Blog: Memory Unlocked*

Hi hi! How is everyone today? Good? I hope the answer is good, if not, no worries, we will not be dealing in heavy content matter in this installment of my blog! That’s on purpose. I can’t do the hourly, world ending news today & the emotions that swirl up in the wake of their disturbance. Instead we’re going to be diving into the past, but like the shimmery, melancholic past, we are not here today to trauma bond.

A while back I invested in a book & its accompanying journal. The book in question is The Book Of Alchemy: A Creative Practice For An Inspired Life by Suleika Jaquad. The book is a series of journaling prompts collected & curated by Jaquad. Some are stories & anecdotes from friends of hers, some are strangers, but she has sewn them all together into an intriguing structure & bound many of them together with theming. The way that the prompts play out follows the structure of the respective author laying out their version of their entry to you, then you are met with the prompt following your read through so that you have an understanding of what something within that prompt might look like. I have been in the section of the book the focuses on prompts based in memory of late.

The crazy thing that I’m finding where this section of memory is concerned is just how much I actually remember, how much is buried just under the surface that goes unnoticed in my day to day recall, that just requires the slightest brushing off to expose the artifact underneath. Take for example the first prompt in the section, creating a memory web.

The example talks about passing the time while swimming laps, which as a former swimmer, I understand the monotony of. The author presents a second hand account of a method someone they once conversed with relayed to them where you pick a random year then create a memory web off of that. What events happened in that year, the broad strokes, then what details of that memory spur other memories or tangents to rise to the surface? I’ll give you an example using the year & web that I came up with.

The year that I picked was 2014. In that year I graduated college, I went on tour with Janelle Arthur, I released my EP Photographs, I went to LA for Spring Break with some friends, I was deep in the world of NAACA, playing showcases in the hope to get booked at colleges for events, those were the main broad strokes that I came up with from there. Let’s see where some of these led!

NAACA was honestly probably the most prevalent thread for me because I was traveling a lot for it. It brought up standing in a booth at a convention center in Myrtle Beach with Brian Waymire, my booking agent at the time. I remember standing there & Brett Young being represented in a booth across the way from me. At the time Brett hadn’t become a full fledged country star, but I had an old song of his, “In Love Alone,” saved to my music library at the time. Another memory. I’d stayed in a certain hotel that allowed dogs because I had brought Harvey with me. He & I frequently slipped away to the beach that weekend. He was afraid of the waves. Just writing about this actually just unlocked another part of that memory. The original hotel we’d book, that was listed as a “pet hotel” ended up canceling me because they hadn’t disclosed to me that they only allowed dogs under 40 lbs. That doesn’t work when you have a golden retriever. We ended up having to scramble to find a hotel last minute because they hadn’t informed us of this until we arrived to check in.

Off the NAACA tangent I also have Portland, Oregon. The band had been selected to play a showcase at NAACA West so James Black, Everett Bowles, Eric Coveney, Kyle May, & I made the flight up & played. We got picked up by an old family friend, Al Brandt, who was kind enough to lend us his truck for the weekend. Since we had a couple of days before our showcase & Brian didn’t have a booth at the convention hall, we went out to the Oregon coast for two days & a night. Along the way we listened to Eli Young Band, which the guys said they could definitely hear having influenced my songs at the time, & we made our way through The Beatles Love album that was released from their Cirque Du Soleil show in Vegas. It was concluded that the album is a great way to introduce non-Beatles fans to The Beatles. We stopped in Seaside at an internet cafe so Everett could do some schoolwork, took photos at Cannon Beach, went down to Tillamook & toured the cheese factory, then stayed the night in Newport, then made our way back to Portland the next day. It was there we discovered PB&Js Grilled (RIP) & Stumptown Coffee before it became a full blown nationwide thing.

It’s a very interesting practice & one that certainly surprised me with how deep my mind was willing to go & the wide amount of memory mining that was available along each vein of thought.

The next entry was about food & how certain foods can be favorites of ours because of the time & place attached to them. I think a great example of this use in our current culture is the online show “Last Meal,” where celebrities submit their ‘last meal’ & it’s collected or recreated from around the world & coursed out along with an interview. This then got Evan & I going through the practice of the things we think would be on each other’s last meals. Our lists were way too long for the show, & would definitely require some thinning out, but I realized many of the items involved were there because of the memories tied to them or the places & slots in time in which they exist. I’ll lay out a few of mine below just for fun, again, my list was way too long to appear on the show in its current form.

