I’m done seeing people claim, that- their- potential’s- missin
Time- to- protest –for- your- talents- civil rights- like- a- sit-in
Better stand up quick before-these-words- become- forbidden
Cause the biggest truth before burrecracy, always stay hidden
Always shuffled away, before-it-gets-it’s-beginning
That’s- why- I’m- blastin- truth- past- theirs- walls
Through-the-words-that-I’ve-written
Hoping to break the hypnosis that we all have been in
Tried of losing out on life
It’s time we start winning
At first I was timid to- spit-out- what I got
I guess I wasn’t sure if you would think it was hot
But it’s truth, so- I- don’t- care- if- you- think- it’ll- a- flop
I’m still taking my shot
And like ripleys
You-can-believe-or-not
I’m not gonna stop
Just cause some say it’s no use
That’s like a black slave
Hanging himself with his own nuse
You’ll hear a verse like that one next
I said that just to introduce
What’s coming
So your not running when I hit ya wit the proof
Now the time’s finally here
So there can be no mistake
To get this truth into your ears
I’ll have to do it in one take
This is the 1TAKE MIXTAPE
As you hear this I hope you use it
To push forth
And start your own life’s…
next Major Movement…
LET DO THIS…
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
A False Start
My eyes are monsoons when I want something/
But then they're sealed like a tomb when they find nothing/
Nothing as in Fraud/
Nothing as in Frontin/
Cause what I'm talking about now/
Are fake disscussions/
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
But then they're sealed like a tomb when they find nothing/
Nothing as in Fraud/
Nothing as in Frontin/
Cause what I'm talking about now/
Are fake disscussions/
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
Monday, October 18, 2010
You have the talent, the energy, the drive, the smarts, the vision, the spirit, the disipline, the power, the INSPIRATION. The only thing you dont have, the only thing no one in this world has, is the time. That's cause time is not something your supposed to have. It is something your supposed to make, choose, and create. Make the time to do what you believe is great. Choose to have the time to believe in the things, people, and more importantly self that you know to be great. Create the time for greatness to always happen and it will happen ALL the time. That is the time i believe in you, and that is the time that you should believe in you.
The movement continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
The movement continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
State of Emergency
Silence is your only crime
The opposite of mine
To-be-honest-I'm-a-novice
Who talks way too much at times
But every time has a place
Maybe that's why I'm out of place
Cause the words I convey, come from outer space to hit your face
So-now-I'm-faced-with-first-degree
States-are-in-a-state-of-emergency
All-due-to-the-emergence-of-an-emcee
Like me
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
Sunday, October 17, 2010
The 1TAKE MIXTAPE:The Sky's No limit
In a flash, sip this, lyrical-liquor-in-my-flask
It'll rebooted ya
Driving you forward
Like back to the future
Your mainframe breaks down
I'll reboot ya
Your drive gets dug out
Then I'll reroot ya
So-you-feel-planted-in-the-planet-of-your-soul-God-damn-it
It's granted
The-force-of-these-flows, flow-like-water
Many Lukes with the force
But I'm Lukes Father
And-if I'm lukes Father
Then I got the death star
But I would change the name
From death star to life star
And-if-I-got-the-Life-Star-then-I-need to- go-to-lightspeed
But-in-light-of-this-life-space
That's highly unlikely
Except, if you got a friend named lifespeedz
That sends a hyperdrive beat, that'll help you succeed
In successfully
Celestially Soaring
Over the disconfort, were abhoring
Know way you could hear this and think "life is boring"
The mind's,-on-mental-mission-got-no time for snoring
Gas pedal flooring
across galatic highways
Stars are sweeping back and forth like their starwave
Imagine this as you close your eyes
Now open them back up and be surprises
By the real cosmic causway that's at your side
Buckle up everybodty cause off we ride!
