How to Be Skeptical While Still Learning to Listen

The Fifth Agreement asks us to Be Skeptical, But Learn to Listen. We shouldn’t accept anything as complete truth without first questioning the intention. The intention I have for writing my way through this outline is to help people find balance in their lives, but it is also to help me find balance myself. Don’t assume that I am completely right in all that I perceive through this paradigm I’ve created. Challenge me. Ask me questions. Test what I write against your own belief systems and seek to find greater understanding than either of us currently has.

These Agreements were not fully incorporated into The McAllister Code outline when I write the book. However, on the occasions that I have been conscious of them and remained true to them, I have seen miraculous results in finding my own happiness. It is my hope that you will do the same and that you will take this journey with me as I practice them in expounding upon this alignment of paradigms and expedition into understanding.

Check back tomorrow as I start at the beginning of my own philosophical understanding with the Romans Road of Christianity followed up by how it aligns with the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.

How to Survive an Estralarian Mind Meld is a comical foray into philosophical science fiction about how we take the next step into this new Revolution of connection and opportunity. It has been compared to books as varied as Who Moved My Cheese?, The Shack, and The Celestine Prophecy, and has been called a “tale of exploring everyday magic like few others have done,” a “rollicking romp of a book,” and “more than a story… a journey into truth.” Get Your Copy Today!

Steve

Steve McAllister describes himself as a Renaissance Man. An author, filmmaker, songwriter, and perpetual artistic experimenter, he has recently re-released his second book The Rucksack Letters into paperback to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the journey. A journey of ink and soul, the book recounts his year and a half trek through 26 states, exploring the underbelly of America in order to better know himself. A pivotal first step for a generation in search of a new direction, The Rucksack Letters is available now.

Why You Should Always Do Your Best

The Fourth Agreement, Always Do Your Best, might seem like a no-brainer. What we often fail to take into consideration is that our best isn’t always going to reach the same plateau. When we are sick, tired, or imbalanced, our best isn’t going to be what it might if we are healthy, rested, and balanced. Taking that into consideration and doing our best in spite of our circumstances helps us to avoid self abuse, self judgment, and regret.

It is my hope that in writing my way through this outline and sharing the associations that I have found, I will do my best all the way through. Nevertheless, I also know that I am prone to weariness, frustration, and an assortment of other maladies that have often kept me from doing my best many times before. I also know that my judgment isn’t always as acute as I would like it to be, and that my understanding of this world around me is limited. However, I do have a vision for what I am trying to do, and will do my best in sharing that vision with you. But I ask that as I try to follow these Four Agreements in carrying out this endeavor, you pay close attention to the Fifth Agreement.

How to Survive an Estralarian Mind Meld is a comical foray into philosophical science fiction about how we take the next step into this new Revolution of connection and opportunity. It has been compared to books as varied as Who Moved My Cheese?, The Shack, and The Celestine Prophecy, and has been called a “tale of exploring everyday magic like few others have done,” a “rollicking romp of a book,” and “more than a story… a journey into truth.” Get Your Copy Today!

Steve

Steve McAllister describes himself as a Renaissance Man. An author, filmmaker, songwriter, and perpetual artistic experimenter, he has recently re-released his second book The Rucksack Letters into paperback to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the journey. A journey of ink and soul, the book recounts his year and a half trek through 26 states, exploring the underbelly of America in order to better know himself. A pivotal first step for a generation in search of a new direction, The Rucksack Letters is available now.

Why We Shouldn’t Make Assumptions

The Third Agreement, Don’t Make Assumptions, compels us to be clear not only in our desires for what we want out of life, but also our communication of those desires to others. In all relationships, clarity of desire is imperative. Far too often, we assume that others know what we want. In actuality, far too often, we assume that we know what we want. Taking that few extra moments to communicate what we need can help us to maneuver around a lot of the pitfalls we often get stuck in.

