I find this utterly delightful. It's also more a little inspiring. Enjoy!
May your life be full of whimsy,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
I'm going to second base with my blog | The Blog Dare Day 27
I think my relationship with The Blog Dare has evolved already. It's been just about one month since I accepted the challenge to blog every day. Some days were more meaningful than others, but the cumulative effect is that of a new habit. Not only a new habit, actually, but a commitment that reaches beyond simply going through the motions.
When I kicked off this whole adventure on 03 June, I wrote:
The doing, as it were, has built up to a physical shift in my energy. I'm feeling it morph into something even better than responding to the daily prompts that catalyzed it. The analytics on this site are exciting and my fledgling Facebook page gained about 20 followers since I started. That's rad. When I attended Alt for Everyone at the end of May, I was struck by four primary conclusions. One of those conclusions was to create an editorial calendar for this site. Through The Blog Dare, even just one month of it, I proved to myself that writing does matter to me and the creative outlet of this blog is something I want to prioritize. With that settled, we will now evolve into an even more substantial relationship, my blog and I. Like at least second base or something.
Initial ideas for an editorial schedule: Instagram roundup of my favorite photos I've posted that week/month, Link-laden posts sharing all the random bits of internet I'm consuming, more scheduled posts about the goals and activities of My Happiness Project, updates on creative collaborations (such as The Declaration of You book tour and the forthcoming awesomeness with Alexander), globetrotting updates and/or memorable travel flashbacks, and perhaps interviews and/or guest posts. We'll see what happens when I sit down to really hash it out.
Stay tuned! It's going to get progressively more awesome around here.
Love you lots,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
When I kicked off this whole adventure on 03 June, I wrote:
I'm practicing and practicing because even the things we love to do take some doing and it's not going to do it itself. I will stop telling you how much I love blogging only to contradict my passion with a once every not so often post sandwiched between business trips and deadlines and commitments and look at that, Passion, it's been months.
The doing, as it were, has built up to a physical shift in my energy. I'm feeling it morph into something even better than responding to the daily prompts that catalyzed it. The analytics on this site are exciting and my fledgling Facebook page gained about 20 followers since I started. That's rad. When I attended Alt for Everyone at the end of May, I was struck by four primary conclusions. One of those conclusions was to create an editorial calendar for this site. Through The Blog Dare, even just one month of it, I proved to myself that writing does matter to me and the creative outlet of this blog is something I want to prioritize. With that settled, we will now evolve into an even more substantial relationship, my blog and I. Like at least second base or something.
Initial ideas for an editorial schedule: Instagram roundup of my favorite photos I've posted that week/month, Link-laden posts sharing all the random bits of internet I'm consuming, more scheduled posts about the goals and activities of My Happiness Project, updates on creative collaborations (such as The Declaration of You book tour and the forthcoming awesomeness with Alexander), globetrotting updates and/or memorable travel flashbacks, and perhaps interviews and/or guest posts. We'll see what happens when I sit down to really hash it out.
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| courtesy of the uber talented Jessica Swift |
Stay tuned! It's going to get progressively more awesome around here.
Love you lots,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
No worries | The Blog Dare Day 26
{PROMPT} It is nothing to worry about.
One of the meditations I practiced this week went a little something like this:
That is a far less graceful articulation than Deepak, but you get the idea.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
One of the meditations I practiced this week went a little something like this:
If it will ultimately work out, then there's nothing to worry about. If it's not going to work out the way you would like, and you can't do anything to change that, then there's no point in worrying about it anyway.
That is a far less graceful articulation than Deepak, but you get the idea.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
The Blog Dare Day 25
Twenty-five. Twenty-five days. In a row. In. A. Row.
I'm ignoring the prompt, I just want to take a moment and celebrate this nice round number. I started The Blog Dare as an act of discipline and creativity. So far so good. Some days are better than others, of course, but all days have included some sort of interaction with this site. That's intention, folks.
Love it.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
I'm ignoring the prompt, I just want to take a moment and celebrate this nice round number. I started The Blog Dare as an act of discipline and creativity. So far so good. Some days are better than others, of course, but all days have included some sort of interaction with this site. That's intention, folks.
Love it.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
The Creative Collaboration Begins | The Blog Dare Day 24
{PROMPT} Let's get going!
Today marks the start of something exciting. I'm launching an artistic collaboration with my friend Alexander. You can find his work and inspiring Bless Your Virus story on his website and on the Viral Mindfulness blog.
We're kindred creative souls in many ways. I cannot say enough about his light and warmth, it vibrates. We've decided to manifest all of our creative kindredness into a highly collaborative art project. It will involve meditation and writing and painting and sketching and growing and swapping of projects and all sorts of goodies yet to be revealed. I've painted once in my life. Once. So...this will be a whole new world of awesome. This is exactly the right outlet for me at exactly the right time.
The starting point for our work will be our respective power words. My 2013 power word is abundance. I regret I haven't done as much reflection and writing around that word as I'd hoped to do, so this is perfect. I first mused on abundance at the very beginning of the year...
I'm wearing pink lace panties, was the title of the post. It went something like this: "My power word is abundance. This focus on abundance led me to wear pink lace panties today. What? Yes. Because they've been in my dresser drawer, tags on, since I purchased them. Turns out, that's not a very abundant thing to do." I went on to admit: "Something I've understood intellectually for years, but I'm still trying to actually manifest in my life, is the trust it takes to do that, to let things go. I haven't fully figured out why I hold on to things that make no logical sense to hold on to, but I'm slowly practicing abundance..." {keep reading}
It's nearly July. I've thought about abundance, a lot. I've manifested it, sort of. I haven't directly written about it since that first post (though all these posts are the kissing cousins of abundance). Our collaboration is the perfect opportunity, medium, and space for me to finally start to get my mind, and my creative juices, around this massive concept.
