Unlock The Power Of Loving What You Do

Your devotion is the meaning of the meaning

meditate on that for awhile, will you please?

No matter what happens, it is going to take longer than you suspect. You are lying to yourself if you think this one is going to be a quickie and it won’t suck you in. You think that money is coming, but it won’t; you are going to be working for peanuts, again. Yeah, I know, they are good people who know the special you bring, and they will be appreciative… for awhile… maybe. Until they don’t. They love you. And they forget about you.  How can you stand it?

This business is full of narcissistic, lying, cheating, scheming, malcontents and misanthropes. You have to knock on 200 doors, get pissed on 199 times, and arrive fresh as daisy with a can-do smile on your face just to get the basic thing done. And did we mention you have to do it with half the headcount in half the time at twice the capacity? Don’t win the golden ring too soon or they will lift the bar even higher the next day. Did we mention we are reducing your budget? Your pay? Your working conditions? Never mind, there is an office for you at the bottom of the stairs, well under them, actually. You don’t mind, do you? There is room next to the brooms.

It will be a long time before anyone really understands your contribution. Twenty or so years, or thirty or so films, whichever comes first. It never gets easier, only different. And you still won’t get no respect. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Ouch!

So how are you going to manage? I have some advice for you. But first, did I tell you it is always going to be getting worse? And then a wee bit worse again after that.

It’s not just the time you invest, it is also the energy you contribute that makes it all so hard, and yes, depressing. We don’t run at a steady state. We are up and we are down. Sometimes we dive deep. And other times skate on the surface. We think harder sometimes – much much harder than other times. Sometimes we stress more. All of this eats our energy. You get run down. Ill, actually. How are you going to feel better about it all when you catch your breath? Because you can. I know you can. I do. And so can can you. I won’t take up much space.

And then there are the times we feel awesome and excited and it spills out and over other things. There is a good side of the flow and… and… and the other sort too, the kind that when someone is in that sort of zone I am gonna run and leave them alone. You go deep, but don’t pull me under with you.

Be it the good or whatever that other side is, it can eat us up. How do we manage it? How, and particularly now when all the world is in turmoil and we seem to be running on fumes? Really? Can we?

Will you forgive me if it all sounds so simple? Will you ever believe I was once a punk-ass kid with a bad attitude? I am going to blush, but I am gonna tell you any how.

I think love and devotion is the answer to most things. Hold that. Swear on that. Mean it with all your heart. Love and devotion. Love and devotion. Love and devotion. Give it to your art. All of it. Don’t hold back a single bit.

We are in service. We are in service to something greater than ourselves. We serve art. We serve transcendence. We serve community, connection, compassion, and cooperation. We do it daily. It is a gift. It is so abso-fucking-lutely beautiful. Glorious glory to behold.

We are so lucky. We can’t stop now. We desperately can not stop now. We need you and all you have to give.

It is unknown this thing. We don’t know how it is going to turn out. Ever. We don’t know when it is going to get done. Or if it really will. We don’t know what is needed to make it work. But we are part of it.

And it needs us. It just won’t be without us. We are integral. We are the air and the earth, the water, and fire. Yes we are the fuel. Creation and destruction. The new birth and the inevitable death. The wind and the weather. Give it our all and it will be done.

How lucky? Very lucky. We surrender to the unknown in all of its love and brutality. We will suffer and it will shine. We will laugh and dance and it will rise and sing. All good things because we are part of this together. It is an embrace. All of us. Together.

We can't turn away when things get difficult or when we are unhappy, even in the doing. Particularly in the doing. The mountain of work required is something positive, reinforcing our commitment in the knowing and in the doing. We give so much.. That is love. That is devotion.

As wonderful as a beginner's mind is, it is only so once. In knowing, including the knowing/acceptance of the unkown, we stay humble enough to confront and see the difficulties for what they are. Time and time again. You know some of what’s coming. Never all. Some will be brutal and beat you. And you will go on. This time you are going even further. To a new terrain. Into a new zone, never once explored. Maybe.

You are exhausted now. You are supposed to be exhausted now. It’s the end of a shitty year after all. And that’s what it takes. And you are growing stronger. You are no longer who you were five years ago when you started the journey. Or is it ten? When you look back, it will have grown longer. The finish line moved. It is a false plateau. But you are going to go on. And fail better. And then better still. That’s the process. You are devoted.

Mark the time, and be grateful that you've devoted so much to your love. Could anything ever be more significant? It is your love and devotion that has brought us here, that has given this to the world. It is loving you back. We are loving you back. We are thankful. We are grateful. We are so lucky. We are so fortunate. We are here and we have so much good work to do. When the story ends, the happiness is yours forever and ever. They will never take that away from you. You did it. With all that help from your friends.