What is the most dramatic change you have had to make?
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Dramatic change you have made? Prompt #379
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Are you enjoying life or racing to your grave?
Guest Blogger Ted Moreno asks: Are you enjoying life or racing to your grave?
Life has been very busy…
In fact, it has been at times overwhelming, like life has been turned up to a higher speed. Ever feel that way?
I don’t do very well when I feel like life is an out of control ride and I can’t get off. I don’t sleep as well, don’t eat as healthy as I like to. I start to feel out of control.
What’s that line from that Ozzy Osborne song? “I’m going off the rails on a crazy train.”
I know I can’t control how life shows up, but I do try to control my response to whatever life is giving (or throwing at) me. I want to stay calm, positive and un-freaky. It’s not easy.
There are two things I do that are necessary for me to stay sane. One is taking a brisk walk or jog every day, if possible, around the lake near my house.
The other, more important thing, is getting up on Sunday mornings, preferably before 6 am, walking down to the local Starbucks, getting coffee for myself and my wife, and spending a few hours alone in my home office before the world starts getting all noisy.
You know how when you are in a very high place, you see the world differently? Like in an airplane, or a tall building, you get a different perspective?
That Sunday morning time offers me a higher perspective of my life.
It starts when I leave my house and walk out into the cool morning air. I ask myself, “How’s my life? How am I? How are things? What’s happening?”
When I get back into my home office, maybe I’ll write in a journal, usually stuff that’s pissing me off, but also things that seem weird or interesting in my life. I’ll pull a book off the book shelf randomly and just open it to see if there is some wisdom I’m meant to have. I’ll listen to music.
This is how I create space on a weekly basis to step out of the stream of my life and check it out from a different perspective. It makes me feel as if I’m enjoying the ride rather than just racing to the grave. Oftentimes, I see things about my life I didn’t see before.
I create the space and time to view my life from a higher place, and it’s a place of non-judgement, a place of peace and observation, with the intent to be mindful of the experience of life.
I’m sure many of you already do something like this, like sitting on your deck, or meditating or going to church or temple. If you don’t, consider giving it a try.
Space and time, these are the things that can get very scarce in our modern lives. Give them to yourself as a gift.
Ted A. Moreno is a hypnotherapist, success performance coach, published author, educator and sought-after speaker who helps his clients become free from fear and anxiety, procrastination and bad habits such as smoking.
He is a Certified Hypnotherapist, Certified NLP Practitioner, and holds the Master Certification as a Therapeutic Imagery Facilitator. In addition, Ted is an Honors Graduate of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute and a recipient of the Director’s Award from HMI, awarded for exceptional professional achievement during clinical residency. Ted’s book, “The Ultimate Guide to Letting Go of Negativity and Fear and Loving Life” is available on Amazon.com.
Check out his latest podcasts, “Just Because Life is Hard Doesn’t Mean That You Suck,” and “Public Speaking: A Fear Worse Than Death.” Click here to listen to my podcast Ted in Your Head.
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I surrender . . . Prompt #378
Today’s writing prompt:I surrender . . . or I finally surrendered.
With a prompt like this, you can also write the opposite:
I will never surrender . . .
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Preserve Your Culture . . . Prompt #377
“Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.”
— Cesar Chavez
Write about your culture. Write about food, customs, clothing. Write about nuances, sayings, prophecies.Write about your culture’s beliefs, social customs, traits, religious beliefs.
You can write about the culture you grew up in, or write about a culture you have adopted.
Write about shared attitudes, goals, values.
Write about your culture’s music, art, ways and methods of communicating.
Just Write!
Photo by Jim C. March
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Suzanne Murray: Using imagination for creativity
Guest Blogger Suzanne Murray writes about using imagination with a quote from Thoreau.This world is but a canvas to our imagination. – Henry David Thoreau
We use our imagination all the time, whether we realize it or not. When we are worrying about a future event we are imagining the possibility of a negative outcome. When we are thinking about our next dream vacation we are imagining the place and what we may be doing there. When we are being creative we are imagining scenes as we write, the cake rising as we mix the ingredients for baking, or the blank canvas giving rise to color.
Yet most of us don’t think much about the ways we use our imagination and the mystery of how it works. Most of us hold tight to the confines of the mind, living from its repeating pattern rather than being open to the infinite possibilities that live in our imagination.
All creative acts arise in the imagination. If you can imagine it, you can create it. When Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them,” he was suggesting that we need to work less with our minds and more with our imagination.
So how do we do this when we are used to trying to figure everything out and understand how to change or create something? How do we play with this incredible capacity of imagination that we all have?
It’s like building a muscle. The more we use it, the stronger it becomes and the more we can trust it to support us. A willingness to play where we pretend something is real and true, the way we did as children is a good beginning.
Try this. Talk to a tree. Whether it outside your window or in your local park. You don’t have to do this out loud. Just ask the tree a question about a problem you are trying to solve or something you want a creative answer to.
Take a few deep breaths, relax, let your mind quiet a bit and see what comes to you.
Or you could do this as a writing exercise where you ask the question of a tree by writing it on the page and then allow the tree to answer you through stream of consciousness writing where you just let the words flow.
