The Daily G.I.F.T. from The GratiDude

You know you have arrived when coincidences don’t exist anymore, but miracles do.

One of the many beautiful things about life is how you can know people in one way at one point of your life and then lo and behold when your life changes you look around and their life changed too!

In other words, you thought that you had completely moved to a different reality and frequency and that everyone that you meet from now on is going to be new and different.  The reality is, that’s not the case and especially with Covid and an increased awareness in personal growth, I am finding that more and more people from my past are seeking an elevated mindset and a healthier lifestyle.   It’s almost as if walking to your table for dinner and you turn around and there’s an old friend you haven’t seen in years, and your bumping into them at a Mexican restaurant or something. 

They’re like “yeah I just come here for the service oh and the salsa is really good too.”

Are used to treat such reunions as simple circumstances or random events or a coincidence, however, I know much better now. When people appear in my life in a fundamental way, it’s worth inquiring as to what’s new with them, how are they feeling, don’t assume that anyone is where you last left them energetically speaking.  my super dear friend Jay at the national golf course owners remarked to me about six months ago “ you know there are thousands of people in the golf industry that need to re-meet you Kevin”. Laughed at both the humor and the truth behind it, that I’ve changed so much in terms of my lifestyle, mindset and overall sense of calm, that folks might walk right by me that knew me for many years ago and not even recognize me. And that’s more than OK.

Along those lines, I was very fortunate to be invited up to Tampa for dinner with a friend I’ve known for 10 years from Golf, a Course owner and former Technology Entrepreneur LKJ,

and his wife Nat, who I have now known for only 10 hours ha ha.  The conversation was so natural and so authentic there was so much love there in the room. I honestly can’t wait to see them again and hang out more and I sure hope they feel the same way.  

During our conversation, we talked about faith, I was asked me about my past relationship with religion and faith growing up.  I confess that anything having to do with religion and faith was left alone by our parents. They had a lot of emotional baggage around both Baptist and Catholic upbringings, and they were no help when it came to understanding and appreciating a relationship with God, the universe or something bigger than ourselves.  They were just too traumatized by their experience and couldn’t help us at all.

My introduction to faith came through suffering and circumstance, like most folks.

Faith is a sensitive subject for many, so to be thoughtful, here is a level set for all of us regardless of faith, for a chuckle:

https://youtube.com/shorts/iGvDAZGYsrU?si=ohr9sJxyApBS5Xsg

The year before I moved to California when I was 18 and 19 and 1987 and 1988, one of my jobs was as a DJ at a really big college bar in Ann Arbor that was known at the time as Dooley’s, now known as Scorekeepers.

On St. Patrick’s Day I had to DJ at 7 am, as that’s when they let folks in to drink 25 cent green beers:

Caption March 17, 1982
Early Bar Call – St. Patrick’s Day celebrants-to-be line up at 8 a.m. to get into Dooley’s bar on Maynard Street. “We’re packed to the gills,” manager Jim Ressler said by telephone. Dooley’s is featuring pitchers of green beer, shots of Irish whiskey and green peppermint schnapps, and a “Miss Irish Photo Contest” sponsored by Schlitz beer.

Typical Giant three floor college bar that smells like beer year-round, but it was a great gig fit my lifestyle really well and it helped me save the money.

I needed to get my ass to California and I needed $2500 to land and expand.

The owner Norm came in one day(coked up of course) and announced that we were going to do a reggae night and that he had lined up all the records at the record store and I needed to go get educated on Reggae and pick up all the records.  I did as instructed, we launched Reggae night, and lots of people came. However, as Norm found out and I can now attest to, Reggae fans don’t drink much alcohol. They’re there for the music so it was not economically profitable for Dooleys to keep going with the Reggae night so the owner canceled Reggae night and allowed me to keep all the records.

Those Reggae albums from the 1970s and 80s out of Jamaica we’re heavily rooted in Rastafari and faith, Old Testament teachings, Jamaican proverbs and a strong commitment to giving thanks and praises to our Creator.

The Irish kid in Michigan caved to Reggae Music and Robert Nesta Marley cracked opened my faith and broken heart.

You can’t predict your own life, that is for sure.

I didn’t realize that reggae music was really gospel music with a Caribbean backbeat.

In a moment in my room with the door closed, I offered up my first conditional prayer to God and my prayer was that my suffering and pain that I was going through would lead me to a better life in California. I prayed that like the lotus flower that blooms out of the muck of the pond, that I could bloom in California and start a life far away from the trauma of my teenage years.

Literally, and I mean literally, the first day I was in California looking for a place to live I connected at the coffee shop with another guy looking for a place to live who happen to be a Rastafarian. This was August of 1988 in Santa Cruz, California.

He gave me a heads up that you could go and sit by the back door of the Catalyst Club ( https://catalystclub.com/) at night and if you brought a little offering for the Bouncer and you were kind, they would let you sit there and you could hear the music as if you were literally, standing in the front row.

The sound was incredible back there when they let you in the open that only a few folks could fit in.   

I asked what band was playing that night and I almost fell down crying when he responded “Burning Spear”.

Burning Spear? THE Burning Spear?

Winston, Rodney, and the Burning Spear?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Spear

This is literally one of the most famous reggae bands in the world and the lead singer Winston Rodney is actually one of the people that introduced Bob Marley to the Rastafarian Faith.  I just saw Burning Spear 2 months ago here in Florida, as they perform today all over the world.  The music and the band means so much to me in the course of my life. I’ve had two cats that have lived full lives of almost 20 years. One was named Winston. The other was named Rodney. I think you get how much of a fan I am ha ha.

This message today is really encouragement for you to cultivate the ability to have faith in something bigger than yourself. Bigger than your ego.

This is the way that you combine faith and your breath with present moment, awareness to start to peace back together a deep feeling of interconnectedness, love and unity with all of creation.

My journey to faith has been serendipitous and cobbled together myself like a quilt made of many pieces of fabric, however, when all put together, my Faith Blanket provides incredible comfort, warmth, and safety.

Faith is the antidote to fear and often times the missing ingredient for us to find the ability to elevate and to harness our greatness so that we can pursue our own potential, and hopefully use that potential to help others and to live a life of meaning.

And you never know where God and the Universe are waiting to open up your heart, it may be a record jacket, or in the shower with a bottle of Dr. Bronner soap will be the inspiration you need, your surfboard and a visit to the beach might be your church, or the San Juan Capistrano Mission Church, with its ornate bells and gardens.

Where and whatever you do just take a deep breath, connect to something bigger and celebrate how that just expanded your joy and your Attitude of Gratitude.

EVERY DAY:

Love

and

Gratitude

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