Stay tuned, y'all. It's going to be epic.
Love,
me (+ Alexander)
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
.JPG) |
| I promise I'm happy, I've just never used FaceTime. Getting it sorted took concentration, apparently. This photographer prefers to be behind the camera. And yes, I'm wearing a black lace camisole. Deal. |
We're kindred creative souls in many ways. I cannot say enough about his light and warmth, it vibrates. We've decided to manifest all of our creative kindredness into a highly collaborative art project. It will involve meditation and writing and painting and sketching and growing and swapping of projects and all sorts of goodies yet to be revealed. I've painted once in my life. Once. So...this will be a whole new world of awesome. This is exactly the right outlet for me at exactly the right time.
The starting point for our work will be our respective power words. My 2013 power word is abundance. I regret I haven't done as much reflection and writing around that word as I'd hoped to do, so this is perfect. I first mused on abundance at the very beginning of the year...
I'm wearing pink lace panties, was the title of the post. It went something like this: "My power word is abundance. This focus on abundance led me to wear pink lace panties today. What? Yes. Because they've been in my dresser drawer, tags on, since I purchased them. Turns out, that's not a very abundant thing to do." I went on to admit: "Something I've understood intellectually for years, but I'm still trying to actually manifest in my life, is the trust it takes to do that, to let things go. I haven't fully figured out why I hold on to things that make no logical sense to hold on to, but I'm slowly practicing abundance..." {keep reading}
It's nearly July. I've thought about abundance, a lot. I've manifested it, sort of. I haven't directly written about it since that first post (though all these posts are the kissing cousins of abundance). Our collaboration is the perfect opportunity, medium, and space for me to finally start to get my mind, and my creative juices, around this massive concept.
Stay tuned, y'all. It's going to be epic.
Love,
me (+ Alexander)
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
We the People | The Blog Dare Day 23
{PROMPT} What do I wish I would have heard today?
I was uninspired by the prompt put out by the folks at Blog Dare, so I'm using the prompt posted by Brave Girls Club.
What I wish I would have heard today is that my LGBTQ friends can marry the people they love. I wish I would have heard that we've evolved as a culture to finally and fully honor commitment and love. I wish I would have heard that the tides have changed and we're entering a brave new world, one in which everyone is celebrated exactly as they are.
“The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice...” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We'll just have to wait until 10:00am EST tomorrow to hear it.
I love you,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
I was uninspired by the prompt put out by the folks at Blog Dare, so I'm using the prompt posted by Brave Girls Club.
What I wish I would have heard today is that my LGBTQ friends can marry the people they love. I wish I would have heard that we've evolved as a culture to finally and fully honor commitment and love. I wish I would have heard that the tides have changed and we're entering a brave new world, one in which everyone is celebrated exactly as they are.
“The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice...” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We'll just have to wait until 10:00am EST tomorrow to hear it.
I love you,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
My Declaration: Self-care
The Declaration of You pre-order books have shipped! If you're feeling left out as you read along with the 100+ posts on the tour so far, never fear. Click here to order the book and join the party. This week we're talking about...
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| Illustration by the lovely Jessica Swift. |
My previous declarations around enthusiasm, uniquity, and intention were fraught with varying degrees of introspective struggle (wrong word, but you know what I mean). I was/am working my way into a comfortable space with those declarations. However, now that we've reached the self-care week, I'm all about it. Seriously, Internet, I got this.
As I watched Michelle and Jessica's video for the self-care week, I heard them talk about the difficulty and guilt of self-care. It's a familiar refrain among women, but I have a confession to make: I don't actually find it all that difficult or guilt-inducing. Of course now I feel guilty for apparently being selfish and indulgent. Wait. Just a second. Okay, it passed. Here's the thing: I understand and completely respect women who talk about their families and/or the struggle to put themselves first. That's just not an experience I share. Maybe it's a sensual Libra thing. Maybe it's a perspective I've intentionally grown into over time and fully own in my 30s. Maybe it's a luxury of being single with no children. The context for my conclusion is technically irrelevant because this single gal's perspective on self-care may resonate with you regardless of your situation. People tend to think this declaration is scary, but I find it empowering:
As part of The Happiness Project, my brunch group just read Gretchen Rubin's chapter on friendship. A specific statement in the chapter resonated with everyone. It honors the beautiful aspect of our nature that desires to take care of others, but it also recognizes the reality of self-care:
One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself. {tweet it}
Okay, but how do you actually go about taking care of yourself? What does that even look like? One of the most profound resources I've discovered is Gary Chapman's work around the idea of Love Languages. There are five possible love languages: Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Physical Touch. Love languages govern every relationship we have (including with ourselves), and it goes way beyond romantic partnerships. I am conscious of love languages in relationships with co-workers, family, friends, boyfriends, even strangers. Once you tune in, it's something you'll notice everywhere. If the word "love" trips you up, think of it in general terms as the way we demonstrate that we care about something. Meaning - the way you demonstrate that you care about yourself can align with your love language. Loving and caring for yourself will come more naturally if this alignment is in place.
