Fearless, Fabulous Life

I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

This oddly riveting documentary, “Rivers & Tides”, features the work?of Scottish sculptor Andy Wordsworthy. He works exclusively?outdoors in open fields, along rivers and creeks, at the shore,?and in the forest using all natural materials.

Claiming that “the work makes itself,” Goldsworthy manipulates?ice, driftwood, bracken, leaves, stone, dirt and snow to create?highly unusual and compelling works. He moves forward bit by bit?with his sculptures, almost without pause. Some of his work is?produced at the convergence of river and sea, so it is?inevitable that the rising tide will alter and ultimately?destroy his work within a short period of time.

“Rivers & Tides” won the Golden Gate Award Grand Prize – Best?Documentary at the 2003 San Francisco International Film?Festival. Watch a video clip on You-Tube.

Tags: sculpture, Andy Goldsworthy, natural materials

Each of us determines the quality of each day of our lives. We get up and to a large degree choose how we will spend our time. Most of us must work, but we generally have choices about the kind of work. Many of us have family obligations, but we can decide how to fulfill them. We all have an amount of empty time each day, but how we fill it varies tremendously.

I believe it is in our power to fill each day with creative expression. I don’t mean that it’s necessary to physically “make” something, a tangible object to look at and say “I did that.” It’s possible, but I’m actually challenging you to live all of your life creatively, looking for opportunities to infuse your tasks, chores, and free time with imagination and enthusiasm.

Commit to Begin

A good place to start living creatively is to ask “How could I make my life more enjoyable?” You don’t always have to put fun at the end of the day or the project. Is there a way to infuse your day with better activities? Would it be more productive to do things in a different order? Would the very act of “mixing it up” contribute to new insights and perspective?

Decide that whatever is left of today will be more creative. Express yourself. Take a few minutes from your work to write in your journal or draft a haiku poem that reflects something that happened earlier today. Sing along with the radio, or turn it off and make up your own song as you drive home from work. Arrange some freshly cut flowers or add a new spice as you prepare dinner.

Trusting Imagination & Intuition

Life can be messy, complicated, and disappointing. And sometimes we have no control over what happens. But your instincts and your gut can guide you to the better choices, to more satisfaction, to greater success.

Too often we shut down the very clues that we receive naturally, because we don’t trust our innate sources of imagination or deep knowledge of what would improve our lives from moment to moment. We make things so much more difficult than they need to be.

Your already know what to do. When new ideas or images flash in your mind or you have an inkling about how to do something, trust those messages. To fully revel in what we imagine and allow ourselves to feel everything, is to live creatively.

No Need for Approval

Approval is subjective and a made up concept, just like rules. Others only have the power we give them to interpret or evaluate what we make, what we say, and what we do.

You get to decide if anyone is qualified to evaluate your desires, projects, and progress. If you don’t seek approval, you don’t have to concern yourself with letting others down or not meeting their expectations.

Taking Chances

Life builds on itself one layer at a time, just like words in a story, paint on a canvas, or experiences shared in a relationship. Standing still and never trying new things is to remain stagnant. And once you stop taking chances, you begin to die a little bit each day.

Add orange to the sweater you are knitting. Leave out the meat and add a new vegetable to your favorite casserole recipe. Sign up for a volunteer vacation in South America. Make up a game to occupy the downtime during a traffic jam. You can’t know if something will work out until you try it.

Let Go of the Outcome

Seeking perfection causes stress and tension. That isn’t to say that improving a skill or method is unfulfilling or unimportant. However, not everything you do or create has to be top notch. Seeking perfection can get in the way of enjoying an activity. That’s why so may people give up on learning how to play a musical instrument or a foreign language. There is no test when you enjoy learning for its own sake.

Doing can be its own reward with the end product, if there is one, wonderful enough. Most everyone deeply appreciates hand-made gifts. Think fresh baked biscuits for strawberry shortcake instead of those squishy sponge patties. I’d take home-baked every time.

Your Own Pleasure

We have the power to creatively infuse our lives with pleasure at almost every turn. You don’t need money to have rich and interesting friendships. You don’t need special equipment and supplies to make a delicious and even exotic meal for your family. You don’t need permission to wear a colorful scarf to work.

