Welcome to Week 1!

Below you will find videos, audios, transcripts, and worksheets for the Week 1 exercises.  Before you begin, maybe take a deep breath or two, get a glass of water and something to eat, relax and let yourself open up to these new ideas... 🙂

Connection Builder 1:

The Best Moment Exercise

Video 1: What is the Best Moment Exercise and why is it important?

Best Moment Transcript Video 1 +
[expand title="A Long Look" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]Hi, Aaron Bergbusch here. When it came to a point where I had to take a long look and try and figure out why I wasn't making the kind of progress in my music career like I always thought I would... When I stepped back and noticed that my music dream had been bound up in confusion and conflict in my life... I mean, I'd quit jobs and ended relationships and made all sorts of difficult decisions along the way, just so I could do music. It occurred to me that if music was supposed to be my dream, then shouldn't it feel something more like the best moment of my life? I mean it came to a point where I decided, music or no, whatever I was going to do with myself, I wanted to have more of my best moments in my future. So I sat down and I tried to figure out what those best moments were, and if I could, what had brought them on. And when I thought about my best moments, I noticed 3 things they all seemed to have in common.[/expand]
[expand title="3 Attributes Of Best Moments" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]1. They all represented taking a step in the direction of my dream or a leap into 'the unknown'.
2. They all involved a powerful feeling of connection.
3. Circumstances brought me into the 'present moment' each time.
Taking this further, I noticed that these three attributes of the best moments are the same three things we want to happen in our music careers:
1. We want to be empowered to always take the next step, to take that leap forward without fear or anything else holding us back.
2. We want to connect with our audience and make real fans, so we can get heard and make money.
3. We want to be present on stage, or in other words, have 'presence', and quite naturally, without effort, take over the room.[/expand]
[expand title="What Makes A Best Moment?" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]In this exercise you are going to get in touch with the best moments of your life. Maybe it's one moment, maybe two, maybe three, maybe more. When I say moments, I really mean 'times' or 'time periods'. What were the best times you ever remember having? Times when you were really on. When you really felt you belonged. The most precious times of your life that you've always held on to... What made those moments so special? And then you're going to reconnect with the feeling of those moments. The best feeling. This best feeling from your past that you already know.[/expand]
[expand title="Own This Feeling & The Sky's The Limit" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]Maybe it's been a long time since you had the best moment of your life. That's ok. If you're going to breakthrough to a future you want, you'll want to be having more of these best moments, period. Because that's how it's supposed to feel when you get up on stage. And that's what the audience wants to feel. And it's also what you had going for you when you first got into music. That's how it started out. Just like a best moment. Think about that. And, surprise! It turned into your dream. Get in touch with this feeling, own this feeling, and the sky's the limit. Bring this feeling back into your music career and you'll want to do what it takes, and so, you will! Bring this feeling up on stage with you and you'll inspire everyone around you, you'll connect with your audience, and you will be unstoppable.[/expand]

  • Downloadable audiotrack of the Best Moment Exercise video 1.

So what is a 'best moment' anyway?  Only you can say of course, but here are some examples from my life to help kickstart your thinking...

Video 2: Examples of Best Moments

  • Downloadable audiotrack of the Best Moment Exercise video 2.

