Being the Change You Want to Happen

Obama - Hope: Image Courtesy of Shepard Fairley

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

-President Barack Obama, January 20th, 2009

During his campaign, President Obama spoke of values shared by people of all colors and cultures; values such as hard work, perseverance, faith, and service to humanity. The hopes he shared for the country shined a spotlight on the great possibility of what the United States could be as a nation.

As his message passed from friend to friend, city to city, it summoned a knowing instinct in people to unite, put differences aside, and work together to initiate the change that we all yearned for. Over the course of two years the massive movement for CHANGE, that grew from humble beginnings and grassroots efforts, has become a powerful testimony to the amazing things that can happen when individuals or groups work for something deeply desired.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to happen in the world.”

What goes into being the change that we want? What does it mean to BE the change that we want? It means that we begin and maintain a committed effort that centers around learning, being aware, and developing a new nature, a new way of Being, that guides us on a path towards realizing the change we want to happen.

Other Options are Available!

Even though there are times when we think that things are out of our control, the influence we have over our own lives is much greater than we choose to acknowledge sometimes. We've all felt like victims at certain points, feeling like there was no way that we could change a situation that we weren't satisfied with.

The first and probably most important step to lifting ourselves out of an undesirable situation is to realize that there ARE different possibilities available for us out there. The reason it's so crucial to be open to other possibilities is that it allows us to ponder different options for ourselves; how things could be different, better for us.

If there were no hope or possibility out there of some situation being different, why even try striving for it in the first place?

Making the choice to not be open forces us to be stuck without options.

Believe in What We're Going After

After realizing and visualizing a desired result we want for ourselves, the next step is to act. Not mindlessly act, performing an action repeatedly with no enthusiasm, but to perform an act mindfully, with awareness, and faith that persistent, enthusiastic action will lead to the desired result.

There's a quote that goes, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things yet unseen."

Having faith goes back to the first step of truly believing that there are other options and possibilities available. It could be anything from becoming financially independent, getting out of debt, or finding love; taking steps forward with the belief that the results we want are absolutely available to gives us the strength to carry on and persist, moving forward until we realize our desired result.

That's why it's so important to be utterly and deeply moved and inspired by the result that we envision for ourselves. Being inspired breathes life into our most desired possibilities.

Generating and Building Momentum for Change

There's a quote that says, "There's nothing more inspiring than the human spirit on fire. People will gather around to watch it burn."

Being inspired by the possibility or result that we desire allows us to act with such an unswerving commitment to our goal that it stirs something inside of people who are witness us going through the process. When we see inspired people performing an action, it's as if everything is perfect, there's no way they could fail. Like Michael Jordan playing basketball, or Tiger Woods playing golf, or any great musician, singer, surfer, artist, anything.

When we watch the greats in any field, we don't feel like we're just watching them, we feel like we're actually them. The greatest and most successful people in any field makes us feel like we're them. Their greatness is recognized by the greatness inside of us.

When we're watching them, it's as if time stops, the world around just falls away and we are completely present in the moment. Something in us senses, recognizes, and connects with the awesome and inspiring energy of the performance and we are drawn to it.

It feels natural, it feels like we've arrived at a familiar place. Like arriving home, it feels like somewhere we belong. It is precisely at those moments, that the spirit of greatness within each of us is revealed to ourselves.

Be inspired! It's our Nature!

It doesn't matter whether we're picking up trash or the President of a large company. Greatness isn't about the position or status of what we do. It's about the heart and energy that we put into work that inspires us.

By giving our fullest attention to even the simplest tasks, we prepare and ensure a fertile field for the most abundant harvests in the lives of others as well as our own.

We all have the power to be the change we want to happen in the world.

Also check out:

Full Obama Inaugural Address Transcript

Top Ten Things to Think About If You Want to Change the World

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Interview with Daniel Pak of Kore Ionz

Kore Ionz on stage at Neumo's, Photo Courtesy of Paul Owens

After having been out of contact with Daniel Pak since graduating high school, I was really looking forward to catching up and hearing about his music group, Kore Ionz, based out of Seattle, WA. Some time ago, I had remembered hearing through a buddy, Darin Nakagawa, that Daniel was in a Nuclear Engineering program at the University of Washington and was going to be returning to Hawaii after he graduated. I was pretty surprised and curious when I heard a few years later that rather than return home and settle into a job working on submarines at Pearl Harbor, Daniel became the lead vocalist and rhythm guitar player for a group called Kore Ionz.

I hadn't heard their music yet, but after taking a look at the group's website, it looked like they've gained a solid following in Seattle and the surrounding areas, even garnering media attention from local newpapers and radio stations.

Kore Ionz combines "roots reggae with dynamic rock and world rhythms", producing high-energy grooves with a conscious message of hope and positivity.

