This is only a test, not a sexy post. I don’t know how to figure a solution if I don’t run a test.
As I tried to update my look, other things have gone astray. Sigh. So in an effort to test if I was able to fix my URL, I am posting.
Today the topic with my friend, Ann, was about “good enough” and tonight I head out to hear Wendy Mogul. She wrote Blessing of a Skinned Knee and the even-more applicable Blessing of a B-.
It’s a big topic. And I promise to write more. If I pass the test…
Does anyone else ever find themselves in the position of having to “know how” before trying something new?
I recently heard a new paradigm: first you do, and then you feel. Uch. Way too often I have led with how I feel, and then I do.
But, last week I tried to take this new advice and put it into action. On my own. I re-designed my blog. This blog is about creative expression and connection for me. A year and a half ago, I came up with the name, made a logo and started posting. It was not an easy step to take. And yet, I did it. Since then, I have focused on the discipline of simply posting on (MindFULL) Mondays. But for the last few months, I’ve wanted a new look and have not known how to get it.
My usual MO is to think someone else “knows how” and I have to pay to learn. However, after spending some time around friends who are amazing at jumping in and figuring it out, I decided to try and do it myself. I was scared I’d screw it up and that what I had was better than nothing. But that is not the way I want to Be. I want the thrill of knowing I’ve tried.
And so, on Tuesday, I sat down at 9am and gave it a shot. I lifted my head at 2pm, exhilarated that I had a new look! I had taken a ride on the roller-coaster of Flow and found myself in a new place. I felt proud that I got the banner to fit. I felt a little frustrated that I couldn’t do more. I felt delighted when I figured out how to use Widgets.
I’ve tried many things in my life and can look back and laugh (and cry) at what I’ve achieved and what I’ve fallen flat on. For the last 15 years, on every birthday, I start a new journal and make a list of things I want to check off. I am proud to have manifested quite a few. The outcomes haven’t always been as I had hoped, but the thrill of the effort has definitely stuck. My efforts range from bombing an audition to be a QVC host to getting on-air at a local NPR station as the News and Weather anchor. From getting a graduate degree in my 30’s, after feeling not smart enough for most of my life (the irony is a degree like that doesn’t mean you ARE “smart” – smart can be defined in many ways, thanks to Howard Gardner and his work around Multiple Intelligences) to trying for “dream” jobs in the most creative of ways and not getting them. And yet, here I sit, with all of these experiences leading me down a career path that gives me the honor of working with some of the best and the brightest across domains and industries and hearing the thoughts and feelings over thousands of consumers.
There are some new business ideas in this year’s birthday journal that Id like to explore. At the top of my list is to create a new website and have part of it be around eCommerce. I don’t even know where to begin.
Hmmm…will I wait to feel like I can before trying or will I try and then feel like I can?
How do you MindFULLY figure out what to do even when you don’t know?
Let us know!
With all the talk of a New Year filled with resolutions and goals, its kinda hard to sift through the advice and come away without feeling overwhelmed or hopeless. There are so many things I’d like to do, that sometimes I have trouble getting started, so it’s the examples of people who simply take 1 action and do something that gets me to turn off my iPad and turn on my motivation.
You see, it doesn’t have to be a big deal. You can think about what you like and then take 1 step toward it. Take my friend, Lisa. She has 3 kids – 14, 13 and 13. She has spent the last 14 years doing all it takes to raise three kids and learned a thing or two along the way. One of her most important lessons to raising healthy, happy kids? Snacks. Who would have guessed? As she says, “Obviously this doesn’t mean filling them up with junk food right before dinner, it means that having appropriate snacks at necessary times can keep kids from getting hungry, which keeps them from getting cranky, which keeps them from falling apart and allows them to be their best selves and focus on whatever it is they’re doing. Interestingly I’ve found this is true for adults too (don’t get me started on naps). A delicious “treat” can reinvigorate you and help make you more productive the rest of the day.”
With this lesson, Lisa, a self taught baker and ice cream maker, started Gertie’s Homemade Cookies. Her cookies are all handmade with all natural ingredients and no preservatives or anything artificial; the perfect blend of cakey and chewey, chocolatey and buttery. Yes, they contain sugar, but one cookie is the perfect serving size and will change your day.
What inspires me, besides her yummy cookies, is her journey. She started baking them at home, figured out the recipe and then found a commercial kitchen to rent for $20/hour. That’s the cost of a manicure. She then simply packaged them, with materials from a local craft shop, and started sharing them with family and friends.
And soon, she was off and running. 1 step, led to a jog, which led to a run. Inspiring.
While you are probably watching your sugar and carbs, at least til the end of January, know that a “treat” can actually help you stay your course. When we deprive ourselves fully of something, we have a harder time. If we have a “bite” or a “half” we are better able to stay our course and self –inspire.
