"Touring HIIH-style … in the State of Gratitude"

Here’s one simple, powerful exercise we do every time we get in the Durango to drive to a new city. We go around our circle and simply say what we are grateful for. Everything and anything comes up – the delicious organic chocolate chip cookie I just ate; the wondrously green hills whizzing by breathtaking at that moment; the audience at our show the night before; the fact that we’re driving to a home to sleep for the night. Round n’ round we go … sometimes for hours … we find no end to the opportunities for gratitude. Infinite objects, appearances, circumstances, people, events, experiences, moments, etc … all to be grateful for.

Then, after we’ve gotten a good gratitude vortex all spiraled up in the truck, we pick a subject that we might not be so comfortable with, something in reality that we want to change – like the small Durango we’re all scrunched into, or the tight finances we have been dealing with – and then throw gratitude all over that experience. So we’ll each take our turn to express gratitude about, say, how the Durango protects us on the road; how it feels like a little spaceship capsule we’re cruising in; how it keeps us warm and dependably empowers us to take our music all over the country … etc.

Then we do … “wouldn’t it be fun if …” and we let the imaginations run wild! Wouldn’t it be fun if … “at our next show an audience member was so moved that she donated the perfect tour bus (with a driver) to the band!” .. or Wouldn’t it be fun if … “Oprah called right now and said I’ve got plane tickets waiting for you in your next city … see you tomorrow!” … etc.

Finally, we take one vision – the band sitting with Oprah, or Jim Carey introducing us on stage – and for 68 seconds with all our focus and concentration visualize that experience. What it would feel like, taste like, smell like, look like …

By the end of it all, the 8-hour drive may be over, and we’re all feeling pretty damn good. This is some powerful stuff, let me tell you!

We started this practice when we left Miami back in January … over 2 months ago. I brought the first part of the gratitude exercise to the group as a powerful way of stepping into our individual and collective capacity to create whatever experience we desire. I initially thought it would help us stay healthy and positive as we set out to cross the cold plain states in January during the first 3 weeks of the tour. I simply knew how powerful we are … the immensity of the experience we were launching ourselves into … and I believed exercises like this would keep us in the powerful mind-state of the creative beings that we all are.

We are 6 mostly latin, passionate guys (even I’m 25% Spanish), traveling across the USA in a Durango, with strong personalities (except Edwin, whom I believe is a Saint reincarnated to play with his dream of becoming a rock star), a variety of daily rhythms and eating habits, and sometimes no idea where we’re going to perform in the near future or even sleep at night. While we do have a determined collective vision, we sometimes disagree strongly on how to move towards that vision.

These gratitude exercises are remarkably helpful in keeping us all focused NOT on the things we wish were different or would otherwise complain about, but on the infinite miracles surrounding us constantly, supporting us in profound ways we might not take time to appreciate. And we focus on what is possible … from a space of complete gratitude for what IS … RIGHT NOW.

So no matter what unfolds in the next moment, at the next city, or even at the next gas stop, we’re arriving there grateful. I find in that space, the next moment is just as, if not more so, magical and delicious as the one before.