Who is Al?

Hi, I’m Al, and here’s what I’m all about:

I’m a person who is committed to bringing beauty into the world, to cultivating it all around me, and to bringing happiness into the lives of everyone I come into contact with.

I believe the time is NOW, and the answer is YES. When your soul receives a prompting, pay attention to it. Life provides far more opportunities for miracles to come into our lives than we can possibly take advantage of. The more a person says yes to life, the more life a person gets.

This theme has played out so many ways in my life. I left a 10-year “safe and secure” career as a technical writer for a Fortune 500 company in 2004. This was a natural progression for me as I had been vigorously pursuing my career as a successful performing songwriter, healer and artistic guide, and the time had come to move on. Since that time, I have toured and traveled throughout the world, and experienced things that most people only dream of -- all because I said “YES” to life, and I learned that NOW is the time.

Here are a few of the ways I’ve pursued my commitment to bringing beauty into the world:

• I designed the LifeLuster Workshop (2002) and Door Number Four Artistic Uncovery Workshops (2004-2006), precursors to Jumpstart Your Art. Participants reported major successes and breakthroughs as a result of their work in these workshops.
  
  
• In 2004 I created the Wordplay Songwriter Showcase in Los Angeles, CA, a monthly songwriting event in which five songwriters all had a month to write, then perform a new work based on a specific theme. Dozens of songwriters have participated in Wordplay over the years and many created some of their best work as a result. It was through the Wordplay Songwriter Showcase that I tested the concept for Jumpstart Your Art. (Wordplay continues in LA with Daniel McFeeley as host.)
  
  
• In 2007 I sold my home in Los Angeles to travel to Guatemala and Peru, where I participated in healing ceremonies with indigenous shamans and began a sustainable fish farm operation in the Peruvian rainforest. (Part of my art is to bring healing to the world, and to me that meant making a difference in the rainforest to provide economic solutions there, such that fewer trees would get mowed down.) When my work down there was finished I moved to Portland, OR. I had never fully lived anywhere but Los Angeles prior to that. Moving my life a thousand miles away at age 43, just because I wanted a change, is another way of making My Life into My Art.
   

I have been facilitating small groups since 1984, have extensive leadership training experience, and enjoy a unique spiritual practice based on Christian mysticism, Taoism, Shamanism, Tantra, Buddhism and Native American teaching. I’m an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church.

Questions: Contact Al at (818) 694-4757 or email him at al@jumpstartyourart.net.