Chorus: (repeats this)
The Sky's, the limit
For those who can't see
What's in,their-imagination-naturally
2nd verse:
I'm a maverick/
Litting -inspired- fires- through- one- stick/
Dipped in the ink
Of my intellegence/
Elegance/
Making, empowering statements/
Staring at my tales wondering?/
Were these words written
Before-I- started-telling-em?/
Will these word be here
When I start sellingg em
Wll these words be clear
When I'm not selling em
Will my heart steer clear
Of those not feeling em
I shell em
Out for a possitive outlook
I sell em
So you could feel how your soul looks
I tell em
In hope that, I can leave this world shook
Shoken up beyond the- image- given in- one-book
Cause I'm shook out of my mind
Already/
I'm Shells pumping poetic gas
When ready
I'm really
rhyme ready
and steady
Too unleash all rhyme bites in these papers
Confeti
Not contented
That's why I get ahead of myself
To remind my future of it's past, present self
Cause I've felt the future
And it's flying jet packs
Might I've changed the future
Maybe shouldn't I've said that.
Forget that
Forge the future as you see it
Bleed out blessings, the way you believe it
Live in this world the
way you wanna leave it
Work on your world,
don't be afraid to weave it
Weave-it- so-the-mountains--become-fountains-when-you-thristy
Weave it so your still 13, when your 30
Weave it like a child
Make clean still be dirty
Write-papers-and-be-wordy
That's right, you heard me
Or don't write at all
Don't fight at all
No fight or flight instinct
Your flights fights to fall
Use your instinct succintly
And naturally see
no limits
are really in sync with thee
This world is meant to be traveled
Your stories meant to be unravel
Were meant to marvel at our castles
Were meant to pay no mind to those assholes
And as I sit in my mental castle
Gazing at the star
It's clear to me were not that far
From reaching em...
From standing on the beach
Not only seeking dreams but being em
Chorus: (repeats this)
The Sky's, the limit
For those who can't see
What's in,their-imagination-naturally
3rd verse:(spoken word) (Start this a 3:43)
I see, I seek, I seeth...
Cause every single time I breath
A Course of air come backs to me
Collobarating with the causes of collages
Lodged within the back of me
And althrough they are little
Even a lion can be locked down by a thorn
A piece of me taking causallies
And in that collage of causes
The big one I name are the powers that be...
But is that honesty
Maybe not, but that is the norm...
But To place blame on the mainframe of another hard drive
May work in this world
But in my world that is a damn hard bargain to drive.
Cause in a world where place blame on others
One can only try to survive
Understandable
But in my world that I live in
Instead of blame or shame
We proclaim ourselve the kings or queen
And are made alive to thrive
Survival, vs Thrival...
It's equalvalent to comparing Departing vs. Arrival
Souls Lost vs Souls Recyled
That is the differencial gap
That makes the map
Of my universe
So Seperate from the solely survival universe
That I can't even converse
When it would only take a conversation
To move that world toward emanipication
Yet every man or woman waiting
And debating...
On whether or not too leave their dying planet
Are already fading...
But those in a world of thrival state are elating
At the fact that they can breach the peek
Of everything they've been innovating
In no way
Will we ever say
The words...
I wish...
Cause in my universe the wish and the work happen in one beautiful dish
And people aren't mentally scared or hurt by the words works
Cause in my world work worked on for your self-worth is fun and always put first
In my land
In my plain
We use plane as cars
Cause the ground is too plain
The sky to us seemed like a far
More grounded road...
So where will you go
Which universe will you live in
Which universe will you give to
Or better question to ask...
What universe...
is with in you
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
It'll rebooted ya
Driving you forward
Like back to the future
Your mainframe breaks down
I'll reboot ya
Your drive gets dug out
Then I'll reroot ya
So-you-feel-planted-in-the-planet-of-your-soul-God-damn-it
It's granted
The-force-of-these-flows, flow-like-water
Many Lukes with the force
But I'm Lukes Father
And-if I'm lukes Father
Then I got the death star
But I would change the name
From death star to life star
And-if-I-got-the-Life-Star-then-I-need to- go-to-lightspeed
But-in-light-of-this-life-space
That's highly unlikely
Except, if you got a friend named lifespeedz
That sends a hyperdrive beat, that'll help you succeed
In successfully
Celestially Soaring
Over the disconfort, were abhoring
Know way you could hear this and think "life is boring"
The mind's,-on-mental-mission-got-no time for snoring
Gas pedal flooring
across galatic highways
Stars are sweeping back and forth like their starwave
Imagine this as you close your eyes
Now open them back up and be surprises
By the real cosmic causway that's at your side
Buckle up everybodty cause off we ride!
