I may be completely unenlightened, and therefore have no idea what I am talking about, but to me enlightenment is not an event but rather, it’s a place.

By this I mean it’s not (in my opinion, unqualified by any particular dogma) something that just happens and then that’s it – you’re enlightened for the rest of your life.

For me it’s somewhere you have to make the effort to go (although sometimes you stumble upon it without trying, like walking out of the trees into an unexpected clearing in a forest).

And like all visits, you sit, maybe drink some tea, enjoy – but then you have to leave, already looking forward to your next visit.

Usually, I travel to this delightful place by meditation, and it can be a bumpy ride getting there. Sometimes I run out of time and steam and have to turn back without reaching the destination. Usually, if I keep steadfastly on, I get there eventually.

I used to go to this place a lot but over the last year or two I have rarely made the effort or found the time to visit this place.

By Seamus Anthony

As I type my partner is fuming in the kitchen, banging cups and plates around and lamenting people and their selfishness. She is a particularly selfless individual and this is part of the reason that I love her so much. Of course the downside is that she is constantly disappointed by the self-centredness of those around her, both in the community at large and *ahem* in her immediate circles.

It’s true when she says that I don’t listen very well when she talks about things she is passionate about but which I struggle to be very interested in (although it’s not true when she says I am not really sorry; I am actually).

And it’s true when she says that people are, to use what I presume is an Australian colloquialism, “pikers” (to “pike” means to cancel on a commitment, whether that be volunteering for a charity event or just morning tea). People are Pikers. So am I – although not anywhere as much as others are.

By Seamus Anthony

Now that I have made the commitment to blogging here again, I have been pondering what this blog is actually about. To start with it was about “personal development”, “self-improvement” and “success” but I have never felt comfortable with any of these labels whatsoever.

I think I prefer to decide that this blog is about “Meaning”.

Why? Because that’s what we all need and crave in this life – Meaning – and big time.

It is my humble opinion that all of human activity, everything we do, is shaped and coloured by the fact that we are given life, wonder “why?”, get no answer and then have to die. This shaky sequence of events, facts and mystery is the foundation on which the entire human condition is built.

But Why?

The thing that sets us apart from the animals, as far as we know, is that we hit the age of 2 or 3 and suddenly we wonder: “Why?”

It’s like – all this stuff exists … ok … got my head around that …

… but why?

… to find out go and watch Seamus.TV – episode 5

(it is about marketing music (or anything really) in the kooky new Internet world so don’t click if this doesn’t inherently interest you, and it is a video blog post too I should point out)

By Seamus Anthony

I was just reading a blog post that explained something I kind of knew but hadn’t really thought about – that the old gatekeeper barriers (to a career in the creative arts, creative business, etc) that the Internet has famously blown away were only ever a smokescreen anyway and that the real barrier still exists – hard work, persistence, focus – all that tough stuff that we don’t wanna do a lot.

Just so happens that I was also just reminiscing with an old friend who I used to live with in the 90s and with whom I have recently made contact with again ala Facebook. We were talking about where the time goes and how did we get this “old” already so fast and I said something about how I wish I could time travel so I could go back and tell the very happy-go-lucky 26 year old me to get the fuck on with it and do some hard work (that mattered, as opposed to tending bars until 4:30am like a crazed go-bot for minimum wage).

Then the thought struck me that I CAN time-travel and that I SHOULD and that in fact it is VITAL to do so.

By Seamus Anthony

This is a Good Samaritan story that revolves around the New York September 11 tragedy. It’s a true and amazing reminder of the power of love and forgiveness – or of fate at the least.

My Grandmother, 80, is such a charming lady. She’s from Dublin, as is my Grandfather, and both going strong. They moved to Australia in the late ’60s but they both still have their wonderful Irish brogue and their cheeky sense of humour.

Being of an Irish Catholic family, and the era being as it were, my Grandfather was blessed with 12 brothers and sisters. And Ireland being what it was then, most of them left for foreign shores. Some of them made it to New York and apparently there is still a brood of my maternal bloodline going strong there.

Now it was one of this brood, one of my Grandfather’s sisters, that had a husband once, with whom she had children, but at some point they separated or divorced. For what reason I am not sure, but apparently he did the wrong thing by her and the family, and was out on his ear.

Hey – Seamus here – Just wrote a post about this over on my other blog called:

Are You Suffering From “Trapped Musician Syndrome”?

Yes it focuses on musicians but it applies to all of us to some extent I am sure…

Click here to listen and/or download my music FREE (or pay what you feel).

Hi, Seamus Anthony here …

Just a quick note to let you know that you can listen to and then download my CD “Dogs May Bark” for FREE very easily, in hi or lo fi (i.e. lossless wav etc. or good old mp3) via this URL:

Seamus.bandcamp.com

Explore the site, there are some cool features, like the “share” feature – and I would very much appreciate it if you would use that feature to tell your Facebook mates, twitter, etc to come and grab my tunes free.

Here’s a taste for you right here, right now:

Over the coming weeks (months?) I will be adding ALL (ok – most) of the tunes I have ever recorded which is like, ten billion songs.

And then after that I have some new stuff to record and release.

Meanwhile – go! Download my music free!

They have made it easy for me now (the awesome geeks at Bandcamp.com) so look out!

By Seamus Anthony

Everything has an opposite. Every Yin has its Yang. Therefore it makes sense that if there is a Law of Attraction there must also be a Law of Repulsion.

Well a quick Google search revealed plenty of articles about this, but here’s my take, a little counter-intuitive mind game to motivate myself to do those things that will lead to great results, but which can be hard to do (or not do).

Attract What You Want By Focussing On What You Don’t Want

The seed of anything lies in it’s opposite. This is described nicely in the Yin Yang model: a spot of white in the black half and vice versa.

Therefore if you are having trouble motivating yourself to get things done, or if you don’t even know what you want out of life, try focussing on what you DON”T want.

But Wait … Isn’t That Back-To-Front?

OK Stop: First let’s digress, in order to clear something up. There’s a lot of superstitious hokey-pokey about how if you focus on what you don’t want you attract that very thing into your life. This is probably true on a level.

By Seamus Anthony

“Business is a good game, lots of competition and a minimum of rules. You keep score with money.” Bill Gates

The above quote moved me when I first read it because as a wanna-be entrepreneur of many years, I always struggled with bringing my ideas out and into the marketplace successfully – purely (I now know) because my definition of success was fuzzy.

You see, for me, money is not a great motivator. It is abstract and boring. You want to know what I think when I look at my bank account balance?

“Oh … some numbers … “

There are other currencies that I find way more exciting. For example – applause.

Sad, I know, but once you have stood on stage in front a crowd that’s wildly applauding and cheering what you just did – well, sorry to say, “some numbers” just doesn’t compare.

This is why I have always rolled my eyes when people say (about an aging, wealthy performer) “Oh he’s only in it for the money these days”. I bet that’s not the reason at all. Once you have a lot of money, it is pretty easy to stay rich by investing your money sensibly.