours to focus. This is because I think it takes at least forty-five minutes for everything to get warmed up: the fingers to work on the keys. The mind to open. The heart to start flowing. The body to relax and focus on sitting and writing. The rhythm to start building. Then I believe that it’s kind of like a chain-reaction from there. It’s kind of a threshold.

That’s why I believe in immersive writing as a schedule.(Extended periods of work with breaks inbetween.)

I usually time myself too to be sure I am not just being a baby and not wanting to write so I quit early before I break the threshold. I think quitting too early is a big mistake when writing.

My schedule is to work in three hour blocks, where I don’t get up unless I may be going to go to the bathroom on myself. No Facebook, e-mail (and whatever else), until I’ve generated a certain quantity of content I am happy with (sometimes that means going longer than three hours).  Then I will usually stand up, and take a short break (about to do this now) or walk to reset myself. Then I will start again and do that for a whole day and or night.

I ONLY work like this when I have something I am trying to get done, like a book. (This is how I work now on the days I do write)

I believe in immersive writing (with total breaks where I don’t do it at all) because writing is a pretty non-linear activity. You can do anything you want. There’s no rules, order, or standard procedures to follow. And it takes time and consistent practice to work on getting into a non-linear thinking space, because our world is focused linearly.I will write like that for a week or two and then I will take a bit of a break away from the computer and I will kind of do the opposite and do other things I feel like doing or working or perhaps speaking for an event.

I think the most important thing I’ve realized is if you want to do anything adeptly then you must immerse yourself into it. Equally important, I’ve found, is to not burn ourselves out. That is why I don’t write everyday.

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A Lot Of People Hate Me. Who Cares?

To be independent of other people’s opinions of you, or to be trapped within the confines of doubt from their words?  Before you answer the question, consider that the one’s who are called crazy are simply the first ones to try something new…

It wasn’t long ago that no one was following my work. I almost deleted my Facebook Fan page because I was embarrassed since I had no “likes.” (Now we’re at 11,000). I remember some people that went to my high school even made a Facebook status, “Jake Ducey invites you to like his page. YA RIGHT!!!”

At the time, hunger and stubbornness is what pushed me. I wanted to show that motherf*cker what I was made of. I was getting a lot of resistance. Someone even made a fake Facebook and commented on every single picture and status on both my personal and professional pages, trying to slander my name and work.

They said everything from that I didn’t even write my book, to that I had the whole story up. They began sending me private messages and told me that they wished I died, and if they had it their way I would’ve died when I flipped my car. They said I was going nowhere, I should just give up, I was a fraud…

I knew they must’ve been miserable with their life if they were willing to devote hours on end to comment on hundreds of my statuses and photos with a fake Facebook and a profile picture of a huge black woman.

But even old friends told me that I was the talk of the parties with old high school mates. Only the talk was, “Jake lost his mind. He’s totally crazy. What an idiot….”

But I kept going, always reminding myself of what Bob Marley said, “I gotta job to do and I’ve got to fulfill that mission…”

The few weeks leading up to my book launch I had befriended a successful man in his fifties. We ran together every morning and he offered me a lot of encouragement. He read my book and said he loved it. Then one day I asked for his support on a project. He ignored me for two days and when I approached him to see what was going on he lost it.

He then began shouting at me (in front of my best friend Luke) that my book sucked, that it was totally wrong, that it was going to fail miserably, but that Luke would have a successful career. I thought for a moment the man was going to attack me, or that he was high on pills. I got pissed. This was someone who’d been mentoring me for about two weeks and I was looking up to. It was someone in the public eye that many would recognize if I shared his name…

Then my book launched a week later. It hit the bestseller list within 48 hours. Old friends who once out-casted me began to send me Facebook messages to apologize and congratulate me. But the resistance didn’t stop; death has been wished upon me. I’ve been called a fraud. I’ve been told I couldn’t write. I’ve been told I would fail. I’ve been told I look too stupid to be taken seriously. “I am too young. I don’t have a college degree. I am not experienced enough…” I’ve even had people tell me I was a sellout because I was selling a book. And the list goes on…

I even remember my best friend Luke saying, “Why do all these people follow you if all they do is talk shit to you?”

I had no idea. By then though I didn’t really care. I didn’t have the time to wonder. My mind is focused on my vision and there’s no time to switch the focus on what some person thinks of me or why they’re doing what they’re doing. No time!!!!

If you want to drive yourself crazy, keep asking “why” someone thinks they way they do about you…

So today it’s gotten to point where I really could care less. I think your opinion of yourself is really the only thing you should care about. I’ve realized that we really do have to let the good outweigh the bad. Focus on the good and forget about the bad. Especially if I want to reach my fullest vision, as there will be probably thousands of people who will hate me before I die.

As Byron Katie, “It’s not your job to like me. It’s mine.”

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