Hello and welcome to the Artist Morning Podcast.
My name is Darius and I am so grateful that you and I get this time together.
This is a bit of an unorthodox podcast in that it's just you and me going on a deep dive together.
We break the podcast into three parts.
Part one is a story and a lesson.
Part two is a guided meditation,
All of which happen in this audio file here.
And part three,
For those that are interested,
Is integration.
It's going deeper.
It's taking the story,
The lesson,
The meditation,
And implementing it and applying it into our own lives through a writing practice that I will share below.
And all of this,
In case you're new to Artist Morning,
In case you're new to pretty much everything I do in the world,
It's all intended to help you on your own creative journey,
To help you gently,
Lovingly quiet the voices,
Quiet the noise in our own heads,
Resistance and all of its manifestations.
To quiet our mind so that we can go and journey into our hearts.
And share what our soul has written onto our hearts.
And today I want to tell you a story about hope.
I got an email a few weeks ago from a dear friend who runs a speaking series and her name is Andrea.
She is an awesome human.
She runs a company called Talk Boutique.
She is a professional speaking coach.
She works with incredible thought leaders of all sorts and helps them share their stories and get onto TED Talks and all sorts of really interesting things in that space.
And I was so grateful to receive this email.
She sent this email saying Darius,
We're doing a salon series on hope.
As you know,
There's just so much going on in the world,
And it's harder and harder for big businesses and corporations and governments to think about hope,
Think about purpose,
Think about these,
Quote unquote,
Soft skills.
And she wanted to bring a series of conversations from different people on the topic of hope.
And I'm going to be honest,
When I read that email,
I was just like,
What is she talking about?
What's happening?
I don't get it.
Hope.
I have so much hope.
I'm so hopeful.
You know,
And yes,
I understand there's so many difficult things happening.
There's an active war in my home country,
My country of birth.
And,
You know,
And there's so many other wars happening.
There's so many things happening with the economy.
There's so much happening with politics.
There's so much happening with the rising cost of like food and living.
And I understand.
I understand.
I am not trying to say like,
What is happening?
I don't get it.
Why are people complaining?
Get it,
And.
.
.
I am just so fully engulfed in hope.
The older I get,
The more I seem to believe in hope.
And not a passive hope,
Hoping,
Keeping your fingers crossed,
Sitting here meditating,
Please,
Things get better.
That's not what I'm talking about,
Y'all.
I'm talking about starting from the place in your heart that believes in the possibilities,
That believes the universe is good,
That believes you are good and you are talented and that the universe works in incredible ways,
Conspires in these amazing ways to help you.
Bring your dreams to life.
That's what I believe.
Ahem So I responded back,
You know,
Yes,
I'd like to be a part of your event,
But perhaps there's a way in which instead of giving another talk,
Because I know the speakers you're going to pick are going to be amazing.
Could I guide an experience where people can feel,
Touch,
Remember,
Hope?
You know,
Because if any of you put me at the top of the schedule,
Then I can maybe possibly open people up to receive these incredible ideas from your speakers throughout the day.
Because there's a way in which,
And you're going to know exactly what I'm talking about,
You can show up to a podcast,
You can show up to a meeting,
You can show up to a date,
You can show up to your family event,
You can show up to this salon series with these incredible speakers.
And not really be there.
You know what I mean?
You show up physically but like there's 20% of you thinking about the past,
There's 20% of you thinking about the future.
You know,
And the remaining 60% that's here is just scattered through your phone,
Through your inbox.
And it's like all it takes.
Is one sentence,
One idea,
One word sometimes,
And our ability to really hear it and listen to it and feel it and receive it,
And that one idea can change the course of the rest of our lives.
And so when we are not present thinking about the past,
We're thinking about the preacher,
And we're not really here now,
We can miss it.
We can miss it.
Over and over and over again.
So I pitched her on this alternative idea like let me start,
Let me frame it,
Let me set it up,
Let me guide them through a little meditation so that they can actually receive and be open to it.
And then this other thing happened to me where I started to feel guilty because I couldn't access what she was referencing in her initial email around like this hopelessness,
This sense of hopelessness.
And it took me a couple of days and a few walks and a few journal sessions and a few meditations to process what was happening.
Because the judgment was.
.
.
Oh man.
I live in a bubble.