Chorus: (repeats this)
The Sky's, the limit
For those who can't see
What's in,their-imagination-naturally
2nd verse:
I'm a maverick/
Litting -inspired- fires- through- one- stick/
Dipped in the ink
Of my intellegence/
Elegance/
Making, empowering statements/
Staring at my tales wondering?/
Were these words written
Before-I- started-telling-em?/
Will these word be here
When I start sellingg em
Wll these words be clear
When I'm not selling em
Will my heart steer clear
Of those not feeling em
I shell em
Out for a possitive outlook
I sell em
So you could feel how your soul looks
I tell em
In hope that, I can leave this world shook
Shoken up beyond the- image- given in- one-book
Cause I'm shook out of my mind
Already/
I'm Shells pumping poetic gas
When ready
I'm really
rhyme ready
and steady
Too unleash all rhyme bites in these papers
Confeti
Not contented
That's why I get ahead of myself
To remind my future of it's past, present self
Cause I've felt the future
And it's flying jet packs
Might I've changed the future
Maybe shouldn't I've said that.
Forget that
Forge the future as you see it
Bleed out blessings, the way you believe it
Live in this world the
way you wanna leave it
Work on your world,
don't be afraid to weave it
Weave-it- so-the-mountains--become-fountains-when-you-thristy
Weave it so your still 13, when your 30
Weave it like a child
Make clean still be dirty
Write-papers-and-be-wordy
That's right, you heard me
Or don't write at all
Don't fight at all
No fight or flight instinct
Your flights fights to fall
Use your instinct succintly
And naturally see
no limits
are really in sync with thee
This world is meant to be traveled
Your stories meant to be unravel
Were meant to marvel at our castles
Were meant to pay no mind to those assholes
And as I sit in my mental castle
Gazing at the star
It's clear to me were not that far
From reaching em...
From standing on the beach
Not only seeking dreams but being em
Chorus: (repeats this)
The Sky's, the limit
For those who can't see
What's in,their-imagination-naturally
3rd verse:(spoken word) (Start this a 3:43)
I see, I seek, I seeth...
Cause every single time I breath
A Course of air come backs to me
Collobarating with the causes of collages
Lodged within the back of me
And althrough they are little
Even a lion can be locked down by a thorn
A piece of me taking causallies
And in that collage of causes
The big one I name are the powers that be...
But is that honesty
Maybe not, but that is the norm...
But To place blame on the mainframe of another hard drive
May work in this world
But in my world that is a damn hard bargain to drive.
Cause in a world where place blame on others
One can only try to survive
Understandable
But in my world that I live in
Instead of blame or shame
We proclaim ourselve the kings or queen
And are made alive to thrive
Survival, vs Thrival...
It's equalvalent to comparing Departing vs. Arrival
Souls Lost vs Souls Recyled
That is the differencial gap
That makes the map
Of my universe
So Seperate from the solely survival universe
That I can't even converse
When it would only take a conversation
To move that world toward emanipication
Yet every man or woman waiting
And debating...
On whether or not too leave their dying planet
Are already fading...
But those in a world of thrival state are elating
At the fact that they can breach the peek
Of everything they've been innovating
In no way
Will we ever say
The words...
I wish...
Cause in my universe the wish and the work happen in one beautiful dish
And people aren't mentally scared or hurt by the words works
Cause in my world work worked on for your self-worth is fun and always put first
In my land
In my plain
We use plane as cars
Cause the ground is too plain
The sky to us seemed like a far
More grounded road...
So where will you go
Which universe will you live in
Which universe will you give to
Or better question to ask...
What universe...
is with in you
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Clear Clare Clarity
Clear…Clare… Clarity...
I seek to find her, to see her one last time outside of the vision I have of her in my mind. We were basically raised together; lived right next door to each other in fact. As I look back, the most memorable memory I had of her was that...
I seek to find her, to see her one last time outside of the vision I have of her in my mind. We were basically raised together; lived right next door to each other in fact. As I look back, the most memorable memory I had of her was that...
