Day eight! It’s like the end of Hanukah, except there’s one more day.

Today was my day to experiment with B roll. If you don’t know what b roll is, watch this video that BrantC showed me.

Today I dug into strategy, spirituality, living in the moment, and planning. In other words… is strategy spiritual or not?

Enjoy. Any of you inspired enough to do a video challenge too?

Did it! Finished day seven of my two week video challenge. (If you’re curious what this is, and to see the other days, check out day one.)

I must admit that there’s only one thing I like about this video: I filmed it in the rain. I enjoyed the heck out of that. Everything else… eh. The message seems a little banal, my presence seems a little lackluster, and I’m squinting. Squinting! In the rain!

But I did it, and I don’t have it in me to do another.

Well, folks, what do you think? You don’t need to butter me up. I’ve done lots of stuff I’m very happy with.

In a hotel lobby in Vancouver, B.C., Charlie Gilkey sat me down, stared me in the eye, and said, with that strange combination of compassion and icey-seriousness that was no doubt effective when he was a military commander, “Mark, you have to do video.”

You know that kind of gross habit some buggy people like to do where they stick a pin in a butterfly and display it in a book? That’s what Charlie’s nicey-icey look did to me. Transfixed, I was, right to that chair. I nodded. “Yes, Charlie. You’re right. It’s time.”

Trouble was, I had said that a dozen times before and since. I wasn’t getting to it. I wasn’t actually doing the walking.

Time to Get Walking

In my Sufi spiritual lineage, spiritual work is referred to as “the walking.” As in, “You’re walking your path.” Challenges, issues, even joys and celebrations, are all part of the walking.

The brilliance of this metaphor is in the observed phenomenon that you have to be in motion to see change. Just sitting there isn’t going to get you anywhere.

In writing that, I feel the need to explain I’m not talking about forgoing contemplative or devotional spiritual practice in favor of action. As I’ve written about time and time again, action can be useless or even harmful if it’s not based in connection and love.

And if you’ve ever maintained a regular spiritual practice, you know that “just sitting there” isn’t just sitting there. You’re doing the walking.

But beyond spiritual practice, showing up is often a critical catalyst for change and evolution.

All of this high-minded blither-blather is to say that I realized there was a place I wasn’t showing up and doing the walking. Video. Oy.

Continue reading →

Hey folks,

This was the most challenging day yet of my two week video challenge (to get the big picture, and for a list of all the videos, check out day one). Today I had to prep for and teach a class, and I had to keep my word to myself about this video challenge. The narrow window of time I had to get it done means that I basically turned on the camera, sat down, and on camera rejected the first idea that came to my mind…

…which sparked what has been an important insight and understanding I’ve gained around making a business. Simple, yes. Fun, not always. Check it out:

What’s your relationship to this message?

It’s Monday, and Day Five of my two week video challenge. (If you want to read about it and see the first one, as well as a list of all the days, read/watch day one here.)

Today the whole family slept late. The boys and my wife Holly didn’t wake up until almost 9am, and even I slept close to 7am. (I had a blissful hour of lying on a couch reading a novel.) So, I’m a feeling a little foggy, not so sharp and creative.

And yet, it’s the video challenge. So I asked my heart, made three piles of books, from three different authors, and just added one learning experiement- a different camera angle.

The big question: how do some people write so many books, when there just isn’t that much to say?

What do you think? Are you writing enough?

Wow, I did it! Four days in a row, one video each day. I’m amazed. (If you’re wondering what this is about, check Day One.)

Today I had a hankering to work the whiteboard in, and had to figure out how to light it without creating a monstrous glare. I did it moderately well, although it’s not the brightest. I may need to get a couple of additional lights to really make it work well.

I also realize I could have made the presentation cleaner, but I opted to just do this in one take, since my intention is to learn and get it done, not create perfect video.

Today I elected to jump into a juicy Sufi topic, Transmission. You know, when you have an experience of something profound or important and you’re wanting to give that experience directly to the client, to help them leap forward? I explain spiritual transmission as it was taught to me, and as I helped to teach it in the Teacher Internship Program at the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism.

So here it is:

Was it helpful? I probably didn’t need to stand directly in front of my illustration, eh?

Third day is happening just under the wire! A late night last night because the kiddoos didn’t really want to sleep so much, and so a late morning, and things got crammed… So I filmed in the afternoon instead of the morning, and even as I write this iMovie is processing and uploading.

Then, the video ended up being 12 minutes and youtube only allows ten! Oy! If I had another day I would edit and cut, but there was no easy 2 minutes and 37 seconds to cut out. So I took the easy way out and made part one and part two.

Thankfully I have room to be messy here, because do you really want to watch 12 minutes of video from me?

Today’s video ended up being a Sufi chanting instructional video, how to clean the four layers of your heart with specific chants from my lineage. I got to practice more with lighting, with titles and text, and with cropping. Learned a lot. Here it is.

Part one, the how-to:

Part two, the actual chanting practice:

How’d this one land?