As Within, So Without.
Your outside world is really an exact reflection of your inner world. This is how your lessons on Earth are presented to you.

I’ve been in Colorado for the last several days visiting family and friends, it’s been really nice and I’ve had some time to stare at the mountains and center myself. I used to do this every day when I lived here. I would take even just one moment to sit on the porch and bask in their awe. I also did this when I lived in Marina Del Rey, only then it was the beach. I’ve found it difficult to do in Las Vegas to be quite honest. Nothing against anybody in Vegas, I think it’s just the fact that I’m so busy now that I don’t take advantage of those moments like I used to. Well… that will be my New Years Resolution. I’m going to make those moments happen where ever I am.

So… why do we need this time to center ourselves? Have you heard the expression, As Within, So Without? How we feel inside reflects how we see the world around us, and what we see in ourselves is what we see in the world. A very simple theory, but there are a lot of people out there today that are trying to find something outside of themselves to make them happy. Take it from somebody that has tried that route… it ain’t happenin’. You see… if we’re not happy there is absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing outside of ourselves that will make us happy. Yes, you might get a temporary ‘fix’ but you’ll go back to the same feeling once that ‘fix’ has come and gone. There are a dozen quotes I could throw at you about this that will mean absolutely nothing to you if you feel like crap. You’ll look at me and say, ‘You have no idea how I feel and all of this hippy dippy shit means nothing to me.’ I get it. Believe me, I get it. There are so many self help people out there that say similar things and it seems so Pollyanna at times and can be a huge turnoff to someone who is on the border of depression. On a good note… you’re going to find one of those self help people that you can relate to eventually. Someone with the same circumstances, that isn’t perfect and has been in your shoes. It will happen if you look. It might be a book you stumble upon, or someone you start talking to in a coffee shop, or it might even be me. Who knows unless you take that baby step and give it a shot. What can it hurt?

I mentioned that my New Years Resolution was to take those moments to center myself wherever I may be. What will your New Years Resolution be? Isn’t it finally time to stand up for yourself? Take that stand because you are special. You might not believe it right at this moment, but start giving of yourself, taking time for yourself, meditating alone and eventually someone will come up to you and let you know what a difference you’ve made to their life. I have been in your shoes and once I started giving of myself miracles started happening. I stopped looking outside of myself for the answers. I stopped looking to others to make myself happy. No longer did I need anybody to tell me how special I was just to pacify my ego. I feel it myself and you will too. There are days where I feel needy, everybody does. But those moments are very few and far between now.

As I write this two great men have passed away. Two men who lived by their own rules and who believed in themselves. They didn’t care what people thought of them nor did they beg for attention. These two men would have passed away in obscurity had they not the fortitude to center themselves and know their own power. You wouldn’t know the names Meadowlark Lemon nor Lemmy Kilmister had they not lived their own lives.

What will your legacy be?

Namaste,
David

P.S.

A copy of this blog can be found in new issue of the Sin City Presents Magazine.

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I joke with people that I wish I was born a Lawyer or an Accountant, and there might have been a time in my life when that was true. A time in my life where I shunned the gift that I was born with. I suppressed it because being a singer wasn’t a real job (Just over Broke). As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that being a singer is the best job I could ever have. Why? Because it’s what I do best. And that is what I’m here to talk to you about.

Why is everyone so miserable?

I believe that there are millions of people out there just getting by, just living for the next paycheck, retirement, death. They gave up their dreams a long time ago. You’ve heard the expression Pipe Dream? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Pipe Dream as; a hope, wish, or dream that is impossible to achieve or not practical. The Pipe Dream’s origins come from the English literati in the 18th and 19th centuries where Opiates were widely used. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was one of the best known users, and it would be difficult to claim that the imagery in surreal works like Kubla Khan owned nothing to opium. Lewis Carroll, although not known to be an opium user himself, makes clear allusions to drug use in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has his hero Sherlock Holmes visit an opium den – although that was for research rather than consumption. I don’t want to stray too far into allegory, but you get what I’m saying. Somewhere down the road, if you are not living your dreams you gave them up a long time ago because either you thought they were silly or someone told you that they were silly. Either way, you gave them up and now you’re miserable.

Following your dreams

It’s never too late. It took me up into my 40’s before I started living my dreams, before I decided that living the rat race was never going to make me happy and that the only reason I was even in the rat race was to make those around me happy. It took a tragedy and a loss for me to finally kick myself in the ass. I hope that for you it doesn’t take that… but it might.

