HERE’S JOHNNY!

Paris Cowboy by Johnny Frederick

A good friend recently emailed me, starting their email saying, I feel like Ed McMahon, because I want to say, ‘Here’s Johnny!’” If you’re not old enough to get that reference, check out video of the old Tonight Show

They were referring to the recent change I’ve made, now using Johnny, a name only certain family members call me.

I started using Johnny (as opposed to John which I’ve used all my life) when I was putting the finishing touches on my first EP, Paris Cowboy. The album of six songs I wrote was recorded with my very good friend and producer, Ladell Mclin.

I designed the cover and looking at it, “John Frederick” just seemed, well, not very rock-and-roll, not very country – generally not very musical.

But calling up my childhood family name, Johnny – it felt right for a musical moniker. But it also struck me as a milestone, a demarcation along my continuing spiritual path.

Name-changing has roots in ancient spirituality and in almost all religions and spiritual paths. In many indigenous cultures, a name change occurred after a vision quest or other rite of passage. In the Bible, Abram became Abraham and his wife Sarai became Sarah, Jacob became Israel and Saul became Paul.

Swami Vishwakaunteyananda wrote, “Everything in creation is based on vibration…. It’s no surprise that when Swami gives us a name, the qualities of that name start to permeate all our cells.”

My name change didn’t originate in anything that profound – it wasn’t directly from an angel or a swami or guru or even from a formal vision quest – but it has had a profound impact on my thinking about myself, my past, my present and my future.

If you’re anything like me – or like most people on the planet – childhood was a mixture of wonderful, magical times, and sad, difficult and traumatic times.

While my childhood was certainly not horrible, there were more than a few moments and situations that caused a great deal of trauma – the echoes of which have continued to reverberate on throughout my life. And, if they are not dealt with, will continue to.

Anyone who knows me or who has read some of my story in my book Prosperity Now! knows that I have had instances of childhood abuse and neglect, which I attempted to medicate from my teens into my mid-thirties by using drugs such as alcohol, marijuana and harder substances as well as engaging in other trauma-based behaviors and coping mechanisms to deal with the untreated pain of childhood.

Today, much (but not all) of the pain, the echoes of the past, have been healed, thanks to a number of spiritual avenues I have been blessed to find and to travel. Today, the ghosts of my past have largely been put to rest.

Much of the blogging I did earlier this year, which I offered under the title, “Shadow Work for Dummies,” detailed a type of vision quest I undertook, exploring the shadow side of my life, of my personality the unconscious pain that was driving my addictive and self-destructive thinking and behaviors.

Those things were not healing the pain but actually making me relive the pain over and over and over again, perpetuating it and even making it worse!

So, when I looked at the Paris Cowboy cover and realized I needed a better name to use for my musical endeavors, Johnny came to mind, felt right and that is what I am using now.

You can call me John or Johnny, it doesn’t matter, but for this third half of my life, I am reclaiming Johnny for myself.

I’ve heard it said, It’s never too late to have a happy childhood and it’s true.

One of the principal attributes of miracles, according to A Course in Miracles is that…

Miracles are both beginnings and endings, and so they alter the temporal order. They are always affirmations of rebirth, which seem to go back but really go forward. They undo the past in the present, and thus release the future. (Emphasis added)

(ACIM, T-1.I.13:1-3)

The miracle is a change in thinking that brings the past (which only exists in our minds) into the present moment and heals it, so that the future is brand new!

This is a phenomenon in 12-Step recovery, where we say we will,

“….not regret the past, nor wish to shut the door on it.”

And,

“No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.”

(AA Big book, page 83-84)

This is a real-world application of the miracle, that our past is healed in the present, so that the future looks different – is different – from the past. And then we can use that experience, strength and hope to help others who are struggling to change their lives for the better.

In active addiction, the pain and trauma of yesterday are brought into today and experienced all over again. And so, tomorrow looks like yesterday, with the future no better than the past, because the ghosts of the past continue to haunt each day.

Of course, one does not to be a full-blown addict/alcoholic to have ghosts of the past, traumas and dysfunction to cause life to go off course and keep us from living, the life of your dreams.

All of us can use some inner exploration – some shadow work for dummies. It’s scary, of course. It seems easier to “let sleeping dogs lie,” or “let the dead bury the dead” but in fact, the longer these wounds go untreated, the worse they become over time.

I am happy to help people with life, helping people get out of struggle – especially with finances and health issues. I am extremely blessed to have those major traumas and dysfunctions largely healed.

It’s not because I’m unique or “lucky” – anyone who wants to can live the life of their dreams and be healed from the past. One need not be in pain, confusion or despair, need not suffer. Need not struggle.

Please let me know how I can help you live the life of your dreams. You have nothing to lose but your fears.

Happy Sunday,

Johnny

I am available to do Prosperity Now! individual or group sessions or general life-coaching, I Ching readings, dream interpretation or join us for our weekly Wednesday Course in Miracles group.

Please sign up prosperitynowlifeofdreams@yahoo.com

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