Charlie’s ‘Last Meal’ List (In No Particular Order):

• Slumgullien from The Chowder Bowl in Newport, Oregon

• El Volcan & Tamales from Three Borders Brunch & Grill in Los Angeles, California

• The Welcome Cocktail from Corvino Supper Club in Kansas City, Missouri (RIP)

• A Giant Pistachio Macaron from Lemonade in Los Angeles, California

• Onigiri Flight from Kisser in Nashville, Tennessee

• Green Chile Stew & Sopapillas from Frontier in Albuquerque, New Mexico

• The Oregonian (with Duck) from PB&Js Grilled in Portland, Oregon (RIP)

• Crown Rib with Cheesy Corn & Beans from Jack’s Stack in Kansas City, Missouri

• Mulled Mead from Honeytree Meadery in Nashville, Tennessee

• White Bean Tuna Salad on Rye from Dean & Deluca in New York City

• A Golden Glow Mango from Yee’s Mangos in Kihei, Hawaii

• Chef Brian Baxter’s Cheeseburger with Tots & a Coming Up Milhouse from The Patterson House in Nashville, TN (pre-move)

• Hazelnut Affogato from The Grumpy Baker in Sydney, Australia

• The Blaze (Kai Dama) from Silverlake Ramen only from the OG in Silverlake, California

• Four Eggs Scrambled with American Cheese from a Diner

• Cake Lady Cake

• Sourdough Cecamariti from Rolf & Daughters in Nashville, Tennessee

• Guava & Cream Cheese Pastelitos from Black Bean Deli in Winter Park, Florida

• A Mexican Coke with Filipino Rum & Calmansi Juice

• My Mom’s Chicken Noodle Soup

• Shrimp Jalfrezi & Hummus from Cafe Rakka in Hendersonville, Tennessee

• Turkey Club from Jersey Boys in Overland Park, Kansas (RIP)

• Albacore Handroll from Sugarfish in Los Angeles, CA

• Smoked Salmon Sandwich from Marrbury Smokehouse in Carsluith, Scotland

• Veggie Burger with Steak Fries & Wasabi Mayo from PM in Nashville, TN (RIP)

• Ooh La La from Henry’s in Acworth, Georgia

Just To Name A Few…

My final prompt from the last few days dealt with teachers. You were meant to choose a teacher & humanize them, write about them as a student of life themselves. What was their childhood like, their adolescence, their young adulthood? What do they like, what to they dislike, what struggles have they been through? Any & all specific details you can recall about their life, write it down. It is an interesting practice, not just for the memory aspect, but because it helps you to humanize people. Sub out someone else. Make it about your boss, your parents, your grandparents, that coworker you talk to frequently but wouldn’t say you’re close with. See how many strands of memory you can pull on that help further the recall, then step back & look at the person that you’ve illustrated with your knowings of their lives.

All of these prompts have been a really fascinating dive into memory for me this week & I’d encourage each of you to do the same every so often, not only to help with your recall, but to remind yourself of the life that you’ve lives & the value in creating such memories that you can venture back to when doing exercises like this. It helps to bring your own life into perspective. It makes you realize just how much you actually have done & how much those little attachments along the way have shaped who you are & the things that you enjoy. Again, just wanted to share something a little different this week in hopes that it helps you to escape a little bit of the doom & gloom of our present situation here on this floating rock called Earth.

As Always, Much Love To You All,

-C

Blog: *Insert Number* Hard Challenge

I’m not sure if any of you have heard of the 75 hard challenge, it was a daily challenge proposed by Andy Fricella. It isn’t exactly a diet plan or a fitness plan, though that is a part of it, instead it is branded as a test of mental fortitude. The rules of the challenge are as follows.

• Follow one diet plan of your choosing (no alcohol & no cheat meals allowed)

• Two 45 daily workouts (one must be outdoors)

• Take one daily progress picture

• Read ten pages of a non-fiction self improvement book per day

• Take a daily 5 minute cold shower

• Intake one gallon of water per day

While I won’t go into the logistics of why I don’t think the 75 hard or for that matter Whole 30 lead to positive life changes or permanent ones, I will admit the challenge has its merits.

A few friends of mine have taken the challenge & completed it in its entirety & while I’m sure most would attest that they don’t regret the experience it’s not something they’re actively looking to undertake again. I aimed to create it in a better form, in a manner that personalizes the experience for me while creating lifestyle change that I could use moving forward.

