Song of the Week: "Leather"

One of the larger kinks in the machinery I'm working on these days is my tendency to transfer myself to other people's state of mind, point of view, head space, what have you. Or what have they, as the case may be!

It's pretty much sudden death for any performer when they find themselves wondering how they sound to their audience or what the audience is thinking -- be it in writing, acting, singing or any form of entertainment.

Moreover, it's sudden death for all of us in our every day lives though we probably don't realize it. Every time we start wondering how we look in someone else's eyes, we're no longer living in our own bodies. We're in someone else's head instead of our own and that takes us out of living in the present altogether. It's a scary place to be too! Think about the people whose heads you place yourself in sometimes by doing this and ask yourself if their world is one you really want to be living in.

Unfortunately, upon this realization, many people mistake that selfishness is the answer, but don't be fooled into the black and white! You can be concerned for other people without being concerned with their opinions or thoughts of you.

So in addition to taking a different road in my personal life and in my career, it's not only at these forks but also in other people's heads that I find myself so often saying these days: "Why am I here? ...Hand me my leather."