The performance is much less blurry in person.
Last night, I enacted my first performance of “The Unbroken Path” as an actual show. It’s a challenging thing for me because as an artist, I’ve always longed for my performances to be more than just a musician up on stage playing songs. After all, I consider myself to be more of a writer than a musician and feel that I have more to share than simply background music as people share beverages and conversation, so for me, having The Flow Factory as a venue to really connect with an audience is an incredible gift.
For my first foray into this particular show, the turnout wasn’t spectacular as far as numbers go, however, I was really glad that those who did show up were people that I love, and that were willing to give me some really helpful feedback. But I still have to wonder if they get what I’m really all about.
As a life artist, especially over the last year as I have attempted to guide The Flow Factory into becoming something that will serve my community, I have dabbled in a myriad of activities that offer service to the world I inhabit, but aren’t necessarily my greatest gifts. Perhaps the downside to that is that I am often regarded merely as the guy who does those menial tasks that no one else wants, instead of being recognized as the artist I feel that I truly am. It’s very similar to the feeling I had when I was working “real jobs” like waiting tables or working as a psychiatric technician while simultaneously writing a book, screenplay, or song. Although I get the most joy out of my creative outlets and feel as though they are the greatest offerings that I have, the majority of the people that share my journey with me culminate their appreciation of me around the modest tasks of taking orders, delivering food, or wiping asses.
Many of my tasks at The Flow Factory are much more substantial than these things, yet I still feel overlooked and often unappreciated for what I really want to offer. Yet in the world we live in, at least in the society of consumerism, it is a buyers market, and the services that are most appreciated are often those that people want based upon the patterns they have set up for themselves, and not so much on the services we most greatly want to offer. Perhaps if we were able to open ourselves up to a greater recognition of the true nature of abundance, we would afford people the opportunity to rise above the necessity of being known and appreciated for merely the meager tasks of servitude that afford them the luxury of being able to simply survive, and follow their hearts into the true service they feel called to.
It is my hope that the acknowledgment of The Unbroken Path may help us to get to that point, but I feel that before that progress can be made in the society around me, I still have some steps to take myself.
InkenSoul 