Soul Food ~ Dec. 26th Reverb10

What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul?

Heavy cream.  In the middle of adrenal failure I suddenly couldn’t get enough of it.  I had an insane craving for dairy fat.  Even half-and-half wasn’t rich enough.  I poured it on strawberries.  On cereal.  Drank it straight.  Having learned to trust these cravings, I went with it, leaving guilt at the door.  Each sip brought profound pleasure and relief.  A thirst being slaked.  Then as suddenly as it began, it faded away.  I have no idea why my body needed it.  One winter it was pistachios, last year it was bell pepper and radish, which I’d disliked my entire life, and suddenly became scrumptious.  This year, it was the rich, round, mouth-velvet of heavy cream.  

Healing ~ Dec. 19th Reverb10

HEALING.  This entire year has been about healing.  Theme of my year, in fact.  In February I fell into adrenal failure and off the edge of the earth.  Brain fog, fatigue, muscle wasting, nausea,  ...oh and did I mention brain fog?  I've spent hours and hours on forums learning from others going through the same thing.  Came to realize I do, in fact, have a breaking point.  Okay, I could bore you with all the details of adrenal failure, vertigo, and broken ankle, but let's get to the good stuff.

What did I learn in this year of recovery?  To slow down.  In a year when I was trying to ramp up and go faster farther higher stronger, it's been a challenge.  Especially because I fell so far behind, so when I do have good days, I'd feel like I need to hurry and make as much use of it as I can.  If I try, my body interrupts and says, "Didn't we talk about this already?  I said slow down."  But how can I slow down if I'm trying to launch a new business and remodel a house?

Finally, I've started to understand.  Slowing down isn't about speed, it's about awareness.  About being present.  When I chop an onion, for instance, usually I'm thinking the next ten steps ahead, and feeling like I need to get it done quickly.  I rush through everything.  Why am I rushing?  I'm rushing through my entire life.  This very moment is all we have, yet I've been acting as if it's in the way of more important stuff.  When I slow down, I notice pleasure in the task.  It gets me out of my head and into my body.  When I'm just in my head I tend to race ahead.  But when I'm present in my body, in the moment, I'm able to be present and savor the task.  

So now I bring those concepts to the new business and the remodel.  Savor the tasks, be present.  Note the textures and colors and beauty of what I'm doing.  Fall in love with the process -- the process is all there is.

Cube Timer Mindfulness

Procrastination tip of the day:  Use a timer to prompt you to stay on task.  


Great for:  
- limiting how much time you fall into the emailfacebook vortex
- when tasks loom large, and it's hard to start because there's so much to do
- when you wander from one task to the next, frittering your time away


Get yourself one of those cube timers (google it).  You can use a kitchen timer, but I love the simplicity of just turning the cube timer to the side you want, in increments of 5, 15, 30, and 60 minutes.  Pick a task, and flip the timer to an amount of time you'd like to work.  Like right now, I've got it set for 15 minutes, because I want to stay focused only on writing this blog for the next fifteen minutes.  


Someone might say, "Oh!  But I have SO much to do, I really need to set it for two hours!"  If you were able to set a timer for two hours and stay focused on task the entire time without prompting, then you don't need this tip anyway.  You can flip the timer onto the "30" side four times in a row if you really want to devote two hours to a single task, and the half-hour beeps will help you stay on track.


When it beeps, take stock.  Are you still on task?  Have you wandered off, opened your email, or your favorite website?  Are you done with the task?  If not, set it for another 5.  (If you want 10 more minutes, you'll have to do 5 minutes twice with this timer.)  The beauty of keeping these increments short is it brings you back to mindful awareness of what you're doing.


I love using this for email wrangling.  I've recently become aware of how many HOURS a day I lose to email and facebook.  Now, I set the timer for 5 or 15 minutes, and then dive in guilt-free.  The timer is going to be my watch-dog, to pull me back to awareness, so I don't need to worry I'll lose track and spend too much time.   I can play with complete abandon, because my little timer friend will pull me back to awareness of how I'm using my time today.  


I'm starting a project that's so big it intimidates me a bit.  But I can easily work on it for 15 or 30 minutes to get going, and the timer lets me start, knowing I can break it into smaller chunks and stay focused the whole time.  Give it a go!  Let me know what you think.  :)

Party ~ Dec. 9th Reverb10

The party that delighted me most is one I haven’t held yet.  But oh! I’ve been anticipating it.  The remodel at the lakehouse is in the stripped-to-the-studs stage.  Before the new insulation and drywall goes on, I want to invite friends out for a house-warming party.  Give them markers and ask them to write all over the studs:  favorite quotes, good wishes, memories from our friendship, favorite jokes.  Perhaps place stones or crystals in the stud space.  Imbue the entire house with warmth and good energy.  Then when I move in, the house will hum with joyous good vibration.  And then it’ll be time for the house-opening party!

Beautifully Different ~ Dec. 8 #Reverb10

Prompt:  Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful. 


Oh I do like lighting people up!  What makes me different?  I love my weirdness.  When I was a teenager my father looked at me after I'd said or done something odd, cocked his head, and said "You're weird!"  I could see puzzled fascination in his eyes.  It was one of the finest compliments he ever gave me.  (And I see it's merely a description, but I took it as high praise.)  


One of the reasons I fell in love with my husband was we were so silly together!  He reminded me about being playful, which grad school and life had taught me to forget.  I felt spontaneous, goofy, alive, awake -- what a wonderful feeling to rediscover at 39.  


