Monday, February 23, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
.....Excitement
You know what makes the world so exciting? The fact that every day you have an opportunity to do anything you desire.
Now I don’t mean that if you wake up one morning and decide you want to be a runway model you will be working the catwalk by sundown. Clearly unrealistic. What you can do though is move your life in that direction.
I have a friend that for the first time in their life they have no idea which direction to head. To them, it was such an unsettling place to be, they felt so lost. To me it’s the most exciting place to be. You have the chance to go anywhere, do anything, and try everything.
Don’t like the job you have? Look for another one. Don’t like where you live? Move. Don’t like the relationship you’re in? Get out. The reality is you and only you have the ability to change anything and everything about your life. The problem comes in with our built in need for instant gratification and wanting everything to come easy. That is NOT reality.
True change, worthwhile change, takes time and work, but that shouldn’t take away from the excitement of it. Really sit and think about it for a minute, the amazingness of the ability to change direction at any moment. Life is too precious and too short to continuing a direction because it’s familiar and comfortable. I’m not saying you should keep your life in perpetual motion and never settle down, absolutely not, nor am I saying that if something gets too difficult you give up and walk away. If you are truly unhappy with your current circumstance, not just momentarily annoyed, change direction.
I learned a life lesson from a car’s navigation system the other day. There was an address programmed into the navigation system and every time I drove somewhere the system came up with a route to that address. When I would miss a turn it would pause for a few seconds and come up with a new route; always finding a way to the original destination, no matter how many detours along the way. It became a game between me and the navigation system to see if I could stump it. I never did, it always found a way back to the original destination. I realized that this is a lesson for us with our lives. We all have a destination, an end goal, whatever that may be and some days you may not even know yourself what that destination is. The game, the exciting part, the thing that makes life so incredibly amazing is the detours along the way.
For a lot of people change is a scary thing, and yes there something frightening about the unknown. Don’t let that fear prevent you from the excitement of the life you deserve. Try everything, experience all possibilities, fall flat on your face when required, make a fool of yourself on a daily basis, and savor the deliciousness of every morsel of your life.
Now I don’t mean that if you wake up one morning and decide you want to be a runway model you will be working the catwalk by sundown. Clearly unrealistic. What you can do though is move your life in that direction.
I have a friend that for the first time in their life they have no idea which direction to head. To them, it was such an unsettling place to be, they felt so lost. To me it’s the most exciting place to be. You have the chance to go anywhere, do anything, and try everything.
Don’t like the job you have? Look for another one. Don’t like where you live? Move. Don’t like the relationship you’re in? Get out. The reality is you and only you have the ability to change anything and everything about your life. The problem comes in with our built in need for instant gratification and wanting everything to come easy. That is NOT reality.
True change, worthwhile change, takes time and work, but that shouldn’t take away from the excitement of it. Really sit and think about it for a minute, the amazingness of the ability to change direction at any moment. Life is too precious and too short to continuing a direction because it’s familiar and comfortable. I’m not saying you should keep your life in perpetual motion and never settle down, absolutely not, nor am I saying that if something gets too difficult you give up and walk away. If you are truly unhappy with your current circumstance, not just momentarily annoyed, change direction.
I learned a life lesson from a car’s navigation system the other day. There was an address programmed into the navigation system and every time I drove somewhere the system came up with a route to that address. When I would miss a turn it would pause for a few seconds and come up with a new route; always finding a way to the original destination, no matter how many detours along the way. It became a game between me and the navigation system to see if I could stump it. I never did, it always found a way back to the original destination. I realized that this is a lesson for us with our lives. We all have a destination, an end goal, whatever that may be and some days you may not even know yourself what that destination is. The game, the exciting part, the thing that makes life so incredibly amazing is the detours along the way.
For a lot of people change is a scary thing, and yes there something frightening about the unknown. Don’t let that fear prevent you from the excitement of the life you deserve. Try everything, experience all possibilities, fall flat on your face when required, make a fool of yourself on a daily basis, and savor the deliciousness of every morsel of your life.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
......The Life You Want
So yeah, this blogging thing is a lot harder than one would think. I can’t believe a week has past since my last posting. Although it’s been an interesting week for me, trust me, there was nothing that would interest any of you.
