This years "un-birthday" - Part 2

I'm back! Sorry for the delay.....sooooo many things going on right now. Truly amazing! I live off the saying that "everything happens at once"...and thrive on it now!

So, where were we....oh yes, in the waiting room of The Montel Show. The couple sat down adjacent to me and settled in. Typically, though I consider myself to be friendly, I tend to just mind my own business. Gladly though, the gentlemen who sat down next to me was quite friendly and continued to strike up conversation. When I heard he was a writer, had quit his job to pursue his passion, had very recently succeeded in getting published and then heard that his wife was a life coach I smiled and thought, "Well, here's one of the reasons I was supposed to come today." Their names are Rob and Deb Britt. They are wonderful people and operate a number of websites...please check some of them out here:
http://www.thespiralpath.net
http://www.SomeoneElsesTomorrow.com
http://robertbritt.com/

Ok...well, finally they began to let us in to the show area. (making sure all cell phones were OFF as we enter....thank goodness...I still can't figure out WHO everyone seems to always be talking to...LOL). There were those with VIP tickets called first then those of us who had an "M" written on our tickets. I had an "M" as did Rob and Deb but we got separated heading to the door. As we entered the audience seating, a nice woman was selecting the seats for us (I guess based upon what looks best on camera or something of the sort). She placed me in the fourth row 3rd seat in to the right.....which left 2 open seats between me and the aisle. Several others entered and were assigned seats then I saw Rob and Deb. As they came up the aisle the woman assigned them to sit in those 2 empty seats next to me....hmmm....coincidence? The woman would've had no way of knowing that we had just met and there was several others between when I was seated and them. (I don't believe in coincidences anymore....remember?) So, fancy that? Pretty cool. We were able to continue our conversations and it was comforting having someone to chat with (oh, turns out Rob also plays bass...still think it's a coincidence?). Deb and I began to chat about Life Coaching. I have always been intrigued with Life Coaching ever since my therapist, Dr. John Bellanti, took me from therapy into life coaching. (side note: Dr. Bellanti was in the process of writing a book about Creativity at the time I was seeing him....hmmm...coincidence? nope.) He's a fantastic man and I'm so grateful I found him. Check out his website at:
http://www.coachingthruthecrossroads.com/

So as the show is soon to begin, the staff explains this and that and says that Montel will be out to answer audience questions then at the beginning of the show he'll start in the audience for some questions concerning the movie The Secret. You may know what I was thinking at the time. Is this when my moment is? Will he call on me? Is THIS why i'm supposed to be here? Well, I'd better think of something so I don't stumble on my words. yikes! Many of the audience members are intrigued by all the tv monitors, moving camera's, theater lights, etc....I've been around this stuff since high school and actually worked for an NBC affiliate when in college as a camera operator so it didn't phase me (even as much of a geek I am about that stuff....now....if somebody would've had an Apple laptop or something out there controlling something, THEN I'd be geekin'...LOL). I was just focused and looking forward to the program and listening to Jack. There's a different vibe you receive when in person with someone (even though separated by stage and audience) rather than seeing/hearing someone on a recorded medium.

Montel fields some audience questions and we soon are all on the topic of the utter craziness that is going on with the media giving so much attention to this Anna Nicole Smith saga. Montel was some KINDA fired up over this and the audience was right in it! There was some incredible energy in that room! For the record, it is disgusting that the media is airing all that crap....ESPECIALLY when we have men and women fighting for that very freedom. But, as i've learned, I'm not going to place any energy towards that. But, you all should note that the more we the public watches and receives that crap without picking up the phone, writing an email or whatever, the more WE are just as much to blame. Plain and simple.....STOP WATCHING IT and the media WILL HAVE TO change their programming. You can argue the chicken or the end factor all you want...but the fact remains, if less and less watch it and the numbers go down, the advertisers (unfortunately the ones who really control this) will not put their money into it and the media will have to change. So, TURN OFF THE DAMN BOOB-TUBE! Choose wisely what you watch. (soapbox off)

The shows starts....and sure enough, Montel is in the audience (and my heart is in my throat). He selects a lady 2 rows in front of us...then turns and asks if anyone else has had a specific instance related directly to The Secret. I, as do most of the audience, raised my hand....he seems to look directly at me (Rob, who is next to me is also raising his hand)....oh, no, I think...he's looking at me!....for a split second my hand drops ever so slightly.......and......he says "yes, sir, please stand up"......to Rob...right next to me! whew.....damn...I was that close! But, I was glad to hear Rob's story about recently getting his book published. (you might be thinking, WHY did you sink? Well, when I look at it...I realize that I wasn't ready for it at that time. I doubt I would've been able to even speak! I can get up on stage behind a drum kit in front of thousands of people, but this was different....and I learned from it....most important of all). Next time, I'll be ready.

We go thru the show and it was cool that during the commercial breaks they fielded questions from the audience. Most of which I'm sure won't be aired but to me, those were the highlights. Jack is a remarkable individual. The entire time I was glued to every word everyone was speaking...just absorbing it all (in between all the "sit up straights"...LOL)...I could feel the energy and was so grateful to be a part of this. As the show wraps up (after about 3 hours of sitting in those seats...I think this was much longer than they anticipated but the discussions were powerful and it's admirable that they let all that happen). If you've never seen Montel, you should. He's an incredibly passionate, caring, driven person. I am pretty good at seeing through someone (thanks to my "in-tune-ness") and he's the real deal. A good guy to say the least.

