Category: The Reiki Rocker

This evening I was watching Woodstock. Flower Power baby! The clothes, the people, the attitude… all so familiar to me. Ah yes… eating organic, skinny dipping and records! We had Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. We had change in the air and we had Vietnam. An ugly war. A War that the American people turned their backs on in shame, and to the men and women that served over there. I remember our next door neighbor coming home from Vietnam. He was a Marine. A tunnel rat. They always picked the little guy for that job. I’ve often wondered if I would be mentally stable after doing a job like that. Crazy really. Well… he was. He scared me and fascinated me. Probably another reason I joined the Marines myself. Being on the edge of fear made me feel alive. Maybe it’s because of the era I grew up in? Not sure… all I know is that the music touched my soul. It was dangerous music. Hendrix, The Stones, The Doors, Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Zappa, Marvin Gaye, etc. The music was dangerous because it asked us to wake up. It asked us to get off of our asses and to think for ourselves. Yes, there was pop music… the superficial crap. But who remembers that? Nobody. We remember the music that had the balls to say something.

I grew up in Western Massachusetts. Not far from where Woodstock was performed. The rolling countryside of the Berkshires and the Pioneer Valley. Amongst all of that beautiful land were Colleges. We had UMass, Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke and Hampshire College all in my back yard. Back in the late 60’s – early 70’s College kids were living on the edge. Most keeping their grades up so they wouldn’t be drafted to go to Vietnam. Some burning their draft cards and most of them protesting. It was an extremely volatile time. I would hitch-hike to the Amherst Commons.. it was only about 5 or so miles away, but at the age of 12 or so it seemed like it was a world away. I loved hitch-hiking. It wasn’t like today, it was just another way to get around. Very rarely would I run into any weirdos. Most of the people I could get a good story out of. One day soon I’ll make it a point to write about those adventures, but this is a different journey I want to take you on. You see… the early 70’s we had the opportunity to change everything. We had the music, the message, the right politicians, activists to make it happen, but it didn’t. It’s something I’ve questioned most of my life.

What happened?

There were many variables but I think it all came down to money. The powers that be didn’t want change. They knew that if things changed then they would lose their grip so their only option was to tighten that grip. Buy the politicians. You buy the politicians, spin a believable story and you can control the masses. They did it with tobacco, then the food industry, then with oil. How do you make people believe a good story? Get them scared. Put the fear of God into them and keep them preoccupied with, as Chuck D said in the 80’s, “13 Channels of Shit”. A little joke there, but unfortunately it worked. It still works. I won’t name circumstances but we all know the big one that completely changed our way of living here in the United States. Regardless if you’re a so called conspiracy theorist or just a regular joe… shit changed. Drastically.

What’s different today from the late 60’s? People don’t fight for what is right anymore. They put on their blinders and go to Walmart. Today we are so quick to point the finger at somebody else instead of looking in the mirror.

So what is my point of this whole conversation? I don’t know, maybe its just the ramblings of a pissed off Marine that hates to see that the country that he served and was willing to lay his life down for really isn’t worth a damn anymore. What happened to the pride that we once had? I don’t mean the hatred… I mean the Pride. The people of this country that worked together because we are Americans. The people who didn’t lock their doors because we knew our neighbors. When did we get so greedy? When did we decide that more was better? When I was a kid we had one house phone. One. If I wanted something I would save my money to eventually get it. It wasn’t instantaneous. Now if we don’t answer a text within a few seconds people think we’re mad at them. So… is having everything NOW working? Hell No. We’re more miserable than ever and….

We’re quick to point the finger in the wrong direction. Turn that finger around. Yes. Point it at yourself. Once you change then the world around you will change.

In closing… I’m not an angry person… quite the contrary, I’m like a little kid. I’m still that kid that hitch-hikes to the Amherst Commons and talks to people.. I know what it takes to change the world and I know deep down inside somewhere in you, you know as well. Lets make some dangerous music together. What do you say?

Peace,
David

P.S.
Please listen and share my music and my words if you like what you hear. I have a new album coming out on Scarlet Records, September 18th with my band Kill Ritual. I hope to see you on the road.

Today would be my sister Darlene’s 48th Birthday. She passed to another plane in 2010. If you’ve ever lost someone in your life you will understand this. The mind can’t conceive that a person is gone from your life, we feel like they are still there but we are unable to contact them anymore, but I talk to her in my dreams. When I feel like I’m failing or I’m not on the right path I am reminded of what she told me when she knew she was going to pass…

“David, you have a gift. When are you going to use it?”

