Martin Luther King Jr.’s selfless dedication to making the world a better place for all of us, and ultimately to honor the one true God / Jah / Allah / Buda of all of us, is a true testament to the human race. The testament is that there are still living miracles that happen to this day. No one embraced the “Teachings of Jesus” more than Martin Luther King Jr., and not just by words but by action. Much like Jesus, MLK refused to compromise his moral ground in order to save his self. In this life we will meet many times with opposition and scrutiny for standing up for our beliefs. Never, under any circumstance, should we forsake our own personal constitution for the easy road. The point of ‘Dreamer’ is to bring together the human race to honor our God / Allah / Jah / Buda (note those are all the same thing; just different names from different cultures for the creator) and honor the spirit of love for ourselves and one another. Human kind has fought for 10′s of thousands of years in the name of our religions and actually dishonoring our creator. Do not let the churches of our world divide our human family. Remember that all of us are children of God / Allah / Jah / Buda and to be true to Jesus (whether you view him as the Son of God or as the most high prophet) then you must embrace his golden rule…”And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” Notice it doesn’t say love your christian / muslim / hindu neighbors as yourself. Love all life as yourself and you will honor God! Thanks for taking the time to read this one, and thank you Martin Luther King Jr. for leading by action and showing us what true courage and love is!

If you don’t like what you’re getting in life, then quit doing what you’re doing! There’s an old saying, “If you find yourself in a hole…quit digging”. Often we are our own worst enemy in life. Our self imposed limitations become our own self made prison. We decide in our minds that something is just not possible, or it’s just the way that it is. Then we go about our lives believing these things to be true and acting as if they are true, which in turn makes it true in our life. It is amazing what you can change in your life when you simply change your mind. The old adage that “Thoughts Become Things” is absolutely true. Your reality tends to become what you think about most of the time. Unfortunately many of us develop our thought process by following the bad advice of well meaning family, friends, teachers and public figures never questioning does that thought process measure up with my true self. There only two ways to change your thoughts (i mean really change). The first is to surround yourself with the kind of people that you aspire to become. Find some positive people who have found success and go help them do anything. In the beginning volunteer to help them do whatever they need help doing as sort of life internship. If you sit around with the same people you always have and never changing anything in your life then you will get exactly what you have right now. It really is that simple. The other way to change your thoughts is to implant new ones in your mind voluntarily through reading. By carefully choosing what thoughts to put into your mind you can choose what comes back out of your mind. Your mind, much like Mother Earth, is a fertile garden that will produce fruits that match the seeds of thought you plant in it! Apple seeds never produce orange trees. That is just a simple truth of life, “Like begets like”. Be very careful what you plant for you will have to reap what you have sewn, good or bad, one day!

So if you are serious about changing your thoughts today so you can change your world tomorrow there is no better quick read then ‘As A Man Thinketh’! This little nugget of goodness is over 100 years old and the wisdom is as true today as it was when he wrote it! Jesus also said this in his red words, “According to your faith so shall it be”

All of the people I’ve ever known who did things that seemed larger than life to most people were very serious about their reading!

The Download is absolutely free (I tried it out on my computer before sending you there) and it’s only 28 Pages! If you can’t read through 28 Pages then you are not serious about change! I can’t give you the desire to change, but I will help inspire those that do!

Free Download of ‘As a Man Thinketh’ Click Here

A recreation of what Jesus could have actually looked like!

Parables are much like Aesop’s Fables, they are a short story that is intended to convey time tested wisdom to the listener. The fables or parables themselves are not particularly a true story, but rather a truth told through the story that the listener can learn from. A classic Aesop’s Fable is ‘The Ant and The Grasshopper’. The basic concept is that throughout the beautiful summer days the grasshopper jumped about and played while the ant was working to store up food for the winter. When winter came the ant was helping take care of his people with food that he had stored from the summmer, but the grasshopper was dying of starvation. In his regret the grasshopper realizes the wisdom of the ant who didn’t just roll on from day to day, but diligently thought about his future and took action in his present to change his future. Jesus used parables in the exact same way. He tried to teach the people the time tested ancient wisdom through parables so they could understand the truths that will present themselves to them in life (whether they want to know truth or not). Here is an interesting part of that statement, because they are universal truths that have been tested by time it does not matter whether you like them or believe them for it to be true wisdom. Most of us are wise in our own deceit so we believe that we already know what is right, and have closed our ears to hearing and understanding. When questioned by his disciples why do you teach in parables, Jesus answered in Matthew Chap 13 Vs. 13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” And, then he followed up in Vs. 15 by saying, “for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
so that I should heal them.”

