Ellis

Every year, instead of a new year’s resolution, I pick a word for the year to focus on. I've found this to be a much gentler approach for me than resolutions. I find that my well meaning resolutions often lead to judgement and disappointment. Instead the goal is to look, notice, explore and remember the intention behind the word. I just can’t get it wrong, and I like that! I can easily get caught in self-improvement ideas which often sound good on the surface but really are just sneaky ways of rejecting who I am now. And it just doesn’t feel good. So with that in mind, this year’s word is: surrender. This word inspires me to practice “not knowing”, to open my heart to whatever is happening right now, to allow for more space, more ease, and to practice letting go of the stories I make up about myself and others that get in the way of my ability to be attentive and caring. There’s a song of mine called “No More Running” that starts with the line “I want to live undefended”, and I really do. I am interested in being more free, open, kind, responsive, and more wholehearted in the ways I relate to myself and others.

My distracted friend, Brain I love thinking about my brain from the perspective of a curious outsider, let's call "Brain". Brain is not fully me, I've decided, but more of a friend and collaborator that I'm hanging out with constantly. A coworker who shares my cubical and who is always there chatting away, distracting me. I recently learned that my friend Brain is a little different than other brains. I found out that Brain has adult ADHD. I know it's probably not shocking to many of you, but it was to me... and I gotta tell you - it explains a LOT. Knowing this has helped me to appreciate my unique and particularly right-brained qualities.

I've been thinking a lot in the last few days about the power of my thoughts. I know I've talked about this before, but it still fascinates me. Often times I think- how I think about something has more influence over me and my life than anything actually happening or not in the moment. I can't stop thinking about a particularly extraordinary day I had coming back from my North Carolina tour a few weeks ago. The day could have turned into a disaster because of a pretty large mistake I made, however, it ended up being even more wonderful and more adventurous because of it!

This month I wanna talk about the idea of doing more by doing less, but first I'm going to share with you a bunch of stuff I have been doing. I know there is a contradiction in there! I'm gonna talk about it, I didn't say that I've figured it out yet! ;)

I keep thinking about my life and how fortunate I've been without even realizing it. It reminded me of a practice I used to do involving being grateful right when I get up in the morning. Wow does the day feel brighter when I start off that way!

Something strange happened that I want to share with you.. Just a few pages into it, I started questioning my own credentials. I began to wonder: Was I even qualified to write songs? Suddenly I felt like a beginner, like I urgently needed to go back to school, read dozens of books about songwriting, listen to a ton of records by well regarded songwriters, study poets and classical composers. All before I could sit down and write another song!

A while back I was listening to Minnesota Public Radio and the topic of conversation was the economy and how it’s affecting the music industry. The guest was David Prince, a journalist in the music business, and he was talking about why pop music seems to have been largely unaffected by the economic woes so many other industries have experienced. The guest and interviewer Kai Ryssdal surmised that people need an escape from their woes and pop music can provide that much needed respite....

Hey everyone! I hope August treated you well. I have been traveling quite a bit and won’t really slow down until mid-September. I’m excited to report a new addition to my schedule: Teaching at the <a href="http://www.sistersfolkfestival.org/american_song.html">Americana Song School</a> in Sisters, Oregon and then performing at the <a href="http://www.sistersfolkfestival.org/">Sisters Folk Festival</a> . I am filling in for <a href="http://www.terrihendrix.com/">Terri Hendrix</a>, who is unable to attend because of health issues she’s having. I’m both excited to participate and also sending lots of healing energy her way. If you know of her and her music, please send good healing thoughts and wishes. I really do think it helps!