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| Discover your Love Language for free! |
For example: My love language is time, by far. The test ranks each of your languages on a 1-12 scale. My Quality Time score is 11/12, whereas Receiving Gifts is 1/12. In Chapman's words: "In the language of Quality Time, nothing says 'I love you' like full, undivided attention." What does this mean in terms of self-care? It means that in my busy schedule, I need to intentionally block out Quality Time, name it as such, and stick to it. It also means that saying yes, or saying no, to social commitments is a form of self-care. It means that making time to meditate every day, a practice I recently started, is an act of self-care. It means that two-hour brunches on a Sunday morning are totally luxurious acts of love. Other ways I make time and spend it caring for myself: mani/pedis, movies, bubble baths and face masks, monthly massage appointment, alone time, slowing down my work week by blocking out non-negotiable meeting-free times in my calendar, planning events with friends where the only purpose is to catch up on each other's stories, allowing myself windows of time to do absolutely nothing productive and not feeling guilty about it, and on and on.
I thankfully manage to do all of this pretty well and pretty regularly -- but Declaration of You author Michelle Ward raises a larger point: An even deeper meaning of self-care is about expression, passion, longing, and identity. It's about not denying any part of yourself, or in other words, declaring every part of yourself. Therefore, fully embracing myself as a creative person is an act of self-care. I may find it easy to make time for a good massage, but the idea of fully realizing my creative self will take some growing into. *drumroll* I can now feel free to take my own advice:
It's called self-care for a reason. No one will prioritize this for me. I commit time to self-care so that I can more fully care for those I love, including myself.
Love,
me
The Fine Print: The Declaration of You will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, giving readers the permission they’ve craved to step passionately into their lives, to discover how they and their gifts are unique, and to uncover what they are meant to do!
Pre-order your copy now. Learn more by clicking here.
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| RSVP on Facebook! |
Dancing around the perimeter | The Blog Dare Day 22
{PROMPT} I hope she was kidding.
The part of me that's still scared, the part of me that's pretending I can be content as is, the part of me who busies herself with a busy life, she wishes this was a joke. But she knows it's not.
The moment I opened this email from my friend Cristina, before the video even played, I knew she wasn't kidding.
Love,
me (+ Guru Cristina)
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
The part of me that's still scared, the part of me that's pretending I can be content as is, the part of me who busies herself with a busy life, she wishes this was a joke. But she knows it's not.
The moment I opened this email from my friend Cristina, before the video even played, I knew she wasn't kidding.
Love,
me (+ Guru Cristina)
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
The moment | The Blog Dare Day 20 + 21
{PROMPT} The moment we've been waiting for.
I just realized I missed yesterday. It wasn't intentional, the past few days have been a blur. A good blur, full of creativity and friends and road trips and super moons and arts festivals and brunches and book groups and dance performances and on and on. So...oops.
The prompt today is perfect for the Happiness Project discussion we had at brunch. The topic of the June chapter was friendship, but we also celebrated our accomplishments and ah-ha moments that happened throughout the first six months of the year. We hit a milestone today and it felt great. I have a lot to say about it, but I took a spontaneous road trip at 3:00am this morning to see the super moon from the salt flats (before attempting croque monsieur for the first time and hosting 10 friends for brunch), so I'm going to bed. Stay tuned. In the meantime, my morning looked like this:
The closer the super moon got to the horizon, the more purple the sky became. The stunning moment was when the sun broke the horizon at the exact moment the moon dropped away. They connected for a split second and shot light across the salt flats at each other. Wow.
Follow my adventures on Instagram @fourthirtyam.
Love,
a sleepy me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
I just realized I missed yesterday. It wasn't intentional, the past few days have been a blur. A good blur, full of creativity and friends and road trips and super moons and arts festivals and brunches and book groups and dance performances and on and on. So...oops.
The prompt today is perfect for the Happiness Project discussion we had at brunch. The topic of the June chapter was friendship, but we also celebrated our accomplishments and ah-ha moments that happened throughout the first six months of the year. We hit a milestone today and it felt great. I have a lot to say about it, but I took a spontaneous road trip at 3:00am this morning to see the super moon from the salt flats (before attempting croque monsieur for the first time and hosting 10 friends for brunch), so I'm going to bed. Stay tuned. In the meantime, my morning looked like this:
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| hazy, grainy, iPhone in low light, otherworldly...this is exactly what it was like. surreal. |
The closer the super moon got to the horizon, the more purple the sky became. The stunning moment was when the sun broke the horizon at the exact moment the moon dropped away. They connected for a split second and shot light across the salt flats at each other. Wow.
Follow my adventures on Instagram @fourthirtyam.
Love,
a sleepy me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
Commitment | The Blog Dare Day 19
{PROMPT} I kept it anyway.
It's the end of a long day at the end of a longer week. The easiest thing for me to do right now is sleep, but I made a commitment to posting daily and so here I am. Some nights I post something worth reading, some nights I post because I told myself I would. Tonight is the later. But this whole series is an exercise in discipline. It's not (necessarily) about posting earth shattering content every day. It's about the every day itself.
Done.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
It's the end of a long day at the end of a longer week. The easiest thing for me to do right now is sleep, but I made a commitment to posting daily and so here I am. Some nights I post something worth reading, some nights I post because I told myself I would. Tonight is the later. But this whole series is an exercise in discipline. It's not (necessarily) about posting earth shattering content every day. It's about the every day itself.
