Category: Grateful Heart Monday

Welcome to this week’s Grateful Heart Monday entry! For today, I’d like to express my gratitude for a new movie I just watched on Netflix that moved my heart quite a bit that’s titled, “I Used To Be Famous.”

Starring Ed Skrein as Vince and Leo Long as Stevie, the film begins with a down on his luck musician, Vince, trying to find his way back to stardom with a life that once had him lead singing for a boy band named Stereo Dream. While his former boy band co-singing lead Austin (Eoin Macken) somehow managed to keep his stardom alive, Vince has disappeared into a state where people only seem to make fun of him now as he shuffles from one public square to another with a keyboard and various equipment relegated to playing short melodies that no one really pays attention to. That is until one day a teenage boy (Stevie) sits down on a bench behind him, pulls out some drumsticks, and begins playing along with Vince’s melodies. As a crowd begins to show up and listen, some even taking their phones out to film, the combination of the two proves to be a huge success. Unfortunately, Vince quickly learns that while Stevie is obviously gifted, he’s also autistic, as Stevie experiences a complete meltdown with the loudness of the crowd around him. When Stevie’s mother swoops in to whisk him away, Vince is convinced that Stevie is his ticket back to stardom. What he doesn’t know though is how Stevie may very well become something he needs far more in life, that being a person who can help heal his broken soul. And just maybe along the way Vince may be an amazing teacher to Stevie as well to help him become the drummer prodigy he’s meant to become.

I’m truly grateful for formulaic movies like this. “I Used To Be Famous” is most certainly one of those tried and true formulas that pull at the heart strings quite easily as you watch it. It’s films like this that I need lately as I find my heart often shutting down in the emptiness I feel and the loneliness I continue to experience in life. I tend to think that if I didn’t consciously do things on a daily basis to keep my heart open such as watching movies like this, I’d probably resort back into a life of addictions to cope with this pit of despair I always seem to feel within me.

While “I Used To Be Famous” wasn’t necessarily ground-breaking material, it definitely was a film that absolutely demonstrated a very valuable principle in life that I believe is true. A principle that shows how finding fame and fortune isn’t what truly matters on this planet and that what really matters more is having a life focused on helping others, living selflessly, and placing other’s needs, wants, and desires ahead of oneself.

I needed a good reminder of this principle and am thankful for discovering this great gem of a film on Netflix, as my heart unquestionably felt far fuller and more open after watching it, something I most assuredly needed.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday, where gratitude gets expressed at the start of every week, which for today is for my partner Chris stepping in to handle a situation that fully spiraled out of control recently with a neighbor I had already experienced a verbal run-in with a few weeks ago that I felt completely helpless to deal with.

In recent weeks, life became exceptionally difficult with a next-door neighbor, someone I wrote about in a prior entry where the principle of “Love Thy Neighbor” had been going in one direction only. For those who didn’t read my prior article on this, up until this spring, I had maintained this neighbor’s yard for years, never asking for anything, simply because I wanted to lend a helping hand to the aging owner who had been really struggling with their health. When they eventually passed away, I was informed that my services were no longer needed by one of the siblings who had moved in. So, I spent this year maintaining a few feet on the other side of our fence given our fence was never built on our property line, as laws back when it was built didn’t allow for that, and I didn’t exactly know where the actual line was. Nothing was ever said about this until a few weeks ago when I trimmed some new grass the sibling had planted in the area in question that I had still been maintaining. That led to their huge explosion and Chris eventually stepping in to handle the situation.

For the first few weeks, he started to maintain the area in question rather than I, and backing off by only mowing a few inches on the other side of our fence. Unfortunately, the sibling was still convinced it violated what they felt was theirs and erected a makeshift chicken-wire fence, placing it directly next to ours. When we came home late one night to discover this, it began a 48-hour cycle of stress and anxiety for me I haven’t experienced since last being on medication for it over 11 years ago now. Thankfully, Chris immediately handled it the next day by calling the police, as he wanted to make sure things didn’t escalate out of control. I wasn’t home at the time, and I’m glad I wasn’t because I had a lot of emotion surrounding it all. Given the amount of blood, sweat, and tears I placed into taking this neighbor’s yard from weeds and violets to a lush blanket of green grass over five to six years of time seemingly meant nothing to them, and it frankly stung, bad. My partner totally kept his cool about it though, even as the police acknowledged how passive-aggressive the neighbor’s action was. They let the neighbor know that and told them as well that it needed to be moved back enough for us to maintain the area around our fence. They further said that it eventually needed to be removed altogether because it hadn’t been properly surveyed and wasn’t approved fencing material. The neighbor said they understood and that it was only temporary to set an example, which Chris remained calm and collective through. I’m grateful he handled it all with such ease, even later that night via text, when he sent a friendly text to the neighbor indicating he only needed a few more inches to successfully maintain our yard and was willing to help them move the fencing the next morning if needed. Unfortunately, the next morning they hadn’t responded or moved anything, so Chris, after receiving the blessing of the police who said he could move it if they hadn’t, did just that. He further promised me he would continue to handle this if anything more should arise, as he knew I didn’t have the desire anymore to be involved, especially given I’m not one of the property owners.

