Greg Murat (mur-rah)
Singer-Songwriter Guitarist
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Journal September 2006
September 30, 2006
The month has passed with swiftness in so many ways.
I am thankful we are so blessed in our lives with the love of family
and with the love of God. I saw only concerns and cares now I see
opportunities and new chances for blessings to flow. The power of
words is immense. I just read about the importance of addressing your
issues and speaking to them not about them. When David faced Goliath
he did not say Oh Lord that guy is huge! How can I face someone three
times my side, someone who is a warrior when I am only a shepherd.
He spoke directly to Goliath and said he was facing him in the name
of and by the power of the God of Israel. There is nothing that God
cannot overcome if we can believe and speak it. Forget the I am not
worthy stuff which is my specialty. Prophecy is self fulfilling so
foresee good and it will come. I am hoping that later I will read
this and be inspired to act upon it.
In the news Cheyanna has had her surgery postponed to
a later date. She seems to be doing fine. They need to work on her
shunt but it is not necessary at this time and Natalie and Freedom
opted to wait until it is to keep her from going through unnecessary
trauma.
Thanks for the prayers. I am in recovery and working my way to wonderful
health and healing and it has been my focus. I look forward to the
passage of this pain and a renewed spirit and all the wonderful things
awaiting our family. God is good.
We are on
our way to a new home and new opportunities and will embrace the future
with open arms.
September 27, 2006
Chani came out today to see her recovering
papa. She is always a joy. I am so proud of how she set out and found
her way and makes no apology for her choice. She talked about how
much she admires all the musical talent in the family. She has that
talent too and when I am better we are going to track some more of
her songs. She wants to learn guitar too so she can write the music.
Actually she already writes the music but doesn't know what the chords
are that go with her melodies. It is so hard to get up and it hurts
like hell. I
have to move about because I had a real hard time coming out of the
anesthesia and I am at very high risk of catching pneumonia. What
was supposed to be a two hour procedure ended up taking nearly 10
hours. I vaguely remember apologizing to the nurse as I was throwing
up and passing out and moaning in pain. She was very concerned and
stressed. I noticed the doctors seemed to be flippant and backed away
as she asked for advice. They seemed irritated that I was still in
recovery 6 hours after surgery. My lungs wanted to fold up and check
out of the game. My nurse was having none of that. I also remember
her telling me that today would be worse than yesterday. She was a
very honest person.
I have to rest now but I want to say Cheyanna went in
for more surgery today and your prayers would be greatly appreciated.
This young soul continues to have quite the challenge on her new journey
on this side of the veil. She is lifted in love by many, lifted up
for healing.
September 23, 2006
Dale Fuentes is here to fix the roof over Liz's room. We have to spend money on this place until we can afford to knock it down and start over. C'est la vie.
September 21, 2006
Last night seems like ages ago now but the whole late evening and
all day I heard the beautiful music of Native American Wooden flute
as played by my friend Paul. Jimmy introduced us a awhile back and
the night before I visited him Jimmy and he played music together.
We all played last night and it took a while for us to fall together
as one Spirit but when we did it was true magic. For those who follow
beauty it was a place to be. I felt so full inside it was if I were
flying. I decided to forgo drinking for a season and that began four
days ago. I felt lifted to a higher place by the music. We recorded
loops on our pedals and then Jimmy and I sat back and listened to
Paul add a second flute to his inspired first performance. We listened
to the recording for about an hour it seems. I accidentally erased
it. I felt strongly I should call Josh and ask him who to save a loop
but I guessed and I guessed wrong. I was sick but it was yet another
lesson in letting go. There are so very many of those.
This music is so healing and purposeful. It is a like a gorgeous sunset.
Each morning Paul plays to the sunrise on his back porch. Wish I could
be there to start the day with that sound. He has never recorded but
we are going to change that. Jimmy and I talked this morning and still
felt high from the experience. They are going to a traditional sweat
lodge tomorrow and I so wish I could go but time and tummy won't allow.
I am giving the doctors yet another go at me and will
have an operation on Tuesday to hopefully remove a pain I have had
for almost a year now. It has me laid up and not much good for anything.
My belly button fell off and has to be put back on. It may not be
that much fun but we will see. My laptop went all the way back to
Apple and came back as broken as when it left so I said send it back
and let them try again. The people at Micro Computer are very nice
and very helpful. They diagnosed trouble with the hard drive and mother
board but neither of those things were fixed. It is way beyond time
for a new computer but budget says wait, wait, just wait. And so it
goes.
September 20, 2006
Think prosperity.
Life is a choice between freedom and fear my son told me. It is also
a choice between pleasure and pain.
September 11, 2006 If
you want to be strong, know your weaknesses.
I was talking to Dale Fuentes yesterday
about abundance and the importance of picturing it and meditation
on it. I said I have a poverty mindset I need to overcome. I can throw
more marbles in my path than can be counted. Clear the way to new
horizons or clear the view of the present ones.
On this day when the world moved on 5 years ago I feel
a mixture of emotions. I feel a great empathy for those who lost loved
ones in the falling of the two towers. I feel the same for the victims
of war through out the world. We need peace in our hearts and minds
and spreading outward to the rest of the planet. I still believe we
have got to learn to love one another. How big a challenge is that
when couples who start out loving each other can hardly ever stay
married? It is a big one. Our survival depends upon it. We all need
to awaken the sleeping giant within us and claim our right to peace
on the planet.
September 10, 2006
Not much to say and little time to say it. Dale Fuentes came by today
and gave us his contractor input on our house. Knock it down and start
over. Just what I wanted to hear. So there you go. We need an RV to
live in while we rebuild or we need to sell the property as is and
move on, or and on and on the list goes.