Done.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
My Declaration: Intention
The Declaration of You book tour is in full swing. If you haven't already checked out their press page, you should definitely head over there and be inspired. There are some truly awesome people making some truly awesome declarations. Today, it's my turn to discuss...
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| illustration by the lovely Jessica Swift. |
I'm a very intentional person, if I do say so myself. I'm a hyper organized planner, goal setter, getter, and to-do list checker (not, as it turns out, the sexiest tagline for an online dating profile*). Two of the questions the lovely authors asked the book tour bloggers: "How often do you set intentions? How often do you determine what they need to be?" Following my Type-A logic thus far, I set all sorts of intentions all day long. I set intentions here, here, over here, over there, right here, not to mention the mountains of intention at work, and even my pet projects turn into part-time jobs because I take myself too damn seriously. I regularly and frequently determine what my intentions need to be and update accordingly. Then I re-color code it all, edit my hit list, and get back to work. This manner of intention has manifested an amazing career at a young age, incredible opportunities in my field with national consulting and speaking gigs, publications, home ownership, globetrotting, a graduate degree, on and on.
But guess what? And this has been an ironic lesson a long time in the making for me: All of that intention...wasn't actually very intentional. I never associated all of my actions with the law of attraction. I was young and arrogant enough to assume that I was simply creating all of these opportunities and successes for myself. To a degree, that's true. To a greater degree, I was putting energy into the universe...and the universe was manifesting back to me exactly what I was asking for. The irony is that I didn't entirely realize and intend and decide upon and own what I was asking for. I didn't intend to ask for 60-hour work weeks. I didn't intend to ask for a sub-par romantic life because I couldn't be bothered with all those distractions. I didn't intend to ask for the airport shuttle driver to know me by name and be the friend I see most often. I didn't intend to ask for an administrative position that lacks the creativity I felt in previous roles. I was simply going going going fast on the path that young professionals "should" travel. The growing pains I'm experiencing now are due to the fact that I want to set new and different intentions for my life. Those new and different intentions are not (yet) familiar or comfortable for me. I'm figuring out how to build this plane while flying it.
As for my paradigm-shifting declaration of intention, two things have been washing over me like a giant tidal wave as of late:
Have enough trust in The Universe to set the intentions you really truly want to set. {tweet it}
These are the intentions that scare me. These are the intentions that I rarely share out loud. These are the intentions that I really truly want to set. These are the intentions into which I need to pour a whole lot of love and trust: I want to make photographs and write and travel. For a living. For real. Forever. I want to move to Denmark. I want to dabble in graphic design. I want to wake up next to a tall dark bearded feminist who wants in his life a smart and sassy partner to grow old with. I want to paint and be good at it and have people buy my paintings because they think they're pretty. I do not want to continue grinding out my days in committee meetings where we discuss the formation of committees.
Be more intentional with your intentions. Then get out of the way. {tweet it}
I've finally, and with hesitant gratitude, hit a wall. I've left myself no choice but to give up on the idea that I'm somehow in total control of manifesting all these new intentions (an idea driven subconsciously by fear and ego, if you want the truth). I'm not in total control. I will never discount the value of doing my research and working hard, but I'm also settling into a new paradigm. I'm settling into a paradigm that finally, finally, finally realizes I need to get over myself and get out of my own way. I've believed in the take action part of intention my whole life, but I've never been good at believing The Universe will fill in the gaps. I've never been good at trusting that when I hand it over, it will eventually come back to me ten fold, or come back to me at all. I can understand the law of attraction intellectually. I know it spiritually. I've seen it happen to other people again and again. And yet letting all that fabulousness flow unobstructed through my own life scares the shit out of me. What if The Universe is on holiday and my intention memo bounces back with her out of office message? What if The Universe is busy with the far more interesting intentions of far more fabulous people all over the world? What if I've pissed off the universe by ignoring her offer to help me all these years? What if I actually get everything I want?
You know what Jen Sincero would say to all that nonsense? After she told me I'm a badass, then she would say:
Set your intention, work steadily in the direction you want to go, do all that you know how to do, believe it’s here and available to you, be diligent about how you speak, think and behave, have faith in yourself and The Universe, and then...drum roll please, this is the super important part...breathe, let it go, fuggetaboutit, give it some damn room to come in.
Oh wait, she did say exactly that in a blog post earlier this week.
Dear Gail,
Get out of my way. I got this.
Love,
The Universe
The Fine Print: The Declaration of You will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, giving readers the permission they’ve craved to step passionately into their lives, to discover how they and their gifts are unique, and to uncover what they are meant to do!
Pre-order your copy now. Learn more by clicking here.
|
| RSVP on Facebook! |
* No, I have never used anything like that in an online dating profile. You're welcome, Men Of The Internet. You're welcome.
Rule Number One | The Blog Dare Day 18
{PROMPT} We had a fight...
...but rule number one says I do not talk about it.
Love,
Tyler me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
...but rule number one says I do not talk about it.
Love,
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
Breaking the Rules | The Blog Dare Day 17
{PROMPT} I'm actually ignoring the prompt given for today because I want to post about...
...the online photography course I'm taking. I wrote about the class in an earlier post, and the good news is she opened a new session. It starts July 31. You can enroll right here. When you register (you will because she's an amazing teacher and because it's awesome), if you wouldn't mind mentioning that you heard about it from your's truly, Gail Jessen, I'd appreciate it. Laura is offering a travel photography class this fall that would be so completely perfect for me. I get a bit of a discount on that course when my friends enroll in Candela.
