Order of the Good Write

That Magic Feeling When the Words Flow. A Blog by Debi Rotmil

Tag Archives: The Beatles


by 1 Comment

Meditation in a Loud World

Screenshot 2017-11-05 11.22.31

When I was eleven years old, I fell in love. I first laid eyes on him inside an album cover.  He was photographed within a crowd of people who looked off into the distance, as if there was an accident, or some guy who “made the grade” and “blew his mind out in a car”. He had cheek bones for days, a perfect shag, symmetric feathered hair cut and held an inner beauty with an essence of humor. The man was gorgeous to me. His name was George Harrison.

It was my pre-adolescent crush on the spiritual Beatle George that introduced me to meditation. The stories about the Beatles’ visiting a giggly, wise, (and apparently very handsy) guru named Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, fascinated me. Further obsession with Harrison introduced me to the story of Krishna. I’d read Rolling Stone, listen to Harrison interviews on the radio and on TV, marinate in the lyrics of his songs about finding inner peace and gaining a concept of how life “flows within you and without you”.  All these bits of wild and wonderful wisdom have followed me, escaped me, and the returned during the most difficult and wonderful times of my life.

Too young to really understand how to meditate, I put it aside as a future tool I’d never realize I’d need. With maturity came understanding the technique of meditation and its value. When things get rough in this loud and crazy world – especially during a time of transition whether in your career, life, status or whatever is on your plate that’s stirring up the particles in your mind’s snow globe – the practice of meditation can help keep your mind balanced and on track to finding the peaceful room that lives inside you. It can also hone your intuition, allow you to make decisions with power, and provide a state of well being that will provide clarity while going out and accomplishing your goals.

The answers come when our mind is still. Live mindfully. That means, don’t give into fear. Don’t give into worry. Don’t believe in scarcity. Shutting off a few minutes a day to focus on the peace that lives inside you will autocorrect these feelings because we are not meant to feel this.

We are not running from wolves anymore. Our frontal lobe bullshit can only help us understand what we need to change and work on. But letting fear cloud our clarity toward success will only hold us back and manifest the very things we fear. It doesn’t have to be that way.

I’m like you. I’m constantly face to face with the fearful stuff life brings.  The pitfalls come and the self doubt creeps in. Yet, I work hard, and encourage you, to transform fear into power. We are racing through life, family and career without thought or connection to our inner vibration. Time to slow down to help you tap into your gut feelings and live mindfully. It will help you and those around you be the best you are meant to be.

Here are some resources on meditation I’ve found helpful.

The Universe Has Got Your Back, By Gabrielle Bernstein.

The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation, by Thich Nhat Hanh and Vo-Dihn Mai

Science of Being and Art of Living: Transcendental Meditation, by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

There are also plenty of guided meditations on YouTube to provide steps on how to calm the mind so you can think clearly and optimize your day.

If you’re like me and prefer atmospheric, brain soothing spacey audio to help you flow, like high frequency tones and vibrational sounds that reboot the electrodes in your brain – search for “Binary Beats” on YouTube.  Play with some videos and stick with the ones that make you feel good.  Plug in for 10 minutes – at your desk or in a quite corner at home –  and clear those mind clouds. (Don’t do this and drive.)

The one great challenge is to make yourself do this everyday, and to not fall into the well of despair by forgetting that quiet peace inside you.

Thoughts don’t matter. What lays beneath does. George opened that concept to me.

Thanks, George.

Screenshot 2017-11-05 11.45.29

Go forth and namaste with your spiritual self.

Advertisement


by Leave a comment

Writing About Synchronicity

morganlibraryceiling

The Morgan Library Ceiling

I was listening to an audio recording about signs from the universe and divine timing.

You know, those moments when you’ve just thought of a person and then you run into them.

You get an old, obscure song stuck in your head and you then you hear it on the radio.

You get behind a car with a license plate that says Jodie245, and you had just throught of your old friend Jodie about ten minutes before when you haven’t though of her in years?

In other words – synchronicity.

It’s been my experience that these incredible moments are meaningful signs of spiritual connection. Sometimes, my writing comes from these wonderful moments. That’s where the creative flow comes from.

So, the audio clip ended and I smiled to myself because I’ve been feeling in the flow. I clicked over to Instagram and randomly found a photo posted by Julian Lennon of his newly cleaned out garage. I loved the stonework on the floor and the artwork on the wall. He obviously has a lovely house.

And I thought – he made it alright after all, you know, despite his difficult childhood in the limelight, with a moody, distracted genius father and the acrimonious breakup of his parent’s marriage. Of course he became a successful songwriter and performer himself; yet, you know the ways of kids of the famous. Life can be difficult considering all the rumors about money or familial breakups.

Then a few minutes later, I got up and went downstairs to buy gum in our shop downstairs and “Hey Jude” was playing on the radio.

