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January 10, 2012

On Visioning

Vision Road Sign with dramatic blue sky and clouds.

I talked about a visioning process in my last post. I’m gonna spill the beans on that now. If you’re up for a creative experiment, you may want to play too.

This is a process. An experiment. A game. It’s play, but it’s real. It’s about how to be the creator/author/maker of your life – deliberately and purposefully – without sacrificing the present moment. How to hold a vision of the future while living happily and effectively in the here and now.

First, I want to give credit to Mark Forster for teaching this process in his book, How to Make Your Dreams Come True. These ideas are his. I believe he is still offering How to Make Your Dreams Come True for free on his website: Get Everything Done. You can grab a copy here.

This practice isn’t about willpower, or S.M.A.R.T. goals, or fluffy bunny affirmations, or Law-of-attraction-without-action-miracle-wishing. This process is designed to help you: Continue Reading →

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January 4, 2012

What’s on Stage?

Empty Stage

And suddenly – or not so suddenly, perhaps drudgingly – it’s 2012. I’ve read a lot of blog posts lately about planning for the new year, how to make resolutions stick, or how to avoid resolutionizing all together. Points of view on the good, bad and ugly of resolution making are all over the map.

Personally, I find it difficult to refrain from thoughts that sound something like: “This year I’m going to finally lose that extra weight. This year I’m going to get my business in high gear. This is the year I’m gonna make it all happen!”

Yet, in my heart I know these thoughts aren’t real.

Wait. Okay, the thoughts are real. I AM thinking them so they’re ‘real’.

But I also know these thoughts are fantasies. I would even go so far as to call them self-indulgent fabrications full of hooey. They are something I say to myself to make myself feel better about not being all that I said I wanted to be in 2011. Continue Reading →

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December 30, 2011

This is my second assignment from the Digital Dreams class offered by Tamara LaPorte on Willowing. I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole known as Photoshop Elements. The possibilities seem endless so no doubt I will be chasing this rabbit for quite a while. The preview, or the teaser, for 2012 looks to be art-full.

So much to learn. So little time. I’m late. I’m late. I’m late.

“No.” she says to herself in the kindest and warmest voice she can muster. “It’s never too late. It’s just right. Just now. Breathe and play, kiddo. Breathe and play.”

The poem in the piece has been one of my favorites for a very long time. It’s always stuck with me in spite of my poetic hiatus. It’s called The Sleeping by Lynn Emanuel published in her collection, Hotel Fiesta.

 

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December 9, 2011

December Challenge: Reading

Inspired by the December Challenge on Bryan Allain’s blog, I’ve decided to issue a little challenge here too. For any of you creative souls who have something more to prove (as if you need it, ha!), the December Challenge will be: Reading! (Who didn’t see that coming?)

For example:

  • What book have you started 10 times and put down 10 times that you want to finish reading in December?
  • How about the challenge of not buying any new books in December unless you finish reading every book you already own. (Jim will probably be a fan of this one.)
  • Maybe you want to read all of Shakespeare’s Tragedies (or for lighter holiday fare: the comedies) in December.

You get the idea. Pick one of the above or make one up (I know you’re good at making stuff up!), commit to meeting your reading challenge in December and post it in the comments below. Let’s go!