It was 2009 and I was in New York City doing a photo shoot with a new band and Darlene was in the Hospital at the time. I figured I would take a day, rent a car, and head up to Connecticut to visit her with the rest of my siblings. I remember seeing her on the hospital bed, she had lost a lot of weight and was very weak but still in the best of spirits, joking and laughing like her old self. It was nice to see her. At the time there was zero doubt in my mind that she would pull through this. She was the strongest woman I knew. She was a Chiropractor, a healer, and a very positive person. She was the hub of the family. That was the last time I ever saw her.

My sister and I used to get into deep conversations about Bach Remedies, healing powers of the mind, spirituality and the metaphysical. Our conversations would open my mind to bigger possibilities in this world and would eventually lead me on this spiritual path that I am on today. I’ve met people who knew her, that she inspired, and who have told me the same thing. She motivated people to be their authentic selves. It’s amazing that her business thrived because they would come in and she would fix them permanently. I think they just came back because her aura was infectious and her laugh was addicting. Just to give you an idea of how popular she was… at her funeral my family and I stood there for 5 hours getting hugs and condolences.

Happy Birthday Darlene. You are missed dearly but still here in my heart and a constant reminder that life is short and you never know when it will get taken from you. All of the money in the world can’t stop this and I have to remind myself each and every time that there is more to life than making a buck.

Whatever gift you have, share it. That is why we are here.

Namaste,
David

What do you believe? Do you believe in yourself or something outside of you?

This is a struggle for most of humanity. Wars have been fought over belief systems. Tolerance for another’s beliefs are rare in the big world picture.

Why?

Well… from what I can understand, and this is just my perception from years of ‘beliefs’ is this… The more people you have on your side, the stronger your beliefs. Kind of why different religions knock on your door to try to recruit you into their sect. If you are alone in your beliefs then you feel that maybe your beliefs really aren’t what they are cracked up to be. That is, if you don’t do your inner work.

What is inner work?

Inner work is meditation, alone time, time in nature and away from the computer. It is very important for you to stop the chatter going on in your head. Many think that meditation is sitting in the lotus position and chanting ‘om’ for 30 years. How debilitating is that? Very! Meditation is this…. taking deep breaths and letting go of your thoughts. It’s really easy, but everyone thinks that it’s impossible. Believe me, my head is going 24/7 most of the time. I can stay as busy as the best of them out there. But there are times that I’m driving, singing along to the radio and just concentrating on that, nothing else. If you can get yourself to just focus on one thing it will open up the flood gates and allow Spirit, God, Energy, whatever you wish to label it as, in.

Believing in yourself is the key to happiness. It’s not a new car, or a new guitar or microphone. It’s believing in yourself. I know you’re next question…. “But Dave, I hate myself. I think I’m an awful person. If you only knew the real me…”. Yeah, I get it. Boring! We ALL have that same conversation in our head. That is your ego. Something I always say is this… Leggo my Ego. Let it go! Make it take the back seat. Reassure it that you know what you are doing. This is how you start… all of those limiting beliefs of yourself you need to focus on. Look at them and ask yourself where they came from. You might have to dig deep and it might be scary but the results will be miraculous! Believe me, I’ve done it. I remember while in Summit Education back in 2003/04 I had to sit with myself and recognize why I was the way I was. Owning every mistake that I’ve ever made and letting go of mistakes that I thought that were something I did only to find out they were planted there by somebody else.

When someone says you are fat and you go into a deep depression is it because you’re fat or is it because somebody a long time ago told you that you were fat? That’s just an example, but belief systems have a way of manifesting themselves into reality. You might be fat now just because somebody said that you are. Pretty fucked up, huh? That’s the way we operate when we don’t believe in ourselves. Many years ago I fell into this belief system as well. It happened to me with singing! Yeah, right, singing. Something I love to do and something I’m really good at. How the hell did that happen?

When I was young I used to sing in church. I was actually the youngest member of the church Choir in South Hadley, Massachusetts. I took voice lessons, played piano and I was an actor as well. I loved the arts. When I was in school this is where I would hide. In the music room. Everywhere else I felt like an outcast. I remember singing the song ‘Babe’ from Styx in front of all of my friends in High School. How embarrassing. They laughed and I receded more into my fragile shell. Now if I had believed in myself then their laughter would have mean’t nothing but I was walking around with this belief….. My father was a musician and he cheated on my Mom and was a pretty heavy drinker and they eventually got divorced and she has hated him ever since. I equated cheating and drinking and divorce to music, so what did I do? I joined the Marines. I guess I thought I could shake it off. Let me tell you something…

Whatever your calling in life is, no matter what, it will eat at you until you either die, or until you submit to it. So you might as well start now. Focus on what makes you happy and go for it! You’ll be scared, but so what? Do you think that money will make you happy? No. Doing what you love will make you happy and everyone around you happy. Don’t buy into the bullshit of the ‘have/do/be’ energy. That’s backwards old paradigm thinking. Start thinking ‘Be/Do/Have’.