As the don Miguel and Jose point out in their books, there is in fact a difference between the reality we experience and our perception of it. Do not assume that others are perceiving reality the same way that you are. Given enough time, even our own perceptions of reality can change. When communicating with other in both business and relationships, it is important to find common ground and gain clear understanding on our perception of each situation and the direction we take from there. Assuming that we are on the same page often makes for a very difficult read.

How to Survive an Estralarian Mind Meld is a comical foray into philosophical science fiction about how we take the next step into this new Revolution of connection and opportunity. It has been compared to books as varied as Who Moved My Cheese?, The Shack, and The Celestine Prophecy, and has been called a “tale of exploring everyday magic like few others have done,” a “rollicking romp of a book,” and “more than a story… a journey into truth.” Get Your Copy Today!

Steve

Steve McAllister describes himself as a Renaissance Man. An author, filmmaker, songwriter, and perpetual artistic experimenter, he has recently re-released his second book The Rucksack Letters into paperback to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the journey. A journey of ink and soul, the book recounts his year and a half trek through 26 states, exploring the underbelly of America in order to better know himself. A pivotal first step for a generation in search of a new direction, The Rucksack Letters is available now.

Why We Shouldn’t Take Anything Personally

The Second Agreement, Don’t Take Anything Personally, speaks to the humbling realization that there is an awful lot of stuff going on the world, and very little of it may actually have to deal with you. Every person on this planet is perceiving life through their own senses, not only their five physical senses, but their emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual senses. When their senses are out of alignment, they are out of alignment, and it has nothing to do with you. Quite often, although they may direct their frustrations toward us, we are not actually the cause of their frustrations. Regardless of what they do or say, we must not take it personally for we are not responsible for their perceptions of life.

When we allow the words and actions of others to dictate our own emotional state, we lose a lot of our own personal power. Through the lives that we live, each of us is coursing with energy which gives us the power to not only live physically, but respond emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. It is out task to align our own senses, not those of others. If we truly are responsible for someone’s frustration, we can act accordingly, try to fix the situation, and make amends. But more often than not, if we are living consciously, the frustrations of others have nothing to do with us, and we should not react to them as if they do.

How to Survive an Estralarian Mind Meld is a comical foray into philosophical science fiction about how we take the next step into this new Revolution of connection and opportunity. It has been compared to books as varied as Who Moved My Cheese?, The Shack, and The Celestine Prophecy, and has been called a “tale of exploring everyday magic like few others have done,” a “rollicking romp of a book,” and “more than a story… a journey into truth.” Get Your Copy Today!

Steve

Steve McAllister describes himself as a Renaissance Man. An author, filmmaker, songwriter, and perpetual artistic experimenter, he has recently re-released his second book The Rucksack Letters into paperback to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the journey. A journey of ink and soul, the book recounts his year and a half trek through 26 states, exploring the underbelly of America in order to better know himself. A pivotal first step for a generation in search of a new direction, The Rucksack Letters is available now.

I Love My Family

Today is my mom’s birthday, and I was fortunate enough to get to spend a little time with her yesterday (and to do some laundry). I don’t write about my family much because we don’t spend a lot of time together. It’s not that we’re estranged or anything. I guess it just seems that sometimes we don’t have a lot in common. Nevertheless, I do like them a lot and am very thankful for them.

It’s been a common in-joke in my family that I’ve often been regarded as the prodigal son due to all of my wandering ways, and due to the fact that I walked away from Christianity. My parents and three sisters are still very involved in their churches, but my brother seems to live more like an agnostic. Although Brian and I got fairly close while we ran a youth program together after I got out of college, that connection was pretty much obliterated when I left the Church to do my thing and he started worshipping at the altar of professional sports. At least as long as people keep making movies, we’ll always have something to talk about. But as the old axiom states, it is wise that we steer clear of religion, politics, and sports.

We still get along pretty well, and see each other from time to time when one of us thinks to contact the other. My parents, Brian, and his lovely wife Jennifer took me to lunch at the Breakfast House, one of my favorite restaurants in Sarasota, for my birthday a couple of weeks ago, loading me up with gift cards and the Key West omelette stuffed with lobster and shrimp. Brian and Jen got married about two years ago, and she has completely changed his life for the better. I’m actually a bit jealous.