It has been a week of crisis phone calls from friends, life challenges for me, and insight into how people choose to look at life. Everyone handles drama differently, some get on the phone to everyone they know, looking for affirmation in their choices and generally looking for the world to stop for them, then the so called crisis (which turned out to be a misunderstanding) is over and they go about their lives while everyone else is still reeling from the hurricane of emotions thrown at them.
Then there are those that when hit with life not meeting their expectations, move into the City of Gloom and set up camp. No matter what positive thing you say to them it’s sent back on a negative wave of misery. How can anything possibly be good when their life is so bad?
Now I don’t profess to have all the answers, not even close, and I don’t think I’ve perfected how to deal with the down side of life, but I’m always surprised at how many people choose to focus on the bad things going on around them instead of the good. I’m not saying that you should deal with every negative situation with a perpetual Little Merry Sunshine mentality, or live in denial of your situation. Jobs have to be found, bills have to be paid, cars have to be repaired, difficult choices must be made, sad events do happen. Mentally you have to experience the sadness, grief, or moment of depression. Feel it to its fullest, but then let it go, staying in that place won’t change what is happening. The defining moment comes when you make that choice to either stay in that place or go back to living life.
Everyone you talk to these days is stressed about money. Business owners worried about bills and payroll or maybe closing the company, employees wondering if they are going to be laid off or have their pay cut, and of course the poor unfortunate ones who have been laid off. While I have been lucky enough to not be laid off, there have been some unsettling changes go on at work that has me once again re-evaluating my choices. For most of the week I have been hanging out in my head (what was it our moms taught us – if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all) and mentally processing everything. I didn’t get a whole lot accomplished. After a few days of being thoroughly angry with everything, I stopped focusing on what was out of my control and went back to thing I can affect. There are still hard choices I have to make, but I can’t make them today, or even this week. I will be mulling over them on and off so that when the time comes that the decision has to be made, I will be ready. In the meantime, I’m playing my favorite game, how many things can I do without spending money.
There is a great website called http://www.meetup.com/, it’s not an online social network like MySpace or Facebook. You put in your zip code or city, then something that interests you lets say books, and you can find a book club in your area. Most of the group events are free, and there is no pressure to go to every event. If you are available great, if not you can always go to the next one. You will be surprised the wide variety of groups you will find in your area, who knows you might discover a new interest for the bargain price of nothing. Another place I love to hang out at is the public library. Did you know you can rent DVDs? It’s no just for books anymore. When I was last living in Portland, I was there for 6 months and couldn’t find a job. I also didn’t have my car for about a month, but instead of staying home everyday being depressed about no money, no job and no car, I would ride the bus to downtown everyday, drop off resumes and then go to the library. I would check my email on their free internet, check out knitting books (have to do something with the roomful of yarn just sitting there in my apartment) and grab some DVDs to watch. It was really what kept me sane during that time.
Here's a controversial notion -- You have the exact life you want.
You may not be doing the job you want, dating the person you want, or living where you want, but all those things aren’t what defines you life. Your life is defined by the choices you make and your commitment to those choices. You can choose to sit home and be depressed because you don’t have the job you want, or you can meet friends for a $2 slice of pizza and an evening of belly laughs. You can stay home every weekend depressed because you are single or your friends are too busy for you, or you can join the local volleyball meetup.com group and broaden your social options (and burn off the burger and fries from yesterday in the process)
Everyday we are faced with stumbling blocks and people wanting to see us fall and maybe help us accomplish that. Life is too precious and too short to give into all that. I challenge you to make that CHOICE to focus on what’s good in your life, what you can affect that day and to turn away from the debilitating effect of negativity.
I challenge you to want a life of joy and laughter and to not want a life of doom and despair.
