presence | The Direction of Intention

Live In The Middle [on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on September 23, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

not salmon quote copy

The first of Don Miguel Ruiz’s 4 Agreements is to take nothing personally. He writes that everyone (in their mind’s eye) is the star of their own movie and you are merely a bit player in their story. Their drama is theirs. Their drama is not yours. So, when they hurt you or shout at you or call you names, it is not personal. It is their story, their drama, and there is no need to make their story yours. In fact, to try and own their story or take responsibility for what is playing through their head is impossible. It is, in fact, madness.

It’s easier said than done: don’t take ownership of other people’s drama.

I laughed aloud when, many years after reading the 4 Agreements, I read the 5th Agreement: Doubt everything you think. In other words, in addition to not owning other people’s drama, realize that your own drama is not as serious as you might think. It’s a passing cloud, a made-up story in which you are the star and other people are cast as bit players. Take seriously your story and you will yell at others, call them names, try to hurt their feelings as you attempt to force your drama on them.

Bookends. Their drama is not yours. Don’t take it personally. Your drama is not nearly as serious as you pretend. Doubt everything that you think.

What lives between those two dramatic delusion-poles is sometimes called presence. Sometimes it is called peace. It is not a static state, not an arrival or an achievement. It’s a relationship available with others (and the world) when the realization comes that no single story is central or primary or really that important. It is, in many spiritual traditions, called the middle way.

read Kerri’s blog post about NotSalmon QUOTE.

Filed under: Awakening, Merely A Thought Monday, Seeing, Story, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, don miguel ruiz, drama, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, peace, presence, story, story. sense making, storying, storyteller, storytelling, studio melange, the fifth agreement, the four agreements | Leave a comment »

Stand Still [on KS Friday]

Posted on September 20, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

right now songbox copy

Dense fog. After days of storms and turbulence, the lake was still, glassy. Quiet. DogDog and I stepped into the early morning. He pulled me toward the lake. A heron, startled by our arrival, took flight. We were startled by the heron – or I was. Time stopped. It circled and disappeared into the fog.

DogDog sat and I stood very still. Another heron lifted into flight. We listened to the morning sounds muted by the fog. There was no place else to be, nothing else to do.

The heron surprised us into presence. For a few glistening moments. Right now.

RIGHT NOW on the album RIGHT NOW is available on iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s blog post about RIGHT NOW

right now/right now ©️ 2010 kerri sherwood

Filed under: Awakening, KS Friday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dogdog, fog, heron, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, listen, moments, morning song, presence, right now, right now on itunes, still, stillness, studio melange | Leave a comment »

Be Nothing [on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on September 18, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

road shadows copy

It might be my age. I am more and more conscious of the fleeting moment, a special-yet-inconsequential experience, walking with friends, and am overwhelmed with gratitude, struck by the profound in the ordinary.

“Be nothing,” Krishnamurti advised. In that way, we become capable of seeing the extraordinary relationships of everyday moments, seeing the intense beauty in ‘what is’ without the greying filter of ‘what should be.’

Kerri was walking ahead with Jay and Gay. They were laughing and gesturing wildly. Charlie, Dan and I were several paces behind. Dan is a great storyteller and he was making us laugh with a tale from his neighborhood. We strolled down the center of the road; on island there is little to no traffic. The sun peaked through the clouds for the first time all day, just in time for sunset. We heard deer snapping tree limbs as they leapt through the forest but could not see them.

I looked at my wife and friends and the rush of utter appreciation stopped me in my tracks. I knew that I was fully alive, nothing stood between me and this very extraordinary ordinary passing moment. Nothing.

read Kerri’s blog post about ROAD SHADOWS

Filed under: Awakening, Flawed Wednesday, Gratitude, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: appreciation, beauty, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, extraordinary, friends, friendship, Gratitude, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, krishnamurti, moments, ordinary, presence, present moment, relationships, seeing, studio melange, washington island | Leave a comment »

See The Shore [on Two Artist Tuesday]

Posted on September 3, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

eagle copy.PNG

There is an eagle family in the neighborhood. The parents fly by daily. The young eagle, sporting its mottled feathers, visits less often.

DogDog and I went out to investigate the yard after the intense series of storms. We walked the perimeter, he sniffed the ground, I breathed in the fresh air. The storm altered the shape of our little mini beach. The carcass of an enormous fish rolled in the waves against the shore. DogDog, ever brave, was repeatedly startled by the breaking waves, jumping back, leaning forward, filling me with mirth.

Returning to the house, Kerri hush-shouted, “The Eagle!” It was the fledgling. It had found the fish. Quietly, Kerri slipped from the house with her camera and ninja-ed her way toward the shore. Just as she prepared to snap, the eagle flew.

Krishnamurti wrote that to be religious is to be sensitive to reality. DogDog and I sat at the window and watched Kerri watch the eagle as it soared against the angry sky. In that moment, there was nothing more real. DogDog, the turbulent water, the irate clouds, Kerri exhilarated, the fish rolling again and again against the shore.

read Kerri’s blog post about THE EAGLE

Filed under: Perspective, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Dog-Dog, eagle, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, krishnamurti, moment, presence, religion, spirituality, storm, Tripper dog | Leave a comment »

Mend The Split [on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on September 2, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

wonder app quote

This is not my thought. It comes from many directions, is woven through many traditions, and is true no matter what form or from what port it arrives: Fear splits you.

The split is perfect. It cleaves the present moment into dreaded-future-imagining and regretful-past. What if. If only.

I tease Kerri because her imagination is wild and, given a good cleaving, will run amok with tragedy, fiery explosions, and dire consequences. She returns my ribbing when, split like a log, I tumble into hyper judgments of my past. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! It seems the gift we bring to each other in this lifetime is to pull the other back to the center, the un-hewn present moment. We help each other live in and deal with ‘now.’

Each day we take a walk. Deer cross the road ahead or freeze when they spy us. A young eagle flies overhead. The island is a haven for Monarch butterflies. They bob along as we walk, pacing us, breeze-gusted into a seeming drunk-stagger-flight-path. Drunk on the moment. Impervious to the cleave. Without fail, when we are pulled into a future fear yammer, a Monarch butterfly comes along, and our fear sputter stops. Kerri quietly pulls out her camera, tip-toes to the messenger, and snaps a photograph.

“What were we talking about?”

“I can’t remember. Nothing, I suppose.”

“Can you smell the balsam? That butterfly is gorgeous! It’s huge!”

“Yes. It’s beautiful. So beautiful.”

read Kerri’s blog post on BUTTERFLY MOMENTS

Filed under: Awakening, Merely A Thought Monday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: #choosekind, Daily Wonder App, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, fear, future fear, imagination, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, monarch butterfly, past regret, presence, present moment, R. Tagore, split | Leave a comment »

Taste The Dream [on KS Friday]

Posted on August 16, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

each new day songbox copy

I just finished reading The Hundred Year House by Rebecca Makkai. There is an image in the book that I adore. A fish dreaming of a root beer float. In fact, the root beer float is the fish’s greatest dream, a seemingly impossible one to achieve. A little girl offers a solution. The fish should be in the root beer float, eating the dream from the inside.

Living inside the dream rather than chasing it. Language matters. Dreams are notoriously ethereal, very difficult to grasp. Impossible to chase. Wrap your fingers around a dream and it changes shape.

But, to stand within the dream, to live inside it, savoring each moment lived as a bite from life. A taste of the dream. No chase necessary. A fish in a root beer float. Each new day a bite to be relished. Each new day a taste of the dream.

EACH NEW DAY on the album RIGHT NOW is available on iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s blog post about EACH NEW DAY

each new day/right now ©️ 2010 kerri sherwood

Filed under: KS Friday, Metaphor, Uncategorized | Tagged: david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dreams, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, language, moments, presence, rebecca makkai, studio melange, The Hundred Year House | 1 Comment »

Hold It Lightly [on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on July 15, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

humorous thing called life copy

Roll this description around in your thought-bowl:

“The Spoon River Anthology, a sequence of free verse epitaphs spoken from [the occupants of] the cemetery of the town of Spoon River. When the collection first saw publication in 1915, it caused a great sensation because of its forthrightness about sex, moral decay, and hypocrisy…”

We saw a snippet of Spoon River performed last week at our new artistic home, TPAC. It’s almost impossible to see even a bit of Spoon River and not realize how fragile and temporary is life. It’s a not-so-subtle poetry-reminder that most of what we think is sooooooo important is, in fact, a tilt at windmills. In its forthrightness, its perspective on hypocrisy and moral decay, we found Spoon River to be remarkably contemporary.

Tom told me that he always used Spoon River to teach his beginning actors. “It’s all there,” he said, “All of it!”

He read a piece from the anthology at his great aunt Bunty’s funeral. It takes life to love life. After Tom’s death, Kerri and I performed the same piece in my play THE LOST BOY, a script derived from interviews with Tom. Words that end the first act. Words that described Bunty. Words that Tom adored:

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It’s the best of paradoxes. Kerri and I remind each other everyday that our work, our artistry is not nearly as important as we think it is. We remind each other to hold it all lightly. And in holding it lightly, we open the door to experience it richly. To laugh rather than resist. To know, that we will, one day, populate a plot on the hill, and the only thing that will have mattered is that we paid attention and participated in our moment, that we loved the little bit of life that we had.

read Kerri’s blog post about DUST

Filed under: Art, Creativity, Merely A Thought Monday, Uncategorized | Tagged: appreciation, attention, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Edgar Lee Masters, epitaph, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life, moments, poetry, presence, spoon river anthology, studio melange | Leave a comment »

What Would You Give? [on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on July 10, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

tim lake box copy

At the end of his life, Tom told me that, when reviewing his time on this earth, what he most valued, what made his life rich, was not the triumphant play openings or any achievement, title, or status symbol that he’d accumulated. It was the ordinary moments, the infinitely unimportant moments that gave color and shape to his story. Sitting on the porch with his aunt Bunty. Teaching his second grade class. Burning trash with his grandfather. As a boy, racing across the unplowed fields.

It sounds like a cliché’, doesn’t it? We hear it over and over again but rarely heed the wisdom. It is in the ordinary that the extraordinary is found. Pay special attention to the utterly normal and life will burst open and flow.

The film ABOUT TIME has ascended to the top of my favorites list. We watched it more than a few times this week. The quote says it all. Live everyday as if it was the final day in this extraordinary, ordinary life. It reads like a cliché’.

And yet, a few weeks ago I stared into my father’s eyes, and for a few moments he did not know who I was. Dementia is leading him away. I know that soon there will come a day when he will not come back. On that day, what might I give to simply sit and have a chat with my dad? Something so ordinary. Something beyond price.

read Kerri’s blog post about LIVING EVERYDAY

Filed under: Awakening, Edges, Family, Love, Uncategorized | Tagged: about time, alive, awareness, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, extraordinary, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, live life, ordinary, presence, studio melange | Leave a comment »

Look Up [on KS Friday]

Posted on June 21, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

it's real life sandheart shadows songbox copy

We read this morning that people are developing bone spurs or “horns” on the back of their skulls and spines from so much phone gazing. Next generation dentist hump.

Last night 20 introduced us to a new term: deepfake videos. Artificially intelligent face swap videos. Seeing is no longer believing or, more to the point, any word can be made to seem to come out of any mouth. It just proved my late grandmother to be a foresighted genius when she cautioned, “Take it all with a grain of salt!” Believe nothing. Question everything.

I suppose it was always true that the age of information must come hand-in-hand with an evil twin. As E.O. Wilson said, “We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.”

What is real? What is real life? I think it must be the question that defines our age.

We just spent a few days on island. Our technology didn’t work there. Not a signal to be found anywhere. So, we put down our phones, ceased looking at our apps for the latest weather or news. In lieu of seeking constant connectivity, we stopped searching for what we already possessed, what we’d always possessed. We held hands. We sat on the steps of the deck, faces to the sun. We listened to the birds cry, the waves lap on the shore. We talked with the people who were directly in front of us. Tangible.

Kerri chose this song for the studio melange before we went on island. Before we ‘lost our signal’ and found our moment. That makes her a foresighted genius, too! As she reminds us in her song, it’s not the ideal or imagined or vogue or concocted that makes life grounded and rich. It’s the day to day. The stuff you can actually touch in this sea of information detritus.

It’s real life. It’s the day to day. That’s where the love is found. Just ask grandma. Or Kerri.

IT’S REAL LIFE on the album AS SURE AS THE SUN is available in iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s blog post about IT’S REAL LIFE

Filed under: KS Friday, Perspective, Uncategorized | Tagged: as sure as the sun, connectivity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, deepfake videos, E.O. Wilson, foresight, information, it's real life, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, misinformation, presence, real life, reality, studio melange, technology, what's real? | Leave a comment »

Live So Much [On Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on June 17, 2019 by davidrobinsoncreative

so much life lived box copy

“So much life lived this week,” Heidi said to Kerri. Yes. So much.

It is, of course, true every week. Some weeks it is simply more apparent. The happenings seem bigger. A wedding. A graduation. A passing. A new job. A birth. A week of life.

Last week? A walk on the beach. Both children under the same roof; something that has not happened in years. Travel to another state. Staying present with my dad for those moments when he’d forgotten who I was. Staying present with my mom as a wave of fear washed over her. A job lost. Taking his keys and truck away. The deep gratitude of sleeping in my own bed, even for a night. So much life lived.

I have taught myself, in my waking moments, to think, “Make this day a discovery.” I have given too many weeks of my life away, too many days, too many hours, too many minutes, believing that I knew what was going to happen. Dulling myself. Blinding myself to so much life happening. ‘Discover the day’ is a much better approach than ‘Get through the day.’ The truth: none of us really know what is going to happen.

And this week?

read Kerri’s blog post about SO MUCH LIFE LIVED.