I feel most alive when I'm silly and weird and creative and playful -- I feel so fully aligned with source energy.  Spontaneous, no editing, coming only from warmth and ease and joyousness.  


I made a videotape recently, and being a North American woman, I watched it with critique.  Wincing about my weight, my hair, yada yada.  Then I saw something.  On the tape, I said something in a moment of genuine connection, rather than 'just talking into a camera', and I physically became beautiful in that moment.  It was like watching myself shape-shift.  Stunning revelation to witness.  Important knowing to discover...

Dec. 7 #Reverb10 ~ Community ~

December 7 – #Reverb10 Community Prompt: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011? (Author: Cali Harris)


Ah, this one's been a bit of a challenge.  Hence, the title of this blog....  Becoming visible, joining in, becoming known in a crowd...  Face-to-face, it's easy -- I can talk with anybody about anything.  When I'm at seminar, such as Loral Langemeier's Live Out Loud events, I feel lit up from within, among my tribe.  When I return home, however, I haven't yet followed through in the way that I want.  There's a hesitance in becoming visible in the electronic, virtual world.  Releasing that reluctance is what this blog is all about.  


That said, I found tremendous online support in the RealThyroidHelp.com community this year.  As I tried to switch to natural thyroid this year, I didn't know my adrenals were running on fumes. Adding NTH was a final straw, and my health completely collapsed.  The mental fog was profound.  I couldn't always understand what they were saying (understanding endocrine mechanisms is like learning algebra in French), but their warmth and support came through.  With their guidance, I found my way back to this side of earth.


The community I want to connect with in 2011 are folks who choose to add more fun in their day as a way to allow source energy to flow.  We tend to treat enjoyment as if it's a luxury, something to "reward" ourselves with only after we've spent enough time doing "hard" things. Kids play, kittens play, different species play together, instinctively knowing this universal language.  Then we somehow set it aside, as if it were optional, less important than other grown-up pursuits.  What if we cultivate play along the course of our day?  What if we choose enjoyment?  What if we give ourselves more permission to be creative?  When we choose that natural state of flow, can you imagine how that will brighten every corner of life?  THAT'S the community I want to create/connect with.  Online, webinars, workshops, writing....    Wanna play?

Reverb10 ~Make~

Hi everyone!  Thanks for reading me today.  I'm participating in the Reverb10 project, as we look back over the past year.  Each day through New Year's we'll receive a word prompt to create a blog post.  Today's prompt:  December 6 – Make.  What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?  (Author: Gretchen Rubin)


Oh this one's easy!  Earlier this year I learned how to make paper flooring, and it turned out fabulous -- it looks like a cross between faux leather and faux stone.  It's smooth and soft underfoot, and stunningly durable.  I was inspired by lovely artist Gwynne Gardner and when I contacted her for tips, she was so supportive with wonderful new techniques to share.


Materials:  a roll of heavy construction paper from your local hardware store, Weldbond glue, and a gallon of varathane.  Less than $100 to do 250 sq ft of bathroom and bedroom, and I still have paper and glue left.  Dilute one part glue with three parts water; I only mixed a couple ounces of glue at a time.  The key is to tear the paper, not cut it, so the edges are natural and feathered.  Glue on the bottom of the paper makes the "stone" lighter (as in front of the toilet), glue on both sides makes it darker, and wadding up the paper in the glue water makes it really dark and crinkled (lower left, and round spot center top).


To quote my July entry in Home Renovation: Transforming Us Both from the Inside Out:  Oh I'm having fun! I feel like a seven year-old playing 'mudpies.' There's no rushing here, it's all in the moment. It works best when you sort of fall in love with each piece, patting it gently into place. I'm learning lots of techniques how to vary the color and texture, blend edges, and how to 'layer the stones.' The diluted glue is like milk, so it washes up easy and I can stop and start, a little bit at a time.    


As for what I want to make next, a new income stream, pronto.  And yes, I need to clear time for it!  I actually have the time, but I let it get cluttered with less important things, diversions, distractions.  I guess I should take the metaphor of working on the floor:  after a point, the prep work is done, and the only thing left to do is clear the floor, sweep away every distracting bit of debris, and then start the main act of creating.

Reverb 10 -- Let Go.

Let go.

This year I am letting go of feeling like I always have to have the right thing to say.  Of having all the answers figured out before I try.  Of getting stuck in analysis paralysis.  Of fretting about being perfect.  It’s not always about what my brain thinks, but what my spirit radiates.  

One thing I did let go of this year:  struggling against my circumstances.  Faced by health challenges, I’m doing everything I can to recover.  It would have been easy to choose misery, or experience it as struggle, but instead I chose patience, resilience, and  acceptance.  I could have railed, instead I rallied.  Just because my body insisted I slow down and rest, I didn’t need to piss and moan and be sad on top of it.  “Wishing it were different” is wasted energy.  Choosing to be happy regardless kept me drawn toward health.  

On Becoming Visible

This blog details the journey of becoming visible.  Of standing up.  Stepping up.  Becoming an entrepreneur, declaring my intent of coaching others to greater well-being, how I go about it, and what I believe.   Becoming visible to the audience who is perfectly attracted to my message.  Taking imperfect action.  Moving from prep to marketing, to being visible, getting my name and my message out there.  

Reverb 10 ~ Wonder ~

How did I cultivate a sense of wonder in my life this year?    


By listening to the wind.  By understanding that an event --and my reaction to that event-- are two separate things.  Listening to Abraham-Hicks CDs.  Discovering that snowmobiling is wicked fun.  Taking a vacation that felt so good I'm thinking of taking another.  Learning to bake ginger cookies.