Okay, enough sales pitching. I want to share some photos that came out of a recent lesson. If you read my earlier post about Candela, you'll remember that it's not a photography skills course. It's a course about reconnecting with your creative intuition. It's actually about unlearning all the rules we've had drilled into us as photographers. This assignment was to specifically break the rules. Here you go...
See more images from this assignment in my Flickr set.
Follow my photographic adventures on Instagram @fourthirtyam.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
...the online photography course I'm taking. I wrote about the class in an earlier post, and the good news is she opened a new session. It starts July 31. You can enroll right here. When you register (you will because she's an amazing teacher and because it's awesome), if you wouldn't mind mentioning that you heard about it from your's truly, Gail Jessen, I'd appreciate it. Laura is offering a travel photography class this fall that would be so completely perfect for me. I get a bit of a discount on that course when my friends enroll in Candela.
Okay, enough sales pitching. I want to share some photos that came out of a recent lesson. If you read my earlier post about Candela, you'll remember that it's not a photography skills course. It's a course about reconnecting with your creative intuition. It's actually about unlearning all the rules we've had drilled into us as photographers. This assignment was to specifically break the rules. Here you go...
See more images from this assignment in my Flickr set.
Follow my photographic adventures on Instagram @fourthirtyam.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
Upgrade | The Blog Dare Day 16
{PROMPT} I upgraded...
up·grade
v. up·grad·ed, up·grad·ing, up·grades
v.tr. 1. To raise to a higher grade or standard.
v.tr. 2. To raise in value, importance, esteem, etc.
I've recently been coming to terms with a lot of imbalance in my life. I've been unpacking what pieces of the imbalance I can control and what pieces are just my OCD DNA and what pieces I created and what pieces are institutional realities of my current workplace and on and on. I'm doing my best to flip the ratios of time spent working and time spent on everything else. Even beyond that, I'm trying to flip the ratios of energy expended for work and energy expended for everything else, which is a far more nuanced game than simply counting hours at the office. We're talking about resetting over a decade of work habits and dismantling paradigms that have governed my unrealistically high standards for my entire life, really.
up·grade
v. up·grad·ed, up·grad·ing, up·grades
v.tr. 1. To raise to a higher grade or standard.
v.tr. 2. To raise in value, importance, esteem, etc.
I've recently been coming to terms with a lot of imbalance in my life. I've been unpacking what pieces of the imbalance I can control and what pieces are just my OCD DNA and what pieces I created and what pieces are institutional realities of my current workplace and on and on. I'm doing my best to flip the ratios of time spent working and time spent on everything else. Even beyond that, I'm trying to flip the ratios of energy expended for work and energy expended for everything else, which is a far more nuanced game than simply counting hours at the office. We're talking about resetting over a decade of work habits and dismantling paradigms that have governed my unrealistically high standards for my entire life, really.
The paradox is that all my old paradigms are constantly screaming at me about all the ways I'm downgrading by taking on this shift. I'm downgrading my work ethic. I'm downgrading my commitment. I'm downgrading my professional standards. I'm downgrading the true impact I can have at my organization. It's all bullshit though. None of that is true. The truth is that as a more balanced and joyful person, I will be upgrading the experiences I have/create at work, in life, with friends, and so forth. I know that intellectually, but the muscle memory of these entrenched archetypes is brutal to overcome. I know I talked about my creative cocoon recently, but I also feel a bit like an onion right now...peeling back layers and layers and layers of stuff that just doesn't work for me anymore.
Love,
me
Nope, I didn't. | The Blog Dare Day 15
{PROMPT} You didn't expect that.
Should you type today's prompt into YouTube, this is what you'll find. And for that, I am sorry.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
Should you type today's prompt into YouTube, this is what you'll find. And for that, I am sorry.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
I was young | The Blog Dare Day 14
{PROMPT} I was young...
...in this photo. Happy Father's Day, J-man. I love you.
...in this photo. Happy Father's Day, J-man. I love you.
...and he was young in this one.
Getting fresh at the Downtown Farmer's Market
It's that time of year. I absolutely live for markets, festivals, and community events. It's the closest thing we have to the town square of yore. The farmer's market in downtown Salt Lake City is outstanding...and huge. Fresh food, prepared food, sexy bearded men wearing baby bjorns, art, crafts, beautiful dogs everywhere, musical performers around every turn, people watching galore. Here are a few highlights from last weekend's opening event. Also, follow them on Instagram for all sorts of great market shots.
Love,
me
Follow my adventures on Instagram @fourthirtyam
me
Follow my adventures on Instagram @fourthirtyam
Fabric flowers with Bagsy Blue Co.
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| Artist Ashley Gammill prepares for her workshop at West Elm |
Another month, another Craft Lake City workshop at West Elm. This time we created fabric flowers with local artist Ashley Gammill of Bagsy Blue Co. When asked why this is her craft of choice, she said that the long winters were getting her down, but flowers make her happy -- "So now, I make them every day and share them with people." I love that thought. Something makes me happy, so that's what I do every day. Cheers to that.
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| Tiny pink glue guns. I mean, come on. How can this not be an awesome night?! |
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| Fabric was donated by Riley Blake Designs. |
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| With one small circle flat as the center of the flower, you then fold the remaining circles into little funnel shapes. Put the folded end at the bottom and fan out petal by petal, small in the center to large outside. |
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| I mixed and matched the fabric we were given. Why not? |
OM | The Blog Dare Day 13
{PROMPT} It's your call.