It has been a week of crisis phone calls from friends, life challenges for me, and insight into how people choose to look at life. Everyone handles drama differently, some get on the phone to everyone they know, looking for affirmation in their choices and generally looking for the world to stop for them, then the so called crisis (which turned out to be a misunderstanding) is over and they go about their lives while everyone else is still reeling from the hurricane of emotions thrown at them.
Then there are those that when hit with life not meeting their expectations, move into the City of Gloom and set up camp. No matter what positive thing you say to them it’s sent back on a negative wave of misery. How can anything possibly be good when their life is so bad?
Now I don’t profess to have all the answers, not even close, and I don’t think I’ve perfected how to deal with the down side of life, but I’m always surprised at how many people choose to focus on the bad things going on around them instead of the good. I’m not saying that you should deal with every negative situation with a perpetual Little Merry Sunshine mentality, or live in denial of your situation. Jobs have to be found, bills have to be paid, cars have to be repaired, difficult choices must be made, sad events do happen. Mentally you have to experience the sadness, grief, or moment of depression. Feel it to its fullest, but then let it go, staying in that place won’t change what is happening. The defining moment comes when you make that choice to either stay in that place or go back to living life.
Everyone you talk to these days is stressed about money. Business owners worried about bills and payroll or maybe closing the company, employees wondering if they are going to be laid off or have their pay cut, and of course the poor unfortunate ones who have been laid off. While I have been lucky enough to not be laid off, there have been some unsettling changes go on at work that has me once again re-evaluating my choices. For most of the week I have been hanging out in my head (what was it our moms taught us – if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all) and mentally processing everything. I didn’t get a whole lot accomplished. After a few days of being thoroughly angry with everything, I stopped focusing on what was out of my control and went back to thing I can affect. There are still hard choices I have to make, but I can’t make them today, or even this week. I will be mulling over them on and off so that when the time comes that the decision has to be made, I will be ready. In the meantime, I’m playing my favorite game, how many things can I do without spending money.
There is a great website called http://www.meetup.com/, it’s not an online social network like MySpace or Facebook. You put in your zip code or city, then something that interests you lets say books, and you can find a book club in your area. Most of the group events are free, and there is no pressure to go to every event. If you are available great, if not you can always go to the next one. You will be surprised the wide variety of groups you will find in your area, who knows you might discover a new interest for the bargain price of nothing. Another place I love to hang out at is the public library. Did you know you can rent DVDs? It’s no just for books anymore. When I was last living in Portland, I was there for 6 months and couldn’t find a job. I also didn’t have my car for about a month, but instead of staying home everyday being depressed about no money, no job and no car, I would ride the bus to downtown everyday, drop off resumes and then go to the library. I would check my email on their free internet, check out knitting books (have to do something with the roomful of yarn just sitting there in my apartment) and grab some DVDs to watch. It was really what kept me sane during that time.
Here's a controversial notion -- You have the exact life you want.
You may not be doing the job you want, dating the person you want, or living where you want, but all those things aren’t what defines you life. Your life is defined by the choices you make and your commitment to those choices. You can choose to sit home and be depressed because you don’t have the job you want, or you can meet friends for a $2 slice of pizza and an evening of belly laughs. You can stay home every weekend depressed because you are single or your friends are too busy for you, or you can join the local volleyball meetup.com group and broaden your social options (and burn off the burger and fries from yesterday in the process)
Everyday we are faced with stumbling blocks and people wanting to see us fall and maybe help us accomplish that. Life is too precious and too short to give into all that. I challenge you to make that CHOICE to focus on what’s good in your life, what you can affect that day and to turn away from the debilitating effect of negativity.
I challenge you to want a life of joy and laughter and to not want a life of doom and despair.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
......Avoidance
I have found myself, the last few days, without a whole lot to say. They haven’t been bad days or outstandingly good days, just kind of uninteresting. I’ve been cleaning out files, books shelves, old shoes, clothes closet. Cleaning the floors, throwing away out-dated spices, unidentifiable bags of bulk something (corn starch I think but not sure) and non-matching silverware. So really, what in all that would interest any of you?
