My weakest link and or biggest pet peeve is hearing or seeing something that’s completely out of tune.  Not necessarily singing, I’ve mastered the art quite well and find shows like American Idol and America’s Got Talent as being not only hilarious but incredible fixtures in teaching the naked ear what being out of tune truly is.

Growing up in a house of ten then wildly tossed into a world of radio and television creators, performers, planners and visionaries…being in tune doesn’t fit the realms of what this medium is about.  I’ve created with artists who speak horribly out of tune yet they make gobs of money in being so imperfect. 

Digging deeper, studying hard each day with high hopes of uncovering what the answers to simple sips of melted peace…I’ve come across a different sort of tuning that has nothing to do music, dancing or a successful sale unless you’re willing to allow a unfiltered flow grab you like a raging river and slide you into a hidden culvert beneath the Planet of the Apes, which is my way of saying, “Reaching beyond the surface of things easily explained.”

From Anthony Robbins to Julia Cameron, John C Maxwell, Coach John Wooten, Pat Croce, The Dali Lama and even Michael Jordon…each book they’ve written spends time attempting to put focus on becoming attuned.  I didn’t say, “In tune,” but rather attuned. 

Attunement is being or bringing into harmony…the feeling of being at one with another being. 

Wow!  How does one, who has spent the past three nights deeply entrenched in 23 full contact Tae Kwon Do sparring matching locate harmony when victory on the playing field is what you achieve or you walk away studying every step that went wrong for the rest of your life? 

In the dojang, our place of study, there is attunement between the students.  We serve only one vision and work harmoniously in helping each other fine tune the art in ways that better serve us as community leaders and students from middle school to high school, which in essence puts us in situations of other means of attunement…working extremely close with ideas that offer peace solutions rather than rage set on fire by personal demands or egos that just get in the way.

In this day of instant success and riches, the current working conditions of our great nation are poor in values  It’s not your boss' fault…those two eyes staring back at you each morning want it all and want it now…so the rest of your body parts spend every hour available to reach unheard of destinations or face the wrath of self or friends and family who hold you responsible for not supporting them in ways that could’ve earned them the Miss Pip Squeak pageant.

For nearly forty five years I’ve held my mother totally responsible for ending my music career.  Because she didn’t take the time to look into my desires to bring out what lives inside me…I once believed she served as the volume on what might have been the next Eddie Van Halen impersonator, impersonator, impersonator.

What I failed to become attuned to was how many hours she spent with me in putting focus on a radio career.  She helped me buy the turn tables, the records and recordable 8-track tapes.  She made sure I learned how to type on a standard typewriter and take Creative Writing classes.  She was there when program directors chewed me up and spit me out quicker than poison trying to trap a rat. 

In an effort to become aligned with our true being, attunement must begin with the areas of which we fell out of tune. 

Alignment?  How many people do you know who put their careers far ahead of their personal life?  I’ll never forget sitting in a major meeting with my GM Andrew Ashwood who preached to us like a minister, “If you work for me…you will always put God and family first.”  I got up and left the meeting.  He came to me later in the day and asked why I elected to make such a move, “The position you’ve put me in requires me to sacrifice my family and God…I am to report here at 3am and go home when the job is done…when you spoke of this need for your employees, I felt like I was no longer needed in your meeting.” 

He resigned from his position at the radio station three days later and to this day we’re extremely close and I look up to him as being one of the greatest teachers during this beyond my control desire to succeed as a broadcaster. 

As my mother would say, “Get back to the real world mister…” 

I’m not the only one who has spent over ¾’s of their life sacrificing for something that may not be here in ten minutes.  In the process of realignment, becoming attuned has become the priority.  Becoming one not with self, but with all other shapes and forms of life tossed at us like a giant Chef Salad with really crispy lettuce, bacon strips, ham and boiled eggs. 

If you aren’t aligned…you will be.  Wow!  That almost sounded like something Yoda would say.  Sadly, alignment comes when you least expect it by means of sickness, job dismissal and or addictions you’ll fork out thousands of dollars to help correct. 

Hurricanes are incredible examples of attunement.  The collective forces of multiple fronts can either strengthen or weaken the chosen destination.  Who are you at work?  What have you sacrificed in the name of keeping your job?  What would be the perfect position for you?  And you thought the only thing you had to do during this journey was be born then die. 

Sorry…what you do today has the power to affect the next seven generations.

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Quotes that sneak up and bite you are like selective hearing…we tend to tune out what doesn’t affect our particular moment.  Fifteen steps down the path the impact finally takes hold, “Wait a second…the quote read said….” 

During ITP (Instructor Training Program) at Martial Arts University the entire student body is expected to study the ways and means of constantly growing business leaders.  Each week, a new set of higher ranked belts must stand before the school and teach lessons shared through the words and wisdom of those who’ve elected to pour their views into a pen and have it stain a once living tree. 

I find it fascinating to watch how others treat their purchased reading material.  There are those who neatly place their hardcover books on chairs, some have ragged bookmarks while others are ripped from stinky book bags or lockers.  Some pages are crumpled, some look brand new…mine feature giant circles, heavily pressed underlines and tiny messages written on the side…and on days I’m bored, I draw pictures over the words the author shared. 

We never think of how words reach the pages we read, bend or tear.  The most important part of the communication puzzle isn’t how they appear but that its there.  Are we spoiled in our reading habits or has the literature world gained enough ground to expose easier methods of placing another persons thought process into our nearest touch?  Keeping in mind, we once had to leave the comfort of our homes to latch onto the latest songs from our favorite artists. 