I started a meditation practice this week. I'm on day six and I'm really taking to it. The overarching theme, at least the theme that's resonating most with me, is the idea that meditation doesn't actually bring you peace.
Wait. Say what?
Nope. Meditation does not actually attract calm, shiny, nirvana love and light into your life.
When we sit still long enough to quiet our energy and finally get our mind to chill out, we feel more peaceful and calm and joyful and all that. Of course we do. But...that's not something we went out and found or even something we attracted to our life. It is our natural state. We uncovered it. All we managed to do through meditation is clear out all the crap that's cluttering our every day life, everything that's preventing us from living in our chilled out natural state. Meditation, then, is the practice of letting go of anything that disturbs your natural state.
Sure, you're saying right about now, that's obvious. How are you just now learning this, you moron, you may also be saying. Listen. Here's the deal: We tend to associate peace and calm with an achievement, with movement, with seeking and searching and finding it. Think Eat, Pray, Love. Searching. Movement. Active. Go find it. We move we go we travel we pursue peace and we pursue calm. We do this in so many different many ways. I mean, hell, I did it when I signed up for the Chopra Center program. I was moving, I was searching, and I was active in my attempt to find a peaceful calm.
Now - compare that to my realization I shared earlier:
Mediation is being still long enough to clear your mind of everything that prevents you from living in your natural state of calm.
That is so full of hope. That puts me in such a state of optimism and rainbows. Think about it...it's already here. I already have it. Granted, I have quite a lot of proverbial crap to clear out of the way, but at least I know that at my core I'm calm. Not just on vacation and not just on lazy weekends. All the time. It's in there.
Dear Self, you can keep trucking as is, or you can finally tune in. It's your call.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
I started a meditation practice this week. I'm on day six and I'm really taking to it. The overarching theme, at least the theme that's resonating most with me, is the idea that meditation doesn't actually bring you peace.
Wait. Say what?
Nope. Meditation does not actually attract calm, shiny, nirvana love and light into your life.
When we sit still long enough to quiet our energy and finally get our mind to chill out, we feel more peaceful and calm and joyful and all that. Of course we do. But...that's not something we went out and found or even something we attracted to our life. It is our natural state. We uncovered it. All we managed to do through meditation is clear out all the crap that's cluttering our every day life, everything that's preventing us from living in our chilled out natural state. Meditation, then, is the practice of letting go of anything that disturbs your natural state.
Sure, you're saying right about now, that's obvious. How are you just now learning this, you moron, you may also be saying. Listen. Here's the deal: We tend to associate peace and calm with an achievement, with movement, with seeking and searching and finding it. Think Eat, Pray, Love. Searching. Movement. Active. Go find it. We move we go we travel we pursue peace and we pursue calm. We do this in so many different many ways. I mean, hell, I did it when I signed up for the Chopra Center program. I was moving, I was searching, and I was active in my attempt to find a peaceful calm.
Now - compare that to my realization I shared earlier:
Mediation is being still long enough to clear your mind of everything that prevents you from living in your natural state of calm.
That is so full of hope. That puts me in such a state of optimism and rainbows. Think about it...it's already here. I already have it. Granted, I have quite a lot of proverbial crap to clear out of the way, but at least I know that at my core I'm calm. Not just on vacation and not just on lazy weekends. All the time. It's in there.
Dear Self, you can keep trucking as is, or you can finally tune in. It's your call.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
Most like myself | The Blog Dare Day 12
This post is part of The Blog Dare series...in the sense that it's part of me writing every day. However, this prompt is from The Brave Girls Club Soul Care Summer. Their rules: One sentence, one minute, one paragraph, no more, no less, no editing. Go.
{PROMPT} What made me feel most like myself today?
I saw Before Midnight. I left the movie feeling exactly the same way I did when I left the previous two; which is to say, as though I'd been punched in the gut. They are so raw and the rough edges are shockingly beautiful. All three films take my breath away. I felt most like myself in that theatre because those movies emotionally transport me to a time that I was actually most authentically myself, and most authentically loved for it. It's the happiest and the saddest I've ever been. The gut punch is a complex cocktail of feelings. God, I still miss him.
{PROMPT} What made me feel most like myself today?
I saw Before Midnight. I left the movie feeling exactly the same way I did when I left the previous two; which is to say, as though I'd been punched in the gut. They are so raw and the rough edges are shockingly beautiful. All three films take my breath away. I felt most like myself in that theatre because those movies emotionally transport me to a time that I was actually most authentically myself, and most authentically loved for it. It's the happiest and the saddest I've ever been. The gut punch is a complex cocktail of feelings. God, I still miss him.
Remember to... | The Blog Dare Day 11
{PROMPT} That's what I want, too.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
 |
| by the lovely Jessica Swift |
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
Deal with it | The Blog Dare Day 10
{PROMPT} We'll deal with it together.
It was profound. I know.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
It was profound. I know.
Love,
me
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
My Creative Cocoon | The Blog Dare Day 9
{PROMPT} Taking steps to fix it...
I've written a lot about creativity lately. Like, a lot. Summary: I've come to the conclusion that creativity cannot be a luxury in my life. Creativity is in fact a very necessary way through which I interact with this world and I need to intentionally cultivate it every single day. Creativity is not a passive thing for me or something that will just happen without a plan. Something that happens without a plan is called hulu.
When I wrote about enthusiasm for The Declaration of You book tour, I jotted out a little laundry list of ways I'd recently invested in rebuilding my creative mojo. With the Blog Dare prompt today, it seems an appropriate time to cultivate a more thoughtful list of bits and pieces and random goodies that are helping me get my groove back. I'm a bit of a magpie right now. I'm running around like crazy collecting shiny objects...all in the name of building a new creative home for myself.
Brace yourself, Reader, and get your clicker finger ready for a litany of link love. I discovered much of this goodness because I gave myself permission to get lost in link after link after link. Eventually I ended up weaving a big cocoon of creativity for myself (my magpie nest is now a butterfly cocoon, try and up). I feel like I'm absorbing so much right now and I will eventually bust out with something awesome (I'm now an exploding sponge). I'm not sure what will come of all this, but that's not the point right now. For me to even say that and now break out in a panicked sweat is a big big deal.
Here are the goodies I've rounded up so far...
Kelly Rae Roberts
She's my muse. As in a Greek goddess of inspiration sort of way. Her work, blog, book, e-book, and general existence on this planet is what first cracked open the door and let a dusty sliver of creative light peek through. So much love.
Radical Self Love
No nonsense, ballsy, funny, smart, radical self love brought to you by Gala Darling. She may be wrapped up in sticky sweet girly pink bows, but this shit's for real. Her e-book/audio book is called Love & Sequins. I mean, come on. To listen to her read it in her cheeky Aussie accent is pure delight.
Mapping Desire(s)
The fabulousness of Danielle LaPorte is overwhelming, to be honest. Completely overwhelming in the most beautiful, terrifying, spiritual, profound way. Somewhere deep down inside I know that The Desire Map will change life as I know it. I haven't started that journey yet because I want to get a better footing with all this before I tackle it. It's going to be a doozy. For now, I stalk her on social media and get her Daily Truth Bombs in my inbox (sign up on her website).
Color. Color. Color.
One of the authors of The Declaration of You, Jessica Swift is not only a full-time artiste extraordinaire but also the author of her own book, Jump Trust Repeat. I haven't read it yet, but I have purchased her colorful brainstorm/planner/inspiration guide of sorts. I love playing with it and synthesizing my Happiness Project goals. I also receive her daily color + words of inspiration in my inbox. Worth it. Do it.
Writing with Light
Along with my creative soul sister Jen who lives in Portland, I'm enrolled in an online photography course taught by Laura Valenti Jelen. I just blogged about it right here. Reconnecting with my passion for photography - in a more intentional way that simply Instagramming all day every day - has been an awesome exercise for me.
Owning My Badassness
Jen Sincero's book needs no annotation. Read it. Just trust me. Four of my girlfriends are now reading it and they told me to tell you to do it.
Getting Sensual
Sign up for Susannah Conway's monthly newsletter and, for free, you'll receive her 74-page ebook about exploring your senses...all with a creative end in mind. She also has a (free) planner/calendar/reflection workbook (similar to Jessica's) that is an awesome way to intentionally move through the year. I want to take this e-course about blogging from the heart, this e-course about photography, this e-course about writing your dreams into reality, and this e-course about unravelling 'it all' and then putting 'it all' back together. Want want want.
OM
One of the primary barriers to me manifesting all this creative moxie is the fact that my life moves too quickly. It's like, really fast. Every day. I'm trying to change that. I'm redefining what success means to me and I'm allowing myself to fill slower spaces. Deepak is helping me. So is Oprah...with Deepak. My friend Cristina also emailed a ginormous list of Hay House hippie resources, but I haven't had time to work my way through that message yet. Oh, irony.
Go Mighty
Is it silliness to put "make a life list" on my bucket list, where it's waiting patiently to be crossed off? Because that's what's happening with me. The awesomeness of Mighty Life Lists is a lot to get my head around. I also want to go to Camp Mighty. For now, I just follow Maggie Mason around and dream of the day that I'll dare to do this. Seriously. Poke around this site. Be amazed. They recently posted 31 profiles of incredible people living out their life lists (the profiles are on tumblr, so you need to scroll and dig a little bit).
When I Grow Up
Michelle Ward is the other author of The Declaration of You and a creative career coach. I haven't hired her as a coach (whether I was ready for it or not is irrelevant because she's booked solid due to her awesomeness), but I do subscribe to everything she puts out there and it's awesome stuff. Sign up for her newsletter and you get access to her Dropbox site packed full of free resources! She has a bunch of books that are on my wish list. She also interviews inspiring grown-ups who have smashed the creative career glass ceiling and made it work (scroll down to the archive section toward the bottom for free access to all the videos).
There's more, but this will do for now. Welcome to my world as of late. It's pretty in here, huh?
One meta comment about all of this: Like attracts like. It's true, people. It's true. Attach whatever New Age terms or ancient philosophies you want to this fact, but it's true by any name. It's a very simple and also very complex truth that as you raise your frequency and tell The Universe what you want (in my case, for now, proactive creativity), The Universe will respond. Immediately. Once you really mean it. It's like drinking from a firehouse, so be ready for whatever it is you're asking for (and be clear and specific) because it will come to you. Truth.
Love,
me
P.S. What did I miss? What do I need to know about? What links should I be clickety clacking? Post in the comment section and join the conversation.
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
I've written a lot about creativity lately. Like, a lot. Summary: I've come to the conclusion that creativity cannot be a luxury in my life. Creativity is in fact a very necessary way through which I interact with this world and I need to intentionally cultivate it every single day. Creativity is not a passive thing for me or something that will just happen without a plan. Something that happens without a plan is called hulu.