Every night I would wake up from a nightmare to find her on my rooftop waiting to be let into my little window. And every time she came to that window our ritual would begin. I would give her the same glare that said "NO NO NO NO, your not coming in." But with every glare I gave her, Clare would respond without hesitation by shining her smile upon me. An encapsulating , enchanting, extravagant smile. A smile that always- like the strong man I was- made my yeses be yes, and my no's' be...well... she made those yeses too.
Well this secretive ceremony lasted from when we were just kids to when I grew into a guy's guy. You know what I'm talking about right? Right around the first time when you were clearly told that you had to have been a fag to not be hitting that. And as I walked away prepared to show the guys just how much of a faggot I wasn't, their words gave me a flash back to the good times before that comment.
And as I reflect back, I actually remember one time that she had offered me an opportunity to touch and feel the fullness of her content. To which I firmly and absolutely said… no. Cause I didn't need to touch her body to feel her glow...I still don't know why she made that offer. Maybe at the time she was getting pressured by the confusion sisters down the street, or getting laughed at by her older compromising cousin that came to her families Christmas once a year. All I know is that when I looked at her face the day she made that offer and saw her tears, I knew I never again wanted to see her make such a shameful face of that kind.
Yet, as we flash-forward to my attempt to prove my manhood by forcefully trying to seduce her, I am shocked to see her face rewind right back to that painful time. Speechless... I step away. Wanting with all of my breath to say... "God Clare so I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I have become. I couldn't resist following in the steps of my bloodline. After all, I'm conformity's son." But I can see in the eyes of Clare that it's clear the damage is done. As she slaps me and runs, leaving pain shooting across my face and leaving my soul... numb…
Since then out of shame I've shed my family name. But yet still she hasn't returned . Despite how I’ve grown since then and despite all I’ve learned. So if you’re hearing this clear, than Clare...
Please come back to me
Please come back to thee
Please come back to be
My clarity...
Please come back to me
Please come back to thee
Please come back to be
My clarity...
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz Sunday, October 10, 2010
Entrepreneurs are Artist
The term "entrepreneur" gets thrown around way to much these days. More and more I see this word being slapped onto resumes, strapped into cookie cutter corporations, and declared by people as if they are declaring their major for college. Sorry to say this guys and girls but it's not that easy. You having a network marketing business, multi-level marketing business, being any type of small business owner, or declaring entrepreneurship as your college major does not make you an entrepreneur.
The very same misunderstanding happens when asking the question of what it means to be an artist. You being a musician, a painter, singer, or rapper DOES NOT make you an artist. Artists put their hearts, souls, and personal being into their art to birth something into the world that is unlike anything that has been seen before. With their gut instinct and spirit as their guides( they do also get help and inspiration along the way), they are able to take an empty piece of paper or canvas, and place upon them visions that stretch the imagination; expanding the realm of what was thought to be possible. The art that they create is something that can not be copied close to well enough to amount to the real thing; many may try, but none will succeed.
Entrepreneurs are artist. They create, innovate, and originate ideas into ventures that have never been done how they are doing it. Like an artist, NO ONE can tell them how to do so; you can't tell anyone how to do something that has not been done before( but you can get help and will often need it at some point). Now don't get it twisted, their is nothing wrong with running a small business or declaring entrepreneurship as a major. And you can always become an entrepreneur or be an entrepreneur despite having one or both of those things slapped onto your resume. But being an entrepreneur DOES NOT happens just because of a major, a business, or simply because you say you are. It's a choice to venture pass the cut and dry canvases of society, risk it all on the bold paint of your ideas, and shake up the world; creating works of art that change the way we look at life. So now let me ask you two questions: are you an artist, are you an entrepreneur? Before you answer these two questions let me give you a hint: choose carefully, cause your answer hits two birds with one stone.
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
The very same misunderstanding happens when asking the question of what it means to be an artist. You being a musician, a painter, singer, or rapper DOES NOT make you an artist. Artists put their hearts, souls, and personal being into their art to birth something into the world that is unlike anything that has been seen before. With their gut instinct and spirit as their guides( they do also get help and inspiration along the way), they are able to take an empty piece of paper or canvas, and place upon them visions that stretch the imagination; expanding the realm of what was thought to be possible. The art that they create is something that can not be copied close to well enough to amount to the real thing; many may try, but none will succeed.
