Just revitalized my Duane Kuss You Tube channel.  I'm no longer featuring my departed wife Bette's final videos.  Instead, I'm featuring a singing video I created for my new wife, Jermayne Mages Kuss.  We got married on August 10, 2018.   Take a look.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLOYCVRnVoxVwgGa1V5A54g

Bette Kuss Crosses Over

Here's the story published in the St. Cloud Times of Bette Kuss.  Bette passed away on April 26, 2017.

https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/rocori/2017/04/28/fighting-bitter-end-cold-spring-mourns-beloved-musician/100952722/

COLD SPRING — "Nobody wants to talk about the big 'D' word, but in this case we need all of our plans at the ready."

The "d-word" was one that Duane Kuss uttered only a handful of times in early April.

It is a word that few had said when describing Kuss's wife Bette:

Death.

Even though the outcome was likely — with fluid constantly building up on her lungs — conversations about the 62-year-old musician and mother of two always centered on the future, a future where Bette, an accompanist for Cold Spring's Peace Lutheran Church, Cold Spring Maennerchor, Great Northern Theatre Co. and the Rocori Middle and High School choirs would take up her place on the piano bench and lay her fingers on the keys.

It was a future that members of the Cold Spring arts community had rallied for, developing a spaghetti fundraiser to help with mounting medical bills.

"Bette has had her eye on the goal (of getting better) since day one," Duane Kuss said. "She would take any risk she had to with the intent to win the battle."

But this was not a battle to be won.

This is a future that Bette will not be taking part in. After a 146-day battle, Bette Kuss died Wednesday.

A Most Unusual Christmas Card Story - and the Elephant is Love!

http://youtu.be/ggq3lTqDKYY
Here's an interview between co-authors Duane Kuss and Don Calhoun.  Don creates one of the most interesting Christmas Cards you have ever seen. Each year, for the past 15 years, he has put together a combination "CalRock" CD of his favorite songs of the year and a 6 page, legal size, family photos and story card. He mails this to over 200 people each year spending dozens of hours choosing songs, burning cd's, choosing and editing photos, writing stories, printing copies and mailing the finished product.

http://DanceWithTheElephant.org

Why does Don do it? Love... He loves music, his family, his friends, his faith and the ability to some way share his story with the many people that are a part of his life each year.

Have you checked out Don and Duane's book, "Dance With The Elephant : Life's Cosmic Equation"  yet?

http://DanceWithTheElephant.us

It will quickly become your favorite coffee table book, one that you, your family and friends will enjoy lively discussions around. It includes over 75 breathtaking full color photos that immediately capture your undivided attention. Each photo is expressively matched with insightful quotes from some of the worlds greatest minds and philosophers. This combination of visual and intellectual intrigue provides a boundless reference you'll enjoy time and time again. The authors weave their personal stories into the framework of a simple equation for living a more fulfilling life called, Life's Cosmic Equation.

Dance with the Elephant Life's Cosmic Equation is also a self-help, self-discovery, workshop in a book, designed to connect you with the universal principles and natural forces in the world that shape your perception of reality and who you think you are. The elephant in life is the emotional secret that everyone knows about but nobody wants to talk about. Unfortunately, these secrets that are never openly discussed continue to fester and rankle in the unconscious mind. Eventually they become roadblocks in our lives that limit the options we consider and the choices we make. Essentially, these secrets prevent us from reaching for and achieving our cosmic destiny.

Duane Kuss and Don Calhoun combine to write a compelling book filled with insightful personal stories, life-changing exercises and challenging research based life principles. The goal is to learn how to dance with your personal elephants (secrets) in order to reach a more enriched and fullling life, leaving a legacy that matches your creative contribution and potential destiny in the universe. You will be given powerful building blocks that will become a strong foundation and road map for your life's journey. "Dance with the Elephant: Life's Cosmic Equation could be the hidden treasure that will help you to unlock and unleash your Cosmic Legacy!

Author Duane Kuss starts new "Mindfulness" learning series

CLICK PHOTO TO SEE STORY TELLING SITE

One of the hottest topics of the year is "Mindfulness",  a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.  Author Duane Kuss has started a daily story telling site that will introduce you to the topic combined with beautiful outdoor photography depicting daily life on Hermit Lake, where he lives in central Minnesota.