When I wrote about enthusiasm for The Declaration of You book tour, I jotted out a little laundry list of ways I'd recently invested in rebuilding my creative mojo. With the Blog Dare prompt today, it seems an appropriate time to cultivate a more thoughtful list of bits and pieces and random goodies that are helping me get my groove back. I'm a bit of a magpie right now. I'm running around like crazy collecting shiny objects...all in the name of building a new creative home for myself.
 |
| Kelly Rae Roberts |
Brace yourself, Reader, and get your clicker finger ready for a litany of link love. I discovered much of this goodness because I gave myself permission to get lost in link after link after link. Eventually I ended up weaving a big cocoon of creativity for myself (my magpie nest is now a butterfly cocoon, try and up). I feel like I'm absorbing so much right now and I will eventually bust out with something awesome (I'm now an exploding sponge). I'm not sure what will come of all this, but that's not the point right now. For me to even say that and now break out in a panicked sweat is a big big deal.
Here are the goodies I've rounded up so far...
Kelly Rae Roberts
She's my muse. As in a Greek goddess of inspiration sort of way. Her work, blog, book, e-book, and general existence on this planet is what first cracked open the door and let a dusty sliver of creative light peek through. So much love.
Radical Self Love
No nonsense, ballsy, funny, smart, radical self love brought to you by Gala Darling. She may be wrapped up in sticky sweet girly pink bows, but this shit's for real. Her e-book/audio book is called Love & Sequins. I mean, come on. To listen to her read it in her cheeky Aussie accent is pure delight.
Mapping Desire(s)
The fabulousness of Danielle LaPorte is overwhelming, to be honest. Completely overwhelming in the most beautiful, terrifying, spiritual, profound way. Somewhere deep down inside I know that The Desire Map will change life as I know it. I haven't started that journey yet because I want to get a better footing with all this before I tackle it. It's going to be a doozy. For now, I stalk her on social media and get her Daily Truth Bombs in my inbox (sign up on her website).
Color. Color. Color.
One of the authors of The Declaration of You, Jessica Swift is not only a full-time artiste extraordinaire but also the author of her own book, Jump Trust Repeat. I haven't read it yet, but I have purchased her colorful brainstorm/planner/inspiration guide of sorts. I love playing with it and synthesizing my Happiness Project goals. I also receive her daily color + words of inspiration in my inbox. Worth it. Do it.
Writing with Light
Along with my creative soul sister Jen who lives in Portland, I'm enrolled in an online photography course taught by Laura Valenti Jelen. I just blogged about it right here. Reconnecting with my passion for photography - in a more intentional way that simply Instagramming all day every day - has been an awesome exercise for me.
Owning My Badassness
Jen Sincero's book needs no annotation. Read it. Just trust me. Four of my girlfriends are now reading it and they told me to tell you to do it.
Getting Sensual
Sign up for Susannah Conway's monthly newsletter and, for free, you'll receive her 74-page ebook about exploring your senses...all with a creative end in mind. She also has a (free) planner/calendar/reflection workbook (similar to Jessica's) that is an awesome way to intentionally move through the year. I want to take this e-course about blogging from the heart, this e-course about photography, this e-course about writing your dreams into reality, and this e-course about unravelling 'it all' and then putting 'it all' back together. Want want want.
OM
One of the primary barriers to me manifesting all this creative moxie is the fact that my life moves too quickly. It's like, really fast. Every day. I'm trying to change that. I'm redefining what success means to me and I'm allowing myself to fill slower spaces. Deepak is helping me. So is Oprah...with Deepak. My friend Cristina also emailed a ginormous list of Hay House hippie resources, but I haven't had time to work my way through that message yet. Oh, irony.
Go Mighty
Is it silliness to put "make a life list" on my bucket list, where it's waiting patiently to be crossed off? Because that's what's happening with me. The awesomeness of Mighty Life Lists is a lot to get my head around. I also want to go to Camp Mighty. For now, I just follow Maggie Mason around and dream of the day that I'll dare to do this. Seriously. Poke around this site. Be amazed. They recently posted 31 profiles of incredible people living out their life lists (the profiles are on tumblr, so you need to scroll and dig a little bit).
When I Grow Up
Michelle Ward is the other author of The Declaration of You and a creative career coach. I haven't hired her as a coach (whether I was ready for it or not is irrelevant because she's booked solid due to her awesomeness), but I do subscribe to everything she puts out there and it's awesome stuff. Sign up for her newsletter and you get access to her Dropbox site packed full of free resources! She has a bunch of books that are on my wish list. She also interviews inspiring grown-ups who have smashed the creative career glass ceiling and made it work (scroll down to the archive section toward the bottom for free access to all the videos).
There's more, but this will do for now. Welcome to my world as of late. It's pretty in here, huh?
 |
| You know who. |
One meta comment about all of this: Like attracts like. It's true, people. It's true. Attach whatever New Age terms or ancient philosophies you want to this fact, but it's true by any name. It's a very simple and also very complex truth that as you raise your frequency and tell The Universe what you want (in my case, for now, proactive creativity), The Universe will respond. Immediately. Once you really mean it. It's like drinking from a firehouse, so be ready for whatever it is you're asking for (and be clear and specific) because it will come to you. Truth.
Love,
me
P.S. What did I miss? What do I need to know about? What links should I be clickety clacking? Post in the comment section and join the conversation.
This post is part of The Blog Dare series.
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