So, yeah – I believe in this divine timing stuff. I’ve had it many times in my life. How about you?

Writing Prompt: What fun moments of great timing have you’ve experienced? What amazing moments of synchronicity has crossed your path? This is good material. Write away!

 


by Leave a comment

Finding Faith

Screenshot 2016-08-27 13.00.20.png“There was a lot of faith involved in everything that we did. And the people around us had to share that faith or it wouldn’t have worked. Brian had to have faith in us. George Martin had to have faith in us. This is how it was for The Beatles. You had to have faith. We had to have faith in each other.” – Paul, from ‘The Beatles: Eight Days A Week’

Beatle Lessons.


by Leave a comment

Happy Hari Birthday

ghportrait

If George Harrison were still alive today, he would have been an age never imagined by the youth of his day. The Beatles and the sixties were all about youth culture and revolution. A shaggy haired rocking youth bug turning an age above 70?  Ha!

It doesn’t matter how old George’s earth age would have been. Like Bowie and Lennon and many artistic chameleons, he really wasn’t of this earth. His soul borrowed an impish body with an ear for Carl Perkins and rockabilly music to take this earthly  journey, touching down to add to the creative pile and leave something behind before getting the call back home.

As a child, it’s been reported that he hated convention and bullshit. He got into fights at school, flipped off his teachers – but he loved guitar and practiced and practiced and practiced.

Then, he met a doe eyed boy named Paul who introduced him to a tough boy named John and thus he played a bit of “Raunchy” on the top of a bus. And the rest is history. A history that was a magic ride nothing short of miraculous.

In 1966, he and his Beatle buddies and wives went to dinner at their dentist’s house, where droplets of LSD were mixed into their coffee. Their world changed.

The illusion of this world was pulled back for George in ways differently interpreted by the other three. The others punched holes in the musical ozone layer that took the form of endless experimentation.

For George, he saw a universe beyond the veil.

George embraced a spiritual path that lead the way for a new age of enlightenment. We may see it as New Age, but what’s so new about this aspect of God Consciousness if it was always there?

He was known to be a lovely man – giving, sweet, naughty. He was also known to be a cranky bugger on a bad day.

Yet, George brought so much to the table.

He helped bring world music to ears used to hearing Top 40. Western and eastern music melded together as a new force in sound thanks to his work and friendship with Ravi Shankar.

He was the first to raise money by bringing his friends together at ‘The Concert for Bangladesh’, which inspired other rock stars to band together for charity.

He was the first to publicly establish a charitable organization “The Material World Foundation” so proceeds of “Bangladesh” and various other work would be donated to the poor.

He rocked the slide guitar, producing a sound so unique, it’s been emulated many times over by other artists.

He created a production company called “Hand Made Productions” for the sole purpose of raising money to help his Monty Python friends to film “Life of Brian”, which went on to produce ground breaking films like “Withnail and I”, “The Long Good Friday”,  and “Time Bandits”.

He founded a super group comprised of Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynn and Rob Orbison named “The Traveling Wilburys” which produced insanely well known songs.

He was a gardener who wanted to plant more trees and beautiful living things on this planet.

He wasn’t a perfect husband, but he had the lovely Olivia to stand by his side.

He was a terrific father to a talented and giving son.

He was also damn sexy.

I could go on.

The man was beyond the Beatle we all knew. He was the so-called “quiet Beatle” likely due to the fact he used his words only when he had something substantial to say.

And yes, sometimes he’d put his foot in his mouth. But he didn’t care because this all doesn’t matter.

Happy Birthday to George Harrison, who’s earth age is meaningless. May your continuing journey be as bold and as magical as the jewels you’ve left behind.


by 1 Comment

Freda’s Words and the Power of One’s Own History

FredaKelly

Freda Kelly. Beatles Secretary

“Freda, you were there at the beginning. You were there in the end.” George Harrison to Freda Kelly when the Beatles Fan Club closed down.

It all started back in Liverpool in 1962 when a seventeen year old secretary was invited to see a band at the Cavern Club during her lunch hour.  What happened next changed her life. It was that day when Freda Kelly became hooked on a band called The Beatles. While most of us are piling salad onto a platter or munching a sandwich during lunch, Freda was witnessing first hand, the beginning of a musical revolution. If you haven’t seen the 2013 documentary “Good Ol Freda” – you should get on this. Freda’s story is remarkable. A young girl who became the secretary to the most famous band in the world, who didn’t really want to talk about her past – until she felt it was time.

Freda was a devotee right from the start. As a constant attendee during lunchtime Beatles concerts at the Cavern, she developed a friendship with the band, with their manager Brian Epstein (whom all within the inner Beatles sanctum called “Eppy”), and as they great famous – with Beatles fans across the world. She not only answered phones and typed letters, she was the head of The Beatles Fan Club, giving out word of the latest Beatles news, answers to Beatles fan questions, and treated fans worldwide as her own. After all, she was a fan herself.