Nevertheless, I feel extremely fortunate that I get some really unconditional love from my family. You may not have noticed, but I can be a real horse’s ass sometimes. Yet my family is always there to help me move from place to place, rebuild whatever bridge I’ve burned, and if not to necessarily encourage me in my windmill chasing, they at least don’t discourage me, and acknowledge that I’m just following the tao of Steve. I think one of the best things is that they don’t worry about me anymore, probably a good show of their faith in a Supreme Being, and the tattered angels that have been riding on my shoulders these last several years.

I don’t let any of them know often enough how grateful I am for them, but I often forget to do that with a lot of people. Maybe it’s a symptom of the ADD. Maybe I’m just a selfish jerk. Either way, I really am a lucky guy and try not to take my good fortune for granted. I thank the heavens that I got the family that I got, and although I don’t see them often, especially my three sisters up north, I do really appreciate them.

Why We Should Be Impeccable With Our Word

The First Agreement, Be Impeccable With Your Word, not only means to do what you say you are going to do and have integrity between your words and action, but also speaks to how we use our words. It is the realization that there is actually little truth to the children’s’ rhyme stating that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.’ This phrase is often used as a playground defense mechanism, but usually by the time it is uttered, the damage has already been done.

Our words do, in fact, have great power. They can hurt and they can also heal. Being impeccable with your word means to not say anything slanderous, mean-spirited, or negatively charged about anyone, including yourself. I can testify personally that the ramifications of speaking about yourself in negative ways, saying that you are not good enough, incapable, or a screw up, can have extremely detrimental effects on the actuality of your life. These ideas that we entertain about ourselves and others, when given voice, even the voice in your head, have the ability to create that reality. Even biblically speaking, “In the beginning was the Word.”

The First Agreement challenges us to be conscious of the words we use and the thoughts we entertain for they are the building blocks for the rest of our lives. Even when said in jest or sarcasm, our words have a profound effect on the life growing around us. Be serious about what you speak into existence and be resolute with how you act on what you say. For what you say often does dictate how you act and how others act around you. When we are impeccable with our words, we take an immense step forward in realizing the power that we have to create the lives we want.

How to Survive an Estralarian Mind Meld is a comical foray into philosophical science fiction about how we take the next step into this new Revolution of connection and opportunity. It has been compared to books as varied as Who Moved My Cheese?, The Shack, and The Celestine Prophecy, and has been called a “tale of exploring everyday magic like few others have done,” a “rollicking romp of a book,” and “more than a story… a journey into truth.” Get Your Copy Today!

Steve

Steve McAllister describes himself as a Renaissance Man. An author, filmmaker, songwriter, and perpetual artistic experimenter, he has recently re-released his second book The Rucksack Letters into paperback to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the journey. A journey of ink and soul, the book recounts his year and a half trek through 26 states, exploring the underbelly of America in order to better know himself. A pivotal first step for a generation in search of a new direction, The Rucksack Letters is available now.

The Joys of Surreality



Yesterday was quite productive. My friend AJ got me a bed to use for the rest of my tenure here, and finished the fence in the along the back yard the day before. I’d been sleeping on stacked inflatable mattresses that would someone swallow me by morning so a night on a sturdy mattress was much appreciated.

Then I went to talk to someone about the possibility of my doing something that I can’t discuss yet and that she will deny profusely if I mention it. So that went well.

Misha Rubinstein got me involved in the Art Slam project up in Bradenton so I went to discuss some of the particulars with him. Somehow I’m heading up two projects, one of them a labyrinth made of recycled materials, and the other a “Home for Art” about finding creativity in homeless people. I intend to let the second one help guide the direction of the documentary I’ve been working on. Misha owns Spiral Enterprises, which helps performance artists find gigs, and lives next door to Midgeann Schotz, who owns the Jewelry Fountain, one of the points at Five Points Collective. We’re shooting a commercial for her tomorrow so she invited me over for dinner last night for some of the best fish enchiladas I have ever had in my life.