The first step in following your dreams is to realize that everything happens for a reason. You are where you are for a reason. It might not be where you want to be, but there is a reason… even if that reason was a bad decision. When you realize that everything happens for a reason then you are in control. If you believe you are where you are because it was ‘God’s Will’ or fate then you’ve lost control. If you believe in God then you must believe the truth about God. If God created you in his likeness and image, is that not like a parent? Someone that wants the best for you and to achieve even higher goals that they have?

The second step is a small one. Baby steps. Every day do something to work towards that dream. For example; I changed my title. For years I was Dave Watson, Graphic Designer. The first scary step for me was saying that I am David Reed Watson, the Vocalist. It freaked me out the first time I said it. I remember it to this day. It felt like a lie, like I was bullshitting the person that I was talking to, but as time went on it became easier and easier to say, and once it became easy to say it became easier to do and the more I did it the more people around me recognized me as the Vocalist. So it’s going to take you baby steps. If you take a giant leap, you’ll fail. Like exercise, if you haven’t run for years and you try to run a marathon you’ll quit. Plain and simple.

The third step. Make a plan. Set out a plan for your dreams. Years ago I took a course called Abundance and Prosperity. The coach for the course said to us, I want you to make a 20 year plan. Write it down. So, I did. I wrote down that I wanted to be in love, have a big house, travel the world, singing in a successful band that travels the world. That was 2003, 12 years ago. I’ve got 8 years to go before the 20 is up. Where am I at with that right now? I’m in love, I live in a big house, I travel the world and I have not just one great band, but two! The band traveling is literally right around the corner… we start touring the US in March. So the world tour is on the radar. To visually focus on my goals I created a vision board, and as I crossed off each picture of the goals that I achieved I would then create another vision board. There is much more detail to this that I can go into further in another blog, I don’t want to stray too far off topic.

And finally. Believe in yourself. There is a devil on one shoulder and an an angel on the other shoulder. One of them is telling you that you are a failure and the other is pushing you to be your authentic self. Which one do you want to follow? Don’t pretend that devil (limiting belief) isn’t there… recognize that it is there and just let it know that you’ve got things under control. You see… we all have this. Ask any superstar, someone you idolize… if you can get close enough to them they will let you know of their struggles. They might hide it well in public but believe me, and I can use myself as an example… the only reason I’ve achieved anything is because I’ve had to overcome some obstacle. It’s the Yin and Yang. You can’t have one without the other, nor should you want to. You want to be able to look back and see your sweat and blood. It makes where you are now much more valid. You will appreciate it more. Guaranteed.

In summary, use your gift. The world is waiting for you to share your authentic self. Nobody wants to see another clone of somebody else. Just be you. You have something to share, so please share it. If you want help, you know where to find me.

Peace,

David

We’ve noticed with the recent events in France that religious extremism does not work and people are starting to get sick of it. They are either turning extreme to another Religious faction or they are ‘waking up’ and realizing that Religion is a means for misrepresented belief. A belief outside of themselves which we can say from politics, from Dogma, is control. It’s easy to control people if you get them to doubt something. If you get them to believe that if they don’t believe something then they will go to Hell. I know many people that are part of a Religion ‘Just in Case’. But I digress… I think believing in something is helpful. If it is helpful for you to believe in Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad, Krishna or the New England Patriots… by all means. Believe in it, but don’t bend the rules to your benefit. That’s not fair. If you’re going to be a Christian then follow the 10 Commandments. ALL of them, not some. People seem to bend the rules all of the time and they just use the excuse of ‘I’m a sinner’. Get where I’m going? Religious extremism has been around longer than you can imagine. History shows us that the Christians were just as brutal at one time. First it was the destruction of the Pagans, then the Saxons, oh yeah… can’t forget the Crusades now can we? I could go on and on about Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Muslim, etc. and I could give you plenty of examples of horrible violence. All in the name of Religion. Like I said in the beginning… we just saw it in France.

I had mentioned that some people turn to extremes, I’ll use this recent tragedy as an example. Some are quick to jump on the bandwagon that ALL Muslims are bad. Not all Muslims are bad, just like not all Christians are bad. There is good and bad in everything. What we can learn from this is that it has opened our eyes to ‘what does not work’ and fix it or we can do like we’ve done for centuries and start another war. That seems to be our easy solution to everything. Makes me ill. Why does it make me ill? Because there was a time in my life where I believed this mentality, I was part of the system. Believe me… I was in the Marines. My mentality was ‘Kill ’em all. Let God sort ’em out.’ Sometimes you have to experience extremes, both left and right, to find your own center.

My hope for humanity is that we will all look within. If we believe the story of Jesus, we know that he was a compassionate man. He believed in turning the other cheek and that two wrongs do not make a right. I challenge you to be ‘Christ like’ and leave behind the old ‘Christian’ Dogma that has been shoved down out throats for centuries. Time to take back your power!

Namaste,
David