Here is the Parable of ‘The Sower and The Seed’ Matthew Chap 13 Vs. 1-23: Jesus tells the parable here and then explains it to the disciples what it means. Take a minute to really try to understand the wisdom Jesus was trying to teach about the hearts of men and women!

On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes were gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat down; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,

and seeing you will see and not perceive; 15
for the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
so that I should heal them.’

16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17
or assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

18 Therefore, hear the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful, 23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Dreamer’s first actual project: Ipads for Autism will launch Dec. 23, 2011!! This is probably my favorite project that we have got ourselves involved with and one that hits really close to home! My nephew has autism and his teacher at school talked to my mom about him needing an Ipad, because at the moment he does not communicate verbally (which is pretty typical for people diagnosed with Autism). Though he has begun doing his abcs and basic counting, he does not communicate verbally much at all. Because of the graphic interface of the Ipad (and other computers like it) people with non-verbal communication abilities have been able to use these as a tool to communicate with people. As an uncle I have watched my sister and mother deal with the frustration of not being able to communicate with my nephew, even though he is very intelligent. The most common issue is when he is very frustrated with something but cannot find a way to communicate that to my sister or mom. He is 5 years old and should be very capable of simple things like…”I’m Hungry” or “that hurts”. My mom came to me because the cost of an Ipad is about $500 and it’s not something that was in their budget to do, but his school said it could really help him. My parents are not rich, but they’re certainly not poor. As I talked with my mom about doing a fundraising concert for him I realized how many families are dealing with this same type of issue! So we put together the first concert at Doc’s Music Hall. As I talked with other artists to help promote the show I found that many of them were dealing with Autism in their immediate or close families also! So on Dec. 23rd my band and a host of our good friends will raise enough money for 3 Ipads which will be given out in our local community to kids who need them! After that will begin the full scale blitz of putting an Ipad in the hand of every child that needs one! The financial burden is more than the average family can afford, so our goal is that every person who needs one to help their communication will have one regardless of their financial situation! Look for more to come on this in the future!

PS – Someone asked me, “What if the parents take them and they don’t go to the kids?” My answer is, “I don’t care!” I am more concerned with helping the 1000s of children who need them then the couple of parents who might misuse our gift! Get your priorities straight ya’ll!

Love,
Mike

On 11-11-11 Traffic Jam will help host 300 Concerts in 300 Countries worldwide to raise awareness about the modern day slave trade known as ‘Human Trafficking’. There are thousands of children worldwide sold into slavery everyday! This will be a long fight, but much like the American Civil Rights Movement we cannot in good conscience turn our heads and act like it’s not happening! Please take a second and check out WWW.TRAFFICJAM.ORG to learn more about the efforts that they are doing to put the world’s spot light on this tragedy! Here again is another way music unites us all! Keep up the good fight, and never never never turn a blind eye to evil it will end up in your back yard one day!

The newest section of Dreamer is ‘The Modern Day Minimalist’. Minimalism is the key to Freedom. Do you feel like your life is slipping away and you have dreams that you want to pursue, but “Life” keeps getting in the way? The picture to the side this blog is my bedroom. That is everything in my house except my coffee maker. Needless to say it costs me nothing in time or money to maintain my life. The key to have the freedom of time is to have very little to consume your time, money and resources. It is a fact that we have only so much of each of the aforementioned resources. The key to actually being able to live a life of freedom (in the modern Western World) is actually having enough money to buy back your time. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of buying back your time please try to wrap your mind around the following analogies. Please do not let their simplicity take away from their effectiveness. There are a couple ways of buying back your time. The easiest way to understand and comprehend is if someone is wealthy. This one is really simple; if you had enough money in the bank (or under your doghouse in the backyard) to actually pay for everything in your life without having to go to work then you would be free to do what you want with your time. When I say everything please take a minute to think about everything that you pay for in your life. As a generalization most Westerners pay for Housing (Electric, water, gas, sewage, etc), Transportation (car, bus ticket, gas, oil, insurance, tires, etc), Food (home cooked and dining out), clothes (needs and wants), furniture, communications (phone and internet) and entertainment. The aforementioned items almost everyone pays for in one form or another if you live in the developed Western World. I often mention the Western World because much of the Eastern World does not participate in the materialism of this world like we do in The Western World. This is why you hear sayings from Eastern and Middle Eastern peoples like, “They are trying to Westernize us”. These material items we consume are why we have to go to work. It maybe a strange thought to you that these items are not “Needs” that you must have to survive. To survive you actually only NEED food and water! Think about that for a minute and really let it sink into your brain. Though we believe housing is a need, the fact is Humanity survived without it for millions of years. Unless you have the brain of a peanut you can easily see that we are the decedents of what was one time “Hunter Gatherers”. Much like all the animals of God’s Kingdom we existed naturally on our home hunting and gathering our food without any of what our people of today would call housing. Jesus addresses this a few times in The Bible even. The most quoted (and often mis-used quote) is the simple prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread” Matthew 6:11 King James Version. This is also in the book of Luke, and in The Book of Proverbs, “Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.” Prov. 30:8. This is a much deeper mantra than it is given credit at first glance. It is the only thing you NEED in life is your “Daily Bread”, and truth be told you don’t even need it daily to survive. If you want to simplify your life and live it on your terms then you cannot spend all of your time trying to make money just to pay for things that are not NEEDS at all but are actually the locks on the chains of worldly possessions.
To wrap up the introduction to ‘Modern Day Minimalism’, I want to bring your attention to the fact that you could buy back 20-30 hours a week of your life just by not having to make money to pay for wants you believed were needs. Please don’t be too hard on yourself either; Corporations have spent billions of dollars to convince you into believing this!
In conclusion I don’t expect you to go sell all of your Earthly possessions tomorrow and go back to hunter gathering. The point of ‘The Modern Day Minimalist’ is to get you to apply simple life changing principles to your paradigm of the world, and as Jesus said, “The Truth Will Set You Free”.