Best Moment Transcript Video 2 +
[expand title="1. Quitting My 'Career' Job" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"] I'd worked for almost a year in the Planning Department at the City after having gone to Planning School for 3 years. But it wasn't long before it felt tiresome, repetitive, anti-creative, and like a dead end. I saw my whole life stretching before me. And what I found myself doing when I got home, was obsessively editing demos all night long. I survived because I would catch an hour of sleep during the lunch break at work. Don't get me wrong, I had gotten into the office buzz to some degree. I liked being around people, and helping people too. But to make a long story short, after a year, despite the offer of a promotion and a raise, I quit. Somehow I managed to go into the office of my boss and her boss and tell them I was done. And unexpectedly, strangely, in the final two weeks on the job, I was transported to another planet. Somehow, I was alive again. I knew I would never see any of my co-workers again and I suddenly cared to know so much more about everyone. Who they were. What their dreams were. I suddenly found myself able to relate to people honestly, genuinely, and I found myself reaching out to them. Connecting with them. The energy of every look in the eye, every smile, every well wish, I wanted the best for everyone and they wanted the best for me. I wanted to know who everyone was. Free of judgement, free of self-consciousness, free of fear, full of genuine interest, curiosity and wonder. Somehow, and for some reason, I put out energy and it was returned by everyone around me in a magnified, intense and joyful way. [/expand]
[expand title="2. The Final 3 Months Of My Student Exchange To Germany" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]I went to Germany for a full year on a student exchange right out of high school mainly for the experience. About halfway through I made the decision to join the school rock band and this was when I started making real friends. I made real connections with people in a way that I hardly understood. The friends I made in that time became friends forever. I was the foreigner, totally out of my element. I was happy to be accepted, period, by anyone. It was intense, while at the same time free, fun and full of adventure. It was easy to fall in love. I was forced to be in the present moment in part because I knew there was an end date to the exchange when I would have to get on a plane back to Canada and say goodbye. Also, after 9 months in Germany, I was no longer thinkng about home - I had managed to put it out of my mind entirely. I didn't have to give a thought to my future either - I knew I'd be going to University when I got back - it was all settled and seemed like a distant reality. It was nothing to worry about. Little did I know that all I would be trying to do for the next 15 years was get back to that same feeling, playing music and connecting again with those people that I'd loved.[/expand]
[expand title="3. First Rehearsal With New Band After Moving To Ottawa" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]It was the first jam with complete strangers that I had organized since moving across the country. And we were jamming on a few of my original tunes. I felt the connection you feel with other players when you are playing music and giving all you've got. It was really great energy in the room. It was the realization of a dream, a vision I'd had for a long time, hearing my songs played by a band. And it felt good. It was a major event for me to be playing with new players in a new city. All that had come before didn't matter and all that was to come was open canvas. I was judging nothing, not myself, not anyone. It was all out, in the moment. It was one jam, in one room, in one city, in one world. For those two hours it was the place to be.[/expand]
[expand title="4. Alone At Long Beach" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]On the boundary of a wide open, pristine, magnificent beach and an opening in the rainforest where the trail heads back up to Radar Hill at Long Beach, Vancouver Island, Canada I looked back and had one of those mystical, transcendental experiences when your awareness expands outwards and is brought into communion with something infinite and indescribable. It's an awareness and it's a feeling, a tingling feeling, an elevated emotion that moves you profoundly. A spontaneous present moment of connection, wonder, and awe. [/expand]
[expand title="5. The Moment Of The Vows At My Wedding" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]During the vows it was just me and her - everything else melted away. I put down the mic, held her hands in mine, looked into her eyes, and meant each and every word. Time stood still. Despite all the craziness of the rest of the wedding event, that was the moment that mattered. And it was a beautiful moment.[/expand]
[expand title="6. Just A Feeling That Everything Was Going To Be OK" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]3rd year University, 21 years old, living on my own, in the city, feeling lonely, despairing, grinding out the grades in quiet desperation, really knowing I just wanted to do music. The sudden emergence of a feeling of a knowing that everything was going to work out. That the future held limitless potential. And it came from nowhere, or rather it came from me somewhere... At the time I translated what I was feeling and thinking into words on a little piece of paper and I've always kept it in a box and now it's in my wallet. This is what I spontaneously wrote: “It can work. I am on my way. Skepticism aside. The Here and Now. The wonder of it all. Search for the Ultimate Possibilities. Know Thyself. Experience Thyself. REMEMber the Beauty that is the World. SHARE in that beauty. Make the ultimate possibilities come true! Feel good about accomplishments because they are worthwhile! They are for love. Hold fast to that beauty! Acceptance. Make things happen for you. Simply be ... ready for the ultimate experience! It can be ours, and we can make it work for us! To Our future!” At the time, I couldn't really explain it. But it sure brought me back.[/expand]
[expand title="7. The Second Time Treeplanting" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]I had moved back to British Columbia after spending a year in Toronto trying to break onto the music scene. I had lined myself up with a treeplanting job, but it was two months before the season was going to start and until it began I was stuck living in a trailer in a small town called Castlegar with my girlfriend and her parents. And that was all right and fine, but on the other hand, the relationship wasn't really working out. I had been being ground down to a tiny little piece of myself slowly but surely for quite awhile. And when the season finally began, and I got on the Greyhound bus north, I was so happy to be on my own, living in a tent, free as can be, in the forest with the mosquitos, the flies, the bears, and the planting crew. It was such a relief, I was just happy to plant trees all day, eat food, play guitar and hackysack, and drink cheap beer. The past was gone, the future didn't matter. I didn't have to think about it and I didn't think about it. And I planted so many trees I became a sort of leader of the crew. It was good times.[/expand]
[expand title="8. Walking Back To Campus From The Coffee Shop" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]I was walking back to the University of BC campus from a nearby coffee shop on the road along the fringe of a little forested park. It was essentially a non-descript day in a fairly ordinary place at an ordinary time, but I was in songwriting mode. Nevertheless, there was no explanation for it, but I suddenly had a transcendental experience again. I just felt a presence. In the forest, around the tops of the trees, it was kind of an awareness, a feeling. A magnificent feeling. Of connectedness with everthing. Of beauty. Of belonging. Of the infinite. I ultimately wrote a song about it, called Impossible Beautiful. Here is the first verse and chorus: “Impossible Beautiful, you strip away my fear. You inspire me to try. Impossible beautifully I recover my youth. I feel you. You take me by the hand for this moment, knowing that I will always remember. Now I am your witness, even as I dare to dream the impossible.”[/expand]
What could be more fun than thinking about and feeling again the best moments of your life?