As many of you can probably tell from a lot of my previous blogs I eat paleo quite often, following more of the primal side of the diet. One of the beauties of paleo/primal is that it has room for forgiveness asking you to partake in it 80-85% of the time instead of forever making you long for the foods you love but can no longer consume. Paleo also has the benefit of allowing some alcohols but those derived from paleo approved sources which for a wine lover like me is a major win. My modification of the 75 hard challenge follows the diet of my choice, paleo, with the inclusion of two cheat meals & the occasional bottle of wine or cocktail.

The next aspect of the challenge is the physical side of it. 45 minutes, twice a day. An hour & a half total. Every. Single. Day. Y’all that’s just downright unhealthy. Your body needs rest, it needs time to heal. I know training hard leads to amazing results but there has to be a conscious effort into maintaining the body involved as well. My modification; seven & a half to eight hours of exercise per week. It allows you to workout hard for longer amounts of time while still allowing yourself & your body to rest periodically, to take a day off. The 75 hard challenge would tell us that resting would require us to restart the challenge, I would rather you come out the other side a healthy, happy human.

I’m just going to outright tell you I don’t do the progress pics. I think looking for progress day to day to day minimizes the growth you’re actually achieving. It’s also an easy way to get discouraged. Not looking different enough from the day before or the week before is what leads so many into self deprecating habits or toxic mindsets. Your body fluctuates 5-10 pounds a week anyway in addition to the fact that working out is literally tearing down muscle to rebuild it. You’re going to look “more cut” & less so from day to day, documenting such doesn’t feel like a healthy way of viewing that.

I started this challenge with the thought of making the reading 10 pages of anything. I think I’m sticking to that. We as humans don’t read enough. I would say out of the people I know only about 5-10% of them actively read books. That’s sad. I think if a challenge incorporates reading in any form & gets people to actually read then it’s a win in my book (see what I did there?) Read what you’re passionate about, it doesn’t have to be the book that makes you realize you have too many attachments or that you have the ability to be superhuman or manifest money. Read what you love, it’ll improve your brain & open up your mind, screw the requirements.

Honestly, I didn’t know that the shower was part of the challenge. I may have to throw that in haha. I mean at the end of the day cold showers have a lot of very great health benefits! It raises your metabolism, it increases your circulations, it boosts immune function, it reduces muscle soreness, & the list goes on & on. I know it may not be for everyone but I think I’ll actually incorporate it slowly, dropping the temperature over the duration of the shower instead of taking the polar plunge every single day.

A daily gallon of water is a great goal to strive for! Sometimes though a gallon of water can be too much or even too little depending on how much you weigh. I think the typical rule of thumb is that you’re supposed to drink half your body weigh in ounces but you also have to be careful not to dilute yourself. Adding a little sodium to your first glass can help to prevent that or even drinking something else with a little bit of electrolytes will do the trick!

In addition to these changes I’ve taken it upon myself to add in two more daily challenges.

• Something Creative/Journeling

• Meditation

Your something creative can be anything. It can be painting, writing, designing, playing an instrument, creating a floral arrangement, trying/coming up with a new recipe, just something that engages that left hemisphere of your brain. I often find myself getting frustrated as a songwriter because I can’t tap into my creativity when I want to. This is a good way to flex that mental muscle & establish the neuroplasticity to make your creativity an easy asset to call upon. I also count journaling under this daily task. I think journaling can take a few very helpful forms & often helps clear away the fog hiding all of your great ideas from you. Just journaling about your day, about what’s weighing on your mind or heart, about emotional baggage you’re still holding onto can make all the difference. Likewise writing poetry or a short story helps to get the juices flowing & stretch your creative neural pathways.

The last addition is meditation. Much like reading I think too few people actively practice meditation. Meditation is not just some mystic Buddhist art it is a way of centering yourself. Of coming back to the now & helping to experience your life as it happens. Too often we’re anxious about the unknown future or depressed about the past that way or the way things have change, meditation’s goal is to recenter you in time & in yourself. It is the inner work that we all should be doing. It is the quieting of the mind that allows our problems & areas of weakness to rise up so that we may look at them in a new light, dissect & transform them so that we can let the past, the future, the whatever go & simply be. I have found in the last two weeks of daily meditation that my joy & energy are elevated, my anxiety & depression have almost faded completely, & I am an all around more fun person to be around. If meditation is a new experience to you I highly recommend Headspace on Netflix, they also have an app!