Be who you are authentically

Do what feels good to you and then you will

Have happiness.

Namaste,
David

P.S.
About my Dad. I love him and people do change. He is a testament to that. Our parents do the best that they can in the moment that they are where they are so don’t blame them for all of your pain and misery. Once you own your own pain then you have the power to make it go away. Peace!

Independence Day

Today is a day to reflect. I know that most of us will be partying, waving flags, eating hot dogs, etc. But there are a lot of people out there that don’t have any idea why today is such an important day.

I don’t want to turn this into a political platform but more of an individual platform. It seems today that people are lazy. They want everything for nothing. The land of Walmart, McDonalds, Monsanto. The land of the free is slowly turning into the land of the greed as our rights slowly get stripped away. While most Americans are shopping for that ‘deal’ today, remember what Independence Day is. Today is the day that we Adopted the Declaration of Independence back in 1776. We are still a young country. We aren’t even close to the Romans and that didn’t last. The Declaration of Independence is an ‘idea’ and so far has been the best idea that history has to offer. It’s not perfect, but it is fair, honest and provides plenty of room for growth. Our founding fathers made this so.

Why did they make this so?

Because they never again wanted oppression. They never again wanted to be ruled, taxed or governed as they had been by the British. We fought. Blood was spilled and we eventually won our independence. Now we are finding ourselves coming close to what the British had done to us. So how do we stop this and win back our power?

Let me tell you a story…

Most of you know me in this virtual world as a Long Haired Rock n Roller. It is something I am proud to be. To me, getting on stage and singing to you is what I love most, knowing that I’ve touched you in some way and quite possibly made your life a little better. I am proud. I am also a proud Marine. I earned this title. I went to Parris Island when I was 17 and graduated from there out of the civilian world and into the world of the Corp. Those of you that haven’t experienced this will have no clue what I’m talking about or what it feels like. There was a time when I looked at civilians as weak, unaware and selfish. To a certain extent I still feel this way. Like most Marines we became part of the few and the proud, at first because we wanted to serve our Country but after going through bootcamp we learned to serve ourselves. We knew that we, individually and collectively as Marines that we were the change.

The Marine Corp changed my life.

When I write, and I sing, I do so with those Marine Corp values still in the back of my head. I write and I sing to change the world. Yes, to change the world. I want each and every person to look at themselves, as I look at myself, and I want them to see the power that they have, or can have, if they believed in themselves. I want them to see the change that they can be and how we can end all wars, all poverty, and all famine if we saw that we can each make this change. You see, we Marines know that we can do this. It might sound pompous but its the truth. We have been labeled ‘Jar Heads’ and we jokingly call each other this. The truth is we are not even close to this. The term was created because they said they could fill our heads with anything and we would follow. Not true. Some of the most brilliant minds out there are Marines. Some of the most disciplined and the most compassionate.

So what am I getting at?

Look around you? Do you like what you see? Do you complain about it to your friends or your politicians instead of doing something about it yourself? Become active in your community and learn what is going on in your own back yard. If there is crime in your neighborhood, fight back. If there are drugs, fight back. My Mother taught me this initially then the Marine Corp instilled it in me. We are not Victims unless we make ourselves so. Once we all become self sufficient instead of expecting someone else to take care of it the better off we’ll be. I knew a guy that was a street cop in NYC back in the 50’s. He carried a billy club. That was it. No gun. He didn’t need it. Today cops carry more than what I carried as a Marine. Why? Because they are scared. Why are they scared? Because we, the Sheeple don’t have any respect for anything, let alone ourselves.

Lets remember Independence Day. Read it. Know what it says and what it means for us today.

Declaration of Independence

Peace,
David

First I would like to say Rabbit! Rabbit! It’s the first day of the month and what a month this is going to be! We’ve got a full moon starting tomorrow and then another one on the 15th! That’s two full moons in one month. So keep your moodiness in check. Believe me, I’m feeling it already. Also, Venus goes retrograde on the 25th in Leo (my sign), then Uranus goes retrograde on the 26th at 20 degrees Aries. What is all of this saying? It’s going to be a weird, flakey month. So when you get down in the dumps know that these aspects are following you around, you and everybody else.