Entrepreneurs are artist. They create, innovate, and originate ideas into ventures that have never been done how they are doing it. Like an artist, NO ONE can tell them how to do so; you can't tell anyone how to do something that has not been done before( but you can get help and will often need it at some point). Now don't get it twisted, their is nothing wrong with running a small business or declaring entrepreneurship as a major. And you can always become an entrepreneur or be an entrepreneur despite having one or both of those things slapped onto your resume. But being an entrepreneur DOES NOT happens just because of a major, a business, or simply because you say you are. It's a choice to venture pass the cut and dry canvases of society, risk it all on the bold paint of your ideas, and shake up the world; creating works of art that change the way we look at life. So now let me ask you two questions: are you an artist, are you an entrepreneur? Before you answer these two questions let me give you a hint: choose carefully, cause your answer hits two birds with one stone.
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
Friday, October 8, 2010
From Craft to Calling: The path to finding my purpose
What a crazy year this is turning out to be! I came back to school with so many unquenchable uncertainties; both about how this final college year would turn out for me and what I would do after graduation. But as a mentor of mine said, "this year I sense that things are going to come together for you." That has proven itself to be undeniably true. I can now see how my active quest for self-discovery(which will never end) is beginning to reap fruit. A quest that was put in hyperdrive this past summer break as I toke summer classes, traveled around the country and to the other side of the world, and spent hours upon hours soul my searching. A quest that began to develop in a whole new way 3 years ago.
For the pass 3 years that I have been in college, I have struggled with the question of what I am supposed to be doing professionally. It is a question that I have wrestled with because it was never as simple as just finding a job that I can do well. In fact it was never even close to being that simple. For I have never really wanted a job. I find personality that me getting a job is the same as me getting a justification; a socially conditioned distraction to take away from what I am called to do for the temporary sake of security. So for better or worse, a job has never really been an authentic option for me.
I found myself in 2007 walking into my freshman year of college; desperately looking for a possible career option to cling to. What I found was the beginning of an inner division between the artist- who wanted to write world uplifting rhyme and books- and the entrepreneur- who wanted to birth a business that made the world better while meeting the bottomline- within me. The two began to drift away from one another like former friends on bad terms. And like two angry former friends, they both began to greedily want me solely to themselves.
Choosing to hang with them both did not seem like an option. For when the artist got more of my time- during my freshman year- the entrepreneur would respond with an angry rants about how "being an artist was not respectable nor would it allow me to live the lifestyle I wanted to live" (a stance which most of my family and associates supported). Yet when I began to give the entrepreneur in me most of my time- Sophomore and Junior year- the artist began to respond by stating that "it had been their much longer(since elementary), seen me through the worst of times and thus deserved first place in my heart." This tug-o-war eventually tore me in two- especially in the face of personal turmoil- and I found myself in the final summer of my undergraduate college career; more lost than ever.
As I arrived home with this question running through my mind, it was clear that if I did not make a choice as to which one I wanted, that I would never move beyond my conundrum . It was this past summer that I began one big push to figuring out my direction in terms of both my career and calling. During this time I began hanging out with both the artist and entrepreneur in me(which neither were two happy about, but they consented to do to the confusing times). But a hopeless feeling began sinking in me that maybe this was all for not. It was at the moment when I felt that my searching would be meaningless and I would just have to start listening to the family and friends that said "just take a break from finding your calling and focus on school," or "right now your not ready to pursue your calling," that I found a way out of my dilemma.
It came as I was watching an interview with Quincy Jones. They were talking about what he has done in his life so far- traveled around the world numerous times, movies, music, art, giving back, and just about everything else you could do that screams an amazing life- when the interviewer asked him one of the most important questions that could be asked: "how are doing all this?" Quincy Jones simple reply hit my heart so hard that I thought it would bust out of my chest. He said that once you find your core skill[the things that we all naturally have developed] that things became easier for him. As those words echoed in my head over and over I knew that was exactly what I needed to find. But what was my core skill?
