Decide 2 Matter

Pure Imagination

noI got this idea from Jodee Bock's blog, You Already Know This. She posted the words to When You Wish Upon A Star. The lyrics are fantastic. I just finished watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The lyrics to Pure Imagination are great, too, so I wanted to share.

Hold your breath
Make a wish
Count to three

Come with me
And you'll be
In a world of
Pure imagination
Take a look
And you'll see
Into your imagination

We'll begin
With a spin
Traveling in
The world of my creation
What we'll see
Will defy
Explanation

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Wanta change the world?
There's nothing
To it

There is no
Life I know
To compare with
Pure imagination
Living there
You'll be free
If you truly wish to be

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Wanta change the world?
There's nothing
To it

There is no
Life I know
To compare with
Pure imagination
Living there
You'll be free
If you truly
Wish to be

If you can imagine it, you can create it. What are you going to create this year?

Happy New Year!

The Best Year Of Your Life

So, have you decided what will make 2006 the best year of your life? For Christmas I received Debbie Ford's book The Best Year Of Your Life.

I haven't finished it yet, but so far I'm pretty impressed. One thing she mentions that I never really thought of is this: identify the feelings of success that you are after.

So often we get caught up in the trappings of success (the big car, the better wardrobe, the fame), that we don't realize all we want is acceptance, recognition, and love.

For 2006, define what success means for you. Does it mean making lots of money? If so, what feeling is behind that wish? Will that mean you have arrived? That you have accomplished your goals? That you are  a worthwhile person? How will all of that make you feel?

If we work overtime and charge up a storm to get the fancy wardrobe to create that picture of success, in truth we only create more stress. What in your life right now would make you feel successful? If it is the huge promotion, are you willing to put all the work in for it?

This year look at how you wish to feel and then shape your life around that.

If you could have one super power, what would it be?

I'd like to be able to speak every language including speaking with animals. Wouldn't you love to know what your cat was saying?

Don't confuse this with reading minds. What people think is their private business - nor do I really want to know. But being able to communicate with everyone in the known universe, wouldn't that be awesome?

Blink - The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

What an interesting read. I chanced upon Blink - The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell at the library a few weeks ago. Being interested in intuition and trusting one's inner voice, I found Gladwell's research on split decision making very insightful.

Gladwell introduces study after interesting study about what goes on behind our eyes when we make "blink" decisions. He calls it thin slicing and essentially coins the term from what many of the researchers have done: taken small slices of an experience and used it to gather information. And I'm not talking about 30 minutes, but 30 seconds.

Fascinating examples of thin slicing include research done on speed dating, marriage, and professors to classical musicians and police shootings. Did you know that if you take a 30 second clip of a professor, show it on mute to a bunch of students, the students can rate whether or not its a good professor? Mind you these are students who have never had this professor. If you compare the results with actual post semester evaluations, you'll find that the thin sliced evaluations are just as accurate.

There are so many neat examples that Gladwell goes into, you are bound to look at something anew. I don't want to give too much away. Pick up your copy today!

Limited Time Offer

Life is a limited time offer. You only get one shot, one try, one day: today. Don't get confused and think you now have to rush to enjoy everything. Don't start filling up your to-do list with more and more. Quite the opposite.

Slow down.

This is the only December 27th, 2005 you will have. For a limited time, you can enjoy today right now. But act fast, this offer will expire at midnight tonight.

What have you noticed today? What makes today special? Instead of a gratitude journal, wouldn't it be neat to have a diary devoted to what made each and every day special?

Accept the Compliment

You just started your craft or perhaps you've been at it for years. Someone has seen your work, heard your play, or watched you dance. You receive rave reviews.

Your inner critic thinks they are all nuts, so what do you do?

You say thank you and accept the compliments.

There's this gorgeous grand piano in the lobby of my building. The other day, I had the opportunity to play piano for one of my co-workers.  When I was younger, I took lessons for about 8 years.  However, it's been more than 10 years since I played for anyone. This June I started lessons again with a fantastic teacher. Of course I'm definitely rusty. Despite all of that, I sat down and played a few pieces I knew and then broke into some of my own compositions. (It's easier not to mess up when you are playing your own pieces. Tee hee.)

People stopped to listen to me and give me compliments. Later, I told another friend I played. She said, "That was you? Joe was raving about someone who played for him the other day. He said you were phenomenal." While trying not to blush, I almost immediately went into a rant about how I really wasn't that good at all.

We creative folk are very critical of our selves and our work. Moreover, we usually are aware of what other artists are doing, how much more training they have, and what "professional" exposure they get. So, it's very easy to dismiss the comments of friends and family who aren't as creative, but truly love what we do.

These compliments are important. If you wish to sell your work, your first sale may be to your next door neighbor, not the wealthy art lover at the gallery. Don't dismiss someone's kind words just because they may not know the difference between Picasso or Monet, or Mozart and Chopin. That person may know someone who is looking for an illustrator, a violinist, or a dancer. You name may pop up. You never know.

When you receive a compliment, accept it with a thank you and a smile.

On a final note, I was definitely feeling marvelous after receiving all the compliments on my piano playing. Then I had a piano lesson with my amazing teacher. He had me completely rework a song I was doing because I was playing it all wrong. It was an easy song and my ego demanded that I rush through it quickly. As a result, I was overemphasizing the wrong measures, etc. What a mess.

Actually it's a good thing I had received all the compliments the day before, else I might have been crushed after my lesson. Take compliments with a smile.

Gifts Aren't Always Wrapped

With consumerism on the rampage, it's easy to forget all the other wonderful gifts we receive each and every day. These gifts do not come wrapped, but are bestowed upon us in numerous ways. When we acknowledge these gifts, we open our eyes to the abundance of the world. What gifts have you been given?

Here are some that may come to mind.

• The person who let you cut into the lane when traffic was heavy.
• The man who smiled at you when you were feeling down.
• The baby that stared into your eyes.
• The woman who gave you an extra coupon at the store.
• The man who held open the door for you.
• The compliment you received on your outfit.

There are others gifts we don't even realize we have. Clean water. Heat. Enough food to eat. Good friends. A stable job. A reliable vehicle.

We are surrounded by so many blessings, but it's easy to forget when we move so quickly in our lives. Stop a moment today and notice what gifts you have received be they wrapped or not.

Spread Cheer

With the holiday hustle of shopping, parties, and eating, it's no wonder we end up exhausted after the entire ordeal is over. This year, I'm finding it very hard to enjoy the holidays, because I feel so rushed all the time. The holiday spirit doesn't seem alive and well.

When I came home last night, my neighbor caught me to give me a plate of homemade sugar cookies. He also wished me a Merry Christmas. I was so surprised by the gift that instead of wishing him good cheer or happy holidays, I said, "Thanks, you too!" I plan on baking some muffins or cookies to share with my family and neighbors for New Years, so that's when I'll get to spread my holiday cheer.

No sooner had I walked in the door, did my boyfriend call. He had mentioned how it also felt like Christmas wasn't even here. That was until he wished someone Happy Holidays. Literally as soon as he started wishing others Happy Holidays did he feel the holiday spirit. He said, "Duh, wish people Happy Holidays and you'll feel better."

Instead of focusing on the traffic, consumerism, and fattening food, look for places where you can spread cheer. A simple Happy Holidays to someone in the elevator accompanied by a smile will do wonders. Spread cheer and you will find cheer. It's like when you buy a new car and suddenly everywhere you look, someone has that same model of car. Those cars were always on the road, but you never noticed before.

What little way can you spread cheer today?

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Are you following your heart's desire, or are you speeding down the path of safety and guarantees? It is very easy to deceive yourself into thinking you are doing something because you love it, when really you are going after what you think has a guarantee.

