The no longer parallel reality of RIGHT NOW Something clicked in me yesterday about what I'm doing here on earth. I read the chapter, "This is It", in Hugh Mcleod's, Evil Plans book. He told me to fight like hell to get to that place where love and work combine and are unified, that I'd have to do it every friggin' day! And that I had to understand that "this was it" right now. I'm not waiting for some future time  - I'm not filling time to just pay bills until what I really want comes along. This is it! [...]

Chasing inspiration What if I could capture every single moment of fleeting inspiration I had? Capture and package them up in a secret bundle of "zing" that would become my sacred talisman to carry with me through the dry patches of life? I sure need that today. I feel so far away from finding my true passions as I sip my tea this morning. I think it may have something to do with over-utilizing my self-control lately and starting too many changes processes at once. In Switch, Chip and Dan Heath made me realize I have a limited supply of [...]

Creating yourself vs. being yourself I have always been an inventor of my personality. I think my love of words highlighted to me their ability to conjure up whatever personality I could imagine. It was quite freeing actually, but also an exercise in losing myself. If I could be anything, do anything, have anything, who the heck was I actually? Choice comes with a dark side: a lack of focus and resolution. Don't get me wrong, in a kind of backwards logic, I do see how with every great weakness, comes great strength. I see the value I have when [...]

How wide a frame can you put around your future? I love this quote from Cathie Black, former president of Hearst Magazines, who wrote a letter to her younger self in the book by Ellyn Spragins: What I know now about success: Letters from extraordinary women to their younger selves. Cathie wrote to herself at a time in her life when she was the Manager of Advertising Sales for Gloria Steinem, and was attempting to sell to advertisers who could not see the "huge untapped market of women with income, authority, and decision-making power," who were the intended audience of [...]

What does it mean to thrive? I have been getting acquainted lately with what some of our philosophical forefathers had to say about living a joyous life. Aristotle's words about living a three pronged life based on what is true, good, and beautiful, really touches me. Aristotle on the three pronged life: Find what is true, good, and beautiful Aristotle gives us an imperative to live as beautifully and humanly as possible. If happiness is the aim in life - the "end" - then how am I pursuing this? I absolutely 100% agree with this idea, and yet [...]

Waiting for permission to shine I sing. I've always liked to sing but previously  kept it a bit on the down-low. Humming a bar here and there. Belting one out in the shower, if noboby was home. But as far as hobbies go, I turned my attention to other musical pursuits - piano, guitar. Things that felt a bit less personal. Safer. Less chance of accidentally exposing myself in front of a group. Recently in the past few years I've taken up singing again. I thought it was silly to not be something I really enjoy, so I enlisted in [...]