Thankful to be an Awesomist

if you don’t see any videos, please click on the post title to be taken to the full view

Here’s a video update on the place I’m hanging out, Polestar.

The main point of the clip:

• I am an AWESOMIST – I believe that life can always be awesome. Still fleshing out the whole philosophy, but I’m looking for more members of this club. You in?
• Our environment is crucial – if yours isn’t to your satisfaction, do something about it – hang a photo or  picture, put your desk near a window, take a different way home from work or school – or what the heck, move to Hawaii! :-)
• When you have an environment that is nurturing and supportive, and that feeds you, you will grow and develop exponentially

And here’s a…well, a very silly video (as I mention, this was for a couple people in particular :-)

The point here: remember to DANCE and be happy, people! :-)

 
What’s the deal with those loud frogs?

At the end of the Raja Yoga Intensive, I actually did a short stand-up set about my experiences there. I had a bunch of fun and I even got some laughs!

Working the Main Room at Polestar! :-)

Talk about feeling ALIVE! All the feelings I remember from doing this before came flooding back – the excitement and the terror. It was really fun to get back into the “comedy scene,” :-) even if only for a quick set. It’s a fun skill to have in my back pocket – to be able to play with that and to be able to activate that part of my brain. It reaffirms that I’m not looking for the full-time life of a comic, but still very cool and a good reminder that if I never need to really feel present, just try something that terrifies me.

Manifest the Awesomeness

Another idea I wanted to touch on is manifesting goodness in your life. Since I’ve been out here, I’ve been thinking about how I can more fully plug into the community out here – there are so many of us here, it’s really about seeing what role could I play. Not in a limiting fashion, but really seeing how I can best share my gifts with the collective.

With still no clarity, about two weeks ago I was journaling and stumbled onto the idea that I really wanted to do interviews again (see posts in March & April for examples); I remembered how much I enjoyed talking with the cast & crew of Paradise Lost up in Seattle – I knew I had to get back into this! So I made a plan to start doing my quick interviews with all the Raja Yogis here.

But fate intervened: a few days later, Michael (who runs Polestar) came up to me out of the blue and asked me if I would head up an effort to interview all the people here – they want to increase their online presence and are looking to create more videos. They already have a couple cool ones and .

I couldn’t believe it – in just a few days, I went from having an idea to working on this project for Polestar! So instead of spending my days pulling weeds, I’m now working full-time on a cool video for them, and I’m really digging it: I get to talk to people, be creative, and think about awesomeness – very excited about the turn of events over here.

And it’s now become really clear for both me and the people here that I was supposed to be at Polestar right now. Yes it’s been wonderful with all the spiritual practices I’ve been learning and doing, but the energy of me helping them out on a larger level is so palpable and mutual. All of the big-wigs here went with their Board on a planning retreat this past weekend to look ahead at the next 10 years for this place – and apparently my name came up a few times as someone who could help out. The skill set I happen to have (basically, what I do as Virtual Nathan) is where they are really lacking, plus I just like to get stuff done and puzzle solve, and that stuff never goes outta style!

Nice when the Universe really brings things into focus like this. Another example that I just need to have faith that the dots of my life are connecting, even if I can’t see the pattern. I was honestly worried the day before I left LA that I wasn’t going to be happy with this move, that I was really crazy for even planning this. A bit awesome that none of this fear appeared until literally the last moment, but of course – I couldn’t have been more wrong!

Should I stay or should I go?

My month is just about up here and the sense is that I could stick around and really get involved even more directly on a much longer-term basis. The people here at Polestar would love to have me stay and I’m sure I’d have lots of fun. But I’ve decided to keep moving on. I do enjoy this community and love what I’ve learned and who I’ve met, but I realize I’m not looking for a home right now. I want to keep going. What’s cool is that I’ve started to have conversations with them about how I could continue to be involved with Polestar no matter where I am in the world. I truly believe in what they’re doing and enjoy the people, so why does it have to end when I leave?

And I think that speaks to a larger issue – now that it’s so easy to connect with people, we can have relationships with people and communities all over the world – there’s no limit to who will be in our network. Very exciting and cool stuff!

I think that’s it for now. For those who celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving! I’m very thankful for so much this year, and exceedingly grateful for my new-found awesomist lifestyle!

Here are more shots from my goings-on:

the Polestar group chillin’ at a black sand beach – swimming with dolphins here!

the waves here are pretty sweet, and the colors of the ocean are so cool!

sunset in Kona

a visitor to (fortunately not IN) my tent

bananas from the property

ever wonder where blue corn tortilla chips come from? yup, we got that stuff here too!

and it’s just not a party without fresh coconuts opened by a machete. isn’t this the scene on your lawn? :-)