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Be With What Is

from Good to Me by Shannon Curtis

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    12" cotton candy-and-yellow marbled vinyl version of our latest album. Limited edition of 100, shrinkwrapped with black anti-static sleeve. Mastered for vinyl by the legendary Bob Weston (LCD Soundsystem, David Bowie, Danger Mouse) at Chicago Mastering Service. Vinyl release date: February 16, 2024.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Good to Me via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 98 days
    edition of 100 

      $25 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Beautiful 4-panel digipak.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Good to Me via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • T-Shirt/Shirt

    "The Synth and the Fury" Inspired by a Shannon Curtis show preview in Seven Days Vermont, inspired by Sex Pistols. We love it.

    We went back to our roots with this one: these limited-run of tees are hand-screened by Shannon & Jamie, making each one unique and infused with extra special indie love.

    Unisex crew neck tees are high-quality Next Level Apparel 3600 "Premium Crew" tees, made from 4.3oz 100% combed cotton with a tear-away tag. They run true to size.

    Please consult the sizing chart in the photo gallery for precise garment sizing.
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 10  7 remaining

      $30 USD or more 

     

  • T-Shirt/Shirt

    "I Know Who I Am." A stand-in-your-power lyric from the song "I Am" from the Good to Me album. White silk screen printed on a relaxed heather grey scoopneck tee.

    Scoopneck tees are high-quality Next Level Apparel 6760 tri-blend jersey tees, made from 4.3oz 50% polyester / 25% combed cotton / 25% rayon blend, with a tear-away tag. They run true to size.
    ships out within 5 days

      $25 USD or more 

     

  • T-Shirt/Shirt

    "Be With What Is." A statement of radical acceptance, a central theme on the Good to Me album.

    Unisex crew neck tees are high-quality Next Level Apparel 3600 "Premium Crew" tees, made from 4.3oz 100% combed cotton with a tear-away tag. They run true to size.
    ships out within 5 days

      $25 USD or more 

     

  • T-Shirt/Shirt

    "I Know Who I Am." A stand-in-your-power lyric from the song "I Am" from the Good to Me album. White silk screen printed on a heather grey crewneck tee.

    Unisex crew neck tees are high-quality Next Level Apparel 6210 CVC jersey tees, made from 4.3oz 60% combed cotton / 40% polyester blend, with a tear-away tag. They run true to size.
    ships out within 5 days

      $25 USD or more 

     

about

~~ Acceptance ~~

** Make as exhaustive a list as I can of all of the things I do not have the power to change.

How are some of the items on this list related to the concept of personal boundaries — i.e. “this is where I end and another person begins,” or “this is my side of the street, and across the yellow line in the middle is the other person’s side of the street.”

• As I consider the concept of boundaries, is there anything I need to add to the list of things I don’t have the power to change?

How are some of the items on the list related to the idea of harboring expectations?

• How much of the dissatisfaction and pain that I experience arises from the difference between how I think things *should* be and how things are in reality?

• As I consider the notion of harboring expectations, is there anything that needs to be added to the list?

• Is it possible for me to release the expectations I have for the items on my list, to accept them as they are, without indulging my urge to judge them?

Create some kind of visualization exercise in which I can focus on each of the items on my list and let them go, without judgment.

• Walk through the visualization for each item on the list, one by one.
• What does it feel like to let them go? In my mind, my body, and my spirit. (Use the feelings lists!)
• Are there hard feelings? What are they?
• Are there pleasant feelings? What are they?


/////


~~ To accept the things I cannot change. ~~


Here is a list of everything I can think of in this moment that belongs on my list of “things I do not have the power to change”:

• other people’s actions
• other people’s feelings
• what other people think
• how other people live their lives
• what other people think about me
• how other people feel about me
• what other people expect of me
• the past
• things I’ve done in the past
• anything that has already happened
• the future (insofar as the only time in which I have the power to change anything is the present moment)
• things that will or won’t happen in the future
• the problems and injustices and suffering in the world
• the weather
• what other people say
• what other people believe
• getting old
• who my family is
• where I came from (i.e. my background, my personal and family history)
• ways in which I’ve been hurt in the past
• ways in which I’ve been wronged in the past
• ways in which I’ve experienced injustice or oppression or abuse in the past
• lost time
• the fundamentals of what I look like: my height, my body type, my skin color
• natural disasters
• traffic
• the economy
• the fact of pain in my life
• the fact of pain in the world
• the unfairness of life
• the laws of physics
• human nature



There is so much that I cannot change.
So much that is out of my power’s reach
— not because of any personal failing,
or the result of a lack of effort —
there’s just a whole lot of stuff that is beyond my control.

Some of it isn’t any of my business — things that don’t concern me.
And also there are things that do concern me,
but which are not mine to change.
No matter what category they fit into, all of the things on this list …
… are things that just … are.

And, here’s the rub:
if I want to live in reality,
which — spoiler alert — is the only place where life is actually lived,
then I’m required to accept that which is real.

I am not an exception to the laws of physics, or time.

I am not immune to the weather,
or to the movements of the earth’s shifting plates and churning atmosphere.

I am not above or beside or outside of the reality of What Is.

