Divine Dementia - (Losing My Keys, Finding My Joy!)

This past May a friend lent me his car for a series of gigs I had from Maryland to Massachusetts.

I was so honored and grateful that he had entrusted me with his ultra cool wheels to make my journey easier. To top it off, pun intended, it was a BMW convertible.

I never had such a cool car to drive before.

But...

I lost his keys. 

Let me put this in reverse for a moment.

Before I left California, I asked an intuitive that I occasionally council with if there was anything about my upcoming journey that he could foresee that might be helpful for me to hear.

Besides the usual fun times, he mentioned that he saw a bump in the road, a logistical hiccup  that would offer me an opportunity to splash in some puddles and sing in the rain instead of insisting on being high and dry all the time.

A knot formed in my belly.

Universe, don’t you dare trip up my control trip!

The next day, I flew cross country, letting the Captain fly the plane, as usual.

I guess there are many moments each day where I surrender the control to a much more capable pilot!

Speed forward, eight days into my twelve day road trip, and everything was going smoothly... well attended gigs, great times...

Then, right before my last gig, at my mother's condo on the upper west side, I could not find the keys. I looked everywhere. I simply could not remember where I put them. That happens a fair amount in my world.

I'm great at being in the moment, making up songs out of thin air, but remembering where I put things? Not so much.

Eventually I admitted defeat and texted and called my friend. Maybe he had an extra key.

No answer.

Breathe, Scott, breathe.

Mom was hovering over me, trying to be helpful while freaking out.

Breathe, Mom, breathe. 

She did not.

Can't control my mother.

Breath, Scott, breathe.

The idea fairy whispered in my ear to try to find public transportation. I looked at buses, trains...  there was nothing that could take me to the remote part of Western Mass where this weekend workshop was being held.

I kept trying my friend. Finally he answered. He searched high and low while I practiced letting go of needing a specific outcome, and my mother practice holding her breath.

The phone rang. Yes, he had a spare key.

I grabbed my guitar for the taxi ride I was about to take crosstown to my friend's east side apartment.

My mother protested.

From her point of view, this was a crisis, not a musical, and the guitar was inappropriate.

After all, it looked like I was going to be quite late to my gig, a couple’s retreat that counted on my singing to help break the ice and get people into a good space.

But I was remembering my counselors council, and I felt inspired, even guided, to grab my guitar before I flagged a taxi.

It was Friday afternoon, the start of the Memorial Day Weekend. Manhattan's gridlock was gnarly.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change, the courage to sing and laugh about them, and the wisdom to remember that my happiness is never dependent on circumstances I can’t control.

I asked my cab driver if he wouldn't mind me singing some songs. He did not.

First up, I made up a blues ditty about the crosstown crawl we were in. If he could have danced he would have.

Then I asked him for a song request, and he suggested La Bamba. I got super into it, strumming away all the stress I had been feeling, singing my spirit back into joy and celebration.

He was singing along and beaming.  He had never been serenaded before in his cab. Maybe never in his life.

Up next were Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. And I was just warming up. We had some time to kill.

Actually, there was no killing involved.

It was one of the most enjoyable taxi rides either of us had experienced.

When I got back to my mother's apartment  I went to her fridge, only to spy, chilling on top of the lunch I had bought that morning, the original car key.

Oh, yeah.

I had placed the key there so I would not forget my lunch.

My mother, 88 years young, quite often forgets things. She began laughing. I joined in. We laughed ourselves silly.

I got into the BMW and slipped into the traffic.

The app on my phone helped me find the path of least resistance to my destination.

I made it to my gig just fifteen minutes before it was about to begin.

I told everyone my story. They laughed. Everyone could relate.

I remembered that when watching Johnny Carson, my favorite moments were when he screwed something up.

The graceful way he responded made for the best entertainment.

His hiccups were highlights.

Could that be so for us?

I will lose things from time to time, but if I remember my sense of humor, my sense of perspective, and my willingness to grab my guitar and sing about the inevitable bumps in the road....then I will not lose my keys to what is most important... the keys to joy.

Lightening up when the road has bumps may not always be the fastest way to get there, but it is always the path of least resistance.


The end of my first ever Spiritual Dr. Seuss poem, Oh, The Places Your Ego Will Go, sums up the message of this post:

When your ego is in the passenger seat
It lets down the window and takes in the treats
You're not in a hurry, you're taking it slow
Cause the journey's as rich as the places you'll go
Where you are going you don't need to know
For the journey's as rich as the places you'll go
Your journey's as rich as the places you'll go 

Scott Grace can be found at www.scottsongs.com

My Adventures in Sausalito with Youth From All Over the World

(...with two of the foreign exchange students I ran into last week in Sausalito...)

I love being around young people, being around their hope, vision, and enthusiasm.

And I especially love making a difference in their lives.