Video 3: How to do the Best Moment Exercise (use the worksheet below to get started).

Best Moment Transcript Video 3 +
[expand title="Delve A Little Deeper" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]Ok, so how do you do this exactly? Well, in practice you're going to have to get out your pen and paper at least a few times to get to the bottom of this. Maybe it'll take 7 times in a row, one each day for the rest of the week, but the minimum is probably 3 sittings. Each time you sit down and get writing, delve a little deeper, answering the questions I'm going to describe for you next and which you'll find in the worksheet. Get up in the morning and do this every day for the next 7 days and I guarantee you'll get new insights from this every time you do it.[/expand]
[expand title="Session 1" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]In the first sitting, you're going to identify the best moments or times in your life that you've had. A good way to do this is to get out a pen and paper and just start writing. Just start writing and thinking about the best moments or times of your life. Let it come out. Write whatever you want at first, whatever thought enters your mind, it doesn't matter if it's complete nonsense, just get the pen flowing and then move on to the subject of the best moments you've ever had. Think about them. Think back into your past. Keep going until you've filled three pages. Reach back into your past and reminisce about the moments or times that really stood out. The ones that carry the greatest meaning for you. Maybe a best moment happened when you least expected it? Really get inside this. If some of them are especially vivid and poignant, where you can clearly recall the feeling, underline these once you've got the 3 pages filled. It's going to take you 30 minutes to get through 3 pages, even if you write as fast as you can. To ensure you're uninterrupted and least distracted while you do this, I recommend getting up at least half-an-hour early and doing this first thing in the morning. Just be sure to have your pen and paper ready and handy before you go to bed so things are as easy on you as possible![/expand]
[expand title="Session 2" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]In the second sitting, you're going to explore why you picked the moments you did. I mean, what made those particular moments or times so good? It was something you felt. What did you feel? Get back in touch with the feeling of those moments and try to describe it. Whichever best moment or time of your life you can feel most vividly, you can most get back in touch with emotionally, concentrate on that one in particular. Describe that feeling. You know it in a special, personal way. Describe this feeling that you had when you knew who you were. It may be a feeling you can't explain, one you barely understand. That doesn't matter. Just reconnect with it and get it down.[/expand]
[expand title="Session 3" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]In the 3rd sitting you may want to explore for yourself what it was that brought on the best moments or times of your life. What made the best moments happen for you? This is the direction we're going in here -- I want you to have more best moments in your future. So the more you understand about them and relate to them personally, the better.[/expand]
[expand title="Don't Feel Limited In Any Way" startwrap="" endwrap="" tag="h6"]When you sit down and write don't feel limited in any way. The topics of the 3 sittings as I've outlined them can overlap. You can also spend several sittings on one topic or answering one question. Go where your genuine curiosity leads you. And keep going until you've taken it as far as you can. Do the minimum 3 sittings. It's really not that much effort. This is about you! What could be more fun than thinking about and feeling again the best moments of your life? Feelings that you personally know and cherish. See where it takes you. So good luck with this this week. It'll be fun. Just dedicate some time and go for it.[/expand]

  • Downloadable audiotrack of the Best Moment Exercise video 3.

Use This Worksheet To Get Started ↓

Presence Builder 1:

The Morning Pages

A powerful step toward presence and the creative source.  Very worthwhile, but maybe the most difficult practice in the whole program to actually stick with... In fact, there are many roads to Rome and I'll also be showing you some of the other ones in the weeks to come.

The reading below offers more information than the video, and you could read it INSTEAD of watching the video if you prefer to read (for some people this is faster and clearer)...

  • Downloadable audiotrack of the Morning Pages video.

**Be sure to at least get started on this stuff this week because next week we're going to approach all this from quite a different angle... and we're going to build on the Best Moment exercise.

On the other hand, there's no need to hurry, there's no time requirement here.  Do this at your own pace and to your own satisfaction.  Just because Week 2 opens up doesn't mean you have to immediately move on to Week 2.  You will have to be the judge... in any case don't hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have 🙂