Why this is such a huge piece of gratitude in my life overall is because my partner for the longest time never stood up for things that were affecting more me than him. Chris was raised on a belief system that people should fight their own battles, but sometimes battles in relationships require one partner to stand up for the other, something Chris had never really faced much in life prior to me. This is why I’m grateful to see he’s working on this and wanted to acknowledge that today, especially in how he’s handling this very stressful situation, showing firm composure and support of me for all the pain this neighbor’s actions brought upon my heart.

While I hope one day this neighbor’s heart may soften and be able to feel more of the presence of God to see me in a completely different light than the one they have painted me in, I am filled with immense gratitude on this Grateful Heart Monday for my partner stepping in to fully handle this very nerve-wracking situation from now on. Thank you, Chris, for this. It means more to me than you know…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Welcome to this week’s Grateful Heart Monday entry, which is always an entry in gratitude from somewhere in my life. Today, I want to give thanks for a very relaxing day trip my friend Ronn Musser and I took one Friday afternoon just over a week ago now to the small town of Yellow Springs, Ohio, a town that really felt a lot like it was straight off the set of the movie Pleasantville!

If you’ve never had the chance to see the movie Pleasantville, I encourage you to give it a whirl. While this entry in gratitude isn’t necessarily about that movie, the warming and welcoming energy from all the townsfolk in Pleasantville is exactly what I felt during my entire afternoon stay in Yellow Springs. From the very moment we drove into the downtown vicinity where all the cute little shops and restaurants were, I noticed people everywhere were smiling and conversing amongst one another. It felt very inviting indeed.

Our day began at a 19^th Century restaurant named the Ye Olde Trail Tavern, which had a number of entrance ways I had to duck below, assumingely because people of my height didn’t probably exist with great regularity in the early 1800s. Built in 1827, the tavern and restaurant definitely held the air of stepping back in time, which could be felt immediately upon walking in. As we were cheerfully greeted and seated on the outdoor patio on a 68-degree sunny day, I noticed the menu was quite eclectic, from German fare to beer battered fish to a number of very interesting sandwiches and burgers. My personal favorite was the huge piping hot pretzel sticks and beer cheese we started our meal with. Everything else we ate was absolutely delectable as well and I want to give our waitress kudos too for giving us plenty of friendly tips for things to see and do during our visit, including where I could get some sweet treats, something I always do when visiting somewhere in small town America.

Most of the rest of our day after our lunch was done was spent going into all the neat little shoppes in town, where I can honestly say that every worker or owner greeted us with not just a smile, but also bountiful conversation. I very much appreciated the owner of the first store we entered, the Village Herb Shoppe, who gave me a free white sage bundle after I shared some of my spiritual journey with him. With each subsequent store, the warm feeling continued. At Basho apparel, the store owner was from Greece who made his own shirt designs, one of which I liked so much I bought. Another store owner took pride in how he’s doing his part to protect the environment with products that create sustainability. At Yellow Springs Toy Company, the employee had a great chat with my friend Ronn and talked about totally loving his unique job. At Tom’s Market, we walked up and down the aisles just taking in the variety of products that we never get to see in the big supermarkets near our homes where I also noticed all the employees seemed very happy. We ended up getting a few homemade desserts there that included a “key limb bomb” and a “cheesecake cone”. Wow is all I can say about how tasty they were! A few other key notables to mention from a few other stores we visited that brought a warm smile to my face included seeing a black cat sleeping so soundly in an empty bin at the comic book store that she didn’t even stir an ounce when petted, or the shopkeeper who busily swept off his sidewalk until not one spec of debris remained and his area was spotless, or the friendly metaphysical shop workers who guided me to find a few owl crystals for my partner, or the amazing photo work I saw in one store that when I asked who the incredible photographer was, the employee said it was him (Ryan L. Taylor) and thanked me profusely while talking about where many of his pictures were taken.

Overall, I must say that I thoroughly felt uplifted and renewed during my entire afternoon visit to Yellow Springs, Ohio. It’s no secret that I’ve struggled immensely trying to feel that way in Toledo, Ohio, where on most days, it feels the exact opposite. So, this was truly refreshing and uplifting to my heart and soul. Yellow Springs is beautiful town that I could totally see myself living in, especially when I saw a community board near the local market that posted many of the things to do around town, including countless free spiritual classes of things I’m totally interested in. I actually wished after seeing that board that I could have stayed much longer.

Nevertheless, Yellow Springs, Ohio is a lovely town with plenty of lovely people who take great pride and joy in not only their stores, but also in their town itself, a town I hope to visit again one day and a town most definitely worthy of being the subject of today’s Grateful Heart Monday entry!

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson