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The Void

Last time, I wrote about THE LIST, that never ending wellspring of ideas of where to invest your energy, your time, talent, and financial resources. You may have such a list for your life, your business, your family and home.

You don’t have such a list? Are you in that place of feeling stuck, not knowing which way to turn because you believe you have exhausted your options? Maybe you don’t believe you are creative and are waiting for someone else to tell you what comes next? Or perhaps you have been on the treadmill and exhausted yourself, checking things off the list and now feel empty, drained, without ideas?

I’d like to share an idea about the creative process that can help. I suspect it has been written about many times before (because it works!) yet my most recent encounter was in The Intuitive Way by Penney Peirce. Simply, it is a cycle of creation that requires listening. We must listen to the energy inside and notice when it says:

“Yes! Do it!”

and when it says:

“This doesn’t feel right. What is really needed now?”
or “I’m tired. Take a break.”

Simply put, the cycle is this:

  • BE – return to the void and listen; allow space in your activity to hear intuition, that still small voice within, and to be inspired
  • DO – once inspired in the listening, we know the steps to take
  • HAVE – having taken the steps, we experience completion or “having”

Sometimes, the cycle looks like this:

BE – DO – HAVE – BE – DO – HAVE– BE – DO – HAVE 

Sometimes it looks like this:

BE – DO – HAVE – DO – HAVE – DO – HAVE – BE

Often, when we are too focused on completing the list, it looks like:

BE – DO – HAVE – DO – HAVE – DO – HAVE – DO – HAVE …

and we never return to BE.

Today, consider breaking the cycle. Set the list – or the non-list – aside. Perhaps just gift yourself with 15-60 minutes of solitude. Go for a walk. Sit alone under your favorite tree. Go for a swim and treasure the feeling of floating on your back soaking up the sun. Sit in the chair with your pet in your lap and quiet music in the background.

Whatever you choose, the gift is one of being in the void. Invite your mind to rest. Deepen your breath. Calm your inner agitation. Just be.

What do you notice here?
What feels easy to release from here?
What inspiration is present here?

Finally, before you leave this place, make a date with yourself to return. Then do it!

 

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The List

to-doList

Did you grow up with the “to-do list”? Every morning in the summer, Mom would go to work. But before she left home, she left “the list” for us kids to do before she returned. Oh how I hated that list and most of what appeared on it:

Weed the beans
Dust the house
etc.

Yet, before Mom returned, we needed it to be a “to-done” list – or else!

Well, I realize today (some 40 years later!) that I learned my lessons well and “the list” has become a key piece of my organizational skills and my ability to get stuff accomplished. (Thanks, Mom!) It has also become, however, a source of overwhelm and fear despite the tricks I’ve learned to manage it.

As I look down on those childhood years, I see that Mom managed THE LIST, you know – the BIG list – the one that was never ending and lived in her head. I only saw the list, the segment that formed the to-do’s of today and which Mom believed was manageable.

Today, as an entrepreneur, I now manage THE LIST, and I manage the list. On top of that, I need to manage “me” and discern what I need for balance and well-being. Play? Rest? Work? Creativity? Meditation? I’m pretty good at this discernment day-to-day and can create the list that serves my balance most days. It is THE LIST which wreaks havoc with me.

How about you? Do you have a never-ending set of home remodeling projects? Is your business in that start-up phase where every time you turn around there are three new tasks for every one completed? Are you a creative like me and ideas for “what’s next?” come faster than a locomotive and creative time disappears at that pace as well?

Here are some things I know that I would like to put into more regular practice:

  • Celebrate creative ideas! What if I had none to choose from?
  • There will always be more options, more ways to spend time, energy, and money than I could ever follow through on.

In other words, expect more and more and more ideas! Treasure the energy in you that sees possibility. Know deep inside that you never want this list to become a “to-done” list. (Jeanne, are you listening to yourself? Are you learning here?)

Consider also these thoughts related to your LIST:

  • Today’s ideas might be great – and they might be the spark that ignites an even better idea!
  • Today’s ideas might not be great. Does this one even go on the list?
  • A great idea today might have come at the wrong time and need to sit on the back burner awhile.
  • A great idea not executed today might need to be released tomorrow because it simply isn’t great anymore.

Take a look at your LIST. Consider:

What have you already completed without realizing it?
Celebrate!

What ideas naturally group themselves together into larger themes?
What no longer fits at all in the grand scheme?
Let it go!