In these examples
— the ones defined by the basics of observable science —
it’s sort of silly to think I could ever operate as if I exist outside of that reality, right?

But regarding the squishier items on my list
— the ones that have more to do with the space between me and other people —
I have often allowed myself to be fooled by a fictionalized reality
in which I have power where I do not.

I’ve certainly tried to will an unreality into being in those spaces.
One in which I have the power to change minds,
control others’ feelings,
manage what other people think about me,
manipulate the actions of other autonomous creatures …
… and it just does. not. work.

Not only does it not work,
but when I attempt it,
I create suffering for myself.

And then there are times …
in which I’ve learned and absorbed the fact
that I cannot change something that is not in my power to change,
but I am still not free of the suffering …
because I’ve gotten stuck in a pity party for the fact that I am powerless over it.

So, I might not be actively trying to change them anymore
— and I might even giving myself a big pat on the back for that —
but at the same time I’m spiraling around in an eddy of pathos and whining
about how those things ought to be different than they are.
And that … also creates suffering.

Pain is pain, and it happens in life.
That is a fact of existence.
But I do not have to allow pain to become suffering in my life.

It is time to accept the things I cannot change.

So it’s raining, and I’d rather it be dry: accept it.
There’s no point in fighting the sky.

So something terrible happened, and I wish I could go back and prevent it: accept it.
There’s no unraveling time.

So someone thinks thoughts about the world that disgust me,
and that are harmful, and I wish they’d do better: accept it.
It’s ultimately impossible to manipulate the waves of another person’s mind.

I’m accepting the things I cannot change.

I’m saying those words to myself, over and over and over,
for as long I as I need to,
which will probably be forever.

Like a mantra, or a prayer,
the words of which trace a new pathway in my brain
every time they are spoken by my heart.

A line which deepens into a groove, and then a crevice, with every repetition;
until, eventually, it’s the deepest canyon in my mind.

The one into which all my thoughts, like water, can flow freely,
replacing the old pathways that only ever ended up at dead ends,
flooding my consciousness with bottomless pools of stagnation and suffering.

I’m accepting the things I cannot change.

As for all of the big problems of the world that stress me out and cause me pain, I can say this:
at least for now, this is the way it’s going to be.

I’m not saying I like it, or that I approve of it.
Acceptance does not equate to tacit approval — it’s an act I do without judgment.

It’s like a line I heard last year in Ted Lasso:
“The truth will set you free; but first it will piss you off.”

The truth.
I am accepting what is true, even if it pisses me off.

I am accepting the things I cannot change.

At least for now, this is the way things are.

“At least for now” … because acceptance is an act I can only ever do in the present moment,
even if it is possible that the circumstances may change in the future.
Even if it’s possible that I may have the power to be part of making that change.

Because dwelling on “if” is not consonant with acceptance.
Radical acceptance is an act that is detached from “if.”
It is detached from the future, or from what may happen in the future.
It is even detached from hope.

(Even though … acceptance is simultaneously, paradoxically, a necessary component of creating hope. Now there’s a mind twist. “The truth will set you free …”)

What Is … just is.

I can make space for What Is.
I can feel what I feel about What Is.
I can do that without judgment or resistance or attachment.
I can alleviate my own suffering.
Serenity.
To accept the things I cannot change.

/////

There is work to do.
There is work that can be done.
There are things I do have the power to change.
It will require courage to do those things.
But first … it will require me to Be With What Is.
And that’s a courageous enough act for today.

lyrics

I’ve been pushing
This mountain
Like I can move it
Unbound by the limits of physics

Suffering is born from
The difference
Between what just is
And how I wish things would be

Well it might be raining
I’d rather it be dry
But it’s crazy-making
To try and fight the sky
I think it could save me
To be with what is
Just be with what is this time

All of the badness
I can’t get off my mind
That shouldn’t have happened
You can’t go back in time
It eases the anguish
To be with what is
Just be with what is this time

It doesn’t mean giving
A thumbs-up
To everything that’s fucked up
I’m just freeing myself from judgment

Cause I have missed so much of
Life’s gifts
Not being present to what is
And that’s one thing I can fix

So it might be raining
I’d rather it be dry
But it’s crazy-making
To try and fight the sky
I think it could save me
To be with what is
Just be with what is this time

All of the badness
That torments my mind
It shouldn’t have happened
You can’t unravel time
It eases the anguish
To be with what is
Just be with what is this time

The mountain
Is a mountain
So I’ll be
I’ll be a river
I’ll be the river
I’ll be with what is

Well it might be raining
I’d rather it be dry
But it’s crazy-making
To try and fight the sky
I think it could save me
To be with what is

Even all of the badness
I can’t get off my mind
That shouldn’t have happened
You can’t go back in time
It eases the anguish
To be with what is
Just be with what is
Just be with what is this time

credits

from Good to Me, track released March 27, 2022
written by Shannon Curtis
published by Shannon K (ASCAP)

produced by Jamie Hill
co-produced by Shannon

conceptualized, programmed, arranged, and performed by Shannon additional programming, synthesizers, and sound design by Jamie

mixed and mastered by Jamie
at Department of Energy Management, Tacoma

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Shannon Curtis Tacoma, Washington

Shannon Curtis is a Tacoma-based artist hailing from California.

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