So, why have I called this episode The Glass Half Empty? Well, I’ve noticed myself as of late getting caught up in everything that is going on in the world. Possible war with Russia, Jade Helm, financial crisis in Greece, etc. I consider myself a dreamer, but I’m also a realist. I watch what goes on but I do my best to keep myself in check and not get caught up in it. That does not mean that I ignore it. Being aware of what is going on around the world allows us to change the world. Change ourselves. Change our immediate environment. I believe that when we get caught up in all of this negative energy it compounds and spreads like a virus. It means that you have to be even more positive and, as Monty Python says, Always look on the Bright Side of Life. So approach all of the crap going on around us with a Glass Half Full attitude. When you approach it this way you start noticing the beauty around you and when you start noticing the beauty around you the people around you start changing. It’s the Law of Attraction. What you focus on becomes your reality. So yes, there is a lot of shit going on right now, there is no ignoring it. So what can you do about it? Instead of saying, nothing, focus on the positive and change yourself and your immediate environment.

Have you ever heard about the Tipping Point? I read this book by Malcolm Gladwell back around when 9/11 happened. Malcolm explains in the book that once people believe something individually that at a certain point it will spread like wildfire and eventually everybody will believe this. The news media today believes this 100%. They know that if they feed you enough information that eventually everyone will believe it, even for those that don’t read the news. In other words, gossip. Every one of my friends know that I don’t watch TV or listen to the radio and I will research everything that I am told from several sources. Believe me, the chain mail that my family sends I will send them back a link to Snopes. I know that it’s easy to get caught up in gossip, rumors and just plain bullshit if you hear it enough. It happens to the best of us. I was talking with a few friends the other night about how we’ve lost the art of debate. Everybody wants to be right all of the time and not listen to another persons point of view. We are quick to judge and quick to say that somebody is wrong just because we don’t believe what they believe. Change is the only constant in this world and if you are unwilling to listen to another’s opinion, whether you believe it or not, then they are doing the same thing back at you.

So this month, be open to new ideas. Be open to another persons perspective. Whether you agree or not you might just learn something. And that alone will change your world.
Namaste,
David

First, Happy Fathers Day!

I believe that we choose our parents before we incarnate into this vibration. So, no matter what you think of your parents, remind yourself that YOU chose them for whatever lesson you wanted to learn while you were here. You don’t believe this? Ask yourself if it would hurt or harm you to believe this?

Second, I would like to apologize for not writing for a couple of weeks. We went to an amazing wedding in San Diego and stayed a couple of extra days on the beach in Encinitas. We would get up every morning and walk over to the Pannikin Coffee and Tea House and for me having lived on the beach in California, it was like a home coming. The salt air, the cyclists zooming by, the farmers markets, and the temperature. Oh yeah, the temperature. It was between 65 – 75 degrees the whole time. This time of year its called ‘June Gloom’ where the haze comes over and blocks the sun. I LOVED it! When we got back home to Vegas it was pushing 113 degrees. Ugh!

But this is not what I’m here to talk about today.

What I would like to discuss is Social Media. One of my favorite YouTube personalities is a man named Ralph Smart. He runs the very successful site called Infinite Waters. I always look forward to hearing him say, “Can I get a Hello there! Peace! Infinite Waters diving deep once again.” Well, he was talking about social media and the effects on relationships. Ralph talked about a couple and the jealousy going on because of one of the partners liking scantily clad women. Take a listen to what he had to say about that. The link is above.

I’d like to talk about another aspect of Social Media. Friends, and our role in this new paradigm.

We all want friends. We all want a good friend to talk to when we want some advice but somewhere in Social Media we’ve acquired friends that we don’t even know and have told all of these friends our deepest darkest secrets, our opinions, our fears. We get to the point where we think we actually know these people, and in some ways we have gotten to know them. We’ve gotten to know the part that they want us to see. Their mask. Social media has taken the place of churches, bars, coffee houses… places where we could get into a conversation with someone and get their feedback. The internet is an amazing tool and has done wonders for me as a musician, so don’t think I’m bashing the idea of friends. Not at all.

My concern is this….

I want you to imagine, if you will… The next time you post something imagine the person you are posting to right there in front of you. Is this something you would say to someone standing right there? You see, if we post something mean to another person we don’t see their anger, their frustration or their hurt. We don’t see their eyes. We don’t really know why that person posted what they posted. For the most part, I believe, it’s for attention. Something we aren’t getting in our home life. But that is another blog. 

