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Before a recent call with Lance to discuss bringing Higher Ground Leadership to a major corporation, I had been warned that, no matter how big my possibilities were, he would expand them.  I went into the call with Lance expecting that, but also thinking, “My possibilities are really big.”  Then it happened: about halfway through the call, Lance ROCKED MY WORLD when he said, “You know, Alex, I’m having a thought here.  I’ve been listening to the CD of your solo piano music that you sent me and I’m wondering if you would consider writing the music for a companion CD that illustrates the C.A.S.T.L.E. Principles that might help the hundreds of ONE Community members in their workshops, coaching, leadership development and consulting?”  Well, I was so inspired by this question that I started the project 5 minutes after Lance and I concluded our call and in only a few short weeks, I already have over a dozen pieces coming together in various stages of completion.

Where writing this much music would normally take 6 months to a year, I knew I’d have to use a new approach to musical composition in order to meet deadlines, so I thought of the C.A.S.T.L.E. Principles and asked myself, “If I approached this project with Courage, how would I be and what would I do?” and the answer came up immediately: I would move against whatever fear and doubt lay in the background and act without hesitation. Five minutes after Lance and I concluded our call, I went to the piano, turned on my tape recorder and said into it, “I don’t know what this is going to sound like, but this piece is about Courage.”  And then I started playing, and what came out surprised me.  It was as if a valve or channel had opened after waiting patiently for a long time and the music just flowed through, giving rise to the title for that first piece, “Open Door”.  Ideas for subsequent compositions flowed one after another, and with each, I either launched it thinking of the book “ONE: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership” and the C.A.S.T.L.E. Principles, or after listening to what was recorded, somehow knew which of the C.A.S.T.L.E. Principles it touched.  

All of this is very wonderful, but the coolest thing, which might ultimately benefit the most people, was the firsthand experience of Conscious Leadership at the level of Mastery along with the insight that we all have the ability to inspire ourselves and one another in this way.  If Conscious Leadership could release such an intense creative output in one person, imagine the “volcanic” human potential that could be released through Conscious Leadership all over the planet!