Tag: George Burns

Live For Moments

“Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” – George Burns

“When real music comes to me – the music of the spheres, the music that surpasses understanding – that has nothing to do with me, ’cause I’m just the channel. The joy for me is for it to be given to me, and to transcribe it like a medium… those moments are what I live for.”
– John Lennon

Creative arts is all about authenticity, vulnerability, and channeling Greater Forces. That is why we all respond to these artistic outputs, in their highest form. A beautiful painting, a breath-catching photograph, a soul-searing poem, touch us and connect us to the deepest part of ourselves like nothing else can. And then, when we look around and catch a glimmer of that same awestruck feeling that we are feeling, also in the faces of the other observers/experiencers, that’s when we feel the least alone. That is when we feel the silver web of connection that we often forget is there, holding all of us together, creating an amazing, gorgeous tapestry of Life and Love. That’s when gratitude washes over us and cleanses us to our cores, reminding us of what we are all really made of, at our purest form of passionate energy.

My friend turned me on to Lizzo yesterday. Her college-aged daughter introduced her to Lizzo and I earned a lot of “cool mom points” when I picked up my daughter from the high school yesterday, playing Lizzo, at high volume. My daughter knew all of the words already. Lizzo is a female rapper and most of her songs speak of empowerment. Lizzo sings/says a song called “Truth Hurts.” When I looked the song up on Youtube, I saw this comment, about the song, that made me smile:

“this song makes me feel like a strong independent woman.. and i’m a guy.” – Foreign Warren

My favorite line in Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” is this:

“Why men great ’til they gotta be great?”

If we’re going to talk about equality and empowerment, that line applies to all of us – male and female and everything else in between, doesn’t it? We lose the connection and the channel to our deepest, most creative inspirations, when we start focusing on the response to our output versus the joy of creating (an co-creating) the output. When we start aiming in on how many likes and views and notes of approval from others that we’re hoping to get, the connection to what the Universe is really trying to do with our lives, gets static-y and sometimes even gets disconnected. And we feel lost and confused and disappointed and sometimes, empty. We need to be refilled with what really keeps us connected. And the rub is, what keeps us connected is not anything applauding us on the outside, but moreso, what is deep, and profound, rising up inside of us, just wanting to burst through, in all of its glory.

John Lennon is arguably one of the greatest musicians of our lifetime and “those moments are what I live for” were the moments that he was gifted to “transcribe” what the Universe wanted the rest of us to enjoy, and to relate to and to sing along to, sometimes at the top of our lungs. He didn’t talk about sold-out concerts, or how many people were in his fan club, or his NYC penthouse. Lennon’s “live for moments” were during the creative process, with his juices flowing, and his open heart just taking in everything and transcribing the Love that was meant to touch all of our hearts, every time we listened to one of Lennon’s songs.

Image result for quotes on the artistic process

The Blues

In the airport yesterday, I was watching a TV program discussing the Blue Zone lifestyle. The Blue Zones are places like Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; Loma Linda, Calif.; and Okinawa, Japan. Although geographically spread out, the people of these communities practice remarkably similar lifestyles that have given them much longer longevity numbers than the world’s average and they have also been found to have less cancer, less cardiovascular disease, less depression and less dementia. The island of Icaria, Greece (also a Blue Zone area) has the highest percentage of 90-year-olds on the planet, where nearly 1 out of 3 people make it to their 90s. Apparently, Icarians have about 20 percent lower rates of cancer, 50 percent lower rates of heart disease and almost no dementia.

On the other hand:

“The average life expectancy in the U.S. has been on the decline for three consecutive years.

A baby born in 2017 is expected to live to be 78.6 years old, which is down from 78.7 the year before, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.” – CNBC 7/9/19

The above article quoted states that the decline in Americans’ life expectancy rate has to do with a rises in suicides, liver disease and drug overdoses. We clearly have something to learn from these Blue Zoners. In a nutshell, taken from a book called The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest by Dan Buettner, here are the nine common factors believed to create the longevity and daily health of the people in the Blue Zones:

  1. Know your purpose.
  2. Eat less.
  3. Have faith and a spiritual practice.
  4. Eat mostly plants
  5. Drink wine in moderation.
  6. Have a healthy way to decompress from stress. (prayer, meditation, singing, etc.)
  7. Move naturally throughout the day. (moderate exercise throughout the day versus occasional hardcore workouts)
  8. Have strong connections to family and close friends.
  9. Have a social life.

This is clearly oversimplified, but there is so much information and the science behind it, all over the internet, that goes into greater detail. I’ve always been one who leans towards the KISS system. (Keep it simple, stupid.) So I think that it can all be summed up this way:

“If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.” – George Burns