When I was a child we had 4 TV stations. ABC, NBC, CBC and PBS. We didn’t watch much TV unless it was a Sunday night Disney Special or maybe Happy Days. We used it for entertainment, for the Weather or the news in our immediate vicinity. We didn’t have celphones. We had a home phone, and depending on the size of your house or your economic stature, you only had one for the whole household. We didn’t have the internet. A computer was a pocket calculator that helped you solve equations quicker than writing them out on paper. We relied on nature, our friends in the neighborhood for our entertainment. To me, back then, meditation was very easy. If I wanted quiet I would walk down to the pond and sit underneath a tree. I’d listen to the birds or the squirrels scampering around. If I tried that today I would be jolted back to reality with my phone buzzing. Every generation talks about how much more difficult it was than these kids nowadays. Not anymore. I think it’s much more difficult because there is so much mental chatter going on around us that we can’t even think for ourselves. We can’t shut it off.

What is my point?

My point is this… we’ve come to a time where we have let the immediate gratification of everything around us get to the better part of us. The part that allows us to actually think before we speak. Instead of sitting with ourselves and asking our higher self for an answer we will post on Facebook what we are feeling right in that moment. What we need right at that moment. Who we hate right at that moment. Get where I’m going? There was an old adage that my Mother used to say to us… Stop. Look. Listen. You don’t have to like somebody’s post as soon as it has been posted. I’m betting most of you don’t even read this far in anybody’s posts. We’re liking for the sake of liking. Because if we don’t like it somebody will be mad at us. So what!! That’s their issue. Not yours. Stop second guessing your inner voice. Stop trying to be everybody’s friend or drawing attention to yourself just because you’re lonely, or angry or jealous. Get a grip on yourself first. Talk to yourself. I mentioned that its much harder nowadays to do that, but I didn’t say that it’s impossible. If you have a hard time meditating, find people that meditate. Find people out there that you aspire to be.

What is your role in all of this?

Stop looking outside of yourself for the answers. You are the answer. As Gandhi said, “Be the change that you wish to see in this world”. It doesn’t mean that you can’t get tips and hints from other people on how to be a better person. We all do this. But once we rely on others completely we are losing our self. Today is Father’s Day. I mentioned above that we choose our parents so that we can incarnate into this life to contribute to this game of life. So contribute! Quit posting what you ate for breakfast unless you think it will help somebody with nutritional information. Be the change. Why? Because you are here for a reason. You are not a mistake. There are no mistakes. Everything happens for a reason.

So Stop The Mental Chatter!!!! 🙂

Ok… being that it is Father’s Day…. CALL your father. Yes, on the phone.

Namaste,
David

A few years ago I was hit while on my motorcycle. I wasn’t going that fast, but when I went down I landed directly on my knee. OUCH! I was super bummed out that I had to be on crutches for awhile but at the same time I found the perfect opportunity to use myself as a guinea pig. I decided that I was going to heal myself. The only thing I would do at the doctor was get an initial x-ray and then when I felt the need I would go get another x-ray. Fortunately I am a veteran, so I would head over to the VA in Los Angeles, where I lived at the time, and have them do these procedures at minimal cost.

So what did I do to heal myself?

Every morning before I started my day I would use Reiki over the wounded area. I knew where the area was because of the x-ray from the hospital. I would see it as healed. I could feel the soothing heat of my hands over the wound and then as my hands cooled I knew the session was over. Some days it was half an hour, other days it was 10 minutes. The next thing I would do was to tell others what I was doing. Why? This made me more determined when people would tell me it was impossible, or people who believed I could do it would encourage me more. I would do two sessions a day on myself. One in the morning and one at night before I slept. Each time, again, I saw it as healed. One of my friends had given me a bag of Shark Cartilage to chew on while I was healing and other friends would come by with food for me. I am extremely blessed to have all of these awesome souls around me, especially then.

After 3 weeks I went back to the VA to get another batch of x-rays. The doctor was a bit baffled because he couldn’t find the fractures. There were two little fractures on top of my tibia right behind the knee cap. Look at the photo. It’s not at the exact same angle so I’m sure there are skeptics out there. That’s ok. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. After about 6 months I could run and cycle again with minimal pain and after 9 months there was zero pain. Today I forget which leg it was. 🙂

We all have the capability to heal ourselves. Reiki only helps the process along. The biggest part of the process is to believe that you can do it. If you can envision the results in your mind then you are well on your way. If you can’t, I understand. It’s not that easy. We have been taught that pills or operations are the only way to heal ourselves. This is an old paradigm. By no means am I saying that there isn’t a use for doctors. Sometimes they can be a placebo for health because we have a tendency to look outside of ourselves for the answers. I’m encouraging you to believe in yourself. If you don’t, nobody else will. Remember my little message about the mirror? We can only see what we reflect. 🙂

Namaste,
David