Neil Sattin.com

Sometimes as I pound away on the keys here in my home, I forget that blogging is a community event.  I love to write, sharing stories of my life and some useful (hopefully) bits of wisdom along the way.  Equally as much as the writing, however, I love to read other people’s blogs - so many of the other people out there in the blogging community have truly inspired me.  And the way that blogging works best, I think, is with people sharing the knowledge that they gain as we build, as a community, our collective wisdom.  With that in mind, I thought that I’d give you a little list of blog articles written by other people that you might check out, so as to potentially get inspired yourself!  Whomever you choose to visit, make sure you tell them that Neil Sattin sent you. 

First Link:  Steve Pavlina’s How to Make Money from Your Blog.  I remember well the first night that I stumbled upon (not literally, fellow stumblers!) Steve Pavlina’s website.  It’s difficult to choose which article is the “most” inspiring – so I picked this article because it was the first one that I read, and it is basically what kicked me in the ass and got me to start writing.  I’ve always loved to write, I just never knew that I could make a living at it, online, until I read that article.  Just wait, after reading you’ll be ready to start your own blog.  Feel free to ask for tips on how to do that – it’s not hard to get set up.  Another aspect of this article that is totally in alignment with my mission here on NeilSattin.com is Steve Pavlina’s emphasis on providing value to the world through your blog content – which you mainly do by being true to yourself and offering your truth to the world through what you write.  If you want to get inspired to write a blog, if you want to see how you can achieve financial independence through blogging, and if you are looking for some concrete steps to take – check this article out. 

Also, if you’re looking for something that’s “follow-your-passion” inspiring and are into podcasts, check out this audioblog from Steve Pavlina about focusing on your own happiness and creativity, and how it leads to personal success.

 Second Link:  OK, well since I’ve mentioned Pavlina #1, I might as well mention Pavlina #2.  Erin Pavlina writes a lot about dreams, psychic experiences, following your intuition – a very spiritual approach to life.  Again, many of her articles are interesting, entertaining, and inspiring – but I’ve selected for you an article called “The Dead Path” which is about an astral journey that seemed to reach right into the afterlife.  If you click on her “articles” link you’ll be able to see a whole host of topics, ranging from Lucid Dreaming to how to contact your Higher Self/Spirit Guides, to some great slice-of-life stories. 

 Third Link:  Although she’s taken a temporary break from posting to work on some other writing projects, Karen Shanley has written some great articles about life, motherhood, dog training, gardening, etc.  I came across her site when I was looking for other dog training blogs on technorati, and I think that she has a very positive, commonsense approach when it comes to dog training – and, hell, life in general.  In her post called “The Happy Box“, Karen writes about one challenging night of helping her daughter get to sleep when scary thoughts are keeping her awake.  It’s a great story, plus some practical advice that I may use one day should Dash and I have a similar conversation.

Fourth Link:  My wife Tonya, who writes over at HappyDash, has really gotten into the community of other parents out there who have jumped with both feet into the blogosphere.  Sweet-Juniper.com is written primarily by the dad half of the parental unit, and in this blog entry he talks about all the cool things that you get to experience when you spend lots of time with your child.  Reading sweet-juniper will contribute to your ability to savor everything about being a parent, and if you’re not a parent yet it’ll make parenting seem cool, hip, and workable in your own life (in case you were worried that it wasn’t).

Fifth Link:  You may or may not know that I write songs.  At some point in the not-so-distant future I plan to start making some decent recordings of songs I’ve written and posting them here on this website for your listening pleasure.  Another fellow dog blogger, Lee Charles Kelley, is a dog trainer in NYC whose “Kelley Method” for dog training is informed primarily by Kevin Behan’s Natural Dog Training – so I automatically like his thoughts on dog training.  HOWEVER, he’s also a songwriter.  In this blog article, he talks about his songwriting philosophy, while also telling some entertaining anecdotes from the history of songwriting.

I hope that you get some inspiration of your own from reading these articles.  Follow the links, and show these other bloggers some love!  After all, there’s plenty to go around. 

I’m going to head downstairs now to hang with my friend Louis, who’s visiting from Los Angeles.  You might remember him as the dude who officiated at our wedding  (visible in the 3rd picture of that article) - he got ordained especially for the occasion (though I think he’s hung up his white collar, lest you think you might be considering hiring him).  We’re going to catch up about life as a screenwriter/director in the big city.

Meanwhile, all my best to all of you, and happy reading!