Their contribution to the community goes beyond music as they donate half of their proceeds to The Service Board, a nonprofit offering life-changing programs for marginalized youth in Seattle. No doubt, Kore Ionz is making a powerful and lasting impression in their communities.

So makes a nuclear engineering major switch courses to pursue reggae in Seattle? I got to chat with Daniel and find out:

(Perfect Life Daily) Mike Yang: What's going on Daniel! Great to be chatting with you after all this time! The last time I heard your name, you were studying Nuclear Engineering to get into Pearl Harbor. When did you decide to start the group?

(Kore Ionz) Daniel Pak: Kore Ionz was formed from the remaining members of Mystic Rising, which began in 2001 at the University of Washington. Today I am the only remaining original member, and the band is completely different, both in personnel, sound, and collective consciousness.

MY: That's awesome! A lot of folks want to pursue their passions and listen to that voice inside telling them to go for it, but a lot of times it never happens. What made you take a take that first step and start the group?

DP: I originally wanted to start a group during college, when I realized that music was my calling. No other explanation other than a gut feeling. Today, I realize the social responsibility and global potential of the group, which is the current motivation for maintaining our work. To me, music has become a vessel for which community building and social change can occur.

MY: When you say social responsibility, what do you mean?

DP: Well, for example, yesterday I was trying to recruit kids at a high school for the arts center I teach at. I was just standing in the hallway playing guitar, saying hello to people. Kids were walking by, but they didn't even want to look me in the eye. Thing about high school, there's a lot of fear involved, fear of failure and fear what people will say. People are trying to hide.

The world is so huge when we're so young! But it becomes smaller when we put ourselves out there.

MY: So you would say it's important to put yourself out there and take some risks.

DP: A big part of our lives are lived in comfort, privilege, boredom, luxury, but taking risks is what life is all about! We're very strong beings but we're also very delicate. We could lose this life due to any number of factors. We shouldn't be afraid of failure, shouldn't be afraid of shining so bright. You've gotta fall and get back up again and be willing to learn.

MY: Excellent! I'm sure there were ups and downs when Kore Ionz was being put together. What kind of course did the formation and growth of the group take?

DP: Like any group of people getting together for a cause, there are both times of collective happiness and joy and times of controversy and ego clashing. I am happy to report that in the current Kore Ionz lineup, there is virtually no ego clashing and minimal controversy. The reason for which is that we pride ourselves on being a family first and foremost, supporting each other with any needs. The music comes and grows naturally because of this bond.

MY: What else besides the close bond within the group inspires your music?

DP: People. Places. Those who suffer. Those who aid the suffering. Channeling the negative vibes of an argument into a smile and a friendship. People singing to themselves on the streets. Children exploring the world on all fours. Watching a stranger help a single mother carry her groceries to her car. Not for the reward, but because it is our duty to help others.

With Al Anderson and Junior Marvin, Bob Marley's original lead guitar players, Photo Courtesy of Wailers Stage Manager Rusty

MY: What are some of the greatest lessons you've learned about yourself, others, and the process itself along the way?

DP: I am the only person in this world that can prevent myself from achieving my dreams. I am my biggest critic and sometimes the hardest thing to deal with is my own ego, which takes cues and reacts from my own fears. I am absolutely nothing in this world, and at the same time I am everything. I cannot change my surroundings and the ways and thoughts of those around me – I can only change what is within myself, in hopes that the light I radiate can help others see and feel more clearly. I am very sensitive and soft, and I need to be, for if I was hard and rough I would be very rigid and brittle and would break very easily. And I will never blame others for my problems, because I am the only one that can change. I work for humanity.

MY: Sounds like there was a lot of growth and Self-discovery in the process! In your own words, how do you feel that what you do adds value to you, your family & friends, community, and humanity?

DP: I do what I do not because I want to, but because I have to.

MY: I definitely agree that we're all responsible to and for each other. That being said, what did you have to give up or sacrifice to reach this point now? Or was it more of something where you never felt like you had to give anything up at all?

DP: My ego and its temptations. Instant gratification. I will always need attention, because we are all children until the day we leave this world, but I feel secure enough that I don’t need another’s approval to validate my choices.

MY: To the kids that you mentor and work with, how do you teach them to take risks and that failure is part of the process of achieving success?

DP: We teach different instruments at the arts center one of which is the drums. When the kids first come in, we give them the drumsticks and ask them to imagine that they're 2 years old. We tell them to bang on the drums, play whatever they want to play, for half an hour and then we come in and start teaching.

When we're two years old, we don't pay attention to what people think about what we're doing. We try and get the kids to put themselves in the mentality where no one cares. This way, they're willing to try, to take risks and make mistakes, and just keep going, keep trying. If kids are empowered at an earlier age or early on in the process of learning, their progression will be much faster.

