I did…and so can you.

I’m a huge believer in the idea that we can ‘think’ our future — whatever we want — into existence. Now, I’m not going to get into exactly how this happens because I honestly don’t know — what I do know is that, somehow, it works. And as usual, I’ll give you an example of how something manifested itself in my little musical world:

One early summer afternoon in 1994, I was driving over the top end of 285 with the radio blaring, headed to teach a few private students at a local Atlanta music store. There were a lot of big musical hits that year, and one of them was “Creep” by TLC — it was playing on the radio, and I was hearing it for the first time. I loved it right away: it had a fat swunky beat with giant vocals in the hook — just the way I like ’em! …Another stellar Dallas Austin production. And I just said it: “I’m gonna play with TLC someday.” And that was it.

Problem was, I didn’t know any of the girls of TLC… I had no connections to anyone at their record label LaFace Records… And even if I did — I wasn’t sure how I could accomplish such a thing: they were already an established group with two CDs released and several TV shows and concerts under their belt. How could I ever jump on a train that had been rolling so fast for the last couple of years?

All I can tell you is that there really is something very powerful about our words: In 1999 — five years later — I found myself playing “Creep” with TLC, live at the Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. The whole experience had come full circle. Some of you may say, “Well, five years is a long time to wait.” My response would be two-fold: First, five years isn’t really very long. I’m writing this in 2011: think of something that happened in 2006…doesn’t seem that far back, does it? And second, it was absolutely worth the wait.

Right now, I’m giving it a go once more — only in a different field of work. So far, so good!

Want something? Claim it out loud.

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-Tom