The Mind of KLH

That is what Dr. Ben Carson’s mother told him many times. Very wise words indeed. Ben Carson was the subject of a recent TV movie called “Gifted Hands”. He is a world renown neurosurgeon. He rose up from a very poor disadvantaged life, and his mother taught him how to see what his eyes couldn’t see. His eyes saw kids making fun of him for being stupid. His eyes saw the used clothes that his mother bought for him. His eyes saw the poor neighborhood he lived in. But his mother knew there was much more to be seen if only he would look deep enough.

Perhaps one of the things that makes our success so pervasive is that it usually can’t be seen with the naked eye. As I was on my tread mill stepping away, I had a thought that visits me often and it’s this: “I still have a bit of a belly and all this walking doesn’t seem to be making a difference”. Or how about ‘I put money in the bank but it never seems to amount to much’. Or, ‘I work on this business idea but it never seems to take off’. Success requires vision that most people simply don’t have or even better yet, simply won’t access. Success requires us to believe in something that may not be quite evident. Success requires us to have faith.

Faith isn’t wishful thinking. Faith isn’t saying ‘Well ‘I’ll try my best’. Faith is being convinced before there is compelling evidence to support the belief. If there was a man outside your door with a million dollars telling you it’s all yours if you work your tail off, that’s not faith if you then go do the work. If the extra weight dropped of after one session on the tread mill that’s not faith in action. Faith is when you keep getting on the tread mill day after day, week after week, and sometimes even month after month and still don’t see results, but you keep working out. Faith is when you work tirelessly on your website, and still you don’t make a dime, but you keep on tweaking your site and studying and applying more.

Success is arrogant and conceited. Success thinks it’s better than you…and it usually is. That is until you prove it wrong. Success will have nothing to do with you until you make it submit to you by doing all the necessary work up front before you see any return for your efforts. Success will make you prove you are worthy, and if you can muster the blood, sweat, and tears to pay the price, success will kneel down at your feet, and it will be your faithful servant. First however, you gotta pay. You may wonder how much is enough? How much do I have to pay to be successful? I say you’ll know when you get there, because the heavens will open up, and rain down on you. Until then you’re not done yet.

So… you must develop the ability to see beyond where you are at. Shortsightedness is the enemy of success. I say these things knowing that I too am in the fight. However, I know that I am always one keystroke, or one phone call, or one minute away from the door being opened to me, and so I continue…even when my eyes can’t see it.

Stay Fly and Fly High
KLH

Check out my other site for “The Hottest Beats on the Internet” and some really good shopping – KLH Beats.com

Well it was a little hard to hear, but it was indeed just like music. I just made a major renovation to my website KLH Beats.com and when I finally hit the enter button it was a beautiful sound. I will now be offering Hip Hop and R&B beats (that’s instrumental music tracks) for free…yes FREE!!!! It’s quite a move and I’m excited about it. Why??? Because I did something important to move my business and consequently my life forward.

Whenever we do something positive no matter how small on our own behalf, it confirms us. It make us know a little bit more, that we are important. It puts another block in the wall of our self esteem. When we feel better about our self, our power is enhanced. People who are powerful make this world a better place. When I say power I’m not talking about power over other people, I’m talking about personal power. Personal power is about being all WE can be. It’s about being comfortable in our own skin and in our own place in this world. People who impose their power over other people, usually feel inadequate in some way, so they in effect, leech power from weaker people to strengthen themselves.

But I digress…today I had a victory. It might not be that important to some people but that’s not the point. Personal power is about what we do for ourselves, and today I did it!!! Because I did it, I feel great. Because I feel great I’m going to do more, and as I do more to build this business of mine, I’ll feel better about me…which in turn will empower me to do greater things. Do you get it??? It’s a delicious cycle…a cycle that started with one thing…I hit the ‘Enter Button’…and it was music to my ears.

What one thing can you do today on your own behalf? One small thing I promise you will lead to another, and then another. Imagine a world filled with people with enormous personal power, all adding to the greatness of our planet. Now that…is music!!!

Please be sure to check out my new site at – www.klhbeats.com

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH

We are so much smarter and more powerful than most of us give ourselves credit for. We grow and mature, we learn things and gain experiences that equip us quite well to live wonderful lives. However many times we don’t live up to our fullest potential…why? Because it’s hard. It’s hard to be successful at anything. It’s hard to live an enlightened or righteous life. It’s hard to be powerful. Sitting on the couch with a big ass bowl of vanilla ice cream slathered on top of a giant chunk of apple pie (oh my god I have a craving) is so much easier, and quite tasty.

