More Life Lessons with Pharrell

"Should your heart point you in this direction, let me be your guide." P.W.

Pharrell! You beautiful bottlenose dolphin spirit guide, you keep bringing it! Even Angie, hands clutched over her chest, blurted out, "I feel like he just reached inside me and pulled something out." 

Fuck, you are SMOOTH. Do you know what he told two of his contestants this week? 

"One of you is fire, the other ice. If you do this right, we're going to have steam." 

!!!! GOOD GRIEF. I can't get enough. I want to be a big, overly sensitive sponge soaking in everything that comes out of that man's mouth. My new life dream, other than see Celine Dion in concert, is to be able to sit down and have a heart to heart with Pharrell. Except it would probably be so intense I'd have to stand up and act out everything I was feeling. And then we could go hat shopping or something. 

I love that this man is willing to say the things that scare the shit out of just about all of us. It's the real deal. It's heartfelt and full of big emotion, and we're not used to talking like that! I think for a lot of us, when you get right down to it, we aren't used to feeling. We aren't used to feeling. We're used to our default settings, to a certain level of ambivalence. It's so much easier not to care too much! The stakes are so much lower if we don't go all in! But when we're confronted or challenged or come up against opposition, don't we already know what it looks like when we go down the path of fear? Don't over-think it, over-feel it.

Should your heart point you in this direction, let these Pharrell-isms be your guide:

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How does someone move you? Seek out the people and things that stir something inside you. Be relentless of finding the truth, be moved, be willing to take a chance and change things up- that's the only path to progressing forward.

Where are you holding back? You're afraid to engage, but you're chasing your opportunity away. Has that ever worked for you? You've been afraid, and it's not resulted in any kind of positivity, so why bring it to the moment right here? This is your moment; step into it. Let us see who you are.

Take a risk. Go inside yourself and pull out all the things you're afraid to say, and externalize them through words, movement, art, song, whatever works. Make it raw and gritty and full of truth. Because the truth is what matters, and that's what moves other people and makes them feel something. That's how you connect. The most vulnerable part of yourself is the most convincing part of yourself, because that's when people see you letting go, that's when they see you. 

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Care too much. How could you ever be faulted for moving with conviction? How could you ever regret it? Go deeper, move inward, and then shine out. Be the sun. Don't worry about getting burned, you've already got a big hat.

Life Lessons With Pharrell

I make no excuses about the fact that despite having a higher education in Film & Television, and believing myself to be a fairly intelligent person with upstanding taste, I LOVE The Voice. Specifically, I love the words and feelings and declarations that Pharrell Williams takes from inside himself and moves them out into the world. It's a fancy way of saying, I fucking love how that man talks. If I could have a spirit animal for being able to speak with conviction and feeling and eloquence, he would be it. And although his hats are fantastic, Lapo Elkann is already my fashion spirit animal. Sorry, Pharrell, I guess you can't win them all.

P.W., that'll be the nickname I'll use just between us, you are a beautiful, fearless eagle soaring above us, compelling us to look upwards and outwards and see beyond ourselves. When you tell people to take what's inside themselves and tell their story through their voice and through their movements, I feel you. 

If there's one thing that hooks me right away, every time, is when someone or something makes me really feel something. Those are the people and things I seek out, because they're taking a risk. They're willing to open themselves up and let you feel what they feel and see their hearts, and that's rare. But it's such a gift! It's such a special and beautiful moment to connect to someone's soul and feel their story. I want big emotion! I want big risk! Be a big fucking sensitive soul and speak to the depth of what's possible when you move with conviction and intention and purpose! You might trip and fall right on your face in the most embarrassing way possible; the beauty is in trying anyway. 

Live like Pharrell: Don't over-think, over-feel. See what happens when you surrender to the moment? Also, get a great hat. You will always look cool with a great hat.