Happy Positive New Year!

After a rich Christmas with Family and food up North of England amongst the snowy dunes, I now hang in Germany out in the country two hours outside Berlin.

I am surrounded by meters of snow, fluffy cats, wild horses and a log fire heating up this rustic house I've kindly been invited to. These next few days will consist of seeing the snow buried sites and getting geared up for our Berlin adventure. My band has been fortunate enough to book six gigs in the time we're here in Germany and it's come to the point where we will be probably gigging and rehearsing more than we might be able to record... So we must make sure we plan every step, not to mention some friendly visitors we will also be receiving...

I read something quite interesting today in one of my astrology texts I get from time to time via email. My virtual psychic said that most people say "I'll be happy when..." And you know what? I do that sometimes, I sometimes tell myself, "Oh I will be happy when I'm rich and famous and my bands touring the world making millions and I get my dream studio set up for our record label and we're helping other indie artists realize their dreams and when I've a family of my own..."

Thing is, these are all things that I want and that I'm working towards, but the happiness shouldn't be dependent on if these goals are achieved or not. Happiness should be achieved in the present in order to fuel your mind with energy to make these dreams come true. We shouldn't be hanging onto the past or the future, because both are none existent, they're made of air. But what isn't made of air, is the present.

At least in the present we can be sure that we have happy memories and a great future ahead.

Feeling positive in the present actually helps you achieve your goals. The positive mind is incredibly powerful. It helps set your mind straight, helps you to be able to reach those visions.

The way to remain positive and try and decrease negative thoughts is by understanding and embracing your positive emotions. The more you hang on to the positive and feel its sensation, the more your mind will stay attracted to it, addicted. And when a negative thought comes into play, learn to cast it off, tell your mind that you don't want to feel it, that you only want to feel the good things.

Someone grilled me about my band and the record label the other day and asked me if I ever worry that in the music business only a small percentage ever "make it". I told this person two VERY important things;

Number One: if I worried about people not "making it" in this industry, I wouldn't get anywhere in life and Number Two: define what "making it" even means, because as far as I'm concerned, I feel like I'm "making it" every single day!

Berlin didn't just happen, we started with an idea and we practically thought it through how we could turn it into a reality. Do you think we ever once thought "oh maybe this might be a mistake blabla"? Of course not. Life is about taking it by the horns. It will beat you down, but you don't have to let it crush you. Just get up again and be tougher. And if you can, along the way, be positive. Even those shitty gigs we experienced through and through in London, are positive, because it helped make us better, it helped teach us who to work with and who to stay away from.

So yea, I say don't think TOO much about something, just think about it enough to help you get the best out of something.

To positive minds out there, Happy New Year!