But before dinner, I gave a tour of the Mangrove Tunnels to Rob Walker, the director of a low budget horror film I’ll be working on starting tomorrow.  Of course, we was mesmerized by the place and was going to rework the script that night to include them in the film.

It was a really interesting trip. When we came out of the first tunnel, an anyngha started following us as they often do, swimming under the boat and popping up out of the water to look at us with those bright eyes and hooked beaks waiting for a hand out. By the end of the trip, there were five of them trailing our kayak. Really neat little birds.

But one of the most peculiar things happened when we banked the boat at the end of the peninsula. Someone had planted a single red rose in the sand about a foot offshore. I know it may seem like a little thing, but it’s those little surrealities that really put a smile on my face. So thank you to the life artist that put it there.

Agreeing to the Agreements

As I started to share the ideas behind the outline of the Estralarian Mind Meld, and the four major themes that run through it, a friend and mentor of mine reminded me that I may want to have a look at The Four Agreements as a correlation. I had read the book by Don Miguel Ruiz a few years earlier and found the simplicity of it to really resonate with truth. Yet it wasn’t until I had the opportunity to interview his son Don Jose Ruiz last year about The Fifth Agreement that I really started to realize how these truths would play into what I was hoping to speak to.

Based on Toltec wisdom, the Agreements are not a religious paradigm, other than the fact that it is wise to follow them religiously. They are a science of observation, understanding, and correction in order to create the lives we imagine and to live in happiness and harmony. They are as follows:

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
3. Don’t Make Assumptions
4. Always Do Your Best
5. Be Skeptical, But Learn to Listen

Check back throughout the rest of the day as I expand on these agreements and what they mean for you.

How to Survive an Estralarian Mind Meld is a comical foray into philosophical science fiction about how we take the next step into this new Revolution of connection and opportunity. It has been compared to books as varied as Who Moved My Cheese?, The Shack, and The Celestine Prophecy, and has been called a “tale of exploring everyday magic like few others have done,” a “rollicking romp of a book,” and “more than a story… a journey into truth.” Get Your Copy Today!

Steve

Steve McAllister describes himself as a Renaissance Man. An author, filmmaker, songwriter, and perpetual artistic experimenter, he has recently re-released his second book The Rucksack Letters into paperback to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the journey. A journey of ink and soul, the book recounts his year and a half trek through 26 states, exploring the underbelly of America in order to better know himself. A pivotal first step for a generation in search of a new direction, The Rucksack Letters is available now.

Getting my Groove Back

I have, over the last several years, been trying to figure out the best way for me to write. Unfortunately, I often spend more time thinking about what I want to write than I actually do writing. The result is that I have a blog which is seldom utilized to its best capacity. I watched the movie Julie and Julia this past weekend and was really inspired by the stick-to-itiveness shown by the first half of the titular characters. Where I have usually fallen short in my quest to “write the world” is that I’ll often go days, even weeks, without actually writing anything. I’ll engage in the occasion social media conversation or write a utilitarian email from time to time, but as far as regular writing, it’s just not a habit that I’ve cultivated for myself. As I told someone last night, the hardest thing about having a motto is living up to it.

Part of my reluctance has been my sheer egoic tendency to flamboyantly splash about in this ADD diagnosis as if it were the fountain of youth. I have such a firm belief that ADD should not be regarded as a weakness, I often play with the criteria as they manifest in my own life just so I can make sure they’re still there and in good working order. It may sound twisted, but there has been a large part of myself that has simply not wanted to conform to any kind of order, even order imposed by myself, in order to prove that I can still have value in spite of my diagnosis. Of course, in my effort to prove the value of my disorder, I usually end up missing out on what I am truly capable of. As much as I have seen the end goal of my journey over the last ten years to be the diminishment of my ego in order to make way for a larger being, I often get so caught up in the titles that I give myself, and that others have given me, it is often impossible to become what I truly want to be. I understand that this may sound foolish, but unfortunately, the Fool is one of the monikers I’ve given myself.