I live in a bubble and I'm naive,
I'm oblivious,
I'm insensitive to what's happening in the rest of the world.
And then I realized.
We all live in bubbles.
All of us live in bubbles.
Each one of us is walking around with a different version of reality based off of our lived experience.
And there is a sense of relief here.
Cause I realized in that moment.
.
.
Hell yeah,
I live in a bubble.
I designed this bubble.
I curated this bubble.
I worked hard for this bubble that is so infused with hope and joy and play and love.
I earned every single inch of this bubble and I will fight for this bubble because this bubble is not just for me.
This bubble can expand and grow and impact others.
And so yes,
I live in a bubble.
I'm damn proud of this bubble.
I work hard for this bubble.
And this bubble has the potential not only to change the course of the rest of my life,
But to positively impact.
My family,
My friends,
My community,
And far beyond that.
And maybe we call it a bubble.
Maybe we call it your aura.
Maybe we call it your energy field.
Maybe we call it the field of possibility and hope.
You can call it whatever you want.
But I have a strong feeling that if you are listening to this,
There's a very good chance that you believe like I believe that everything is energy.
And when we start to consciously design and define and curate with creativity and love our energy field,
Incredible things happen.
And so I'm able to feel love and compassion and empathy for people with different bubbles,
Different energy fields.
And I love my bubble.
I work hard for this bubble.
And I will.
Fight for this bubble because I know the impact it can have.
On me and so many others.
And so let's get into our meditation today.
We just said a lot of things.
I said a lot of things.
We're in our headspace.
That's okay.
We love our heads.
Our heads are not the enemy.
Brilliant.
Curious.
Minds.
And so now we're gonna move and connect to our heart space.
Few deep breaths here,
It's available to you,
Closing your eyes.
There is an energy field around you.
It's a specific color.
Don't overthink it.
What color is it?
It's electric,
It's magnetic,
It's warm and safe and secure and it's yours.
No one can penetrate it unless you allow them.
No energy leaks unless you allow it.
You get to choose.
What?
You bring into this bubble.
You are awake and aware to this energy field now.
It's in your consciousness.
And from this moment on,
You have access to its powers.
You have access to its protection.
You have access and ability to expand this energy field.
Taking a few deep breaths here.
With each inhale,
I want you to imagine this energy field expands.
Expands,
Expands.
You have always known.
That you are here for a reason.
You have always felt inside you.
Something powerful.
Maybe you've denied it.
Maybe you've ignored it.
Maybe you have tapped into it.
It's here,
Right here,
Right under your nose.
We are awakening!
To our aura,
We are awakening to our energy field.
We are awakening to the powers that live inside us now.
Let's take a deep breath here together,
Breathing in.
Big exhale out.
You Wow,
I can feel the energy throughout my body.
It's electric.
As you breathe deeper,
You'll be able to feel it more and more.
Something amazing is working through you now.
Something incredible on its way to you now.
You don't need to figure it all out.
Just start by feeling.
Feeling the goosebumps,
Feeling the joy,
Feeling the tingles.
It's like a million teeny tiny angels are dancing on your skin in the most incredible way.
Something amazing.
Is on its way to your life right now.
This is our last song this morning.
I want to invite you to just play in the frequency of joy,
Of pleasure,
Of hope and possibility.
You don't need to figure anything out,
Just play in the energy field.
Imagining your heart is smiling.
Bravo,
Dear artist.
Bravo,
Dear creator.
You made it to the end of part two.
The story,
The lesson,
And the meditation are now complete.
Let's take one deep breath together to bring our meditation officially to an end,
Breathing in.
And letting it go.
Yeah,
Before we officially close part one and two and send you off to the writing exercise below,
I want to say this.
Whether you believe in hope or you don't,
You're right.
Whether you believe in it or you don't believe in it,
You are right.
Both beliefs are going to be proven right.
Because you're going to put energy behind them and your bubble will contain that belief that hope is real or hope is not real.
And as you step out into the world in that energy,
You're going to see exactly that reflected back to you over and over and over again.
So my last thought to you here is,
Which belief serves you best?
Which belief gives you more access to your dream?
No right answers,
No wrong answers.
Have some fun.
Thank you once again for meditating with me and journeying with me.
My name is Darius,
And I'll see you next time.