Even though all of those things needed to be done, how much of the drive to accomplish it was avoidance? I have 4 knitting projects to finish, 3 outfits to cut out and sew, 1 canvas to paint for the bedroom, gazillions of photos to scan in and crop for my website. I should be filling my sketchbook for at least 20 minutes everyday, a French film from Netflix to watch (teaching myself French)……well I could go on but I think you get the idea. Being creatively paralyzed the last few days, instead of making myself push through the wall, I avoided the block by focusing on mundane more “important” tasks.
Now of course I was not going to accomplish that list all in the last three days, but how much more satisfying would it have been creatively to tackle at least one item each day? There are many websites out there geared toward artists, photographers, and all types of creatives, but I think the same words apply to everyone regardless of their goals or talents. There are days a business owner has to be just as creative in finding a solution as a screenwriter stumped on the third act. Their mediums maybe different but the blocks have the same paralyzing effect.
Everyone needs those days where you do a whole lot of nothing, to recharge the batteries so to speak, but how do you keep those days from taking over your life. How much of your life have you missed out on because you HAD to vacuum and dust the house instead of going to the park with your kids, or a movie with your partner? What connection did you miss out on because you skipped dinner with friends to stay home and “get caught up?’ There has to be a balance in your life between the everyday mundane chores that keep your life in order and the chaotic, spontaneous jolts that keep your brain creatively charged.
So my question for everyone today, what are you avoiding?
Even though all of those things needed to be done, how much of the drive to accomplish it was avoidance? I have 4 knitting projects to finish, 3 outfits to cut out and sew, 1 canvas to paint for the bedroom, gazillions of photos to scan in and crop for my website. I should be filling my sketchbook for at least 20 minutes everyday, a French film from Netflix to watch (teaching myself French)……well I could go on but I think you get the idea. Being creatively paralyzed the last few days, instead of making myself push through the wall, I avoided the block by focusing on mundane more “important” tasks.
Now of course I was not going to accomplish that list all in the last three days, but how much more satisfying would it have been creatively to tackle at least one item each day? There are many websites out there geared toward artists, photographers, and all types of creatives, but I think the same words apply to everyone regardless of their goals or talents. There are days a business owner has to be just as creative in finding a solution as a screenwriter stumped on the third act. Their mediums maybe different but the blocks have the same paralyzing effect.
Everyone needs those days where you do a whole lot of nothing, to recharge the batteries so to speak, but how do you keep those days from taking over your life. How much of your life have you missed out on because you HAD to vacuum and dust the house instead of going to the park with your kids, or a movie with your partner? What connection did you miss out on because you skipped dinner with friends to stay home and “get caught up?’ There has to be a balance in your life between the everyday mundane chores that keep your life in order and the chaotic, spontaneous jolts that keep your brain creatively charged.
So my question for everyone today, what are you avoiding?
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
......Breakfast for Dinner
Done with work.......
Bills are paid............
Finished library book.......
Pancakes for dinner....
Yup it was a good day!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
......Winnie The Pooh Wisdom
“You can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count.”
Winnie the Pooh -- The House at Pooh Corner
My “found moment” came today as I was leaving work. Today was completely unremarkable, nothing exciting or scandalous happened at the office, no accolades or reprimands, simply a regular Tuesday. I guess that in of itself is remarkable, considering the current state of the world. Everyday we hear in the news, read on-line or in the paper about thousands of employees being laid off, retail giants closing their doors, and all of us know someone who has lost their job, car and some even their house. The company I work for announced last week that there would be a company wide decrease in pay as we weather out the storm. Not ideal, but considering the alternatives, workable.
Today I left at my usual time, 2:30, it was a beautiful 80 degrees outside and as I’m walking to my car I’m thinking how blessed I am. Not only am I still employed, but my job allows me to put more emphasis on my life instead of killing myself working 10 or 12 hours days. I have no problem working long hours and all that goes along with that, but I am definitely one of those people that my quality of life is more important than racking up the most hours at my company.