Last week a young man from Germany in his early twenties who was here studying dance stayed at our house. Ralf and I shared some meals, and also some songs on the guitar. He came with me to the local health food store, where I love singing classic songs from the 60's and 70's by the fireplace and getting others to join in. He watched me several times gather a tribe and build a sense of community through music. He was really touched.

When it was time to part ways, he told me that he was going back to Germany with the courage to play his guitar for the first time in public on street corners. He blamed me for inspiring him. I accepted the blame, and thanked him for injecting some of his youthful energy into my life experience. His last words to me: “Scott, you will always be in my heart.”

Such purity. Ralf was an angel, like all of us, but it seemed he was more aware of it than many of us who have had more time, more opportunities to cover up our angel-hood.

Last Saturday I met up with fifteen more youth angels while in Sausalito, a busy Marin County town brimming with tourists right across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.  I was there with my guitar, making up[ songs for anyone who accepted my invitation to be serenaded. Two of my friends were there with me with Free Hugs signs held high, doing their thing.

We ran into a group of foreign exchange students from countries as diverse as Germany, Italy, France, Bolivia, South Africa, etc. I asked if they could come with me to a patch of grass and sit in a circle, and they did. I made up a song to honor them for their brave journey to the U.S.

We also sang some songs together,  Imagine, We Are the World, and  Don’t Worry Be Happy.

They were on a global adventure, brimming with love of life, trusting the universe to support them in a foreign land. Our meeting and our singing together brought tears to my eyes. I am so glad for my smart phone, YouTube, and how easy it has become to share these experiences with the rest of the world.

You included.

Are you up for enjoying some of the energy and receiving a joy transmission?

If so, click here: Adventures with Foreign Exchange Students in Sausalito

Being around young people for me is as life giving as being around nature. I love breathing them in and and inhaling their energy, hope, and enthusiasm, revitalizing my own energy, hope, and enthusiasm.

I would like to complete this sharing with a song inspired by a very special three year old child I met and serenaded in 1987 in Central Park.

I wrote this while I was having an LSD experience (the 80's were my 60's). I was surprised the next day when I remembered the song and found that it still had rich meaning and emotional impact while not tripping. A month later I recorded it with a full band and choir at an Interfaith Church in Doylestown, PA called Pebble Hill.

You can enjoy it by clicking here

I no longer do LSD, but I do enjoy a contact high when coming in contact with young people.

And now, thanks to YouTube and technology, you can get one from us:

Adventures with Foreign Exchange Students in Sausalito 

We are all on a global adventure together, learning to trust and feel safe in what can feel like a strange and foreign land.

Reaching out to others, especially the younger generation, takes the concept of 'foreign' right out of my heart and replaces it with family. A human family. We may not be all sitting in a circle singing Imagine, but we are surely all in this together.


About Scott

 Scott Grace, described by authorities as a cross between John Denver, Robin Williams and Dr. Seuss, is wanted worldwide for creating the peace and using levity to defy gravity. 

Contact with Scott is likely to be hazardous to your misery, as he has consistently provoked outbursts of joyful giddiness in four out of five laboratory humans tested.

It is rumored that Scott’s work has so threatened to cut into the sales of anti-depressants that pharmaceutical companies have offered him millions to retire. 

To the shock and dismay of his inner critic, Scott published a book, called: Teach Me How To Love A True Story that Touches Hearts & Helps with the Laundry! Many have raved about it on Amazon, and rumor has it that the numerous five star reviews were put up by readers who were unwittingly intoxicated while breathing in the spirits emanating from its pages.

Scott has been known to practice life coaching without a license, eluding the police by working over the phone, Skype, or FaceTime. He fancies himself an intuitive, and smuggles wisdom and guidance over the border from beings he calls spirit guides, who are also not licensed, and who have allegedly not filed a tax return in several lifetimes.

As a motivational speaker, Scott gives keynotes using a stolen identity, a.k.a. the Spiritual Dr. Seuss. His feel good viruses on YouTube have infected over 2.5 million people with just four of his  contagious Dr. Seuss-like videos.

As a front, Scott does do various legal, above the board activities. He has produced nine CD’s and a DVD of his original music and comedy. He shows up as a guest speaker and singer at churches, non-profits, schools, and corporate events. As a stand up comedian in the Bay Area, he has shared the stage with Dana Carvey and Robin Williams.

But don't be fooled. His rampage of Song Portraits, custom made personalized song-gifts that honor people for their birthdays, anniversaries, or for no reason at all, have been killing people softly with their song since 1987. Authorities would very much like your help in apprehending Scott. Try catching him on the web at www.scottsongs.com, or on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/skalechstein 

My Peak Experience in NYC (Warning: Contact High Inevitable)

Last month I was jogging in Central Park, when I came across some young performers rehearsing Godspell. They were singing and dancing on a stage where years back when I was a resident of NYC I had seen the likes of Simon and Garfunkel, the B52’s, and many others.