What still feels exciting, creative or necessary,
but now is not the time?
Can you guesstimate a time frame?
Express gratitude for this future work.
Release any pressure you feel to get it done now!

Finally, return to today and the list that serves you and THE LIST.

 

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Masquerading as a normal person …

KickButt4By6

Today’s message is simple: In what ways do you hide YOU? Where and with whom do you masquerade as something you are not? Perhaps you’ve been following the rules of life for so long that you don’t even know what “masquerading” as YOU would look like! Maybe you really don’t think you can.

Well, I am here to say: YOU CAN! For today, start small. Look at things that you have 100% control over:

  • Whose thoughts am I thinking? Mine or someone else’s?
  • What do I really believe? Where have I taken on another’s belief system unconsciously, without personal evaluation?
  • Where do I take on your emotional energy, the way you move in life? Where do I hide my inner spirit and refuse to sing and dance down the street?
  • Which clothes in my closet are there because they are in style or because that’s what I am supposed to wear to work or church or wherever?

Do you get the idea? Today, find one way in which you have been masquerading as someone else and dare to be yourself! And, just in case removing your mask is visible to others, have some fun!

What looks do you get when you dance down the street?
What happens when you smile at their questioning glances?
What does it feel like to be YOU?

(*) For additional inspiration, check out the Kick Butt! Inspiration Card

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FEAR — Redefined!

FEAR

Recently I wrote about non-attachment and letting go in order to really live. And, for me, letting go is often laced with fear. So a quick look at fear seems in order.  First, fear is an emotion. It is meant to suggest we take a closer look. Sometimes the fear is warranted by circumstance and pausing to notice the fear may save us from harm.

Sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes fear is a gremlin, a voice trying to keep us stuck in old habits which no longer serve us. Or fear may be an internalized message that we can’t do “it” or aren’t good enough. Each time we listen to the fear we solidify a belief that just may not be true!

Next time you sense unwarranted fear coming on, stop and let fear be an acronym for what might really be going on inside of you. Try on these FEAR acronyms:

(F)eeling (E)dgy (A)nd (R)esistent?
(F)alse (E)vidence (A)ppearing (R)eal
(F)ight (E)nds. (A)llow (R)est.
(F)ind (E)nergy (A)nd (R)eassurance.
(F)antastic (E)xperience (A)waits (R)ecognition
(F)ollow (E)ach (A)ppropriate (R)eminder
(F)reely (E)ngage. (A)ctively (R)espond.
(F)ly! (E)njoy (A)mazing (R)esonance.

Pick one that has a grain a truth for you and use it to move through the current fear. Perhaps your fear is the result of exhaustion and uncertainty. Choose (F)ind (E)nergy (A)nd (R)eassurance. Then ask yourself:

What would energize me now?
What message would reassure me?
Who can I ask for support?

Then take the energizing step. Ask for support. Wait until you feel energized and reassured. Then return to what it was that triggered fear in you and go for it!

What is it like to move through your fear?

(*) For a bit more on the topic of FEAR, check out: Beyond Fear

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What are you attached to?

“Dare to live by letting go.”
― Tom Althouse

Perhaps you’ve heard about the Buddhist teaching of non-attachment, perhaps not. My layman’s definition is this: when I must have or must do, when I think my ideas are *right* and I won’t let go, when I see the outcome in a situation and then hold onto it as the only possibility,  I am attached. And moreover, my strong attachments can be very draining of my energy, or in Buddhist terms, cause me to suffer. Today I became aware that I am even attached to the spiritual practices that I hoped would guide me toward non-attachment! I struggle to release the books I “should” read or the teachers I “should” listen to.

The quote above, “Dare to live by letting go”, is a good reminder for me. In this lifetime, we have the opportunity to amass all sorts of things: stuff, knowledge, habits, dreams, friends, activities, even money! Yet, there comes a point where more is NOT merrier. And stockpiling any of this get heavy and blocks us from actually living this moment and noticing what is here now. We are often too busy collecting, managing, planning, carrying the load — to live.

Today, I am releasing the pile of books I was trying to find time to read. They’ll return to me if and when I need to read them! I am letting go of a belief that I *should* meditate more and imagining more presence in each moment, each activity. Today I release the fear that if I let go of “it”, I will somehow miss out or fail at life. Today I dare to live by letting go! What about you?

What are you attached to?
What living is impossible as long as you hold on?
What would it feel like to let it go?