I went to clown school.  Yes, you heard me right: clown school.  It wasn’t “white face and big scary hair” clown school, it was “eccentric performing” clown school- in the style of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin (also known as “theatrical clowning” or “physical comedy”).  While I did practice things like “walking an imaginary tightrope with your fingers” and “20 ways to slide off a chair”, I also learned some things that have been very practical in real-life applications.  In clown school you learn how to walk onto an empty stage in front of an audience and create a world, a world in which you are fully present.  It’s being fully present, in the moment, that creates moments of comedy (and tragedy).  Basically the only way that you can live a balanced, well-rounded life is to be fully present for each moment of your life – that way you can have the most successful improvisation possible (because each moment of our lives is an improvisation).  Clown school taught me some important life lessons, and in this article I’m going to share the two most important lessons with you.

Lesson #1: Breathe.  When in doubt…keep breathing.

On a purely biomechanical level, you’re dependent on respiration.  If you quit in-spiring, then you’ll definitely expire!  Your brain needs richly oxygenated blood to do it’s thinkingest, and the rhythm of your breathing affects the way that you are perceived in the world around you.  Unfortunately, in moments of stress (like say when you’re on a stage in front of people with no idea what you’re going to do), your natural tendency is to stop breathing.  The resulting adrenalized state is great for running from bears when you accidentally stumble into a bear den in the woods, but not so great for responding to the world – or making an audience laugh.

The act of focusing on your breathing will actually help you relax in the moment.  Take the time, as you breathe, to check in with yourself – what is your physical experience in that moment?  What is happening in the world around you?  How does what’s happening in the world around you actually make you feel (physically and emotionally)?  Keep breathing and just notice.  From your awareness of the situation the appropriate response will emerge.  It will be an authentic response, from the core of your being.

Lesson #2: Say “yes” to the opportunities you’re given.

So you’re noticing, and suddenly the appropriate response comes to you.  What do you do?  Do you take it?  Do you negate it?  Do you wait for something better?

In clown school, we learned that the basic rule for improvising was to (almost always) say “Yes”.  Strangely, when we’re untrained, our tendency is to say “no”.  Not necessarily a literal “no” – here’s an example:  in an improv someone says “I’m not feeling so good” – and an untrained actor will say “here’s a pill to make it better”.  End of improv.  Nowhere to go from there.  The response negated the initial opportunity.  A trained improv actor might say something like “You do?  Me too.  Maybe your contagious?!?  Is it your shoulder?”  Improv can continue.

A “yes” response accepts the situation as it is.  You don’t try to fix it, you don’t try to make it something different.  The power comes from seeing what’s happening and running with it – using the momentum of the situation to take things to a whole new level.  So on that level, as you breathe and notice what’s happening in your life, try to be aware of whether or not you (or the people around you) are actually going with the flow.  Are you seizing opportunities and taking them to the next place?  Are you trying to make things “better”?  Are you hoping that something more positive will come along?

You’ve probably heard the story about the dude who’s trapped in a flood – the water is rising, and he’s getting tired of swimming.  But this guy has faith that God will save him.  Someone comes along in a boat and offers to take him to dry land, but he refuses the offer, knowing that God will save him.  I’m kinda bastardizing this story, but in the end the dude drowns.  He winds up in heaven, face to face with God.  The dude says something like “Geez, God, it’s great to be here in heaven and all, but I have to ask – why didn’t you save me?”  God replies, “Well, I sent you a boat…”

Are you ignoring the opportunities that are there right in front of you?  Learn to trust yourself, to trust the logic of the universe and the Law of Attraction, and to trust the power of saying “Yes”.  The universe rewards you for seizing the reins of your own life through action, instead of waiting for something better.  Tell you what, when something better comes along, say “yes” to that too!

There’s more to clowning, of course, just like there’s more to life.  These basic strategies, however, will take you a long way.  Your breathing will feed your inspiration and help you pay attention to what’s happening around you.  In order to respond effectively to the world, you have to first notice what’s really going on – as free from mental judgement as possible.  Accept what is.  After you’ve taken it in, your riff begins.  Saying “yes” to life means building on the opportunities that life gives you.  When the universe opens a door you HAVE to walk through it in order to get to the next open door, and the route to where you want to be will involve lots of going-through-open-doors.  You gotta do it if you want to get there.  The Law of Attraction will take care of the rest, opening more doors like the one you just came through.  So take care, keep breathing, and start walking.

many thanks to my teachers: Avner the Eccentric, Julie Goell, and the rest of my friends at the Celebration Barn Theater