DJ Krust: Crafting Conscious Resolutions for the New Year and Beyond
Whether it was ancient Babylonians promising the gods they would pay their debts or medieval knights taking a vow to reaffirm their commitment to the tenets of chivalry, the dawning of a new year, however measured, has traditionally been a moment of reflection, atonement, and the desire for self-improvement in the form of goal-setting and resolutions.
As electronic music culture has been equally linked from the start with a lifting of the self and one’s culture into a higher, more conscious way of living, the Countdown to 2016 takes on a new meaning as creative and spiritual types alike attempt to align their dreams and goals for the future with their personal beliefs and values.
No one understands this impulse better than the legendary DJ Krust, who not only has made a name for himself as a seminal figure in the ongoing evolution of drum & bass culture, but as someone who has found continued success and respect for his own role as a mentor and guide for a new generation of artists, producers and creative types from all walks of life.
So, as the year comes to a close and the turning of the earth in relation to the sun, moon and stars begins to tilt toward a new era, we touched down for a wide-ranging conversation with Krust about setting goals, harnessing the power of your unconscious mind, and cultivating your own power as a conscious, creative being within.
The end of the year has traditionally been a time of reflection and renewal. Why do you think we, as human beings, signal change and transformation this way?
If we look at the power of rituals, they have an amazing ability to program us at subconscious level. These rituals that have developed around Christmas and New Year’s signify the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. Understanding the cycles around us is a major factor in accessing our power and being in flow with the natural dynamics of the universe.
Why is this important? If you follow the seasons, you’ll know when the best time is to plant seeds/ideas so they grow and have the best chance of producing a yield. In the winter energy, you cannot plant seeds/ideas because the ground is too hard/not fertile. So this is a time to plan to get ready for the next season, when we can plant and know things will return to us tenfold. Following nature gives us the best chance of success when growing, as we are an expression of nature. So, it only follows that we benefit from the power it holds.
Looking back to your early days, at what point did you become aware of these cycles and realize you needed a plan—or that moving from idea to completion required a series of steps?
I’m one of those head-in-the-cloud types that have lots of ideas and then try and do them all at the same time. What I’ve learned about my style is that I do a lot of the programming for goals unconsciously. I spend a lot of time thinking about a project, and then collecting images, ideas and symbols—anything that helps stimulate thought, feeling and emotions. I’ll consume this for a few weeks while making notes and intention, describing and visualizing preferred outcomes but not getting stuck on the details, how it might happen or where or when. Then I dive into the work itself.
Is the process of creation still structured in some way, or is a bit more freeform in the way it unfolds?
The steps I take are intuitive. If it feels right, I’ll do it, but that’s just how most creative types are. The key is being able to follow your intuition and not second-guess yourself, and that comes with experience. I think for me, I’ve always been able to understand the steps. Making music forces you to learn a step-by-step approach and teaches you to feel energy and transfer it into art.
As the saying goes, how you do one thing is how you do everything, and if you can do one thing you can do anything. We all have a natural style that on some level works for us; I’m finding that we can improve when we notice where the gaps are. Sounds a bit crazy, I know, but our improvements are in the gaps we don’t see.
One of those gaps seems to be centered on an inability to just follow through and finish things. Are there any strategies you can suggest to help resolve this conflict?
I think there are two things there. One, most creatives are big-picture thinkers, so they are looking out into the future. They see the project as already done, all the parts working, how it’s supposed to be. These people are generally good starters and poor finishers.
The other types are the feet-on-the-ground people. They see the small details and understand what needs to be done on a practical level. They might not have the big vision, so they will focus on what needs to be done now to get to the next step.
The way to solve the problem you mentioned above is for these different groups to join forces. I started a new company, with a partner, called Amma Life CBD Oil. My partner is a feet-on-the-ground, detail-oriented person, and I’m a head-in-the-clouds, big-picture person; we make the perfect team. What we both miss, the other picks up.
What if you just can’t find a complementary partner to work with?
You’ll have to work on the areas that you’re uncomfortable doing. Here’s the thing we don’t want to hear: If you’re not where you think you should be career-wise, it’s probably because you’re not focusing on the areas you don’t like. Think about it—if you’re doing everything you know and it’s still not working, the next place to look is where you’ve been avoiding. You know where that is right now. As you’re reading this, you can feel it and see it, and right now you’re doing and saying what you always do, and that’s why you haven’t solved the problem yet.
How important have setting goals and time management been to your success?