So, “treat” yourself to a Cookie Tower. Cookie Towers are four nesting boxes filled with 4 different kinds of delicious cookies, chocolate chip, M&M, chocolate chip pecan and Heath Bar. The cost is $40 and that includes tax and local delivery (for out of Colorado delivery, check with Lisa directly). They are perfect for business associates, clients, kids at college (shipping is available, but extra) kids in the car after school, baby showers, wedding showers, birthdays, anniversaries, rainy days, snowy days and sunny days.
Gertie’s Homemade Cookies is a small, local company trying to change the cookie landscape in Denver. To learn more, visit their website Gertieshomemadecookies.com, call 303-366-7786 or send an email to lisagergely@gertieshomemadecookies.com.
What is one MindFULL step you would like to take toward doing something you have dreamed of this year? Let us know!
50. Wow. That is a big number. I can’t believe that it will be the one that precedes my name this coming summer.
I’m not sure how I feel about it, other than grateful to reach it in good health and with all of the blessings I have in this moment. I am trying to skip over the bags under my eyes and the droopy profile when I step in the shower, much the less the over 1/2 way through fear of dread. But thankfully, I have learned that numbers are just numbers. They don’t mean anything other then the meaning we give them.
I was inspired last week when a friend said for her 51 birthday, she carried 51 $1 bills and hid them in random places for people to find. For example, she put one behind a ketchup bottle at the grocery story, another next to a rock at the local high school. I thought that was fun. Another friend is kicking off this year and making it The Year of 12s. She started a group that is made up of 12 women who will meet on the 12th of every month for fun.
So, when my friend, Colette, suggested that to celebrate turning 50 we collect our top 50 songs, with a story, I was all over it. Her birthday is a few weeks before mine. We are thinking of ways we can celebrate this summer and music will definitely play a huge roll.
I think the first song on my list will be Running on Empty, by Jackson Browne. It was my favorite song in high school and with the hot topic of high school in our home these days, it seems fitting. I can’t wait to see what the final list looks like and the story it will tell. After all, music is one of my favorite forms of storytelling and turning 50 can be one heck of a tale.
How do numbers play a fun roll in your life and perspective? Let us know!
If you had a clean canvas of time in front of you and were looking for creative inspiration, where would you go? This is what I reflected on as I closed my eyes in the sun at the base of Copper Mountain last weekend.
In addition to some small house ideas that I’d like to get done (and I find lots of inspiration on www.houzz.com) and some pending work projects to keep me sharp and productive (of those I can reveal, one of the best retailers, www.basspro.com, continues to care about what their customers think), I now have some personal creative time for the first time in a long time.
One of my intentions for this year is to MindFULLY infuse my blog and to really get back on finding and sharing some creative resources with all of you. We share what we need to learn.
Love that as soon as I decided this, my very creative friend and author, Rena Tobey (author of The Integrity Moment), emailed about the following app.
The app is called Mixel. The article in the New York Times says it is “aimed at amateurs…allows users to grab images from the web or elsewhere, collage them almost effortlessly and then pass them around, social media style, for appreciation or re-mixing.” Looks fun! Check out the article at http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/mixel-makes-art-social/
Let’s make 2012 one of our most MindFULLY Creative years. Please share what you find — and any creative ideas that infuse your days. You can email me at robin@themindfullcreative.com. We’ll take your recipes, decorating tips, books/music/movies you recommend, life lessons, MindFULL moments. Over 100 people read the MindFULL Creative every Monday. It’s not a lot, but if everyone sends in one idea, then we will surely share a year of unbridled creative spirit.
The more we share, the more we will have to draw on when the weeks are long and the days are short. The holidays are over, but the spirit can live on.
How do you MindFULLY learn about new creative sites and resources? Let us know!
While I usually post on MindFULL Mondays, I took the week off and lounged around. However, yesterday I had a MindFULL Moment and decided that in the spirit of a moment, rather than waiting, I’d post now.
Long story short, I am in a parent/child struggle as old as the hills. My daughter is 13 and is craving more independence. Some days we coast down the hill and others, we struggle up. It is not that I don’t trust her. It’s that the news makes me feel like I can’t trust the world. Time to turn off the TV.
I got it yesterday, when I woke up and set about racing myself to empty the dishwasher before my coffee was done perking. My daughter came down and asked if I could wait til sunrise to finish putting things away, as the clanking of the dishes echoed into her room. No problem. I took out the silver ware basket and put it on the counter, poured a cup of coffee and headed upstairs to take a shower. I had a big day ahead of me – I was “sitting with Chemo” as I’ve come to call the act of visiting while a friend takes her IV drip. I was scared and sad and honored and optimistic. I was a mess.