The truth is that with success, power, and enlightenment come responsibility. In many ways doing the right thing limits your choices in ways that may be very uncomfortable. Successful people get up early and go to bed late, they work harder, and sacrifice things that average people aren’t willing to give up. Enlightened people say no to things that compromise their core values. People who live mediocre or average lives compromise so much that they often can’t even identify their core values. It’s hard to live to your fullest potential, so most people opt out on their own lives. They won’t say it but it’s true.

Ask a person what their dreams are, or what success is to them and rarely will you get a clear answer. Ask them why they are here on this planet, you probably won’t get a meaningful reply. I think the reason why people don’t want to think about being fully realized is because somewhere in their mind they know the cost is more than they’re willing to pay. So we trade down to a cheaper model. “I just want to take care of my family” or “I want to go to school” (I love that one) or “I just want to be comfortable”. Let me be clear there’s nothing wrong with these things, but they’re often ways of deferring your dreams, or even worse deluding yourself. Why? Because it’s so much easier than saying I want to run for Mayor, or open a women’s shelter, race NASCAR, or sing opera.

A lack of clarity is often just a delay tactic. As long as you don’t know, you don’t have to do anything..Hmmm. I suggest that we be real with ourselves, somewhere inside we know what’s right for us, and we’d do it if we knew we wouldn’t fail. But, unless we are willing to take that chance we will never live our lives fully. I am convinced that success in anything for anyone resides outside our comfort zone, which is why most of us would much rather sit on the couch. I got two words for you…Get up!

Stay Fly and Fly High
KLH

Hey check out my other website www.klhbeats.com

Trust me on this one…I get it.  For a lot of people out there this economy is like “The Nightmare on Your Street”.  People are losing their jobs or their hours are getting cut.  People losing houses, health insurance, and most importantly self esteem.  There are people who have done incredibly thoughtless or even criminal things to drive our economy into the ground.  Those people should be held accountable…but that ain’t gonna pay your mortgage or rent next week…trust me I get it.  President Obama keeps saying that things will probably get worse before they get better.  Or that it’s going to take some time before the ‘Stimulus Plan’ begins to yield results, but that in time it will help us.  None of our politicians seem to understand that we the people have to actually survive to three or four or God forbid eight years from now.  Our car payments, rent, groceries, and kid’s college tuition will not wait for the Stimulus Plan to kick in.  Those things demand money right now…trust me…I get it.  All this is true…so now what?

Recognizing or even bitching about the rotten ass hand our elected officials have dealt us will not pay one single solitary bill for anyone.  What it will do is make us more mad, more hopeless, and still up the damn creek without a paddle, or maybe even without a canoe.  So now what?  One of the things that makes life so difficult in the tendency to live anywhere but where we are right now.  By that I mean we worry about what happened to us yesterday, the day before or even twenty years ago.  We also like to worry about tomorrow.  The problem with this is that not matter what, we can ONLY live right now…in this moment.  Right now in this moment we can make a choice, and that is where our power can be utilized.  

One of the greatest things we can do for ourselves is to be responsible for where we are in life.  When we are having a really tough time, taking responsibility for that can be extremely difficult.  It is always easier to blame someone or something else for our troubles…and I do understand that.  However there is power in responsibility…that is… the ability to respond.  So what we need to do as individuals and by extension as a nation is to take responsibility for where we are at.  Then we can make choices about how we can improve upon our situation.  Without our consent the future will indeed come…and it will go. The question is what will you and I do with the time between now and then. The choices we make today and everyday are what will shape our future.  That is the power of taking responsibilty.  If we are responsible for our difficulties, then we can also be responsible for our success.

We are creative beings of unimagined possibilities.  We cannot fathom the spectacular things we can achieve, because there really are no limits to our potential.  I believe we are made in the image of God.  and that doesn’t mean we look like God.  I think we have god-like super human capabilities.  We can summon that power, by having faith in our own greatness, and opening our minds and hearts to the infinite wisdom of the universe.  Then we can use that creative power to make whatever kind of life we want to have.  

So now what?  Let’s all resolve to face our challenges head on.  The great dragon will cower when you look it in the eye.  Challenges, even seemingly impossible ones, cannot withstand the withering offensive of a determined will to overcome them.  I said it before “Obama can’t save you”, neither can the government stimulus plan.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that you can save yourself.  That’s what I’m gonna do.