The simplest change you can make: Eliminate TV from your life. This is the simplest way to get back 7-14 hours a week, and 80 hours of work time at $10/hr (on the lowest of estimates).

TV: Cable = $50-$150/mth (Plus at least $200 to buy your TV though probably more like $500)

So if you only bought the absolute cheapest cable package at $50 per month (I’m not talking about the introduction price) that would be $600 per year that you have to make just to pay for TV service to your home. So at $10 per hour you would have to work 60 hours a year just to put TV in your home. I know some people make much more than that so if you made $20 an hour you would still have to work 30 hours a year just to pay for TV service. This does not include the income tax you have to pay on that money, so that actually isn’t even a true figure. If you bought a cheap TV on sale at Wal-mart it still cost you at least $200 (and you know you probably spent more than that) then there is another 20 hours of work at $10/hr. Again, that figure would not include income tax on the $200 you earned or sales tax on the TV you bought. I have heard every excuse in the world why someone has to have TV. Some people say they have to have TV because they have kids, sports and local news. In the end it comes down to how bad do you actually want to be free from the worldly constraints. I promise you that you can do it! As of this writing I’ve been almost 10 years without TV, and I love it!

Stay tuned on how to simplify your life and set your soul free! Dream Big!

Mike

In the constant struggle to achieve it’s very easy to get caught up in the grind of day to day survival, and forget that we really are very blessed. The last year particularly, for me, has been one of the hardest of the journey. FMMusic and Doc’s Music Hall have been under enormous financial pressure (and damn near didn’t make it through the thick of the fight). When everyday is survival mode it becomes very easy to slip into victim mode (the old whoas me way of thinking) and forget that really everyday itself is a miracle and a blessing. Today I am ‘Remembering to be Thankful (again)’! I am particularly thankful for the amazing people the universe has put into my life. As it said in all the books (including The Bible…”According to your faith so shall it be”) that if you set your mind to it and believe then the universe will align you with the people and circumstances to make your thoughts a reality. There are so many to name here, but one in particular that I want to take a second to recognize is Christie Williams the Doc’s / FM Finance Manager. Christie has stuck by my side on this journey for over three years now, and believe me that has been no easy task! Without her undying support my life would not be freed up enough to keep my eyes on the horizon and look for how we can keep moving forward. As I offer this small bit of recognition to her it reminds me how blessed I am (and how right all those books have been). So today please take a minute and remember to be thankful again! Please use the comment box below to let me know what you’re thankful for!

Do you remember when standing up for your beliefs against tyranny was an American Ideal? As a good amount of Americans sat on their couches and watched football yesterday, there was a group of brave citizens finally standing up to Wall Street and Corporate America (Who own our politicians)! The fight will not be easy, but it will be worth it! When I was a child I was told that what made us American is that we have the right to freedom, not an innate right that we were guaranteed but a right that our great-grandfathers fought to the death for us to have! The media and those in power have helped launch a terrifying campaign that would make you believe you are Un-American if you stand up for yourself and your fellow (hu)man and question what our leaders are doing! I am very proud to call these brave souls my fellow Americans!! As far as the corporations and the politicians they should be charged with crimes against humanity for their rape of the American working family!

Stand Up!!! Power to the people!

Start wherever you are at with whatever you've got!