When I came downstairs 30 minutes later, the basket was empty and a note was attached.
I was stunned and touched. I called her down to thank her and to let her know how much I appreciated her competence and thoughtfulness, of all days. She said, “You are being a good friend today, Mommy.” I almost wept. What I want to be, I told her, is a good Mommy and that I wasn’t feeling so proud of some of my choice words over the last day (Day 13 of Christmas Break – I was feeling a DONE), to which she replied, “You are a good Mommy. But I know you are also a friend and wife and daughter and a sister. Today you have to be Robin the Friend and I can stay alone and will do what I know I have to do (read for school, a load of laundry) and then my friend will come at 1pm to get me and I will text you. It’s OK. You can GO.”
And, so I went. And, so did she.
I needed that MindFULL Moment more than words can describe. It’s not an easy time. Letting go and letting my daughter walk on her own in this world is taking me longer than I thought it would. And it’s not her. It’s me. A laugh in our house was had when the burglar company guy came to install our system and asked my husband if he should put a sensor on our daughter’s window so she doesn’t “climb out. “Ha!” he siad. “You should put it on the master bedroom, not my daughter’s – it’s my wife I d be concerned about first.”
Really, she is going to be fine. I’m clearly the one who could use some help.
So, in the Spirit of “Continuing Adult Education.” I am thinking that next year I will try and find a fun and creative way we can share our MindFULL Moments and learn together. I’ll let you know how/when I figure it out. Until then, may this weekend bring you a MindFULL Moment that takes your breath away and reminds you of all you have to be grateful for.
A Happy and MindFULL New Year to All. Wishing you MindFULL Moments of peace and ease in 2012!
A new conversation has crept up this holiday season. It’s not about the hottest gift, nor the easiest appetizer recipe. It’s the chat about getting ready for guests and then cleaning up when they leave.
With so much to do and so little time, it is easy to cut corners and hope no one notices the dust balls blowing by the heater vent. But with more and more concern about the toxins in our environments, it’s one more thing to think about when you call on Mr. Clean to quickly wipe away any residual of everyday life.
OK, I can hear my husband chortling. It’s not like I even clean my house in between Katerina. But, let’s say I did. What would I use?
Well, instead of giving gifts that adds to the clutter, my friend Kris invited us over to make healthy, homemade cleaning products. It took no time at all and had us shaking our heads wondering what we were paying for in all the products collecting under our sinks. The ingredients were easy: Water, Borax and Vinegar. Add a little essential oil (lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus) and we could basically clean our house and wipe away nasty chemical cleaning staples we have come to rely on.
Kris also had a tip list for us from www.eartheasy.com
So, as you host your guests and notice the spills that could stain your carpet, the odor of onions from the easy to make appetizer or the water ring on your Great Aunt Sally’s sideboard, never fear. Just enjoy the moments and know you have all the ingredients on hand for a happy AND healthy holiday season.
How do you MindFULLY stay healthy? Let us know!
When I was a tween, I would save my paper route/babysitting money and ride my bike to the Village Salon, where all the fancy ladies got their hair cut. Then, I’d treat myself to a slice of pizza. I am, afterall, a (double) Leo. It’s all about the mane.
I still have the same routine. Best salon. Slice of Pizza.
The importance of my hair and the longevity of this routine sat with me this week, as I sat with my friend while she, too, had her hair cut. Only she wasn’t savoring the moment. She was getting hers cut, so that when she started chemotherapy at the end of week, her shorter locks would lead her through the loss of hair she was warned would begin soon thereafter.
What courage she has.
Instead of the usual slice of greasy NY pizza, we had a comfort lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. Then, we headed over to the salon. Not knowing what to expect, I braced my self for unknown emotions. The burger rolled around my stomach. However, I have to say, that it was not as scary as I was expecting. Her strength and courage gave me permission to laugh and grimace with her. Sitting in her lap was a wig she had made to look like her hair, and when she put it on to have it trimmed, surprisingly, you really couldn’t tell. When the hair dresser actually began cutting, the end result was quite elegant. We agreed that when it really started to fall out, I’d help her shave it.
Dear Lord, please steady my hands.
As we sat in the chairs amongst the prettiest people and hairdressers you can imagine, I thought of how much I take for granted having hair, what it looks like and the role it has played throughout my life.
How would I feel without my hair? Not so good. Clearly, I have a pretty shallow side. How would I like to feel? Like the story below. I posted it last year and am reposting it in an effort to keep our attitudes positive. I dedicate it to my friend. May she see that she is not her hair. May she be healthy. May we laugh about this day next year and until then, exclaim, “YEAH! Today is wash and wear!”
There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror,
and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.
“Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.” So she did and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only
two hairs on her head. “H-M-M, ” she said, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.” So she did and she had a grand day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had
only one hair on her head. “Well,” she said, “Today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.” So she did and she had a fun, fun day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head. “YEAH!” she exclaimed, “I don’t have to fix my hair today!”
What story do you MindFULLY use when you need a more positive attitude? Let us know!
It is literally 8 degrees today. I am wearing a sweatshirt, tshirt, sweatpants and wool socks. Not lookin’ so good, but feeling beautiful on the inside. OK…that’s a stretch.
However, I have decided to try and embrace my inner beauty, as they say, and succumb to the season. I seek to revel in the days when I don’t have to wave a mascara wand. It’s that time of year, when I want to be “out” and yet, yearn to be “in”. It’s a challenge. I tend to err on the side of caution on these days; snow falls in the morning and I cancel my evening, below 10 degrees and I figure that my “to do” list is allowed to morph into my “to be” list.
You see, years ago, on a cold, winter day in Cleveland, I was driving to a “must have” interview and slid on a curved road, into a tree, setting off my air bag and smashing in the front of my car. Call it what you will – luck, angels, Grace – whatever you call it, it was on my side. The tree I hit was in front of a house, owned by a nurse who happened to be home. She, too, drove a Saab. She came out, helped me inside, called her car dealer and set about bandaging my fear.
What are the chances that I would hit that tree, in that car, on her day off?
And so, I am skiddish. Yes, having grown up on the East Coast and Colorado, you would think I could take the road on a snowy day, with ease. And yet, I take it with fear. A fear that I can’t seem to shake, but I can laugh at when my friend Ellen picks me up at the first sign of flakes.
I worry for the safety of people I care about. I cancel plans and hunker down, hoping the sun will come out and freedom will be mine.
And so it is on this day of 8 degrees, that I am finally embracing it all, letting myself off the hook and realizing that even birds are grounded when it snows. Instead of berating myself and stressing over making the exercise class at the JCC, I jumped on the basement treadmill, watched Mark Nebo on OWN. Then I threw in a load of laundry, sent a thank you note, wrote some new house ideas in my journal and made a date with Colette for creative inspiration, David for physical inspiration and Jay for finalizing some things around the house that really do need to be done. I put on my Holiday Itunes playlist:
Home For The Holidays – Danity Kane
Baby Its Cold Outside – Vanessa Williams
Love’s Holiday – Earth Wind and Fire
Someday at Christmas – Jack Johnson
America the Beautiful – Edwina Travis
Peace – Norah Jones
Hallelujah = k.d. lang (my favorite)
I appreciate the work I had this past year and the success behind me. I am trying to have faith that I will have what I need in the year ahead and that by not pushing now, I will have the energy and strength to push through when new work appears. That staying in my sweats doesn’t mean I am lazy. It really doesn’t mean anything, except for the meaning I choose to give it.
In this morning’s interview with Mark Nebo, he said, “Every experience we have reveals to us a word in the language of our own wisdom.”
Today’s word is surrender. Calgon, take me away…
How do you MindFULLY use your experiences? Let us know!
That’s the new name my daughter and I have given the Friday after Thanksgiving. While all the advertisers want us to think of it as Black Friday, the only thing black about it is the hole you fall down if you buy in. We suspect that more people “crack” on that day then any other. Overeating, over sharing, over expecting things and people to be certain ways – how could you possibly not crack?
When did I get so cynical?
Maybe it was as I sat on the overstuffed chair at the Mall Friday morning at 7am so that my 13 year old could get 50% off at Abercrombie. Crack.
Maybe it was when she got home and realized none of it fit and that she was “over the whole thing.” Crack.
Maybe it was when I said, “Enough! Did we not spend the whole day, yesterday, giving thanks for all we have and now we are being bombarded with ads that tells us of how little we really have and need? Did we not race home and whip off our clothes after not one, but two kinds of stuffing, three pies and g-d knows how many sticks of butter?” Crack.
Color me crazy, but I think even she felt it. I could hear the music coming from her room while she cleaned out her closet to try and get a grip on what she had and really needed. I sensed a shift in desire. A girl after my own heart. 4 trash bags later (one for GoodWill, two for re-sale, one to return borrowed clothes) she suggested returning her 50% off items and, instead, came up with a handful of reasonable needs for the next day of “have to haves,” — otherwise known in our house as Chanukah.
What I loved most about the day, was that after we cracked, we found a way to put ourselves back together again. We went to the movies, out to lunch and took long deep breaths. We gained new perspectives; me, on what it means to be 13 years old; her, that as much as we love a Sale, sometimes you can pass it up.
Now, if only those brown suede boots I want get marked down soon and the sweater she “had to have” arrives in time for Hanukkah, we will not only have learned to bake a cake, we will get to it eat, too.
How do you MINDfully navigate the day after Thanksgiving? Let us know!
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