When you ask the right questions you find the right answer. For as soon as I began asking myself that question, the answer began to repeatedly reveal itself. Every time I sat down to watch a show, read something, talk to people, the word storyteller would riddle across my eyes and into my soul. The more the words came up, the more my heart thumped. I don't remember the exact day, but I do remember the feeling I had. It was as if I just got out of an extremely hot car to be embraced by the blissfully cool breeze outside. I had found my skill.
With that understanding in tact, I began to feel an uncompromising necessity for the growth of both the artist and entrepreneur inside of me. I no longer give them a choice; they had to work together. It was because of this that an interesting thing started to happen. The artist and the entrepreneur inside of me began to see that they had more in common with each other than they thought. In fact as we all started working together, both they and I began to see that we were in fact one being.
The integration of the artist, the entrepreneur, and the storyteller behind them has lead to a movement in myself that has needed to happen. I realize that I don't have to- and never again will- compromise one for the other. I can clearly see that the artist- who writes slam poetry, floetry, fiction, articles, and will soon be writing a book-, the entrepreneur- who launches ventures, builds cultures, and consults to create better world business models- and the storyteller- who tells tales about inspirational adventures and empowering lifestyles- are meant to journey together towards greatness and paradise.
So for those of you that have read this far (much appreciated) and are wondering "what's my core skill" or "what am I called to do in life," I leave you with these calling questions. I am not saying I have the answer or formula to finding a fulfilling calling, but I do believe that if we can ask ourselves the right question that the answers that are meant for us will find us. So here's a couple of questions to consider on the quest of figuring out your craft(core skill) to finding your calling:
Finding Your Craft:
- What do you find yourself doing when your bored?
- What are you doing the moment when times seems to fly by?
- What do you find excites you? What are you passionate about?
- What are the things that you obsess about?
- If you had to teach a class about something, what would you teach them about?
- What are the things that you have fun getting better at?
- When is work not work anymore? What are the things that you can do naturally, that others seems to have to work at to do?
- What are some things that you do on impulse?
- What are some things you do(that adds value into the world) that you see others pay for?
- If money wasn't an issue, what were some activities that you would find yourself constantly engaged in? What are you doing in these activities that make you feel so engaged in them?
Finding your Calling:
- What situations, opportunities, or circumstances calls you to summon every format and ounce of energy from your craft together to engage it in the best way?
- When are the moments when your craft is at it's best?
- What consistently challenges you to use your craft in ways you have never used them before(which betters them in the process)?
- What are you willing to risk everything for?
- When do you use your craft in ways that uplift both you and others?
If you have more questions that you have found helpful to discovering your core craft and calling, please post them in the comment section . These are the questions that have help me immensely in finding my passion and purpose. I hope that they will help you as well. That said, I leave you with this final thought:
Instead of focusing on the career that is best for you, focus on finding what your craft is first. That craft is what you offer to anything that you do, and that craft- if you listen to it carefully- will lead you to what you were called to do. I wish you the best in answering the life purpose that calls out to you.
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
For the pass 3 years that I have been in college, I have struggled with the question of what I am supposed to be doing professionally. It is a question that I have wrestled with because it was never as simple as just finding a job that I can do well. In fact it was never even close to being that simple. For I have never really wanted a job. I find personality that me getting a job is the same as me getting a justification; a socially conditioned distraction to take away from what I am called to do for the temporary sake of security. So for better or worse, a job has never really been an authentic option for me.
I found myself in 2007 walking into my freshman year of college; desperately looking for a possible career option to cling to. What I found was the beginning of an inner division between the artist- who wanted to write world uplifting rhyme and books- and the entrepreneur- who wanted to birth a business that made the world better while meeting the bottomline- within me. The two began to drift away from one another like former friends on bad terms. And like two angry former friends, they both began to greedily want me solely to themselves.
Choosing to hang with them both did not seem like an option. For when the artist got more of my time- during my freshman year- the entrepreneur would respond with an angry rants about how "being an artist was not respectable nor would it allow me to live the lifestyle I wanted to live" (a stance which most of my family and associates supported). Yet when I began to give the entrepreneur in me most of my time- Sophomore and Junior year- the artist began to respond by stating that "it had been their much longer(since elementary), seen me through the worst of times and thus deserved first place in my heart." This tug-o-war eventually tore me in two- especially in the face of personal turmoil- and I found myself in the final summer of my undergraduate college career; more lost than ever.