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH

I just got through watching and listening to some YouTube videos.  I just got it in my head I wanted to hear some great bass players.  After about 30 minutes I just, closed my mouth and resumed breathing.  I used to play a little bass so I have some strong attraction to that instrument.  I heard Victor Wooten, some unfamiliar players, and the god the late Jaco Pastorius.  In these players I saw and heard greatness.  In math “greater than” means more than.  Clearly that’s what these men are …they are more than the average bass player.  They probably had a propensity for the instrument early on, but they certainly invested countless hours in perfecting their craft…and became more than the average player.

When I went to see Jaco in concert I knew I was in the presence of greatness.  Not in a groupie kind of way, but in an almost reverential kind of way.  Jaco was what I aspired to be.  His talent made me go home and practice my bass more.  When I saw Stanley Clarke, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, The Jackson Five I knew that they were “more than” me, not as people but as craftsmen.  They put in the work to develop their talent and that talent blazed from the stage.  Part of the allure of concerts back in the day was to see and hear things that I knew I couldn’t do…at least not yet.  

These days concerts are more like dance recitals, because that’s usually the only thing actually happening live.  Today’s music is filled with mediocrity.  You can go in any karaoke spot and hear singers as good as most of the singers you hear on the radio, and that’s ashamed.  Often they’re not even called singers, now they’re “artists”…and even that title overstates the case most of the time.  What about musicians?  Most young people think Chris Angel is a musician…(think about it).  Music tracks are “beats” now, and  producers are usually glorified Deejays. 

I long for the day that music comes back into the “Music Business”.  It would be great to see young boys and girls taking piano, guitar, and saxophone lessons.  I long for the day when a singer says to the producer “Why would I need Auto-Tune?”  I long for the day that singers sing because they would die if they didn’t.  When a guitar player plays because he can’t not play.  Music is the voice of God fixed to a melody and set to rhythm.  I don’t know what that is they’re playing on the radio.

For the sake of profit, music has been critically injured and is on life support.  Let’s make sure music doesn’t die.  It is imperative that music be a part of every school curriculum.  Us older folks should dust of those old 45′s and play them for our kids, and tell them our stories about the great concerts we saw and how we were affected and moved.  If we really try we can save music and oh… how really worth it that would be.

So …What is great, really?  It’s breathlessness, it’s wonder, it’s vision, it’s profound.  If any old Tom, Dick, or Mary can do it, it ain’t great.

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH 

Check out the hottest Hip Hop and Rap Beats on the internet at: KLH Beats.com

Let me count the wayzzzzzz!  Whew!!  Computers as great as they can be…are determined to make me go freakin’ crazy (I just know it’s a conspiracy).  As I sit here typing on my beautiful I-Mac computer, I long for the days of the Smith Corona, or a good IBM Selectric.  When those went bad you could lift up the lid and spot the problem.  When you have a problem with your computer, first you have to determine is it really a computer problem or a software problem.  Usually it’s a mutant hybrid problem which means you’re going to have to figure the problem out on your own. Or… 

You can call tech support if you hate yourself enough to deal with that torture.  The reason I say that, is tech support people  are usually good at one thing, and that is reading what is in their stupid ‘Tech Support Manual’.  This manual is designed to drive people who know a little bit about computers absolutely NUTZ!  The tech support person will start out by asking you a couple of aggravating questions like:  ”Hi, who am I speaking to?” And…”Would you please validate your address?”  It wouldn’t be so bad if you hadn’t given all that info to the robot chick who asked for it at the beginning of the damn call.  

After they’ve interviewed you they offer some suggestions that rarely solve your problem and sometimes add to your problems.  After they finish wasting your time they often will pass you along to another person or department so they can have some fun with you as well.  At this point I usually want to curse somebody out, but I know I’d get hung up on and have to start the whole happy process all over again, so instead I internalize the pain and stress.  I am certain that tech support is largely responsible for my high blood pressure.  I’m sure most of these tech support people are quite lovely.  But they would probably be more well suited reading bedtime stories to kids and not reading stupid solutions for my freaking computer crises!

Computers are like a beautiful person, that you love, but sometimes seems to get sick pleasure out of driving you out of you mind.  I get a lot done with my computer, but right now I think it wold look great if it was buried half way in the wall of my office.  How do I hate thee???  I think I need  calculus to add up the ways…but just like a beautiful woman…I ain’t giving it up. Call me a hopeless romantic.

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH