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Ok, I’ve been waiting for the right time to tell you all this but… I’m just going to get straight to the point.

I’ve decided that the time has come for me to pack up my things, sell the house and move down South around the Fleurieu Peninsula somewhere from a line due East from Moana to McLaren Flat all the way down to Goolwa.

This move will enable me to be first and foremost, closer to my family (who live in Goolwa and Mount Compass) plus, it will enable me to take a step closer to living in an environment where I can live the life that I want to live…

A slow, steady, simple and silent life. 

I’ve signed all of the necessary contracts which have instructed Harris Real Estate to sell the house and its hoped that things will be finalised around the end of January/beginning of February 2022.

So what does this all mean?

Well, besides having a different home and delivery address and maybe some more phone conversations or online chats via Skype or Zoom, nothing else will need to change as I’m only moving an extra 60-90 minutes away from Adelaide at the most. 

Of course, I’ll make my way to Adelaide at least once a week to meet up with clients and/or to catch up with friends and remember, there will always be a place to stay for anyone who trundles down my neck of the woods.

Most importantly though, I’ll be pulling up stumps on a life that was mostly defined by the partnership between Mara and I but now, with Mara gone, I now have to move forward with my life. This was inevitable whether it be now or later.

The fact is that the home that Mara and I had built together in Dudley Park since 2012 (yes, almost 10 years now) is now just a house that will now always have something missing in it, something that will constantly remind me of all the negative aspects of the last few years so, the time was right to make the move.

I also know that Charlie is going to have more room to run around and be a dog in rather than being either cooped up inside or navigating a tiny backyard plus, I’ll also have more studio/office space to expand SongMachine and ZenWeb into as that will be one of my requirements for the next house.

The more I get used to the concept of moving my life away from the city, the more I realise that this is what I must do and as I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, one of the main lessons I’ve learned is that life is all about letting go.

I would say that this decision to move down South is the best example of me letting go of something which doesn’t serve a purpose for me anymore that I can think of.

And I’m totally fine with that.

This decision was actually something Mara and I had spoken about on a number of occasions to the point where we had decided it was going to become an eventuality.

I’m so glad that I’m able to take Mara’s memory with me as I know she will love the change in scenery.

Right now, I’m working in a somewhat limited capacity on my laptop as the studio and office computers have been packed away. I’m still able to work but it might take a little longer to get things done but this will be just a temporary inconvenience.

As I’ve only just made the decision and started the process, I really have nothing else to report as yet but I can say that I don’t know where I’ll end up but I do know that there’s a place out there with my name on it. 

All I have to do is have the trust in myself that I’ll find it.

Personally, it’s all very exciting and terrifying at the same time but I know that Mara is there with me in spirit cheering me on from wherever she is and like me, looking forward to what the next chapter will bring.

All I can say is “Watch this space…” 

Peace,

Corey 🙂

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In my last post I mentioned that 2021 was for me… “a year to consolidate my emotions and redefine my sense of meaning and purpose in life.” 

In reflection, one of the things that I realised was the way I was living my life currently was not doing me, my creativity and my health any good at all. 

So, in order to make the necessary changes needed to remedy this, I’ve decided that the way I want to live my life from now on is slow, steady, simple and silent.

Well, what does that really mean? 

A core fundamental belief of mine is that there is no “THE meaning of life” but “A meaning of life” therefore any meaning I have for my life is one that I create and insert into my existence rather than something external that I use my existence to find.

With that being said, here are my reasons for wanting to change my life and live in this way.

Slow 

First of all, there is a reason why the term “rat race” exists. Life seems to be one big rush from one event to another without taking into consideration why the rush is happening in the first place.

We as a society have been duped into believing that the world is a fast paced, busy place and only the fastest, busiest and most ruthless with their time and energy will survive it. 

This has permeated into the toxic world of “hustle culture” exemplified by people such as Gary Vaynerchuk for instance.

I’ve known for a long time that I’ve needed to slow my life down and find a way to get myself off of this perpetual hamster wheel that I (and everyone else in the world for that matter) find myself on at the moment.

By slowing down my life I am able to live my life the way I want to live it, work the way I want to work it and relax in the way that I want to relax. 

Steady

Since Mara passed away, I have gone through a rollercoaster of emotions which have had profound effects on my life in both good and bad ways.

The bad way was that for a period of time I just gave up and let myself go through my grief and got very sick which tipped my body over the edge into Type 2 Diabetes territory. 

The good way was that thankfully the Type 2 diagnosis was the kick up the arse I needed to make the significant changes in my life to where I’m now on my way back to greater mental, physical and spiritual health.

The steady path I wish to take is the middle way of moderation, routine and discipline which I believe are the key factors in me getting on with it and moving forward with my life because with the world the way it is at the moment, it’s so very easy to be put off your centre these days. 

The world around us offers many temptations and distractions all designed to make you become more susceptible to advertising and the prevailing narrative of the times through the various media that we all consume.

Simple

One of my main aims of 2022 is to simplify my life and distill who and what I am into the smallest possible footprint that I can operate in. 

As I mentioned in another blog post, what I want to be essentially doing is getting rid of the things that I don’t need and for me to keep the things that I really do need, the things that will serve my purposes the best.

For example, as a musician I, like most other musicians, suffer from a bit of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) and because of this I have accumulated a bit of gear that for some of them, I need to find good homes for. 

I know that what I don’t need anymore can be more useful to somebody else so I’m very comfortable doing that.

Simplifying, decluttering, minimalising, whatever you want to call it, is a really essential part of moving forward.

The more simple I make my life, the more time I can devote to what matters to me most, the less margins of error I need to navigate and the less (unnecessary) choices that I need to make.

I’ve been known to overthink things from time to time and because of this I suffer from analysis paralysis on an almost daily basis. Making a choice, moving forward and taking action on it can be a real challenge. 

I know that I need to be clear in my focus and intention, to be decisive with my choices and to take action on those choices with methodical determination. I believe that living a more simple life will help me greatly.

Silent

NO! It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to play music anymore as that’s not the kind of silence I’m talking about.

What I really mean is creating a life in which I can eliminate the unnecessary noise and chatter that happens inside my head and THAT is what I want to eliminate from my life, because as the old saying goes…

“Silence is golden.”

Even though I have gone through some massive life changes of late, internally the monkey inside my head is well and truly active. 

I am getting better at silencing the chatter but I know full well that this is a full time job that will take the rest of my life (and perhaps a future lifetime or two) to master.

As I’ve mentioned before, I can have some issues with overthinking and placing myself in a quieter environment with less distractions will go a long way in helping me to give my inner monkey an extended holiday.

So in conclusion there you have it, my reasons for wanting to live a slow, steady, simple and silent life. 

It’s my hope that by doing this I can create a healthier, more creative and spiritually fulfilled existence for myself and that my creative output from now on, can be the major benefactor of these changes.

Wish me luck and watch this space…

Peace,

Corey 🙂

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I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas and New Years break that is full of family, friends and maybe some overindulgence as well, a perfect way to celebrate the year that was.

For me, 2021 was a year to consolidate my emotions and redefine my sense of meaning and purpose in life. This is of course due to Mara’s passing just over 12 months earlier.

Plus, with a couple of pretty major health issues (diabetes and hypertension) at the forefront of my mind and knowing full well that there would inevitably be a time that I would need to move on in my life, I also used 2021 as a means to work further on my health and to get myself back to some sort of spiritual centre.

So, with today being the first day of 2022, I want to share with you the things that I’ll be doing for this year.

2022 will be a year of transformation, a reinvention of the self from who I was in the past to what I will become in the future.

Until now I have been processing and grieving the loss of Mara as well as maintaining a holding pattern for my life until such time that I was ready to move forward but I now know that 2022 is the year that this will all be possible.

It will be possible because this year I will…

  • Continue on my path to reversing my Type 2 diabetes diagnosis, lowering my blood pressure and just getting healthier in general.
  • Continue to keep losing all of the unwanted weight that I have accumulated over the years and re-establishing a better relationship with food and what I put into my body.
  • Continue to look for opportunities to expand on my creativity whether it be writing music, performing live, building web presences, creating content through writing blogs, recording podcasts and shooting video for myself and/or my clients. 
  • Continue striving to be the best I can be through self reflection, meditation and living an examined life. I will learn from all the lessons that come my way just through embracing everyday life and all that it offers me. 
  • Continue to keep Mara’s memory alive in everything that I do because she was the greatest influence on me and a champion of the journey that I’m taking on at the moment so no matter what happens next, Mara will always be with me every step of the way..

I can feel the emotional fog lifting a little, I’m slowly but surely getting out of the house and lifting my head above the fog to see what’s happening. 

Right now, I’m in a good place and what I can say is that this year, I’ll be creating more content to see, hear, read, watch and share. After all, how do I know if this transformation and reinvention caper is truly working unless I document it somehow?

Anyways, thank you so much for being part of my personal and musical journey so far and I sincerely hope that 2022 is everything that you want it to be (and much, much more).

Peace,

Corey 🙂