Fredatoday

Freda Kelly today.

Freda’s Beatle work was a remarkable testimony to pure passion and belief in the job at hand. Loyal, devoted, trustworthy, unwavering, Freda wasn’t out for fame or wealth. She was the liaison between the band and the world. The boys loved her. Their families loved her. She was a constant. Yet, as the Beatles began to go their separate ways, she was happy to leave on her own terms. She was married and expecting her first child. Freda wanted to get on with her life.

As the years and decades rolled by, Freda became a housewife and mother, and in time, became a granny. No one knew of her illustrious past except her own kids, but she never went on about it. She wasn’t impressed with it. It was in the past. Her attic held boxes of old fan letters, tickets to events and pieces of George Harrison’s hair – but it was no different than our own boxes of old report cards, diplomas, high school yearbooks and varsity letters.  Her years with the Beatles were buried in cardboard. Except her memorabilia could garner her big bucks. Something she has never been interested in claiming.

Her son always asked her about the Beatles and her days supporting the lads. Yet, she always pushed his questions away claiming that it was behind her. It wasn’t anything to discuss.

Then, her son sadly passed away. One has to imagine her years of skirting her son’s questions lead her to participate in the documentary about her past. She mentions the film is for her grandson. She did it as a part of her legacy. In doing so, she touched the hearts of many secretaries and administrative assistants who not only marvel her front in center view of the biggest band in the world, but they empathize with the tedium, the tasks, the admiration you gain from bosses who need your help. The only difference was her bosses were Epstein and The Beatles. Just you try telling the moody John Lennon to apologize for pretend-firing you just because you hung out in the Moody Blues dressing room too long.

We are all a microcosm of Freda. We hold stories we think mean nothing to others, but they mean everything to a stranger across the world. Look at the blog and book “Humans of New York” – a pictorial of regular everyday people walking the streets of New York or anywhere in the world. We walk past human histories, tragic memories, damaged minds, heartbroken and fragile, romantic and sad without realizing it. We are human history.  It’s powerful to know this.

Words – when chosen with purpose and light, with history, depth and/or levity – are powerful. We should chose them wisely. Like Freda, we should tell our story – before it’s too late.


by Leave a comment

A Beatle Thing – Happy Birthday George Harrison

   Beatle GeorgeWatch out now, take care
Beware of falling swingers
Dropping all around you
The pain that often mingles
In your fingertips, beware of darkness

Watch out now, take care
Beware of the thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
In the dead of night

Beware of sadness
It can hit you, it can hurt you
Make you sore and what is more
That is not what you are here for

Watch out now, take care
Beware of soft shoe shufflers
Dancing down the sidewalks
As each unconscious sufferer
Wanders aimlessly, beware of Maya

Watch out now, take care
Beware of greedy leaders
They take you where you should not go
While weeping Atlas cedars
They just want to grow, grow and grow
Beware of darkness

“Beware of Darkness” words and music by George Harrison

atmpstandaloneumbHare Krishna, Hare Krishna, hare hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, rama rama

Hare hare….

Happy Birthday George Harrison, who would have been 72 earthly years today.


by Leave a comment

The World Inside Us

theworldbeforeusThe video I posted yesterday of Astronaut Ron Garan’s time lapse video taken from the International Space Station stays with me today. It not only packs a punch when you think of perspective and how we are tiny dots on the butt of the universe, it also produces this lofty profound feeling of peace. Looking at planet Earth from so high above the atmosphere where it’s a glowing magical ball of aurora borealis and green ionosphere colors, there’s tranquility – like the empty space in our minds and heart when one meditates.

The quiet nothingness of outer space is like that quiet corner of the mind. When we view the planet from on high, we see this serene sphere and know it is vibrating with life and colliding emotions. How silly do we feel knowing how small our problems are, how man made our issues, how destructive human ego can be when we are riding on a big glowing ball in the middle of a dark vast universe of stars?

Each of us has a bit of heaven or outer space in our hearts and minds. The outer space within us brings forth some good writing. Sit still and listen to thoughts that come from that space. Don’t block the daydreams that enter your head, (unless you have to attend to responsibilities, of course). When you have a chance, try turning off the chaos around you. Ideas will come. This also helps if you’re trying to tap into your intuition, to help you make a difficult decision.

As John Lennon once sang, “There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.” Do you know why? Because there is a world inside us that provides a deep abundant well of good stuff.

Little by little you allow the open space – “The Big Wherever” to let it rush through. As my online guru Marie Forleo says “The world needs that special gift that only you have.” Bring it.

Each of us has something to offer. Earth looks so pretty when we see it from a space station orbiting above. Why not listen to our calling and try to make it better down below?

I love doing these pep talk blogs. I’m not just trying to help anyone out there reading this, I’m giving a pep talk to myself as well. We’re all in this together!