The act of sharing ones view is nothing more than a combination of mixtures with roots that reach deep into the soils of trust.  A writer must always present him or herself in a way that doesn’t open the door to the feeling that someone is constantly looking over their shoulder.  Being honest with thought and expression formulates a better flow of recognition.  Identifying is all a reader wants to do.  To relate with…to build upon.  But if the author has felt intimidated by the presence of another set of eyes constantly studying the behavior of the words they write or type…too much can be hidden. 

It’s my habit to underline another author’s thoughts because I don’t read books, I study them.  In talking with Reverend Patrick Malloy last evening, we both agreed that a single thought has an empowering presence in someone’s life more than an entire novel.  When he speaks, his wisdom can be felt in rows several feet back.  When writers share visions those rows could be generations or communities you never meet. 

While on the Barnes and Noble tour with poets and short story authors, I sharply questioned the habits of those wanting to put their abilities inside covers set on bookstore shelves.  Some believed it was their calling while others felt it was easier than having to punch in and punch out at a fast food restaurant.

There was a constant concern from each writer present…I have to write in privacy and believe if anyone reads anything I write…the process of communication has been poisoned.  Basically meaning, journal keepers felt invaded and writing poetry and or any type of book is no different than exposing your soul to a little collection of pages that might read, “Dear Diary…” 

My friend Greg is a brilliant artist.  He does pieces that steal the air from my lungs.  Ask him to display his art and he becomes so timid and shy that any conversation from that point forward feels like a seek and destroy mission.  Casually he will talk about his expressions on canvas but to locate answers to where his technique arrives does nothing but shove the artist back into his or her invisible world. 

My reaction as a friend and admirer is, “Dude its ok…but one day you’ll need to share.” 

My reaction as a teacher is much different.  For his birthday I bought him a gift card to an art store.  The moment he started shying away, I shared a quote that famed artist Peter Max gave to me, “Once art falls from your imagination, it no longer belongs to you…it was meant for the world.” 

Writing is the same way.  If it’s kept inside…you aren’t injuring just yourself…but someone who might have waited forty years for something they could relate with.

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

A General Manager once said to me, “We hire people with no experience because it allows us the opportunity to bend and then shape.  If a potential employee comes to us with too much experience, an old dog can sometimes be too heavy to carry.”

One glance at the November national elections and both parties represent the Warner Brothers cartoon where Sylvester the cat introduces his son whose only mission in life is to catch the squeaky cute mouse.  Sylvester wants to make sure his son does the deed properly only to tangle with a boxing kangaroo, to which his son never sees.  Jr. doesn’t get it, how can such a timid little mouse be so violent?  Papa goes into the boxes and or dark corners and still comes out scratched and torn. 

In watching America’s Got Talent last night, I found myself questioning the contestants, “If any of them were politicians…could they win the million dollar contest?” 

In essence, that’s what we’re doing in November.  The popular vote gets to travel the world like Miss America while spending hordes of cash on situations most of us have no clue how we got into them.  We’re sending our leader, our teacher, our main strength of power into a giant box believing the only situation they have to face is a tiny faint-hearted field mouse.

The bend them shape them rule must work!  Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are looked upon as being masters of their skill.  Anyone who’s been part of a Presidential cabinet has also reached far beyond where they stood before accepting the position.  George Stephanopoulos arrived with the Clinton campaign and currently governs ABC’s political reporters. 

The new reality show America’s Toughest Jobs premiered last week…twelve everyday people are given the chance to perform at levels of expectations that nearly ¾’s of this nations work force would walk away from.  Laziness is no option.  Perform or leave.  It has nothing to do with singing, dancing or trying to impress Donald Trump…it’s a snapshot of our nation’s not so pretty places to score a buck such as driving a giant truck through the extremely cold regions of Alaska. 

What I found interesting and well worth studying…the two people who’ve left the show didn’t return to the jobs they came from.  They were challenged so hard that it became a passion to succeed rather than be tied up in a place of employment commonly called a safe zone because it does nothing but keeps the refrigerator full. 

If Corporate America plays by the bend then shape us rule…why can’t we?  Rather than looking at going to the gym as a means to lose weight…why not change the view of the map to something such as, “An opportunity to finance a firmer foundation by putting the fundamentals of our core source of energy to work for us.” 

Treat everything you do like a business.  Even your parents tell you that a successful marriage is nothing more than a contract between two working parties.  Why do you need that flat screen television?  To better enhance your people skills in keeping up to date with all conversations presented.  You can use television news programs and weekly dramas as a method of getting into the lives of a tough customer.  Talking about HD television is a one on one conversation based on relating with the client and you need that element to become part of your business life in guaranteeing you a constant connection with an ever changing world.

Where do you think politicians learned how shake hands then bump shoulders?  It’s nothing more than modern way of saying, “Thank you for your time, your part of my plan.” 

American culture is all about the bend me shape me policy.  It’s time we start incorporating in mannerisms that heighten our presence inside a hunk of land once nick named Turtle Island.  If we are to be the greatest most profitable nation on earth, it physically and mentally begins with the core of our foundation…you. 

When gas prices shot through the roof, we tightened down the spending habits and continued pushing forward.  When we stopped spending fast food tacos became cheaper and movie theaters started opening their doors to cheaper weekly rates and popcorn with a drink. 

Anybody can become a political leader.  Sadly, in order to be a successful one, being perfect starts at birth.  We have boys and girls trying to be runway models at three and four…how many years are we away from a perfectly shaped, manmade squeaky clean President and or Vice President of the United States?  What if during this creative process they were tempted by a Krispy Kreme?  Will it cost them their entire being?

arroecollins@clearchannel.com