The final step of my “…whatever” hard challenge is forgiveness. This is the key. Forgiveness. There are going to be days where accomplishing all of these things is impossible. There are going to be weeks you don’t meet you exercise goal or don’t read enough & y’all, that’s okay. Really. The difference is that you forgive, let it go, & try to do better the next day or the next week because that’s how we grow. That’s how we become better, not by hard restriction & rule, but by freedom & grace. I don’t want this life style change to be something I do for a month & a half then abandon, I want lasting change. I know, much like the 75 hard challenge isn’t for me, that this might not be for you & you may need to make your own modifications to it, but if you want to change your life for the better there are healthy ways to do it. Do what works for you, what makes you feel fulfilled, what makes you happy, healthy & expands your brain. Hold yourself accountable; set reminders on your phone, set a calendar on your fridge, try it with a friend or loved one. Do something that keeps you on track & keeps you motivated. I can honestly say in the week or two I’ve been doing this my life is improved; I’m sleeping better, I have so much more energy, so much clearer skin, my chronic allergies are hardly noticeable to me. I feel great & I want you to as well. So take the challenge! Make up your own, make it practical, & make your life as you want it to be because you deserve it!

Much Love,

C

Blog: Being Productive In The Midst of A Global Pandemic

Hi Friends!

How are we today?

On a scale of one to ten, ten being the most, how productive would you say you were today? Is that a number you’re happy with? Is that a number that feels like it has been pretty constant over the course of the last couple months? I’ve been doing a bit of outreach all week; to friends, to colleagues, etc. to see kind of how people have been handling self improvement during the COVID-19 pandemic & what I’ve if an overabundance of proof that most of us are struggling. I get it, I really do. There’s no where to go, nothing to do, no way to travel, or in my line of work, play shows. It’s hard to be a frowardly mobile person when the world feels like it has stopped dead in its tracks, at least in the states…

So what’s to be done? How do we break the monotony? By adding more.

Hear me out. Productivity is a habit, Newton’s first law of motion explains:

“An object at rest stays at rest & an object in motions stays in motion...”

— Sir Isaac Newton

This is you. You are the object in this scenario. If you’ve developed a habit of stagnation, you must replace it with one of mobility. How do you have mobility when you can’t go anywhere? Establish routines. Now is the perfect time to be establishing a routine, a diet, a workout regimen, etc, because you have the time & mental space to do so. Here’s what I recommend, even if you can’t be productive in your chosen career field, that doesn’t mean you can’t still establish habits that can be applied post-COVID.

Here’s where we start; your alarm clock. First off, if you’re not setting an alarm, it’s time to start. I’m aware a lot of us, 22.4% of us, are out of work right now, but your routines are still important. Set your alarm for 30 minutes earlier than normal, then here’s how I want you to break down that 30.

Minutes 1-4: Drink a large glass of water, take your allergy meds, drink your coffee.

Minutes 5-10: Stretch, specifically doing cat/cows (look it up.) Cat/cows open up your spinal column & get your spinal fluid moving.

Minutes 11-14: Do 25 reps of an exercise. Could be push-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges, pull-ups, etc vary this daily but get the blood moving.

Minutes 15-24: Meditate. Doesn’t have to be some spiritualist experience, just center your thoughts, center your mind & body & breathe for 10 minutes.

Minutes 25-30 Journal: Write out how you’re feeling, write out what you need to do that day, write out how something resolved, get out all the mental clutter & lay it out before you so you can start your day with a clear mind. 1 whole page of journaling, write til it’s full. No cheating, no short hand.

And there you are, that’s your new morning routine. Do it daily, you’ll be amazed how driven & clear the day ahead feels after this. Best of all, it puts your body in motion, gets you moving right off the bat so you can carry that energy throughout your day.

From here you branch out; add a strict diet regimen, add working out in, add daily tasks you can do that will advance your career. You’ll be amazed how clearly new ideas present themselves to you once you put the body in motion. It can’t just be your physical body you’re putting in motion, it has to be all aspects. Digestion, cardio vascular, muscular, mental, spiritual, all of it must be prepared for the day ahead for you to be successful.

I truly hope this helps you, it’s been helping me a lot! You have to stick to it though & be disciplined, it takes 42 days to form a habit so make yours about forward momentum.