In all of the projects I’ve ever taken on I have never been fortunate enough to have “all the pieces in place” as they say. Usually it started with an idea that seemed bigger than life, and definitely bigger than the means that I had access to. Luckily for me in the beginning I was naive (or dumb) enough to not have the good sense to be too scared to take action! Being hungry for change and unwilling to accept that change was impossible, I would just start immediately to try to break the project down into smaller parts. Basics first: I’d make a list of the first five things I need to do to move in the right direction. Almost always there is a lot of research and education which comes before any concrete action. I say this because education and research are free in the beginning of any project (I said in the beginning…obviously I know not all education is free, though you can find out almost anything at your local library). Sorry to digress, the point is that the money excuse is a not a legitimate excuse in the initial starting of a project or idea. It costs only a few cents (and you usually have them laying around your house) to pick up a notebook and actually put your idea in writing, so you capture the spirit and the essence your idea and crystalize it onto paper! To research an idea on the internet is basically free (again…you can go to the local library if you don’t personally have internet access. I used to sneak into Ball State University’s Library which was about a mile from my house. The key here is to immerse yourself in the subject of your choice. Read! Read everything you can on your subject including blogs, magazines, books and newspaper stories. Find out where a group of people in your area get together to discuss your subject. All this is usually FREE (or very low cost) and it starts a process of momentum that can only really be explained in deeper discussions of “The Law of Attraction”. “The Law of Attraction” is a subject for a whole other blog post, but for now let me just try to assure you that it is very real. Please do not take my word for it, I am only trying to show you my conviction because I know it’s real from my own personal experiences. When I first began to try to manifest my dreams, and quit living a life of quiet desperation, “The Law of Attraction” first introduced me to a friend who invited me to his book club. Him and a group of associates met every Tuesday to discuss the books that they were reading and how it applied to their lives. I met Ian while looking at a house he had for sale. It was late and I had called him from an add in the Charleston, SC newspaper. I had recently moved down there and was sleeping on the floor in my sisters apartment. When I called it was almost dark and I said, “Well it’s getting late so I’m sure you don’t want to meet tonight.”
Ian said, “No I’ll go out there now if you will”. When we got there we got to talking about my moving down to SC to pursue music. Ian informed me that he was a musician too. Later I found out he was one of the most respected sax players in town. He invited me to his book club, and the rest kind of fades into history. To wrap this up and give you an idea of how the Universe will pull into your field the exact people you need let me give you a few details of what came from that conversation that night.

1. I had no money or job, and I bought that house on contract only a half mile from an ocean accessible river way
2. Ian brought me to the book club where I learned from some of the brightest young minds I’ve ever met, and all of the things I learned in those books and from those guys are what I built the whole FMMusic Company upon
3. Ian and the Attorney who worked the house deal became initial investors in Doc’s Music Hall (It would not have been possible without them)
4. At the book club one of the best lessons I ever learned (and the point of this post) was – “Start Wherever You’re Are, With Whatever You’ve Got, Right Now”

None of this would’ve been possible if I would have believed that it wasn’t possible because I still needed more money, education or experience. I just simply started trying to make change from right where I was at the moment. If it helps give you some inspiration; As I write this my company is still right in the midst of the fight to see if we can survive and turn this into a viable company. The truth is that I don’t know. I could be out of business tomorrow. I just get up everyday and start where I’m, with whatever I’ve got right now!

In wrapping this post up, that’s what I encourage you to do. No matter where you’re at at the moment (a job you hate, an abusive relationship, jail, rehab, the ghetto, or maybe a spot socially where failure is unacceptable) start right now with whatever resources you have (and the most important one that no one can take away is sitting right there on top of you shoulders allowing you to read this – YOUR BRAIN!) and begin taking action. At the VERY LEAST start writing down your idea(s) and vision(s). Then begin reading about them. Learn something you didn’t know about you idea. Just take action and remember that it is a long road. There’s an old saying, “It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it”

If you need more inspiration hit me up here in the comments. I’ll be glad to help you get your thoughts in a positive direction.

If you’re looking for an excuse not to do something don’t be too picky. Any excuse is as a good as any other really.

The above quote from Eleanor Roosevelt is one of my absolute favorites and one I always turn to when I’ve found myself to be wrong or having made a mistake that I must now work to correct.
With that being said, I want to remind you of one of my other favorite quotes, “The only people who make no mistakes never make anything else either.”
So, today’s inspiration is a reminder that it is OK to make mistakes in your journey through life. And, yes you will be criticized either way. Usually you will be criticized by people who are standing on the sidelines criticizing others willingness to actually take action in their life. Again, if you do anything of any significance in this life you will have critics and haters.
Go make some mistakes! Through mistakes and hard learned lessons comes wisdom. And, remember wisdom without action is like having no wisdom at all. If you need a little help or an encouraging word please feel free to send me a message. I promise I will be a voice of positive encouragement even if it’s just to say it’s OK I’ve failed many times too! So go make some mistakes!

In the comments below please leave stories of mistakes you’ve made and how you emerged stronger!