#GoodNewsStPete launches in St. Petersburg

Welcome to St. Petersburg, one of the hippest and happiest places to live in Florida – maybe even the world. Every day, so many great and beautiful things happen in our community, yet most of what we see on the news is dirty laundry (or much worse).

#GoodNewsStPete is your chance to create balance in the way the story of our city is told.

Start today:

1. Take a photo or short video with a caption telling the world about your “good news” from St Pete. Did you get an “A” on your math test? Did someone help you with your groceries? Is there a local event or charity you want to rave about?
2. Upload it to your social media account with the hashtag #GoodNewsStPete and share the love!
3. If you’re having trouble finding good news to share about creative, kind, and compassionate people in your community, then go create some yourself!

Follow @GoodNewsStPete on Instagram, or send your good news to GoodNewsStPete@gmail.com for the chance to have it featured!

Entertaining the Idea of Life

I understand that some of us just get old and tired. Some of us simply wind down and no longer need to hunt for our food or find a mate – our attraction to colors and scents becomes dulled and our desires fade.

But while you sit there at your screen, I want you to know that new and life-enriching experiences are bursting around you like champagne corks and fireworks as most of us sit, medicated and complacent.

As artists, we are awakened in the middle of the night, scrambling for our journals or sketchbooks as the lyrics, dialogue, melodies and images bloom in our heads like lightning. There are times that we would sell or pawn everything we owned for access to a studio or the equipment necessary to help us give flesh to our vision. And, as entertainers, we are here at the club, theater or concert hall, having rehearsed the show a thousand times or more. Having set up the lights and microphones and amplifiers and promoted tonight’s performance out of our own pocket, hearts beating wildly, hoping you saw the handbills, waiting for you to arrive.

Yet, the rest of us remain on our couches, sleepily re-focusing our eyes between commercial breaks. You might even be at the bar right now, with a band, songwriter or poet performing directly behind you, and your eyes are still glued to the screen.

It’s not entirely our fault. We are continually shown, told and reminded every second of every day what a dangerous, filthy, contagious and most importantly — evil — world we live in. And for all the tools, medicine and miracles we have created, our progress has also increased our loneliness and isolation, and heightened the degree and intensity of our need for distraction.

It’s not new. Technology has always unfolded alongside the aspects of self, culture and nature. The advances of modern architecture once made it possible to house the public theatre and for the best playwrights to showcase their work, the harnessing of radio waves gave us weekly dramatic cliffhanger serials, the cathode ray gave us daily televangelism and MTV, and now the mobile internet makes it possible to stay plugged-in, turned on and marketed-to at all times.

I grew up before we had the world’s knowledge base and creative storehouses at our fingertips. If you wanted to read a book, you needed to check it out from the library, and then return it before it was due. If it was out of print, most times you were out of luck. If you wanted to see a film, you needed to buy a ticket while it was being shown at a theater. If you missed it, you rarely saw that film again, unless it was shown on TV, and even then there was no pause button. We had no VHS tapes. We had no Netflix.

I am in no way implying that things were better when I was young, nor am I saying that we need to deprive ourselves of technology in order to have a meaningful life. Technology is, after all, how I am able to speak to some of you now. But we are alive at a time when so much “art” and “innovation” has been allowed to flourish at an overwhelming rate — with no filter and no editors, with no institutions, patrons or benefactors required. For this, our development (at all stages and on all levels) is being stunted by distraction and the consumption of junk. If we expect to grow, develop, adapt and unfold according to our highest potential, we must find a balance between the alternating states of rest and activity, contemplation and action. The sweeping pendulum of prayerful devotion and real-life service or experience surely leads to real wisdom, even illumination. But we seem to be on our knees, stalled in constant prayer, in front of our television screens and computer monitors, drooling and frozen, too frightened to touch the screen or engage in the world around us. Too tightly wound by the stimuli and frequencies of everyday life.

The Seven Day Media Cleanse: How and Why?

“Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast.” ― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

INTRODUCTION

It wasn’t even my idea.

It was my seven-year-old daughter, Alchemy, who suggested it.

“Daddy, let’s go a week without watching TV!”

Her mother, Jennifer, and I had just finished our second juice cleanse of the year, and I think Alchemy was just caught up in all the cleansing and fasting and wanted somehow to be a part of it all. She got no argument from us. In fact, we had just been commenting on her ability to lose herself for hours in the ridiculous time-suck that is the “EZ Bake Oven” app on her iPad.

Recognizing the opportunity to break myself of that nasty texting-and-driving habit, I suggested we also incorporate devices and apps (like Facebook and Twitter) into the mix. Since she didn’t have access to these services, she was totally cool with it.