As we're waiting to exit the room I am standing in front of the stage and the weirdest thing happened....without "thinking about it" I "saw" myself sitting on that stage in the guest chair....and said, "I'll be in that seat someday." hmmmm.....freaky.

Back out to the street, down through Times Square (again, what an incredibly over-stimulating experience that is in itself) and to the train station. Waiting for them to board my train back to Harrisburg I realize it's about 2:30pm, I've been up since 2:15am and all I've eaten was coffee, a couple yogurt bars and some cashews....but I'm not really hungry. Time flies...

I board the train and think "WOW! What an experience!" Should I start writing, reading, listening? I sifted through the free books and dvd's we received and then realized, I'm tired! Time to veg for a bit....unplug and absorb. I dozed off a bit with a cat nap (I hope I didn't snore too loud...LOL) and then woke somewhere in New Jersey again seeing the conditions in which many live....wow....we're so fortunate to have the things we do and we're asses for not appreciating it. Just go look at these areas and that will change your outlook.

So, I'm looking out the window reflecting upon the day and suddenly the ideas start flowing....wow, what a GREAT rush that is when it happens! I get out my notepad (I've learned now that I MUST carry with me at least a small notepad wherever I go because if I don't capture that idea IMMEDIATELY, I lose it...as Lori will surely support, my memory often fails me LOL...I've been recording ideas as Voice Records in my cell phone, I have an attachment for my iPod and of course numerous scratch notes, yellow pads and scrap paper) and just write down everything that's coming out!

I've always had a desire to help others....my parents taught me this whether they realized it or not...they were foster parents when I was in my teenage years. We had several children come through our home, dropped off at all hours of the day or night and it taught me many things that, of course, I didn't know at the time. It's probably one of the reasons I became a volunteer firefighter and emt soon after high school. I thought often about helping others connected to what I've dealt with all my life....being an adoptee. The first thing I wrote down was start an Adoptee Group. Then I remembered that there are several groups, organizations in the state and in the country. Why try to reinvent the wheel? Why not join the forces....quite thinking about it....DO IT! I've always shy-ed away from this out of fear of others knowing and how they'd treat me...yadda-yadda-yadda.....guess what? I don't freakin care anymore! If they've got issues with me speaking out, then they need a tissue for those issues. Time to change that.

The next thing is the book. 5 years or so ago I had this idea to write about my experiences and a friend said, "Who'd buy it?" And I thought, "yeah, that's a crazy idea." Well, I've found through these past couple weeks that people seemed to be drawn into this story. I'm not exactly sure why but they are. Here's an example....Lori was telling a fellow teacher about my story of getting tickets to the Montel show with Jack Canfield (see 1st blog entry)...she was telling one teacher and as she did this she noticed the others in the room listening....intently...and before long they were surrounding her listening and couldn't believe what they were hearing! I drew them in! Now, I have to admit I wasn't sure how I felt at the moment of finding out that she told people outside my "inner circle of friends" but it made me realize that it IS a story that is interesting and it IS a story that needs to be told. This blog is the one of the beginning parts of that book...I've never written so much in my entire life! you may ask, "what will you do with it? How will you sell it?" I dunno....but I'm not worrying about the "How's" anymore....I'm just doing. This WILL be a book! Never, in my entire life, did I think I would be doing this! Fantastic!!

Life coaching....like I said, it intrigued me from the first time my therapist mentioned it. Talking with Deb Britt at the Montel show brought that interest back even stronger. hmmmmm....guess I'll look into that now.

The music....those who know me know that this has been SUCH a big part of my life...all of my life. That moment in 9th grade band rehearsal when i played a timpani part and felt this INCREDIBLE, indescribable (sp?) RUSH of adrenaline (or whatever it was) that ran through my body....whew....i've been hooked ever since. But then, as i look back, music has always been a big part. I remember hiding my clock radio under my pillow when I was in elementary school so I could hear the King Biscuit Flour Hour program that came on at about 11pm at night. My parents, of course as parents are supposed to do, made me go to sleep but I just HAD to listen to that show. So, I'd hide my clock radio under my pillow and have it just loud enough that I could press my ear through the pillow and listen. LOL....geek! :-)

I've made so many mistakes in this music thing...the last one was yet another lesson. But I'm thankful now for these lessons that I have learned (and they've been many!).

There's much more coming....I'm listening to a James Ray Tele-Conference as I'm typing this (and recording it....have my cell phone on speaker phone and a mic pointed at it recording into the computer...LOL...geek!)....and my mind is not focused. But there have been sooooooo many connections since this trip. Some of you may have thought Montel was going to get a private investigator or someone to find my birth parents...seriously...I DID NOT expect that (LOL...maybe I should have?)....but I do know that going there is what helped me realize all this....it solidified it and made it tangible.

As I've said before, I now KNOW that I will find them and I KNOW that I will write this book and that people will buy it, and I KNOW that I will build this band and it WILL be successful, and I KNOW that I finally have the courage to speak out and help others....because I care.

Thanks for reading.....to be continued! :-)