Firedance: Clarity and Flexibility

Saturday I will be at the Norwescon SF convention, where they have me booked at 12 noon. My bad — I forgot to tell them to keep that free. So…we’ll do FIREDANCE at 10:30 am Pacific. I might take a few minutes to get there (I’ll cut a signing short) so Tananarive will get things started.

I’m thinking that a great subject would be behavioral flexibility. The point is ALWAYS to ask what the goal is, the intention. The WHAT. And then, the WHY. What is the emotional desire that powers the goal? Once you are clear on this (and if you want motivation, just connect the goal to BOTH your own survival AND your highest intentions. That will light you up!

What was the goal: To have a great FIREDANCE show, in spite of an obstacle.

WHY do I want to do it? The show keeps me on track, helps me clarify my path, because I have to report to the community EVERY WEEK about what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. And this is critical, because “waking up” isn’t a state you reach and can then forget about. No. It is a CONSTANT process. Every day, every moment. Saturday is just one of the touchstones, the 90-minute period where I need to be as close to 100% as I can be.

That’s survival: literally connecting with the flow of my life in all arenas.

What about highest intentions? I have a very specific goal: assisting one MILLION awake, aware, adult human beings onto their most powerful life paths. This might be the most important goal in my entire life, especially if my family is intimately included in this intention. They are.

So…if I commit to doing a weekly show, and the normal time slot is full, I have to decide to either disappoint the convention, or my Firedance clan. The convention people are watching the puppet show, in a sense. The “Steve show.” Its not dishonest, but it is a simplified version of myself. As Nichelle Nichols said to me, “your fans don’t want to know who you really are, what you’re really feeling and experiencing. You have to create a personae that represents you, but isn’t quite you.” Tthat’s a paraphrase, but pretty accurate. I present a “Stevie simulacrum” at conventions. Yes, its me. But it is the aspect of me I can present to people who know me primarily as a storyteller.

They deserve the entertainment, the show, and I agreed to be there as part of that entertainment. I owe them.

I owe MORE to my Firedance clan. There, I come much closer to being my true self. It’s a little hyped up and focused, but I speak my true heart there. They deserve this: they come every week, and we have created a tribe where we can speak the truth, often about things most people won’t discuss at all: why we don’t love ourselves, why balance is so hard, how to heal past wounds. Stuff I can only touch on at conventions, I can go more deeply into.

And here, the obstacle becomes the offering. If I can serve BOTH groups by being flexible, that’s what I’ll do. And solving that “problem” in plain sight is a way of not only serving both groups but demonstrating how to juggle priorities to handle a complex situation.

All of that comes from focusing on my goals: MOVE AWAY FROM PAIN, EMBRACE JOY, GIVE SERVICE.

That’s it. This means that the meeting this week will be at 10:30 AM PACIFIC, Saturday the 30th. Mark that on your calendar and join us!

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Steven Barnes is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Firedance (Special time)

Time: Mar 30, 2024 10:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

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