We live our lives in a Standard Definition and have no idea why

There is a saying that goes, “You do not know what you do not know”.  It is a powerful statement that exploits our ignorance in the most profound way.  There are things we know but choose to accept or deny, follow or forget, live by or disregard.  That is cut and dry and black & white.  However, the things we do not know that we do not know can be the most detrimental to our existence because we have not experienced them yet and therefore could be missing out on a very happy life.

That is how I feel about the words contained in the book “HD Mindest” by David Dubé and Anthony Verderame.  It is a powerful unveiling of an untapped resource within our mind, the ability to think in a Higher Definition.  We live our lives with horse blinders on falling into vicious thought patterns that continually repeat for the simple fact the we allow them to.  We think with a Standard Definition mentality and approach life truly missing out on our ability to achieve conscious clarity.

How does this relate to Photography Blake?  Let me start off with some back story about one of the authors whom I know so well.  You will see how this relates to EverydayHDR and the evolution of where I am now.

A bit about David Dubé and the evolution of my HD Mindset

A few years ago, I believe it was just before the Fourth of July in 2013, I had a chance meeting with one of the most interesting individuals.  Let me rephrase that, at the time I assumed this was a chance meeting, but as I recollect on my life and elaborate on the teachings of the HD Mindset, I know that nothing is by chance.  On this very evening I had just finished a rather large item on my “Honey-Do” list that took the better half of a day to accomplish and all I wanted to do was relax, but instead I grabbed my camera gear and headed out to the World War I Memorial in Kansas City to take some shots of what was turning into one of the most epic sunsets I have happened upon.

As I waited for the sun to set over the city, I was approached by a gentleman, “Nice camera” he said.  “Thanks” I responded as we continued to carry on with small talk.  This small talk led to a discussion about what I did for a living, what he did for a living, but rapidly approached to more intrinsic questions.  What I mean is, David started asking me why I did them.  Very rarely in conversations with others do we get to the ‘why’.  We get wrapped up in the “what’ do you do’s” and the “how do you do them’s”, but how often do we ask them why?

You see David is the type of person who quickly wants to get to your ‘why’.  He asks all the right questions to get there and quickly becomes a close friend in the process.  I did not know this of him at the time, nor did I know that David was about to broaden my horizons to a new level of understanding life, he was about to open my eyes to the beauty of living with an HD Mindset.

At this particular time in my life I was working full-time in a Government job, a job I loved, but with people that made it very difficult to enjoy.  I was also blogging three times a week here on EverydayHDR.  I discussed both of these topics with David in great depth.  He was more intrigued by my photography blog than he was about my Parachute packing skill sets which I found interesting.  With many other individuals it was the other way around.

As we chatted it felt as if 5 minutes had gone by, but the sun had set, the sky filled with stars and the Memorial was people ridden and we were the only two left on the wall of the structure discussing our similarities.  While this may sound like the start of a romance novel, I can assure you it was only the start of a great friendship!  You see in our society we rarely ask the hard questions, we rarely get to the ‘why’ and for that reason we rarely know the people that surround us as well as we should.  The relationship that was forming so quickly and it was doing so because David and I were speaking about things that only people on an HD Mindset can relate to.

David said, “What is it that you really want to do?”  I responded with something along the lines of being a travelling Photography Instructor.  I told him about Scott Kelby and, at the time, the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).  I told him my dream was to be an instructor at Photoshop World and turn the blog into a living.

David simply said, “What are you doing to get there?”

I was dumbfounded, choking on my words, stumbling over the very nature of what I never knew I couldn’t answer.  I stated things like the YouTube channel and the blog and such, but nothing I said held any water, they were empty responses.

David informed me that I didn’t need Kelby, I didn’t need NAPP.  He informed me that all I needed was the passion he was hearing in my voice to be a successful photography instructor.  No one ever told me that, well let me rephrase that, my wife had always believed in me and told me I could do it.  However, no one I had ever briefly known had told me that.

It was a revelation of sorts.  In a very short time, David did a multitude of things.

1. He opened my eyes to the limitations I was putting on myself.
2. He made me believe (for the first time) that I could be in control of my own dreams and that I didn’t have to wait for a job opening with NAPP.
3. Finally, by using what I already innately knew, he conjured up the path to my future by asking the difficult questions.

I am where I am as fast as I got here because I met David.  This meeting was not by chance.  I learned from David that as human beings we emit energy that attracts other human beings and that our paths crossed because those energies attracted us to one another.  This was not an intimate attraction, someone of an SD Mindset would believe that this was in some way romantic and would more than likely proceed to crack “Brokeback Mountain” jokes.  However, someone with an HD Mindset would know that these things happen for a reason and the inexplicable is rather easy to comprehend when you drop your limited beliefs and allow your thoughts to flow freely.  Someone of an HD Mindset knows that not all connections have to be either “romantic” or “friendship”, that there is a level of human understanding that revolves around Love that is not as black and white as the world sees it.

HD Mindset…  The Manuscript for Positive Change

David Dubé recently authored the book HD Mindset: Unlocking Your Potential Through Clarity.  It is a short read, a quick read, a “One Dump Read” (as David and I joked on the phone about it) that will have you on the way to successful thinking very quickly.  You see it is not always about the quantity of pages but the quality of the content between the covers.

I enjoyed the analogies David and Anthony used to portray the concepts in the book.  They relate successful thought patterns to High Definition television and the typical societal thought to Standard Definition.  They relate our comfortable life to a lake and what our life could be to a flowing river of success.

It is not written on a PHD level and can be understood by all ages and stages of life.  What I found most appealing was that the introduction set the stage for the rest of the book.  They describe the book as more of a conversation at a coffee shop than some convoluted psychobabble series of documents.  The content is supported by relevant life stories from each author and flows rather well.

In short, I spent a little less than an hour and a half reading HD Mindset and found it fascinating.  Even now, after knowing David for the better part of 2 years, he never ceases to amaze me with his ability to inspire and put the most difficult concepts into layman’s terms.  I do prefer the short approach to the book as it increases my potential to read it again and again when I need a quick boost of inspiration.

David did take this book to another level by elaborating on the concepts in a Members only access site.  I highly encourage anyone who checks any or all of these boxes to look further into what David can teach you:

• Anyone who has ever had a dream and is not living that life
• Anyone who may be living a stagnant life
• Anyone who may be haunted by negative thoughts and past experiences
• Anyone who has ever had a traumatic life experience that continues to define themselves by it
• oh heck… anyone really…

>> Learn more about HD Mindset <<

***I am not an affiliate of David’s Training, I do not receive a dime from the mention of any of his products, from the book on Amazon to the membership site.  I feel very strongly about what his teachings have done for me and would like the same for you.***

Blake Rudis

f.64 Academy and f.64 Elite are the brainchildren of Blake Rudis. While he is a landscape photographer, he is most passionate about post-processing images in Photoshop and mentoring others.

For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!