It’s so easy to be wrapped up in all that’s wrong in your life, projects not finished, dreams not started, and time running out. Everyday we are bombarded with negative news, destructive image ideals, and the ultimate demise of our economic world. Your sanity in all this turmoil is in the foundation of your own personal world. The emotional version of “comfort food” so to speak. For me it’s found in a job with short hours and the freedom of working independently. It’s found in dinner with friends, designing a new outfit to sew, borrowing obsessive amounts of books from the public library, no car payment, photography, drawing, my morning 6 Shot Grande Latte……..and Toosdays.
Winnie the Pooh -- The House at Pooh Corner
My “found moment” came today as I was leaving work. Today was completely unremarkable, nothing exciting or scandalous happened at the office, no accolades or reprimands, simply a regular Tuesday. I guess that in of itself is remarkable, considering the current state of the world. Everyday we hear in the news, read on-line or in the paper about thousands of employees being laid off, retail giants closing their doors, and all of us know someone who has lost their job, car and some even their house. The company I work for announced last week that there would be a company wide decrease in pay as we weather out the storm. Not ideal, but considering the alternatives, workable.
Today I left at my usual time, 2:30, it was a beautiful 80 degrees outside and as I’m walking to my car I’m thinking how blessed I am. Not only am I still employed, but my job allows me to put more emphasis on my life instead of killing myself working 10 or 12 hours days. I have no problem working long hours and all that goes along with that, but I am definitely one of those people that my quality of life is more important than racking up the most hours at my company.
It’s so easy to be wrapped up in all that’s wrong in your life, projects not finished, dreams not started, and time running out. Everyday we are bombarded with negative news, destructive image ideals, and the ultimate demise of our economic world. Your sanity in all this turmoil is in the foundation of your own personal world. The emotional version of “comfort food” so to speak. For me it’s found in a job with short hours and the freedom of working independently. It’s found in dinner with friends, designing a new outfit to sew, borrowing obsessive amounts of books from the public library, no car payment, photography, drawing, my morning 6 Shot Grande Latte……..and Toosdays.
Monday, February 2, 2009
......Found Moments
Life really is all about the “found moments”. I’m pretty sure that is from a movie I saw and when I remember it, I will post which one. They are right though; there is a chance every day to find something, either something within you or outside of you. Something so small you almost miss it, or so big it knocks the wind out of you.
My best friend is a dreamer in the literal sense of the word, which works out well since she is THE most literal person I’ve ever met. I am her counter-balance. She tells me that I have this habit of picking reality up from the floor (where she has usually left it) and throwing it in her face……….I found her to be right. Does that mean that I have no dreams and she has no realistic ideas of life? Far from it, but it does tell you what our first reactions to life are. When you are so busy staying grounded in reality, you lose your creativity. You lose the ability to see what could be, only what is.
My found moment today, is that I have stopped looking for them, those “found moments” and as a result, they have left me. I did not appreciate their importance in my life, and they took the meal of neglect I fed them and moved on. Today is about enticing them back, for they are the things that gets you through that crappy day at work when you want to walk out, they help you sustain that glorious high you are on when you have had a truly amazing breakthrough with your art, they fill in the gaps to reveal what you have been looking for all along.
So take notice you elusive moments, I’m coming for you and you will be found.
My best friend is a dreamer in the literal sense of the word, which works out well since she is THE most literal person I’ve ever met. I am her counter-balance. She tells me that I have this habit of picking reality up from the floor (where she has usually left it) and throwing it in her face……….I found her to be right. Does that mean that I have no dreams and she has no realistic ideas of life? Far from it, but it does tell you what our first reactions to life are. When you are so busy staying grounded in reality, you lose your creativity. You lose the ability to see what could be, only what is.
My found moment today, is that I have stopped looking for them, those “found moments” and as a result, they have left me. I did not appreciate their importance in my life, and they took the meal of neglect I fed them and moved on. Today is about enticing them back, for they are the things that gets you through that crappy day at work when you want to walk out, they help you sustain that glorious high you are on when you have had a truly amazing breakthrough with your art, they fill in the gaps to reveal what you have been looking for all along.
So take notice you elusive moments, I’m coming for you and you will be found.
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