When I first started out, life was simple. I spent all my time sitting in the studio and making beats; I didn’t have any other responsibilities. I think once other responsibilities enter the equation, this is where the challenge is for most people. It becomes a question of learning how to react to what’s happening. You can never stop the force of nature, but you can profit from it. Learn how to understand how things work, learn how you react and what you think things mean. Your reaction to the stimulus that comes at you is a major factor in how the rest of your day will end, or even how your life will turn out.
As far as goals are concerned, I do set them, but only very loosely. I pay more attention to the overall project. But every day will have different priorities. So, the night before, I will write out what needs to be done, then measure what will get me closer to the goal or vision. It’s usually the thing I least want to do, so that’s what I do first. Get that out of the way, and the rest of the day will fly past.
I’ve changed my working-day hours as a result. I now get up at 6 or 7am, and this gives me a different type of energy, which is great for getting those difficult types of tasks done. By 10am, most of the heavy lifting is done, so I can move on. My day is broken down into one/two-hour sections. Even if I’m making music, I try and keep to this.
If someone wants to follow in your footsteps, how should they go about it?
There is no right way to do this, but I would say use a calendar with three months written in with your personal commitments. For example, every day at the same time, you might go for a run and then meditate. Or it might be 7:30 am is the time for writing blogs or starting studio work. How you start your day is very important—whether it’s visualization, yoga, meditation, reading, planning your day—these are all very good ways to create a great outcome. Most people start their day off checking email, but I would suggest only checking them twice a day, ideally around 12pm and 7–8pm. Answering emails is one of the major drains of your energy.
How do you cultivate and harness the power of the unconscious into your workflow?
Most days I’ll meditate and visualize. I’ve recently started to say thank you for everything, and it feels great. Gratitude is very simple, really. These things are subconscious programmers, meaning they work underneath your awareness. If you want to get technical, you don’t get what you ask for, you get what you “think” about most of the time. We have programs that run and control billions of functions that we consciously could not control or think about. Visualization helps the mind understand what you want and starts to make you aware of the opportunities surrounding you that can lead to what it is you are asking for. It’s something that we use all the time; it’s not something some of us have and others don’t. It’s more like there are people out there who are really good at getting what they want using these techniques.
When I’m in the studio, I tend not to think about things much, as I want that natural flow to pass through me—not judging or analyzing what happens, just a free-flowing energy that comes through me into whatever I’m doing. I find the less I think, the more I create from the unknown, the source. I tend to do things that I’ve never done before, and it helps to keep creating fresh content; this could be anything—music, art, workshops, you name it. The idea is, get out of your own way. The phrase “stop standing on your own hose” is a great metaphor for getting oneself unstuck.
With all the violence, terror and fear in the world, how can we inspire others to not give up and to continue to move toward realizing their own dreams and expressing creative impulses they may have?
There’s a lot of fear being projected, and it’s up to us as conscious beings to choose what we put our attention on. It’s really interesting how we have been made to believe that we are powerless as individuals, but the truth of the matter is, we are the ones creating what we see because we give our attention to it. We can all decide to focus on peace, harmony, creating things that uplift the planet, and that’s exactly what more and more people are doing. It’s not as hard as you are being led to believe. Most of the information about the problem comes from the people creating the problem. Real power comes from a place with no agenda—meaning when you hear it, it feels clear and leaves you in the same state, if not higher, and this is what makes the difference, the way we feel.
If we learn to control our emotions, we can control our outcomes. It’s not what’s happening that’s the problem; it’s what we’re making ‘what’s happening’ mean, that’s the killer. We’re so programmed that we find it hard not to react, and so we react from a place of fear. It can be challenging to gain control by letting go. We say, ‘It’s happening to me.’ It’s not happening to me; it’s just happening. I’m noticing what’s happening, and I’m choosing to believe it’s happening to me.
This may sound crazy, but we have to retrain ourselves to see things how they really are and not how they appear to be. We never really drill down, because of our busy lifestyles, but that’s the real problem: Keep the masses busy, distracted and divided, so they never have time to question whatever truths we have for them this week. But that’s just a trap. It’s time for each one of us to take back our consciousness and make a decision in 2016.
How do we get to that space?
You start by asking yourself: How do I want to live my life? What will I do to lift the vibrations of planet earth? How will I help others to reach the highest expression of themselves? What one thing can I give every day that makes a difference to someone else?
If it’s true that the universe is a mirror, then what you do to it will be reflected back; so helping others and the world is really helping you. If the universe is one, and everyone starts with themselves, then the responsibility is with each of us to take back our power.
Each moment is an opportunity.
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