Duane Kuss, author of "Dance With The Elephant - Life's Cosmic Equation"

Duane publishes first book "Dance With The Elephant - Life's Cosmic Equation"

Book Available On Amazon

Whether you're a college graduate hitting the job market for the first time or a baby-boomer counting the days to retirement, there are three commonly asked questions that tie all of humanity together: Who am I? Why am I here? and What difference will my life make? Ironically, most of us jump on the treadmill of life and never stop to truly answer these critical meaning-of-life questions. Just think of all the people you know who live robotic lives without ever taking the time to ask, What is life all about?

What if there was a simple road map you could follow to help discover your greater meaning and purpose in life? What if there was a way to dig deeper and grow deeper in life to uncover the real destiny you personally were meant to achieve? Dance with the Elephant Life's Cosmic Equation is a self-help, self-discovery, workshop in a book, designed to connect you with the universal principles and natural forces in the world that shape your perception of reality and who you think you are.

The elephant in life is the emotional secret that everyone knows about but nobody wants to talk about. Unfortunately, these secrets that are never openly discussed continue to fester and rankle in the unconscious mind. Eventually they become roadblocks in our lives that limit the options we consider and the choices we make. Essentially, these secrets prevent us from reaching for and achieving our cosmic destiny.

Your journey through this book will guide you to ways of spirited dance with both the drama and trauma events of life. You will discover the true value both the yin and the yang have in fulfilling your life's destiny and your universal cosmic legacy. You will come to understand that in order to dance with the elephant you must dig deeper to find the me of life, and when you learn to grow deeper you can dance in harmony with the we of life. When the dance is in harmony the unified creative power evokes new life discoveries. But the true test lies in the fact that the music of life has both high and low frequencies of the conscious and subconscious; the challenge is to learn how to dance to all the cosmic vibrations of life.

This book includes a combination of breathtaking inspirational photos and insightful quotes from some of the worlds greatest minds and philosophers.

The authors weave their personal stories into the framework of a simple equation for living a more fulfilling life called Life's Cosmic Equation. Life's Cosmic Equation: Creative Power + Reflective Choice + Faith * Time = Life's Cosmic Legacy The true resolve in this book resides in the power of the questions that are asked during the journey throughout. The answers to these questions will provide you a road map to your future. Every day you have the choice to be true to yourself and in concert with those you love and cherish. The world you live in is connected and there is joy to be discovered in your journey to grow and enhance your connectedness with others.

About the Author

Duane Kuss is a writer, publisher, and lifelong trainer who has over sixteen different professional career experiences over the past four decades. Kuss has been a professional speaker, trainer, and consultant across multiple disciplines. His past clients include Apple Computers, Thrifty White Pharmacy, Potlatch Corporation, the Minnesota Newspaper Association, and the Journal Communications Publishing group. Duane s work with Dr. John Geier and his world famous DISC personality profiling instrument afforded him international exposure and the chance to work with authors like Harvey McKay, Michael Dowd, Connie Barlow, and other key influences. The son of an auto mechanic and a bookkeeper housewife, Kuss decided early in his life that he would become a twentieth century renaissance man; A man for all seasons. Duane's intellectual and scientific perspective will provide you with analytic insights that will help you to discover your cosmic destiny! You will discover a new passion for learning about your human and heavenly potential.
Don Calhoun has thirty years of first hand, real-world experience with understanding the highs, lows, triumphs, and tragedies of life. Calhoun is an owner and president of Murphy Granite Carving, Inc., which produces cemetery memorials throughout the upper Midwest of the United States. Calhoun has been a memorial counselor for numerous families at the time of their heightened emotional grief. He has been a highly sought after speaker in the memorial, monument, and funeral industries throughout the United States and Canada. His many speaking engagements, most recently centered around his forthcoming book with Duane, Dance with the Elephant, have received great accolades from audiences all across the country. Calhoun's unique work in the memorial industry, combined with his personal life experience of growing up with a legally blind mother who battled brain cancer until her death, has made Don a professional life storyteller. Don's insights will help you peel back the layers of life and discover your true purpose and destiny. You will learn how to deal with the emotional aspects of life in new empowering ways.

Sand River Hunting Photo Albums

My first Haikus ... and now published