The key is to have fun with our imagination. Know that it is the doorway to the expanded capacities we need in our live and in the world today.
Suzanne Murray is a writing coach, creativity coach, and an EFT practitioner.
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) I’ve been working with EFT in new ways that allow us to laser in on the issue and shift it at the core. We often make significant shifts in a single session. Sessions are available by phone and Skype,
Would you like to live from an expanded place of grace, ease and flow? Would you like to tap the wisdom and power of your heart and soul? We work with soul based ways to let go of limitation and gaining clarity of the next steps to living a more joyful, authentic life.
CREATIVITY COACHING
I offer practical, emotional and soulful strategies to help you fully uncover your creative gifts and support yourself in expressing them.I offer online coaching to support you and coach you through any resistance or problems along the way. I hold the space of unconditional acceptance and support to nurturing your unique voice and work on the stories that are really important to you.
The Heart of Writing eBook
Jumpstart the Process, Find Your Voice, Calm the Inner Critic and Tap the Creative Flow. Available on Amazon Kindle.
Suzanne Murray Blog for ideas on writing, creativity and life coaching. Follow Suzanne on Twitter at @wildcreativity where she tweets inspirational quotes for creativity and life.
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Describe a task. Prompt #376
Tillie taught me how to fill a pen, or, as she said, “How to properly fill a pen.”
One: Turn the filling plunger counterclockwise as far as it will go.
Two: Dip the nib completely into the ink.
Three: Turn the filling plunger clockwise until it stops.
Four: Hold the nib above the ink bottle and turn the plunger counter-clockwise again until three drops of ink fall back into the bottle.
Five: Turn the plunger clockwise to stop the drops.
Six: Wipe the excess ink completely from pen and nib.
When I told Tillie that six steps seemed a lot to have to do before you begin, she said, “You must think of those six steps not as preparation for the beginning but as the beginning itself.” — The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg
Prompt: Desribe the steps to accomplish something.
Or: Write about preparing something.
Just Write!
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Imagination is . . . Albert Einstein
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” — Albert Einstein
Let your imagination soar. Come on, you can do it.
Look at the little box to the right on your screen. Click on “Prompts.”
Choose one and Just Write!
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Patterns Prompt #375
Take a mental trip down Memory Lane.
See yourself at five years of age. Picture that child. See him or her. Grab some detail. Smiling? Serious? Able to sit still? Has to move around?’
Now, see yourself at twelve years of age. Take a moment to really see that image of yourself as a young teenager. Notice the clothes you wore, your hairstyle. What did you like to do? Who were your friends? Were you a serious student? Were you frivolous? Care free?
Fast forward to twenty-five years old. How do you see yourself? How did you move . . slow paced, bustling around, steady, focused, scattered? Were you scaling corporate ladders? Were you climbing walls, anxious to get going, to start your career, start your life?
How about thirty or forty or fifty years of age . . did you shine your light on projects or people? Where were you at this time of life? Satisfied? Anxious to do more? Fulfilled? Wanting something, but didn’t know what?
Look for patterns in your life. Write about those patterns.
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Paint a rich picture. Roger Lubeck
Guest Blogger Roger Lubeck: The importance of details in memoir to enhance your story.
There are people and events in our life that shape who we are. What we value and the lives we lead. The events and people can be big and small. Stopping for cigarettes and the car accident that followed. Taking the last United flight out of New York on September 10, 2001. Growing up in Michigan, water was a part of my life. Swimming and boating, lake cottages, and fish frys; frog legs, whitefish (pike) and perch were staples in that culture and still are. The same was true in Minnesota, except the preferred fish was Walleye caught while ice fishing.
Sometimes in telling a personal story we get lost in the wrong details and back stories. In telling a personal story we forget about plot and pace. Often, I have found myself saying, “I guess you had to be there,” meaning the point of the story was lost on the audience. This is usually a sign that I talked too long, and the audience lost interest. Note the fish story above.
The story you write for a memoir has to be interesting, even entertaining. It has to be more than the facts. Whether a tragedy or comedy, it has to paint a rich picture of the people and times during which your life changing event happened. The story should have a beginning, middle, and end, characters and conflict. In the end, remember, in telling your story, we, an audience of strangers, have to become invested in the story, too.
Roger Lubeck, Ph.D. After a career in consulting and teaching, Roger is focused on writing, photography, book design, and publishing. He is President on the Board of Directors for Redwood Writers. Roger was the editor on four anthologies and a memoir. Roger has designed covers and interiors for eighteen books. Roger’s published work includes business articles, short stories, seven novels, and two business books. Roger has written a contest winning ten-minute play and two prize winning short stories. His newest novel, Ghosts in Horseshoe Canyon, is a modern crime novel set in southern Utah. In addition, Roger is developing a treatment and screen plays for a movie and a new TV comedy.
Roger’s books are available on Amazon.
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Just another day, or something special? Prompt #374
Prompt #1: Does Father’s Day have a special meaning for you? Or is it just another day?Prompt #2: What about Mother’s Day? Special or just another day? Write whatever comes up for you.
Prompt #3: Write about Memorial Day or Fourth of July. Anything special about them for you? Any traditions you follow now, or as a child?