“What problem will your new venture solve?”  Their one-or two-sentence answers—10 or 15 seconds at the most—are often enough to predict the future.

Why? Because a new venture—any venture—needs focus.  It needs a purpose.  It has to solve an important customer problem and in some small way, improve the world.

An entrepreneur needs to develop a product, construct a compelling value proposition, gather resources and people, and figure out marketing and pricing, to say nothing of the challenges of leadership.  But a relentless focus on customer pain gives a visionary founder a lot more cushion to work through the inevitable difficulties.

So, as an entrepreneur, we advise that you start by looking for trouble.  Brainstorm things that people find disturbing, frustrating, urgent, or uncomfortable. Then, switch gears and develop cures.  Focus on healing.  Figure out how to make the pain go away and build a new venture around it, and articulate it to advisors and stakeholders.

We froze in solidarity with the Glaziers that we want to help stay frozen for the bears and other wildlife that depend on them.
350.org is an organiztion that promotes reduction in carbon footprint. We froze for 35 seconds then made the 0 by sighing the 0 sound. Then we all started to drum again with the sign behind us explaining to all that did not know what was going on.

Jeanie Williamson facilitated this drum circle/flash mob at Lakes Park with support of local drum circles in our area.  Happehatchee Drum Circle, Fort Myers Drum Circle, Vanderbilt Drum Circle were all represented at this circle. We all care about the environment and wanted to do any small part we could to raise the awareness of how what we do effects everything.

Be conscious and have fun.

Dezi Marino, {Videographer, Production Coordinator, Editor} at  Dmfmfilms put this together. I saw him at the event. He was casually taking pictures for himself and I ask him if he could video this. He smiled and said “Yes”. It was very last minute and yet he still was able to capture the circle. This was a very Karma Yoga thing to do. Thank you Dezi.

Videographer | Production Coordinator | Editor

Walking from booth to booth, my eyes focused upon green and blue glaze blending down a coffee cup that made total sense to me. The opening was smaller on the top than the bottom, having more than adequate room for a warm soothing liquid of choice, along with a hand that would need to enter it to make sure it is clean for the next cup. It got my attention enough to lend my eye to all the other creations around it. A light potters bowl for soup or stir fry with two little holes close to the top to rest the ends of chop sticks in, making sure they don’t roll off the bowl when resting. A votive candle holder with leaves cut out and resting halfway on holes left behind, allowing the glow of the candle to shine out the side. Crazy faces with broken pieces of pottery used for teeth.

 
“What a smart idea,” I said as I held up a bowl with chopsticks. 

“I got tired of them falling off,” replied the man who made it.

 ”Such a great way to meditate.” I smile.

“I don’t meditate,” he thinks he is speaking his truth.

“It is a great way to meditate”,  His wife speaks up.

 I look at him, “When you are spinning the clay on the wheel, don’t you have to focus?”

“Yes.” He responds.

“And if you start loosing your concentration, most the time it doesn’t mess up your piece?”

“Well yes, it does.”

“Well, that is meditation. Focusing on one thing for a period of time is the same as meditating. It is that simple.”

“Oh, I never thought of it that way.”

Many people think there is some magic thing they need to learn and do to meditate. I am forever having similar conversations as this, speaking to folks about how meditation is simpler then they realize and how it should be the focus of parts of every day.

When you are brushing your teeth, if you think of only your teeth and how the brush moves up and down on your teeth, up and down and nothing else, you can call that meditating.

When you are eating and don’t engage in conversation, TV or music, when you sit and focus on each bite going in your mouth, chewing it, how the flavor taste and the texture feels in your mouth, when that is all you do, fully focusing on your food only and not how your day is going or will go, then that is meditation.

When you walk for walking sake, nothing more, when you focus on the smell of the air around you and the sway of movement from your body, and only these few things, nothing more, then that is meditation.

Meditation is clearing the mind from over stimulation. When you clean out a closet, everything in there has a fresh vibe, it is the same old stuff but suddenly you can see clearly the things that are important to you. You want to make sure you don’t empty the closet and leave it in a heap in the bedroom. You want to take it someplace that will allow it to not enter your closet again, maybe a thrift store or orphanage. You get the point. It is gone, there is room for a deep breath. Cleaning out the minds thought is similar. You did not just rest that thought for a second, but you allowed it to have a clearing that will hold till the next clearing.

Meditation, as a part of your everyday activities, can change your live. Blood pressure stays in the happy number range, you avoid all the busy things you do that have no real value to your lives, and many things you thought were problems become obsolete.

Sitting cross-legged with spine rising, being in complete silence or repeating a few sounds or words over and over is a wonderful form of meditation to be sure, but know that it is not the only form of meditation.

Om Namah Shivayah

I love the idea of everyone having a neighborhood drum circle. Just make a meetup.com site and Facebook group with your area and tag it drum, drumming, drum circle. Find a location and just start showing up on a regular basis. Regularity and consistency are the key. That’s what we did when we started the Fort Myers Drum Circle. We just kept showing up, enjoying the vibe weather it was two or twenty. We were together as one heartbeat. It happens organically.

The world is shifting, many people are going back to the drum. Each community can support a circle. You plant the seed and it will grow.

He was attending The Meeting School in Rindge, New Jersey. It is a Quaker boarding school that opened its doors back in 1957 on 130 acres with farm houses the students shared. The Meeting School’s campus is located on the historic Thomas Farm, which includes farmhouses and barns built in 1771, 1839, and about 1850. The Thomas Farm is listed on the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places.

Each house had two people that were considered house parents. They were all responsible for home and farm chores along with all the cooking. They gave no grades at this school, only evaluations. Jeremy had many close bonds with teachers and students alike.

Every student, in their senior year, was required to intern for a month. The student had to arrange it. Jeremy, with the help of the school, arranged everything and got excepted to go live in California at the Solar Living Institute for five weeks, live in a yurt and luckily got to help with the solar array project. Many interns ended up digging trenches and other labor duties.  He learned a lot about sustainable living, he learned a lot about himself.

These pictures are the solar panel system that he helped build. He visited them on his way to his first official job since graduating from college with a PhD in Electrical Engineering.

It has been a long journey from high school and the Real Goods Solar Living Institute to where he is today.

Every journey carries you into your future.