I jogged in place for awhile, enjoying their deliriously soulful renditions of Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord and Day by Day. I even joked with them after they finished a song, pretending I was their director, “Pretty good, but one more time with feeling!” They laughed, and I was relieved they enjoyed my attempt at humor, because they sure weren’t lacking feeling. They sounded and looked as spectacular as anything I had heard and seen on Broadway.

What a treat, to have literally run right into their rehearsal.

But then I jogged away from the free concert. Why? A voice in my head, one that commanded authority, ordered me to. My 'boss' reasoned that being true to my daily discipline of aerobics was more important than enjoying what had so graced my life unexpectedly. Routine over Grace.

Ever make that choice?

But my heart has a voice as well, one that has been gathering momentum over the years, getting louder as I have learned to listen and take action.

And my heart has no allegiance to routine.

It was telling me to jog back to The Unity Players.

And not just to listen. It had other plans.

You know the voice. The one that tells you that life is too short to stay in your comfort zone. The one that guides you to jog towards your fears, not to create suffering, but to jog you from it.

Sometimes I hate that voice.

But every peak experience I have had in my 53 years has happened because I was willing to follow my heart.

I tried to remember just that as my pulse was quickening, not from the jogging, but from in anticipation of what I was about to ask the Unity Players.

I asked if they could back me up on Day By Day. I explained that it had been a lifelong fantasy of mine to be on Broadway, and they would be helping to make my dream come true.

I requested an onlooker if she would take my phone and record it for me. She did.

With these fantastic singers supporting me, I hammed it up, and it was glorious. I get  high from watching it. Go ahead. It will make you feel good. We all get a contact high from witnessing each other go for it.

Scott's Broadway Moment

After that my inner critic tried to take back the stage and drown out my post-peak experience celebration party by arguing that realistically, this was a rehearsal in Central Park, not me starring in a show on Broadway.

But I have learned over time that what I am after on this earth is not to have my name up in lights, but to live my daily life in the light. 

I'm after moments, more and more of them, of listening to and acting on the voice that points me to the music, not just as a spectator, but as a vibrant participant. A creator.

Later that day I was waltzing through Central Park strumming my guitar, and met up with a fellow music maker, a missionary from a church in South Africa. I made up a song to honor his mission. He enjoyed my improvisation, but made it clear that he was not content playing the role of audience:

His mission was to sing something with me.

So we made up a song together. This childlike man, free of fear and self-consciousness, stole my heart. Take a look. Yes, he was not fluent in English, but that did not stop him from participating in the song in every which way a human spirit can. Watch him move and sway and dance. It’s as if his whole body was an instrument:

A Divine Duet With a Man from South Africa


Yes, you and I are instruments. We are not here to play it safe, but to play. And to be played.

As I sing in one of my autobiographical songs, The Call:

The finest moments of every day

Are when I get out of my own way

And let the spirit flow through me

Playing my part in a symphony

Play me as I am

Use my voice and hands

Play me


PS. The Unity Players can be found on Facebook at The Unity Players

About Scott

Scott Grace, described by authorities as a cross between John Denver, Robin Williams and Dr. Seuss, is wanted worldwide for creating the peace and using levity to defy gravity. 

Contact with Scott is likely to be hazardous to your misery, as he has consistently provoked outbursts of joyful giddiness in four out of five laboratory humans tested.

It is rumored that Scott’s work has so threatened to cut into the sales of anti-depressants that pharmaceutical companies have offered him millions to retire. 

To the shock and dismay of his inner critic, Scott published a book, called: Teach Me How To Love A True Story that Touches Hearts & Helps with the Laundry! Many have raved about it on Amazon, and rumor has it that the numerous five star reviews were put up by readers who were unwittingly intoxicated while breathing in the spirits emanating from its pages.

Scott has been known to practice life coaching without a license, eluding the police by working over the phone, Skype, or FaceTime. He fancies himself an intuitive, and smuggles wisdom and guidance over the border from beings he calls spirit guides, who are also not licensed, and who have allegedly not filed a tax return in several lifetimes.

As a motivational speaker, Scott gives keynotes using a stolen identity, a.k.a. the Spiritual Dr. Seuss. His feel good viruses on YouTube have infected over 2.5 million people with just four of his  contagious Dr. Seuss-like videos.

As a front, Scott does do various legal, above the board activities. He has produced nine CD’s and a DVD of his original music and comedy. He shows up as a guest speaker and singer at churches, non-profits, schools, and corporate events. As a stand up comedian in the Bay Area, he has shared the stage with Dana Carvey and Robin Williams.

But don't be fooled. His rampage of Song Portraits, custom made personalized song-gifts that honor people for their birthdays, anniversaries, or for no reason at all, have been killing people softly with their song since 1987. Authorities would very much like your help in apprehending Scott. Try catching him on the web at www.scottsongs.com, or on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/skalechstein