So, here were the fast and not-so-loose ground rules for our Seven Day Media Cleanse:

1) No TV
2) No apps
3) No internet

This meant no Facebook, Twitter, Netflix or Hulu and (voluntarily) included iTunes and streaming audio services (we have a family plan on Apple Music). For seven days, we would listen to vinyl at home and only have work-related access to e-mail and Google Drive.

DAY ONE – SUNDAY

We decided to start on a Sunday, as it seemed like a day we could easily keep ourselves occupied. However, I had forgotten, this wasn’t any normal Sunday. Jen had class all day, and I had the kids.

My morning routine usually consists of me opening my eyes, hopping out of bed, going to the bathroom, then getting back into bed and lying there for at least another half hour scrolling through my Twitter and Facebook feeds. Not so this morning. I got up, saw Jen out the door, made a cup of tea, put on a record, and started getting the kids ready for the day. I always find it easier to leave the house altogether when I have them. If we’re on the go, they can’t get bored, and they can’t make a mess. Do other dads do this?

We had plenty of books and records at the house to last us through the week, but we made a preemptive trip to Daddy Kool and Planet Retro to buy some records missing from our collection just in case (Jellyfish, Local Natives, Public Enemy, Tomahawk). This seemed completely justified and even proactive at the time. In hindsight, I guess I just like to shop for records.

Our dinner routine usually consists of sitting at the coffee table and watching TV while we eat. However, when Jen got home, we had dinner at the dining room table. Something we hadn’t done in a while. I said a short blessing before the meal, and we enjoyed all facing each other, talking and laughing.

DAY TWO – MONDAY

Not being able to listen to music while driving kinda took some getting used to. The car is where I usually listen to the music I want to hear. I listen to entire albums at a time, and I listen to them loud. I most likely look like a fool to other drivers in traffic as I drum on the steering wheel and shred wicked air guitar solos. After I dropped the kids off at school, it was just me, my thoughts and the silence. The silence was deafening. My ears rang and my head throbbed. I talked to myself, and at times even noticed myself yelling – not in anger, just talking loud to fill the emptiness.

Watch Integral Church on Talk Radio

Thank you to Jacqueline over at Momma J Speaks for having me on her show to talk about the formation of Integral Church. We may have had a little too much fun, but that’s OK once in a while.

Video streaming by Ustream

Extra Sensory Plug-ins: Mind-Based Apps for the 22nd Century

WELCOME TO QUANTUM E.S.P.
(EXTRA SENSORY PLUG-INS)
————————————————————

E.S.P is the next step in Quantum Microtubule Integration.
Choose from any of these augmented reality bio-apps and say goodbye to metal and glass forever!

NAVIGATION
Now you really can be the compass! Go anywhere on the planet and never get lost again. Comes loaded with street, birds-eye and global views. No more lenses or GPS devices, simply set up your verbal commands and access any map of the commons using your own mind.
Category:  Native, Lifestyle

DASHBOARD
Monitor your own biofeedback data in real time. Set alarms and notifications for hydration, heart rate, blood chemistry and more.
Category: Native, Health and Wellness, Lifestyle

MUSIC
No more headphones. Stream your favorite songs directly from the cloud* to your brain. Based on mood, environment or personal algorithmic settings. *Requires data plan/subscription service.
Category: Native, Lifestyle

TRANSLATOR
Speak any language instantly. Upgrade with one of our “celebrity voice” bundles. Great for pranks and parties.
Category: Business, Education, Lifestyle

SAFE SEX
Select from any of our limitless companion options for infinite customized private encounters. State laws may apply. Do not use while driving. Must be 16 years or older.
Category: Lifestyle, Health and Wellness, Sex and Relationships

HOW2
Want to learn to play guitar? Fix an airplane engine? Slip your mind and body into one of our over 400,000 avatars and you can do anything.
Category: Lifestyle, Self-Improvement

I LOVE YOUR BRAIN
Fully customized biofeedback scans, reports and filters. No more dating sites — simply set up your social filters (interests, desires, medical history, personality types, etc.) and look around.
Category: Sex and Relationships, Dating

MY SPIRIT ANIMAL
Need help navigating the world around you? Select a spirit guide at random or based on your personal algorithm and watch them appear before your very eyes.
Category:  Nature, Spirituality, Lifestyle

DOSHA DASHBOARD
Real-time measurement of your mind-body balance, based on the universal elements and the 6,000 year-old practice of Ayurveda.
Category: Health and Wellness, Spirituality

BIG MIND [CURRENTLY IN BETA]
Access the planet’s knowledge stores and plug into the world consciousness. A direct uplink to Gaia. Speak to your ancestors, chat with your friends!
Category: Lifestyle, Spirituality