I was recently EMPTIED.

Went to the beach.

Then, was refilled with what I'm sharing here.

The emptying was the answer to a prayer I'd made a long time ago... to be useful, demonstrative, real, integrated-not-fragmented, LESS CRAZY FEELING (!!!)

The emptying helped me accept the faults in others, 'cause I am so very aware of my own.

And they are many... fears-to-be-overcome... fights-to-be-upleveled.

There are also a few fine and lovely things to accept.

Depending on how you were conditioned, it might actually be easier to accept your shadow bits, than it is to embrace your shiny bits... but the work of being a whole person means accepting it all. Beastly and beautiful. Rank and regal.

Are you standing on a whale, fishing for minnows?

I sure was. I front-loaded more trust and energy in minnows (possibilities) that were outside me, than I did leveraging the whale-potential that is the supporting foundation beneath me. That simple Polynesian saying, popularized by Joseph Campbell, gave me a working theory about life, love and work. It's feasible that we each have a whale -- a large, networked, mobile foundation on which we can stand. From that whale, we can joyfully source the things we need to be whole, healthy and happy.

Know The Whale You Stand On

My whale is WORDS. Reading 'em. Writing 'em. Speaking 'em. I also decode, unlock, interpret, test and rest (silence) them. I grasp their value. So, in addition to accepting Bitcoin, Pesos and USDollars for assembling them, I also must sense some form of: Love, Peace, Wisdom, Vitality, Creative Inspiration or Real Friendship in any collaboration. If those additional currencies are not flowing, that writing project is not for me. Below are a few projects that all pay in my desired currencies:

LAVISH LISTENING

Everybody, including me, is broadcasting something. The broadcasts range in intensity, from blatant as an ad, to simple as a selfie. Everyone it seems, in some tech-assisted way, is screamin' for attention... "Look at me!" "Like this!" "Share that!"

Always on.

Always fast.

And, almost, always shallow.

Depth and freneticism go together like hand-woven silk tapestries, and Ikea. Not a great pair.

Lavish Listening stops time and noise so that, for a solid hour, you can be heard and undisturbed. This service is a monthly reward for Patreon patrons who pledge at least USD$45, USD$60 value.

PRESENCE WRITING

Presence writing is the exact opposite of ghostwriting. It is my heart-made imagi-medicine, that heals my voice from having been farmed out. It also softens a reader's callous, from having taken in too many words that prohibit feeling. :-( I'd like to, primarily and profitably, do that right here on Steemit! Follow me, love.

CANNABIS + HEMP ADVOCACY

By vocalizing my love and respect for Cannabis Sativa + Industrial Hemp, I ALSO crusade for:

(1) wise ecological practices + stewardship; (2) cognitive liberty + exploration; (3) reformation of the prison + medical industrial complexes; (4) benevolent economic growth; and (5) inter-species relations between plants + people. Mark my words, there will come a day when #5 won't sound nearly as strange as it does now! In the meantime, consider (and by consider, I mean 'Google' or 'DuckDuckGo') the work of *Paul Stamets*, *Stephen Harrod Buhner* and *Jeremy Narby* for examples of what I mean. I am having interesting conversations with botanists, neuroscientists, shamanic healers, old school activists, and cannabis researchers and entrepreneurs. The fruit of some of those conversations and correspondences will become INFORMATIVE INTERVIEWS. And they are all swirling 'round in my head and heart... changing molecules, and making wine, of the alchemical sort ;-)

So, raise your green chalices, inkwells, iPads, bongs, spliffs and vaporizers!

Puff, pray, pen, publish.

I used to have 'pause' between pen and publish. Then I looked up, and noticed I had been shuckin-and-jivin for *a bunch of years.*

So, I pulled that pansy-ass word OUT!

I will not waste and squander another moment of Life, paralyzed by the imperfections in me, or the things I make.

Big whoop. JUST LIKE YOU, friend/colleague/peer/fellow-human, I am in-progress. Under construction. Ever-evolving. I choose to embrace all the imperfections -- the wabi-sabis -- throughout my work.

Pause less. Publish more.

^^^THAT is the master-tip, right there.^^^

If someone can't/won't give you the relational space + grace to grow beyond your current limits -- whatever they may be -- ask yourself: Is that really the kind of stuck, grumpy, tiny-minded, bound-up, unimaginative person you want influencing your creative seeds?? Of course it isn't. Let 'em self-select OUT. Let the more Resonant Ones self-select IN.

Say the things, you want to see in the world.

Use your words as the power that they are. Y'want light? Then SAY "Light!"

And there WILL BE.

You gotta know how to really SAY it, though ;-)

It's not tricky. But it's not cheap, either.

Here's a great example.

Just do the same. #wordwise #startinside

This post has been transparently brought to you by SativaYoga.

Check it out. Show some love.

And to my early-adoptin' patrons, who hopped on-board **before** it was cool-to-do ;-)... you've no idea what your votes of confidence have meant. Y'all will always be VIP to me + my word-whale. **You are the 5 people in the world who required no cajoling.** Now, the rest of these lurkers... Haha, I jest. Seriously. Big love to each of you! #earlylove #alwaysremembered

This Is A 30-Minute Musical-Meditative Thingy I Listened To While Writing This

I am in humble, symbiotic relationship with all MusicMakers. I need You, SonicAir, with ReverbHair. Thanks to every Sacred Psalmist of Sound. You never cease to loosen the words from my heart, and the sways from my hips. Keep loosening us. THE WORLD IS TIGHT.

Will this post ever end?

Yes! The important section below -- about love-- is the last block of words! Press through.

What's this, about love?

I was a reluctant voice for cannabis. Took me nearly 3 years to come out of hiding, and speak up clearly.

I have also been a reluctant voice for love. The kind of love that's intimately shared between two people. In these complex times, many configurations of love use more than two people, and even more than two genders. I will be writing what I know... simple, soulful love between a man and a woman. If you are OTHER than that, or MORE than that, no worries... the principles are still probably relevant. Counter to Facebook's inference, love really is NOT that complicated. It **wants** to be had, known, devoured and shared by each of us. In a Steemit exclusive series, this Summer 2017, I will roll out these three experiential essays on love: