Do You Believe? (How to Rekindle a Goal)

(Claude Monet's Water Lily Pond in France)

Just as the great French artist, Monet, created his own Water Lily pond in order to paint it, I believe most people want to create something special within their lifetime.  They yearn for a sense of accomplishment; a reason for having lived.  It is that inner drive which propels us toward our heart's desires.  But for some, that inner drive gets beaten down so many times that the light within it simply burns out.  Failure upon failure upon failure stack up and smother a person's goals to death.

This is where you have the drunk at the bar who complains about how everyone is against him while he numbs the pain with a six-pack or two.  This is the place where a person, so afraid of having one more failure,  would choose to throw a friend under the bus rather than have to start over one more time.  This is where a lie becomes the only form of creativity and the liar walks a tight rope over a dark abyss.

Have you ever seen what happens when you put someone filled with the joy of creating, next to someone who doesn't give a damn?  What do you think would happen?  Would the joyous person lift the apathetic nay-sayer upward into a level of interest?  Or, would the reverse eventually ensue?

Let me put it another way.  Say you are a singer ready to perform in a show.  And, let's say your sound man is not the brightest star in the sky.  Is your wonderful performance going to enhance his apathetic sound?   Or, is his apathetic sound going to downgrade your wonderful performance?  Now, you're getting the picture.

So, what do you do when your power is being diminished by those who vibrate at a much lower frequency around you?  You have two choices.  You can either handle the scene by replacing those lower-level persons with those of a like energy, OR you can get out of Dodge on a swift horse.  Don't think for a minute that things will change on their own.  THEY WON'T!

I have seen so many wonderfully talented artists/performers who have gotten stuck in shows where their gorgeous artistry has been degraded much like placing a moustache on the Mona Lisa.  I have personally witnessed this numerous times in my over twenty years as a top impersonator, and for over twenty years before that while performing in school plays, biker bars, casino lounges, showrooms and more.

I cannot tell you how many times I had to fight with the male leader of the band, in which I was the "chick singer," to turn my microphone up!  (Can I have a "high five," ladies?)

Oh, and one of my more recent favorites was when I was working in a show in Vegas and they had me choreographed in an area on the stage that had absolutely NO monitor coverage whatsoever!  Now, how's that for production expertise?

Then, there are those special memories where you are "too hip for the room" and get devoured by those who are threatened by your power.  That is always delightful...

Here's the bigger point I am trying to make.  All of those times when you've had to battle with the lower-level beings who have degraded you in one way or another, well, those times act exactly like FAILURES which pile up, one on top of the other, upon YOUR goals!  Do you see that?  All of those times when you've gone out there with the intention to kick major ass, only to have someone else cause your work of art to become less...well, those become failures for YOU.

Okay, so you still have the desire to create something with your talents.  But, it may not have all the zest behind it that it once had.  There have been too many times you've tried to create magic and have been stopped or hindered by someone else.  So, now you just roll with the punches and accept that you are not talented enough or not connected enough or not "something else" enough.  Well, I'm here to tell you that the only thing that has been wrong this entire time is that you did not have the ideal situations in which to create your art.

I remember being privileged enough to sing on a superstar's PA system, microphone, monitors and such, with a top sound man in a hall that seated fourteen-thousand people.  OMG!  It was my first time ever being able to experience the IDEAL SCENE in all of its glory!  I sounded like a superstar when I sang through that system.  And you know what?  I had fourteen thousand people light their lighters and hold them up for ME!  But, when I most recently sang in that Vegas show in an area of the stage where there was NO monitor coverage and with the sound being horrific, well, my own sister said I did not sound like me at all.

If you ever believed you had the talent to create something special in this world, well I want you to know that God would not have given you that desire if you did not have something in you worthy of it!


You might be thinking, "But, I'm too old now...or out of practice...or it's been too long...or I just don't have the drive anymore."  That PURPOSE which once fueled your desire just needs to be rekindled!  Ask yourself, "Why did I want to do that thing in the first place?  Why?  What was the purpose behind it?"  Find the answer to THAT, and then hold onto that purpose for dear life.  If no one did that, there'd be nothing hanging in the Louvre...

(The Louve Museum.  Paris, France)