As I arrived home with this question running through my mind, it was clear that if I did not make a choice as to which one I wanted, that I would never move beyond my conundrum . It was this past summer that I began one big push to figuring out my direction in terms of both my career and calling. During this time I began hanging out with both the artist and entrepreneur in me(which neither were two happy about, but they consented to do to the confusing times). But a hopeless feeling began sinking in me that maybe this was all for not. It was at the moment when I felt that my searching would be meaningless and I would just have to start listening to the family and friends that said "just take a break from finding your calling and focus on school," or "right now your not ready to pursue your calling," that I found a way out of my dilemma.
It came as I was watching an interview with Quincy Jones. They were talking about what he has done in his life so far- traveled around the world numerous times, movies, music, art, giving back, and just about everything else you could do that screams an amazing life- when the interviewer asked him one of the most important questions that could be asked: "how are doing all this?" Quincy Jones simple reply hit my heart so hard that I thought it would bust out of my chest. He said that once you find your core skill[the things that we all naturally have developed] that things became easier for him. As those words echoed in my head over and over I knew that was exactly what I needed to find. But what was my core skill?
When you ask the right questions you find the right answer. For as soon as I began asking myself that question, the answer began to repeatedly reveal itself. Every time I sat down to watch a show, read something, talk to people, the word storyteller would riddle across my eyes and into my soul. The more the words came up, the more my heart thumped. I don't remember the exact day, but I do remember the feeling I had. It was as if I just got out of an extremely hot car to be embraced by the blissfully cool breeze outside. I had found my skill.
With that understanding in tact, I began to feel an uncompromising necessity for the growth of both the artist and entrepreneur inside of me. I no longer give them a choice; they had to work together. It was because of this that an interesting thing started to happen. The artist and the entrepreneur inside of me began to see that they had more in common with each other than they thought. In fact as we all started working together, both they and I began to see that we were in fact one being.
The integration of the artist, the entrepreneur, and the storyteller behind them has lead to a movement in myself that has needed to happen. I realize that I don't have to- and never again will- compromise one for the other. I can clearly see that the artist- who writes slam poetry, floetry, fiction, articles, and will soon be writing a book-, the entrepreneur- who launches ventures, builds cultures, and consults to create better world business models- and the storyteller- who tells tales about inspirational adventures and empowering lifestyles- are meant to journey together towards greatness and paradise.
So for those of you that have read this far (much appreciated) and are wondering "what's my core skill" or "what am I called to do in life," I leave you with these calling questions. I am not saying I have the answer or formula to finding a fulfilling calling, but I do believe that if we can ask ourselves the right question that the answers that are meant for us will find us. So here's a couple of questions to consider on the quest of figuring out your craft(core skill) to finding your calling:
Finding Your Craft:
- What do you find yourself doing when your bored?
- What are you doing the moment when times seems to fly by?
- What do you find excites you? What are you passionate about?
- What are the things that you obsess about?
- If you had to teach a class about something, what would you teach them about?
- What are the things that you have fun getting better at?
- When is work not work anymore? What are the things that you can do naturally, that others seems to have to work at to do?
- What are some things that you do on impulse?
- What are some things you do(that adds value into the world) that you see others pay for?
- If money wasn't an issue, what were some activities that you would find yourself constantly engaged in? What are you doing in these activities that make you feel so engaged in them?
Finding your Calling:
- What situations, opportunities, or circumstances calls you to summon every format and ounce of energy from your craft together to engage it in the best way?
- When are the moments when your craft is at it's best?
- What consistently challenges you to use your craft in ways you have never used them before(which betters them in the process)?
- What are you willing to risk everything for?
- When do you use your craft in ways that uplift both you and others?
If you have more questions that you have found helpful to discovering your core craft and calling, please post them in the comment section . These are the questions that have help me immensely in finding my passion and purpose. I hope that they will help you as well. That said, I leave you with this final thought:
Instead of focusing on the career that is best for you, focus on finding what your craft is first. That craft is what you offer to anything that you do, and that craft- if you listen to it carefully- will lead you to what you were called to do. I wish you the best in answering the life purpose that calls out to you.
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
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