"Basically we all live in a paradigm that started with dialogue. When you were a baby and learned your first words the paradigm began. You know how your internal dialogue is constantly going during your waking hours? Well that is because this reality is based on those words. (I know, do not get too excited. I am not going space cadet on you. Just relax.) Those words make up this paradigm. We all are in agreement as to what those words mean and represent. For instance a car is a car to me and the same to you. However, if you took some kind of recorder and recorded your thoughts all day and then replayed those thoughts to someone else here is what would happen. Most of the thoughts would be in line with the other person's beliefs. Some though would be outside of what that person is thinking on a day to day basis. The thoughts that are within the same way of thinking are the basis of today's paradigm, or reality. Those that are outside of the other person's thinking are yours and belong to a personal paradigm. That personal paradigm is influenced by some degree, great or small, by the paradigm at large.
Here's what that does to us. Depending on how much we desire to belong to today's world, how much we desire to be popular or accepted, our actions are proportionately influenced. Without getting lost in this entire psychology let me explain what happens to the musician. He is caught up in a very weird state of affairs.
Besides self-preservation, most of our actions are motivated by four main issues. Those four motivators are food, sex, money, and acceptance. I know most musicians have noticed how the other sex is attracted to the performer, and money is good, but for the musician the main motivator is acceptance. He is driven and influenced by his desire to be accepted by music fans and other musicians. Because of the over whelming power of the existing paradigm the musician does not do what it takes to build a more powerful paradigm. You see, instead of buying into the prevailing paradigm and just self destructing, the musician can build a paradigm that the world buys into. You can be crazy as a bed bug and the world will love it, but you have to have a foundation that allows you to be crazy as a bed bug and build a big business. You see once a musician sells out to the world view of what a musician should be he is confronted by the absolute shallowness of the whole affair. The world is fickle. And the musician seeing this after many years feels there is no recourse, so he gives the world what they seem to be wanting. And that is self destruction. Ever notice how the musician goes down in flames as the world applauds? It does not have to be that way. You can create a paradigm that is structured in a way that actually profits from what the world seems to be wanting and at the same time grows stronger because of the set of rules it is guided by. And as it grows stronger it profits more, the world buys into it more, and it grows even stronger still.
Here is the starting point: You have to understand the paradigm that is world today. Here is my view on that. This is my view and I am not a professional in these matters. If you are a psychologist then you would have a field day if I let you play with my brain for a day. I learned to treat the paradigm in one way in order to build my own paradigm another way. The way I treat the paradigm is this. Everyone you know or will ever meet is just a kid who is in the third grade on the school playground. All social interactions today are based on this dynamic. Good business is not. But bad business practices are on this level. If you truly understand what I just wrote you will go a long way in your relationships in the world today. You see on the playground there were bullies, those being bullied, and those just trying to stay out of the way. You may be dealing today with someone who was bullied a great deal and is trying to overcome that feeling of helplessness that is still guiding and influencing his decisions today. Love everyone where they are, but try and understand that there is an underlying dynamic that you may be caught up in and have very little control over. You only have two options, now or anytime. You can take action, or you can walk away.
However the trick is to bring that person's dynamic into your own paradigm. You can do this with other musicians, band members, fans, and club owners. You have to understand the dynamic going on at the time. But first you have to make your paradigm yours and the stronger. And because you have been given a paradigm, much like a download in a computer, by your parents, friends, relatives, teachers, and the world at large, you have a great deal of work ahead of you. But it is worth the effort. Trust me.
Changing the paradigm.
You are what you think. However, and more important, you are what you believe. That belief is influenced in one of two ways. Positively in relationship to our wants, needs, and more important goals. Or negatively in the same areas. You have in your mind two very powerful guardians waiting to be called upon. And these guardians are dedicated to the job of letting you have what you really believe. If today you believe negatively then the negative guardian comes forth and protects that belief. If today you believe positively then the positive guardian comes forth and protects that belief. They do not judge right or wrong. They only protect that belief at all costs. And they are very, very good at their job.
"Today is a lousy day. I do not feel like practicing." Up comes the negative guardian and does a wonderful job of giving you what you asked for. And it works in the opposite way as well. You must sell out to this fact. It is a fact and you must learn to control your thoughts.
Roy Gene Horne is a songwriter, musician, performer with over 40 years professional experience. He has written hundreds of songs, recorded, performed, booked, managed, and fronted his own band for all of those years. His music can be heard at http://www.littleroygene.com.
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