MY: What made it clear for you that you wanted your work to be about empowering people and infusing positivity into the lives of others?

DP: We went to Southeast Asia, and saw a different way of life. There lifestyle was Southeast Asian but there was still definitely a Western Influence. There, I saw the world going in one of two directions; for those with more privilege to give more, or to go to WWIII. Only when everyone realizes that we all struggle as a Universal Global Whole, it'll be a chance for us to change public opinion take positive action on the sources of negativity in this world.

MY: What is the most important message that you'd like to send out to folks listening to Kore Ionz and reading this blog?

DP: If you know deep in your heart that something or someone is wrongfully affecting others, it becomes everyone’s responsibility to make it right. Too often we understand exactly what is wrong and step away from the problem instead of becoming part of the solution. And this isn’t any new profound philosophy – it is the simple consciousness of human beings, and part of our daily duty is to be able to converse with our own consciousness, to awaken ourselves.

MY: Where would you like to be and WHO you would like to be as a person for yourself and others in 5 years?

DP: Who I'd like to be is a good father.

In 5 years, I'll be back in Hawaii raising my family because I truly believe that the whole family, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, needs to participate in raising a child.

I'd also like to be producing music, and developing youth. All it takes is the backing of the community. All it takes is to meet the people. Heart, love and compassion is a Universal language. Hawaii is all about tourism, it's sad to see people just serving tourists, instead of serving the local people, we've gotta serve the people. A lot of that is education. I'd love to do my part to help progress the educational system and create viable social change.

MY: Awesome man! Thanks so much for taking the time today and best wishes to Kore Ionz and your family! Any last thoughts to all the folks out there?

DP: What are you waiting for? You know what you want, go get it and make it happen. Stop complaining about being bored, lazy, or I'm not good enough. Stop cutting yourself down and saying the word "retarded". Stop judging others and comparing yourself to others. Focus on your dream and how to get there. If you want it that bad, put the work in, make it happen. You're the one that's holding you back. And think about your Grandma too!

On Stage, Photo Courtesy of Canh Solo Photography

Sometimes, when people ask Daniel what he does, he replies,"I'm a farmer, I plant seeds among the youth and hopefully they'll grow." The world's in for a great harvest if they keep doing what they're doing!

To see more of Daniel and hear Kore Ionz, check out:

www.koreionz.com

Kore Ionz myspace blog

The Nature of Our Fears and How to Overcome Them

How Do They Do it?

I've always wondered how a handful of people would become really successful and accomplish whatever they wanted by "going with the flow" and "just seeing what happens", while the majority would also "go with the flow" and "see what happens" then end up wishing their situation was different. It didn't matter whether it was about love, relationships, career, finances, self-awareness, or personal empowerment. The statistics were the same; a few experiencing the results they wanted but the majority not.

What's the difference between these two groups of people? One is empowered, living with clear intention and direction in their lives, versus the other which settles and just takes whatever comes their way?

There are a lot of reasons; who they associate with, what they learn and what they're taught from their teachers, family, and friends, their own levels of self-motivation, how they interact with others, life circumstances. It could be due to any combination of millions of reasons.

Whatever it may be, the root of these reasons can be traced to fear and the nature and origin of this fear. What do I mean the nature and origin of this fear?

What Fear is and Where it Comes From

Dictionary.com defines fear as

"a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid."

Who, or more appropriately, what is feeling this emotion? It's our ego.

Who we think we are is NOT our egos. Rather, we are the observer that is aware we have an ego, and aware that we are feeling certain emotions . The nature of this observer is all about Happiness, Joy, Prosperity, Success, Abundance.

On the other hand, we all have our own egos and the nature of all egos follow similar general characteristics:

- Wanting fame, recognition, the feeling of importance

- Wanting all the credit for great things without necessarily having to work for it, instant gratification

- Wanting to not be accountable for actions, always a victim; it's always someone or something else's fault

- Wanting to stay in the dark and be unaware, not wanting to know the truth

- Constantly comparing itself with others

The ego sounds like a really negative and obnoxious thing but really, that's just the nature of the ego. It's a part of each person's way of preserving individuality and maintaining identity. It's also the present day form of a primitive survival mechanism that protects a person from any real or perceived threat.

In the same way, the Observer is not necessarily positive or negative. It's just a more aware and conscious part of ourselves who's nature represents our highest, best, and most prolific intentions.

Introduce our mind into the picture. Think of the mind as a tool that makes things happen, it doesn't ask, it doesn't question, it just works. If we're not aware, and we don't direct the mind for results we want from the Observer's perspective, then the ego will take over the mind to use for its own purposes of preserving itself and preserving it's nature. In essence, the tool or vehicle takes over the user.

