Woo-woo! I mean, woo! woo! Hopping aboard the soul train to get back… on track.

I just finished my morning meditation. Well, sort of. I mean, I’m still meditating right now as I type, it’s just that I’m not sitting on a cushion and I’m, well, of course I’m typing. But inside I’m still watching my breaths and staying focused on communicating with you.

You know, instead of worrying about that banana peel that needs to be thrown out, those receipts piling up that I ned to record, importing those audio book CDs for Jenni.

Oops. Breathing, we’re breathing here. Communicating with you. Breathing.

I was not raised in a woo-woo household. I didn’t even watch Kung Fu. The closest I ever got to any kind of centering, soul-searching ritual was eating cookies and watching Laverne & Shirley work out their problems on a floppy couch (cue sad television music, Lenny, milk & Pepsi).

While I give credit to Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, and Jim Henson for much of my wackiness and humoriffic attributes, they never gave me the foundation I needed to bring myself back into focus after becoming depressed, sick, scattered, fearful, or just plain freaked out.

Working inside the confines of my studio, lovely as it is with the view of sturdy green Oregon firs and a misty ravine over the Sandy River, it can start feeling like a prison cell if I don’t stop and do a little mental maintenance.

As an independent creative entrepreneur, it’s essential that I make the time to work on the stuff that happens inside, as well as make sure I’m maintaining the glorified inbox zero (hallelujah we praise thee, inbox. In the name of the Father, GTD, and Tim Ferris. Amen).

How I woo-woo

How do I woo-woo? Terribly. I “forget” to meditate and skip the cushion, sliding straight into my keyboard. I “forget” that I have tools to tame my inner Hulk when the kids are being… difficult.

This keeps me humble. There’s actually something I’m not good at and can’t even pretend to be. Taking care of my mental and spiritual needs is something I practice, not something I master and move on.

Thankfully, there are some people that have helped me along the way. I’ll share them with you, because these people also have a deep understanding of what it means to be in a creative business.

The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment by Roshi Philip Kapleau

This book has had a place on my bookshelf since 1993. It’s written in plain language and was my first meditation guide. I still refer to it and I especially like the Roshi’s own personal story of going from ulceritic ad exec to eating pickles and rice in a Japanese Buddhist monastery.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The first book I read by this amazing man was Being Peace. He’s not only an author, but he’s an artist as well. Bonus. I’ll read anything he writes.

Mark Silver, Heart of Business

What can I say? This dude is a friend and Portland neighbor. He’s a 3rd generation entrepreneur, so he knows the nuts and bolts of building a business. For me that’s crucial because after you talk about your passion and the Divine, you have to deal with a whole world of taxes, insurance, economics, and marketing. I recently learned about the Remembrance through Mark, which has been huge for me in understanding what I’m actually doing in business in the first place.

Listen, I am a weird, tattooed, volume-to-eleven, get-er-done, no-bullshit kind of guy. Mark’s stuff seems like the last thing I would ever reach for when I need help with my business. But this stuff works.

Fabeku Fatunmise, Sankofa Song

I just started listening to Fabeku. As in today. His music is awesome. And no, you can’t just have it creeping out of your tinny Macbook speaker, you have to put on the noise-cancelling headphones.

And his blog? Okay, here’s the thing. Fabeku is from my planet. Or I’m from his. He uses people like Captain Stubing (who may as well be a real guy as far as I’m concerned) to get his point across. And chocolate. He talks about chocolate a lot. Bonus points for using ninjas. Besides, I just really enjoy saying his name: Fabeku (that’s Fuh-BAY-koo).

Mahala Mazerov, Luminous Heart

Mahala’s blog is like a little retreat. She sends me an e-mail every now and then and I go read. It’s so simple and great and I don’t want to spoil it by being goofy. It’s simply a nice place to be.

Havi Brooks, Fluent Self

Of course I’ve talked about Havi here before. She’s the mistress of destuckification, something that creative people know a lot about (being stuck, that is). Havi is another friend and Portland neighbor (wait, exactly who’s stalking who, here?). She’s quickly creating a race of Shivanauts, something that I haven’t personally tried but I keep hearing people rave about. One thing I admire about Havi is her ability to put herself out there and talk about those things that get her stuck, too. Not easy. I know, I have trouble with that myself.

So what else? What other woo-woo things do I do that would completely destroy my Just Another Cool Bald Guy image?

I do yoga as often as possible. You know how when you peel your ass off your vinyl office chair after hunching over your WACOM tablet for four hours straight? I would not be able to go back and do it again the next day if I didn’t loosen up my parts.

I drink tea in the afternoon. Man, I love my coffee. Go-go juice. Makes me feel all manly and East Coast to have my java and jump into the studio. Sipping a nice, soothing cup of tea later on helps purge the New York City man that lives inside my head. Besides, it gets really goddamned cold in here sometimes.

I stare out at the trees and the deer in front of my window, contemplating nature. Which reminds me, I really need to take down that Cupcake Heaven logo proof I have taped to my window. It’s distracting me from me tranquil thoughts. Now I want sugar.

What do you do? What’s your woo-woo?

So what do you do to bring yourself in balance? Religion? Red Hot Chili Peppers? Standing on your head? I invite you to share without judgment. Judge-y type comments will be deleted. Not that we ever really get those here. I’m just saying.