Seek out fancy as you move through your life. Enjoy the way things look and taste. Tell people how you feel. Do make things with your hands. Notice how your body feels as you move it different ways. Love that everything is simply a work in progress, that you can change your mind, and that you can make each day more beautiful.

Tags: expressyour creativity, , , , creative expression, Instinct, imagination

I want me one of those!

Seriously, Tim Ferris’ book, The 4-Hour Workweek, is based on the premise that our larger lives shouldn’t or needn’t be subservient to our work… or more specifically our jobs.

The book is divided into four sections: Definition (determining the dreams of having, being and doing, and calculating the resulting Target Monthly Income and timelines for accomplishment), Elimination (getting rid of all the extraneous and unimportant), Automation (subtracting you from the need to do everything), and Liberation (how to spend all of your freed up time).

You could read this simply as a hypothetical game plan for work avoidance. However, Ferris is more serious than wanting a bestseller with a catchy name. He really believes that our lives have so much more possibility for fulfillment and adventure, and that learning and experiencing new things is necessary expression of what makes us tick.??So, if the idea of outsourcing big chunks of your routine life, enjoying mini-retirements (instead of waiting for the end), and escaping paralysis appeals to you, get The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich.

If nothing else, this book will give you specific steps to reclaim pockets of time. With it as a guide, you can think about why you are holding back from living the life that you want.

I’m going to try the ideas in the book this summer, and I’ll report out after Labor Day.

Tags: freedomfrom schedules, independence, outsourcing work, automating tasks, defining your ideal life, Tim Ferris, Target Monthly Income

Recently, I forced my husband to sit through the three versions of “The Avengers” TV series from the 1960s. Patrick McNee played John Steed, an uppity-snuppity British spy ; in every episode he was outfitted in tweed and bowler with an umbrella in hand (often wielded as weapon). Through the years of the series, he always had a female foil with whom he bantered as together they solved a series of ridiculous crimes. [The 1998 movie adaption was dreadful; the 80’s TV series “Remington Steele“ was on the same track.]

Early episodes paired Steed with Mrs. Cathy Gale, portrayed by Honor Blackman. In the middle and best years, Diana Rigg was the cool and clever Mrs. Emma Peel. The series wrapped in 1969 with Linda Thorson playing young, beautiful Tara King.

At ages 7-9, it was Emma Peel that struck my fancy. She was glamorous and strong, clever and smart, and ever ready for the next adventure or risk. She had a witty remark for every situation. I wanted to be ready for anything like her. I actually wanted to be her.

It was probably one episode in particular — not found during the recent marathon viewing by the way — that featured Steed and Peel fencing, complete with spandex outfits (he in black, she in white), masks, foils, and a more than a bit of wicked humor. At least I remember it that way. I always intended to take up fencing based on that very strong impression; I wanted those agile, flexible, dramatic moves for my own arsenal.

Now that I am at the mid-point of my life, I laugh a bit at my early infatuation. I’m struck by how long and fiercely I clung to my “Emma Peel Ideal.” But now — and especially after realizing how dated the conversations, styles, and story lines from the TV series — I’m satisfied with my own style and progress toward my very contemporary ambitions and ideals. I’m a business owner with a clear vision of what I want to accomplish. I have numerous friends, opportunities for self-development and travel, time to explore my interests and passions, and a balanced life.

This past winter I conducted a pilot 12-week group coaching program focused on female boomers. In the past few months I’ve swallowed and digested an enormous amount of new technology; I’ve developed a web site, blogs, and now I’ve launched an ezine (sign up at the top of this page to receive a weekly issue via email). I’ve learned how to set up my online shopping cart, arranged for a merchant account, written autoresponders, and created an online forum. I’ve created coaching packages and taken on clients. I am focused on bolstering my marketing efforts in order to fill my group program scheduled for July.

Emma, eat your heart out.

Think about your early influences. Is there a role model from your childhood or earlier adulthood? What is the temperament, “look,” or “MO” that inspired you? Does the image still do it for you?

Is there a contemporary model out there that embodies the ideal for you now? What is your definition of a Fearless, Fabulous Female? Share your memories and experiences. Post a comment. Let’s collect a bunch of these impressive female profiles, and then I’ll figure out a way to share them with all readers of this ezine.