In my life, I’ve learned that the greatest gift that anyone can give or receive is love.
Love conquers fear; love encourages, love challenges, love listens, love embraces, love is action, love is quiet, love is simplicity, love is strength – love changes you!
To me, music is love and this quote from Bono sums it up so well: “Music can change the world because it can change people.”
That’s what love does – it changes you, deep inside. Imagine a world where our first thought was to love… To put others first and truly want to see others thrive in their hopes and dreams…. What would our world look like?
Growing up, I was truly blessed to live in a household where I was encouraged to try anything without fear – that’s how I got my start in music. My parents supported me in anything my heart desired and they were active in helping me achieve those desires. I was singing & writing songs at an early age and was flooded with encouragement and support.
It’s unfortunate and breaks my heart that such support isn’t the case for everyone. What keeps this from being the norm? Imagine if true love & empathy were at the core of our world…..
Music changed me. It touched and still touches my soul in a way that makes my world stop. It makes the simplest vocal line melt me and bring me to tears. It takes a strong drum and bass groove and lights a fire in my heart that feels like lightning running through my veins. That’s what living your hopes and dreams feels like.
It’s not always easy and the greatest things in life usually take a lot of effort, a supportive team, and unadulterated passion and drive. Let love flow from you. Be the positive, support for those in your life that need it and you’ll be amazed at how you’ll see in your own life that you’ll go from “surviving” to truly LIVING!
I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for the community that surrounds me who are filled with life – they fill me with life. Have you ever hung out with someone who had an accent and by the end of the day you start to feel yourself speaking with a bit of an accent? It’s contagious and love is just like that – contagious!
Growing up, 1 plus 1 equaled 3 to me – still does to this day. I see the world differently and am so glad that I was encouraged and told it was awesome to just be “me”. It’s awesome for you to be you!
If you have never been told that before, then I’m telling you now – just be yourself and start living! Never heard anyone encourage you to chase your hopes and dreams? Then, as cheesy as it sounds, our band is behind you 100%!
Let love change you, motivate you, heal you, and encourage you to pursue your hearts desires and truly LIVE!
Aloha and Mahalo Matt!
Truly with LOVE no-thing is impossible and the impossible is no-thing!
Very well written😊.
Matt, you wrote this brilliant piece of writing more than 10 years ago. What I learned during my corporate consulting career is that most people-skills training does not produce the hoped for ROI. For one reason. The corporate culture. . .generally 100% opposite to that of your parental home.
Kudos to your parents.
A wholesale change in parenting and in business cultures, as you said, changes everything.
The culture shift is not easy, since the senior executives, in general (just like most parents), have to relearn what you are so clearly modeling in your writing.
It can be done, however, it does take recognition of the status quo, a vision of what could be, plus a will and commitment to change. The change is one in “being,” which implies a shift from the focus on profits, to a focus on people, plus a shift to make this the norm. Profits will follow, and escalate dramatically.