People love to leave their best impression.  IG, FB, TikTok & X are filled with good fortune.  Good folks on lavish vacations, new cars, remodeled homes, infinity pools, pricey ‘fits’ for every day of the year, perfect bodies, or even just “# blessed I found the love of my life.”  If social media were a gauge for human success, we’d want for nothing.

I try not to use it as a ‘show & tell’ for adults, but sometimes my lack of revealing personal issues lead some to believe I don’t have any.

And that impression couldn’t be farther from reality.  The truth is, the last 6 years have been the most challenging of my life.  I don’t talk about it publicly other than broad-strokes… because it’s ugly.  It has to do with people.  Trust.  Betrayal.  I chalk it up to paying a karma from long ago, and some beliefs that may need an adjustment.

Back in the 80’s there was an SNL skit with Al Franken playing a character named Stuart Smalley… an insecure, effeminate man in pastel blue and purple sweaters looking sheepishly in the mirror, reciting things like ‘I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it people like me!’

It was pretty funny actually, but as I got older I realized it was also a little sad, because it ridiculed and laughed at something most people desperately need… and now more than ever.  Positive reenforcement.  Positive beliefs.  Positive affirmations.

Before I had a hit song on the radio, I was in a state.  My first record had gone straight to the ‘has-bin’ and my deal with Warners was in jeopardy.  I struggled to make rent.

Funny side note… one day Michael Bay, the director was still in college and you know… a rich kid from Brentwood, all that.  Anyway he visited my apartment because our girlfriends were friends, and as he stepped inside he looked all around, up and down along the walls and ceiling in amazement.  I wasn’t sure what he was going to say but finally he opened up his mouth and laughed ‘you live here??’.  Ha!  Funny I was kind of proud of that apartment until that day!

Anyway, a dear friend and sort of guru handed me a copy of the Louise Hay book ‘You Can Heal Your Life’ and said ‘Jude I think you need this’.  I did.

One message from the book was that whatever is wrong with you is due to your very own belief system.  True or false I liked it.  It left me in control, not anyone else.  It also came with a tape of daily meditation/affirmations.  I did it every day.  Until I felt a shift.  And you know, it worked.  Not only then, but every time I’ve had to reinvent or realign myself.

The next record ‘A View From 3rd St.’ wasn’t exactly Dark Side Of The Moon on the richter scale, but it did a few significant things to change the quality of life.  I created my own signature sound… plus ‘Baby, It’s Tonight’ was a huge radio song and earned a good deal of money from airplay.  It also allowed me to keep my record deal.

Coming from a fairly healthy amount of dysfunction… little play on words there… I like what Tony Robbins says about self calibration.  He likens it to a pilot with a navigation system.  The plane drifts and constantly goes off course.  The navigation system adjusts repeatedly and brings the aircraft back to a place where you can literally land it on a dime.

That’s most of our brains, emotions and life.  Constantly going off course and in eternal need of calibration, realignment and self-care.  It’s like our bodies and the gym.  We don’t go to a gym and work out for 6 months, then say ‘ok i’m good!’.  We have to eat right and constantly work our body parts with motion and muscle.  The same is true with ‘E’motions and mental health.

In my  Fresh Coffee YouTube page, I’ve created 10 videos with subliminal affirmations.  This is music you can put on and just go about your business, but the messages are heard through the subconscious.  There will be more in the next year with real voiceovers.  It’s fun to create, and well… I do it because I need it.  Feel free to check them out sometime, or there are many others online.  Consistency is key.

https://www.youtube.com/@freshcoffee6879

I’d open up about the pineal gland and what TV, film, music and graphene oxide, aluminum, fluoride and wi-fi are doing to us, but it would make this post conspiratorial and too long, so will have to save it for another time.  Cheers!
Jude