Take me for instance. I still work in Corporate America (with a capital C no less). There I enjoy helping people with computers. Since my company pays for a computer science degree, that seems like the logical choice for me to continue my education. Do I enjoy using computers? Sure. Do I like helping people with them? Sure. But it's not what I do for fun at home. I like computers, but I don't love computer. However, I can find numerous job opportunities plain as day for folks with computer science degrees and programming experience.

Since I like coaching so much and enjoy working with people, psychology seems like the next best thing. But do I go home and pour through psychology today magazines or self-help books? Granted I have plenty of the self-help books, but I only like psychology. I don't yearn for it. Yet again my fears creep up and tell me that pursuing psychology is safe. So again I look at schools offering courses.

It's so easy to fall into what we think is safe. Unfortunately, most thoughts are based on stale information. Do I know for a fact that computers will take me where I want to go? Actually I knew a few computers folks who get laid off every time a company restructures itself. They come back as consultants and eventually get rehired only to have the cycle start again and again. I know therapists that don't get paid as much as they should because of insurance company rates changing all the time. Moreover, they have to wait for the claims to come in, sometimes waiting months just to get paid.

What do I truly want to do? Compose music, sell my art & designs, write stories, and inspire others through coaching. Do you know any worn path for doing all of that? I don't. You won't find job postings for "creative person who likes to do a lot of things including x,y, and z." And telling people I'm becoming a creativity coach - most people screw up their faces and ask "What's that?" Yet my satisfaction will be guaranteed if I take the risks and make my own path.

A life lived with regret is no life at all. And living for security isn't life, but mere survival. Are you pursing what you love or what you like? Ask yourself some of these questions.

• Do I like this, or love this?
• If I already have a job now, why not pursue what I love?
• Will I regret not doing this?
• Do I not want to do this because it's scary and unknown?
• Am I doing this because I think I should, or because I want to?
• Do I have enough information about my interest, or am I just going off
  assumptions (starving artists, mom said musicians never make any money)
• What really moves me?
• If I had guaranteed success in anything I went after, what would I do?

What would you do? Who would you be?

The Importance of Doing Nothing

What exactly does that mean? Martha Beck in her book The Joy Diet talks about how doing nothing should be an important ingredient in your day. Do we sit there and stare at the wall? Isn't that close to meditation? The act of "doing nothing" is the paradox it seems to be. Is is the active pursuit of doing nothing that perplexes us. Let me try to explain is with a metaphor.

Our minds are so constantly filled with images, junk, lists, thoughts, ideas, complaints, self-criticisms. The list could go on forever. Doing nothing means letting all of those thoughts drop off like a spilled glass of water falling all over the table and floor. The water runs onto your lap. You bolt from the chair. You rush to clear the table. You head jerks to find the nearest towel. You pay attention to spilt water. Your thoughts are like spilt water. 

What doing nothing asks of you is for you to just sit there. You must actively stop yourself from getting up. Feel the wetness. Stop the judgement about what is getting wet, what is getting wrecked. Like water, your thoughts threaten to make a mess if they are being ignored. They demand attention. However, like water, they will seek their own level and get to room temperature if left unattended.

The other day I sloshed cold water on myself at the sink. I cannot wash dishes or rinse them off without dousing myself at least little. For about 2 minutes the ice cold water soaked the front of my sweater; the sweater taking a healthy drink of it. Yikes it was cold. It wasn't so bad, so long as my baggy sweater didn't rub up against my stomach. But when it did - wooo! Eventually the water temperature got warmer and matched my own temperature (at least a little bit). Then I was able to ignore the wetness.

We need to give our minds a rest, we need to let those rushing fluid thoughts of ours slow down and reach their level. This is actively doing nothing. We will not drown in them, they will just slow down and become still. They will become room temperature.

Exercise - Just about every meditation book on the planet will tell you this...

1. Sit in a comfortable position
2. Become aware of your breathing.
3. Notice your thoughts.
4. Let them go where they must.
5. Do not react to your thoughts.
6. Do nothing about them.
7. Do this for at least 5 minutes a day.