Archive for October, 2010
Self-Definition: Choose Your Mirrors Wisely
An excerpt taken from Walking In This World by Julia Cameron:
“All of us are creative. Some of us get the mirroring to know we are creative, but few of us get the mirroring to know how creative. What most of us get is the worried advice that if we are thinking about a life in the arts, we’d better plan to have “something to fall back on.” Would they tell us that if we expressed an interest in banking?
It could be argued that as people and as artists, we are what we are- however, we also become ourselves, all of ourselves, by having our largeness mirrored back to us.
I think of a scene from the Disney version of Cinderella, when the heroine sees herself in the dress for the first time and realizes she is a beauty…There is a magical “click” of recognition when the looking glass says back,
Yes, we are what we dream.
Too often we lack such mirrors and such transforming moments. No magic wand taps our life to make us into what we dream. Like Rumpelstiltskin, the artist most frequently has to name himself.
“I am an artist”- a filmmaker, a composer, a painter, a sculptor, an actor, or something {a convivial woman}- something the outer world has yet to acknowledge.”
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Rich Happy & Enough
Today I tested out a revolutionary idea…the idea that I am enough.
It all started with my desire to win a ticket to attend Marie Forleo’s Rich Happy & Hot LIVE. It’s a business and lifestyle event for women entrepreneurs being held at Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Center in New York City November 12 – 14th, 2010.
I checked out the information a couple weeks ago and thought, Uhh, heck yeah this is where I need to be! So I clicked for more details on registration and cost and was stopped in my tracks when I saw that it costs $1497 to attend! (my wallet’s hearing alarm sirens go off) It didn’t take me long to click out of that box…sadly!
I’d be willing to charge it to my credit card, but I’ve been a good girl lately by not spending frivolously, and this certainly wouldn’t be careless to spend on, because the way I see this is like education. I mean, how much did I spend in college on freaking calculus and I don’t use a damn thing of anything that I learned there. But I just can’t do it right now.
THEN, Marie sends me an email inviting me to come to New York for the weekend (more…)
TweetMy Shedventure to the Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende
I was graciously asked to be a guest writer by Bindu Wiles for The Shed Project, an 8-week adventure in letting go that she launched in early September. The project is about coming together as an online community, to support each other in letting go of excess baggage, of whatever is weighing you down. It could be your need to let go of material goods, negative thought patterns, a job, a lifestyle, etc. It’s still going on, so if you haven’t joined in, learn more here.
So, here’s my story about a time when I let go of all that was comfortable, of a life I was no longer happy living, and the details of the results yielded from taking a risk and following my heart’s desire…
Every act of creation starts with a feeling.
TweetThe Seed is Planted
Tomorrow, my guest post for The Shed Project will appear on Bindu Wiles site, as well as here, so I thought it would be ideal to share this photo I snapped of one of my journal inscriptions in 2004- the year I made the decision to pursue a feeling of bliss and let myself go where my heart led me.
The piece I am sharing for The Shed Project will elaborate MUCH MORE and share the full story with you, but I simply wanted you to see where the seed was planted. The story on Bindu’s site is the full-fledged blossoming of what happened when I let myself go…
Guest Post by One of My All-Time Favorite Friends
Is it time for you to go from What Happened? to What’s Next?
I’d like to share these words of wisdom one of my all-time best friends, Juan Carlos Bernal recently shared with me.
Carlos (as I know him) has been very encouraging and supportive of my efforts and message at Convivial Society and I couldn’t be more grateful to have someone like him in my corner.
It’s certain that neither him nor I ever imagined he’d be making an appearance here since my site targets women and he’s a MAN MAN, but his words struck me as being pretty powerful and I felt it would be selfish on my part to keep them all to myself. I’m sure we can all benefit from some tough talk and love every now and then, so with his permission, here they are…
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Mantra: What’s Your Thought Form?
I have this humongous Synonym Finder that I’ve had since my sophomore year in High School and keep handy, because looking up words and all the many different ways to say things fascinates me. The next best thing to that is Google, Wikipedia and Merriam-Webster online. I also love the book Sin and Syntax, and perusing books by Karen Elizabeth Gordon. (Feel free to share you favorite resources in a comment!).
So, I found myself hanging out on my bed with my friends, Synonym Finder, Laptop and my All Things Convivial notebook and I started thinking about the word Mantra. The following post evolved because of that thought…
MANTRA: is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of “creating transformation”; a translation of the human will or desire; an expression of “Being”; “Thought forms.”
Here are my thoughts in word, sound and symbol form (as well as a brief history behind how they came about for me):
Word: Convivial
The year is 2001 and ‘m watching Barbara Walters interview the cast of the movie, Ocean’s Eleven. Leading lady, Julia Roberts is surrounded by Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Don Cheadle. Along these lines, Barbara asks her, “So how was your experience making the movie with all these great guys?” Julia purses her lips as we all know her to do and says, “Convivial.” Like a gust of wind to the depths of my soul, I was overtaken by the sound of this word. Never forgot it. As you can tell.
Mantra: Know Your Power. Live Your Life.
Sitting in my kitchen with my dear friend, Nina thinking of a tag line for my soon-to-be site, Convivial Society. What do I want to say? What is my message? Those were the questions to kick off our brainstorming session. Nina wrote while I threw out words and phrases, scratching this and that off the list…then…it hit me…and she smiled and wrote it down. That was it. No doubt about it.
Symbol:
While working to create the logo for this site, I provided these details to the designer for logo creation:
Need a logo designed for woman’s website that will focus on empowering and connecting women in age group 20-40’s who want to learn from and share their experience with like-minded women who are ambitious, original, caring, energetic, positive, fun-loving, and seeking the guidance,resources and relationships to live a convivial life.
(Wanted designer to get a feel for me, since I am my target market, so I said the following…)
Intuitive, insightful, thoughtful, lover of the written word, creative, writer, diligent, vigilant, persevering spirit, embrace strength, humility and vulnerability ; love the words equanimity, rhapsody, sexuality, harmony, bossy…and lovely.
…
Convivial times, indeed.
When you imagine your thoughts in “form”. What do they look like? Sound like? Feel like?
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