I played a wedding last night. Got paid for the wedding and played
to reception for free. Don't know why we struggle to make ends meet.
I feel like my performances get marked down more than merchandise
at Wall Mart. A half to two thirds off my price (which is $500 for
a reception and $250 for a wedding) is what I get paid in the end
if there is no contract. A wedding and a reception are not the same
thing and I guess I need to get my business shirt on a get contracts
prior to doing weddings. In the past people have always erred on the
wrong side of the equation. It is funny, the one thing that is always
consistent is that everyone is thrilled with the music. I don't understand
why it gets discounted. Clarity I suppose. The artist is not the business
man. Work out the details prior to the performance, get a contract
and a deposit. Take off the businessman coat and play your heart out.
Problem solved. I love performing at weddings though. Yesterday was
no exception. It is such a time of hope and dreams and expression
of love. I hope to play and sing at a lot more weddings with a new
approach to the business side of things. It will help pay for our
new home. It makes good sense.
The final happy note of yesterday was an evening with Jason
and Blu. We went to an Italian Restaurant in Bothell for a very late
dinner, listed to some excellent jazz and had a few cocktails. It
was most enjoyable. We love those guys and happy birthday to Chris.
We miss his smiling face. I will have to get the name of that restaurant
because it was fantastic and the musicians were stellar. So now I
have to go online with Andie and look at our options. I love this
one home we just stopped and looked at on the way home. It was like
a castle overlooking Centennial Trail Really cool. It was a huge property
just down the street from us and it was only $537,000. Two please.
September 6, 2006
Rob made it safely to Florida. I believe Christina, Josh and Sariah
are arriving sometime today.
Andie moonlighting in Arizona
September 5, 2006
I do not think there is any other quality so essential as perseverance.
It overcomes almost everything, even nature. JD Rockefeller
Thanks for the quote Dale. I have been fiddling around with the MySpace
that Josh set up for me and it is a pain to work. The little time
I have allocated to web design is more productive here but I think
a lot more people look at sites on MySpace. There are a number of
musicians involved in very worthy causes. I like that. My favorite
shows have been the benefits we have played.
It is a cool morning with the last days of summer dancing
around the leaves that are beginning to fall. We got a call from our
friend Randy in Ohio and we got to talk to his daughter Aileen too.
It was great. Aileen told Andie the fire flies were just coming out
for the evening. Andie had never seen fire flies before our trip to
Ohio. Randy says he might visit and that would be a kick. He may be
going to Mexico and invited one or both of us along. I am not sure
which. He said it was a guys trip but Andie is one of the guys according
to Randy. Our little grand daughter jaunt used up our travel fund
but what the heck. We will see.
Okay I have diddled around for some time now and I realize
that I need to get my butt back out there and start playing music
again. There where and the how are very important to me though. I
really want to network with other musicians and writers and share
in this art. It would be good to get new inspiration and interaction.
I hope to record Josh when he is in town.
I have to pay attention to all of my actions because I
have an understudy named Kayden. He watches and follows me around.
A yellow jacket was tormenting us yesterday and I swatted it with
a flip flop. He came right up behind me and picked up the flip flop
and smacked it on the porch with the same enthusiasm I had used. I
have to be very careful of what I do or say because I will get a little
version of it right back. It is good inspiration being nice.
September 4, 2006
Nothing
stays the same except cycle upon cycle of change. Native Elder
The holiday was mellow and now we slide into the
last evening. Rob was in town finishing the last touches of moving
all his stuff to storage and tending to the leftovers of fellow band
members who left their stuff behind. Missy just scratched at and opened
the door to Kayden's room causing to start crying. I hate when she
does that because it can take forever for him to go back to sleep.
Rob is doing great and we finally got to spend some time together
at the end of his last day here. I drove him to the airport this morning
so he could catch a flight to Orlando and the next leg of the Tina
Malia Tour. Mish and Pure visited along with our friends Becky
and Day. It was a late night make music and visit evening. I had to
catch a little nap this afternoon. Faith spent the day with us and
made us a marvelous meal. Got beef?
We have been looking at property on line. For the cost
of a tiny cottage in Ojai we could by two houses on 18 acres in Oregon.
We have been talking about buying acreage with some other members
of the family. We sure loved it down there though. Josh and Christina
will be in the area for a week or two but have lots of plans so we
don't expect to get a whole lot of time with them. The visit in Ojai
was great and I still smile to think of how much we enjoyed our visit.
I don't want to slip back into complacency and let our dreams go back
on hold. Hail to the coming fall and may it bring more of the silent
awakening of souls. .
September 3, 2006
It
doesn't matter how fast you get there if you are going in the wrong
direction.
Slow down and see where you are going.
Here we go Autumn. We are thinking we should have knocked this place
down and sold it in the spring. We are being surrounded by small cities
of housing projects. There doesn't seem to be any thought at all as
to how people are going to fit across a two lane Trestle to get to
town. Motivation is low while need is high. It is so far past time
to move. Spirit move us to see what the good road has in front of
us. I am missing our out of state and in state family every day. I
am so ready for a change and yet it seems so hard for me to make steps
in that direction. I have a subconscious message of my Uncle Frank
telling me everything comes to those who wait. It might be true for
a sniper but not for a soul trying to make their way through life
and reach a higher spiritual plane in the moment. Fall? Get up and
go. Make music along the way.
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Greg Murat (mur-rah)
Singer-Songwriter Guitarist