Car and Driver Analogy

To make this relationship a little clearer, think of the mind as a car and the perspective of the ego and the perspective of the Observer as the CHOICES of the driver. If the ego is allowed to choose, the driver would simply turn on the car, put it in drive, recline his seat, sit back and hope that he'll end up at his appointment. The car might start going down the street but he's not really paying attention, just relaxing, listening to music. He doesn't see the stop sign and the car coming on the right. Then BOOM! Car accident, and he arrives late for his important appointment. Of course, the other driver should have stopped, and there was traffic, and his wife didn't put the new registration back in the car so he didn't have it when the cops asked for it. It wasn't his fault!

On the other hand, the Observer would have made all the necessary preparations ahead of time, been more aware of his surroundings, made sure he knew what he needed and had everything he needed to get to where he needed to be. It would have been a nice and smooth ride to his appointment with time to spare. He would have left a great impression with whoever he was meeting. From there, more doors and more opportunities would have opened up to him in the process.

Teacher and Bratty Student Analogy

Another analogy, imagine you are a teacher correcting papers after school. There's only you and the most spoiled little brat in your class. The ego is like that spoiled brat, and you are like your mind and the Observer. The kid could be tossing papers all over the place, writing on the whiteboard with a permanent marker, and yelling at the top of his lungs. If you get mad and stop what you're working on, and give attention to the child, the child has gained influence over you and you get taken off course from what you're trying to accomplish.

However, if you simply observe the child, acknowledge that the child is there but not be distracted from your work, eventually the child will know that it has no power over you and will tire himself out. The ego, like the child, feeds on the attention it is given. The moment the child's behavior influences you to the point where it causes you to react, then the child has influence over you. But, if you act or not act, from an Observer perspective, you are not under the influence of the child. Therefore, you are empowered because you're acting out of choice.

Own Your Choices

The whole idea is to make the choices that will give us the results we desire. But even before that, it's about knowing where our decisions are coming from. It's about being aware of what factors are in play, namely the mind, ego, and the Observer within us, so we can move our lives in the direction that we'd like them to go. It doesn't matter what area of Life we're talking about; love, relationships, finances, personal empowerment, career; it's all the same. Will we choose, to be empowered by the choice we're making?

It takes a bit of practice to take a step back and be aware of where our choices are coming from but it gets to be second nature over time. The point is not to over-think and over-observe our actions and reactions. There could be a million and one reasons why something wouldn't turn out the way you want them to.

The point, is to OWN our choices and focus on the results that we want. All of our possibilities are available! You'll be seeing some great examples soon on Perfect Life Daily!

Positioning Our Minds to Accomplish

Whenever we feel excited about the possibility of a thought or idea coming true, it's like a signal beacon that provides a clue about what direction our lives should take. Oftentimes, the thought comes in the form of a compelling feeling of what it would feel like if life was a certain way. The feeling could be a tremendously positive and joyful one but it could also be a feeling of deep fear if the thought was about an unwanted result.

Observe & Pay Attention

The first thing to do is pay attention to the feelings that we're feeling. When we're feeling positive, happy, and excited, it's important to be with feeling, to sit there and marinate in it, let it soak in. With a bit of consistent practice, we can even guide our thoughts to think about things that make us feel happy and appreciative. A great time to do this is in the morning as we're just waking up or at night right before we go to bed.

On the same token, when we're not conscious of the kinds of thoughts going through our head, thoughts may come up about scenarios where things don't turn out the way we want them to. Negative, fearful emotion pops up, and if we don't stop it, that negative momentum can accelerate really quickly to a point where we may physically start to feel bad and get sick. When we catch ourselves, we should stop, take a breath and redirect our thoughts to positive things that make us feel good. It IS within all of our powers to direct our thinking in a way that's positive and feels good.

Good Vibes

Surrounding ourselves with a group of encouraging people is the biggest boost that we could give ourselves in the process to achieving our goals and dreams. Relationships with encouraging people are like the motor oil lubricating the engine parts that keeps it running smoothly. At times when we're grinding it out and putting in the hard work to make things happen, relationships with encouraging people are reminders that everything's going to be great. Many people that go after something big often burn out because they think it's them against the world and it simply gets too overwhelming to continue. However, when it reaches a certain point where it's not necessarily about doing something to impress others or even impress ourselves, but doing something because it's a labor of love that will add value to the world and to peoples' lives, there will be boundless energy, momentum and creativity to achieve it all!

Rest & Consistency

The body literally IS the temple that houses the energy that allows us to persist. It's also the vehicle that will put in the work to make it happen. Get enough rest, feed your body good, whole and nutritious foods, and physically feeling great will stretch open the channels for the most creative flows to pour forth.

It is within our powers and abilities to create the most amazing lives for ourselves! Feed, foster, and grow that belief!