The Lion - Inspiration Behind the Music Video

I first had the idea for this video a while back. 
  
The concept was simple, I wanted to make you ask yourself who wake up next to every day... who you invite into your bed. 
  
I had realized how obsessively I checked my iPhone and computer – often first upon waking up and last thing before going to sleep – even in the bathroom (don’t judge, you know you do it too! And, on it I was constantly being bombarded with messages and information but no time to digest what I had read, watched and learned before being bombarded with the next message. 
  
It’s made me anxious and even sick a few times I think because we aren’t built to handle this much incoming information. 
  
At the end of the day, I think the wealth of knowledge and information we have access to is incredible. I actually find a lot of hope and possibility in it. But, if we’re not taking the time to genuinely consider what we digest through the media and our own community online it’s unlikely we’re going to be willing to try something new that may at first be uncomfortable and even change our opinions. 
  
If we can stomach it, I think the best opportunity for growth in life comes out of chaos. When everything is stirred up and going crazy and only the things that are really important to us – really connected to our hearts and motivated from love and fear are the things we grasp onto and move forward with while everything else falls. 
  
But we have to sit with the chaos – looking at it and being uncomfortable in some very intimate ways before we can have that clarity. 
  
Or we do nothing. 
  
Which feels so good and is so easy. 
  
But what a shame that is. 
  
I challenge you to sit with things you don’t believe in or can’t accept and try believing in them and accepting them just for a few minutes. 
  
From abortion to gun control to gay marriage, gender identity, women’s issues, racism, environmental and countless other issues dividing our society right now. 
  
What are some reasons you can think of that would make you believe this other way of being or thinking? 
  
Even if you know in your heart that you are right, imagine for a moment that you need the opposite to be true and what life would be like if that were the case. 
  
Then next time you can, have a thoughtful conversation – not an argument – with someone who things differently then you. 
  
We need to communicate more. 
  
We think we’re communicating when we post our opinion on Facebook but where we really need to communicate is with our neighbors who disagree with us. It’s too easy to block or un-friend people with opinion’s and views you disagree with but we actually live together off the www on a fairly small blue planet and it’s not realistic to block each other out. 
  
My goal with this video was to be a little off putting and a bit scary... to hopefully inspire you to rethink some of the things you do and think and are just because you’ve always done and thought and were... and have a conversation about it and keep having those conversations. 
  
Embrace the chaos and the growth that can come from that. 
  
Or don’t... 
  
Someone very close to me told me they thought the video was weird. While they are a fairly understanding and accepting person they are also very stubborn in their beliefs and just didn’t get the video. It’s totally fine if you’re that person too. 
  
However... a lot of people are waking up to a lot of things. 
  
They are sitting with the chaos and trying to suss it out. 
  
Whatever your beliefs on these polarizing issues, we could all stand to wake up and show up and more understanding, more willingness to learn and more love. 
  
I think we might just figure out our differences if we can embrace them all for a little while. 

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