I’m not writing this to get down on myself. I’m actually just writing this because I have a much greater compulsion these days to really get into gear and manifest the life that I’ve dreamed of for so long. As they say, there are dreamers and there are doers. Well, although it appears that I have done a lot over the last ten years, I have been largely dreaming and not so much doing. However, as the calendar has just rolled into my fortieth year, I have felt a much greater urge to establish some better habits for myself. After all, so far, this is been one of the most transformative years of my life yet I feel a bit remorseful that I haven’t expressed more of the journey through this inken soul I speak so fondly of.

There have been a number of times that I’ve wished to write more often, but then the ideas all start clamoring to be the first one out and I get stymied. However, I’m not so worried about which one gets out first anymore. I just know that I need to get them out and trust that they’ll come out at the right time and reach the desired audience.

As I’ve toyed with this blog, I have attempted to write stuff of the highest mind, to utilize the blog space to release inspirational musings that will motivate others to live the life they’ve imagined. Yet as I’ve recently been looking over the path of verbosity that I’ve left in my wake, I find that it is largely theoretical and very little about the actual journey I’ve been on. Listening to the advice of blogging professionals, I have sought to create that niche whereby I can say exactly what I’m offering to readers and how they will be able to improve their lives by directing their traffic down my literary avenues. Yet the traffic has to this point not been steady enough to make the website financially sustainable. Finding myself with less than thirty days left before my registration expires, I feel that it is time to get all that I can out of this blog thing and just let the niche grow organically instead of trying to force some kind of opus to come out of it.

After all, although I have had this vision for InkenSoul Press to become some sort of publishing house, I have to face the fact that for the time being, it’s just this Steve character trying to express himself in a way that provides value to his community. From what I’ve been able to gather during my 40 year tenure of directing this body around the planet, the value of Steve can’t really be relegated to any one thing, but like most humans trying to find their way, it is an intrinsic quality that simply offers yet another portrait of this lovely, elegant thing we call “life.”

All of this is to say that I’m liable to be hitting this stuff pretty hot and heavy so put on your reading glasses and hold onto your hats.

Warriors Needed for Revolution of Wisdom: Applicants Apply Within

I believe that we are entering the age of Wisdom. I don’t believe that violence is necessary for this revolution to occur. We need only unconditional love, common sense, discipline, and surrender. That is the revolution of peace and ideas that is coming around. It is not about personal glory, and it is not about the warrior as the hero. The heroes in this revolution will be the meek, as stated by Jesus. They are the ones that will inherit the Earth. These are the people who will realize that they are spiritual beings living in a physical world with a mind that is capable of causing them to act on their feelings. By connecting to our emotions first and finding peace there, then allowing our minds direction in guiding our bodies to action, we can connect with the Spirit that has guided all heroes to greater endeavors.

The “Hollywood” version of the hero as a warrior is the same concept of the hero that was found in Odysseus, Greek mythology, and even the biblical accounts of Israel’s quest for freedom. However, what is important is not the methods that these heroes used to bring about change, but the heart of courage that enabled them to do so. THAT is the essence of this new revolution. Living in that reality of giving what you are to manifest positive change in the world around you is the reward. Conscious living is the consequence.

It’s not about America. America is a human experiment in democracy that has had some wins and losses in living up to its ideal. However, America is only a few hundred years old. Just like the Roman Empire, the Tang Dynasty, Mayan culture, or any government ever formed, it is a temporal figure. However, the peace, justice, and freedom that it has always pointed to are eternal attributes which will last long after America has fallen. Connecting to those attributes and leaving behind the ego’s attachment to such petty trivialities as nationalism is part of the new revolution.

 

Want to find out more? Get a copy of How to Survive an Estralarian Mind Meld.

 

Steve

Steve McAllister describes himself as a Renaissance Man. An author, filmmaker, songwriter, and perpetual artistic experimenter, he has recently re-released his second book The Rucksack Letters into paperback to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the journey. A journey of ink and soul, the book recounts his year and a half trek through 26 states, exploring the underbelly of America in order to better know himself. A pivotal first step for a generation in search of a new direction, The Rucksack Letters is available now.