Absence makes the heart grow fonder, no?

So, it’s been a long time hasn’t it?

Have you missed me??

I’ve been away doing things. Great, great things. Living life, learning about fear, love and cliff jumping.  I’ve been becoming stronger, better and wiser, for you.

So we can do bigger, greater works than we have ever done before. The world is calling for this. This, new movement of people like us who have visions and want to make the world far more awesome than it already is. And time is precious people. Very, very precious.

The world is ready, if not WAITING for what you and I have to give it. And I know you’re a giver like me, so why hold back?

I have returned, with tools and strength and love to carry all.  Are you ready to make an impact? To live the way you were meant to?

It’s time, to pick up your swords, slay some dragons and join the revolution. I’ll be right by your side, fighting just as passionately, and yelling just as loud.

Let’s go. There’s no more tomorrows to waste.

Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes,” he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. “Shake it off. Stop complainin’. Stop grumblin’. Stop cryin’. We are going to press on. We have work to do.~ Barack Obama

The Voice.

No….no, not that TV reality show that Christina Aguilera is on.

The Voice, your voice. The one you use to make your mark in the world.

Yeah, now we are on the same page.

I was thinking about this lately.

How people can talk SO much, and not say anything. There is also people who can say little, and speak VOLUMES.

What makes a voice?

Whether it be through writing, speaking (publicly or otherwise), or artisically.  How is that voice making an impact on the world?

What about your voice?

How do you use it?

In what media is it booming out unto the world’s ears and eyes?

And most of all, most of all dear readers, IS IT EFFECTIVE?

By effective, I mean does it generate attention, new interested parties, and curiosity?

I have a tendency to talk a lot. Not always because I have a lot to say. I find when I’m writing, words seem to have more power, more oooomph, on the page.  I also tend to use less of them.

There are no ‘ums, ands oh, uuuhs’. It’s fluent,  and flows like a river.  I feel like I am reaching further and touching farther, then with speaking out.

But is my writing voice effective?

Is it garnering the responses I want?

Am I getting noticed?  Is this the way I want to spread my puppy passion gift upon the world?

How do YOU keep that effectiveness in your voice?

I’ve learned, by hanging out on the block for a bit, that it’s a bit of a challenge.

There is so much new, improved and better yet information zooming at us from all sides.

But all the information in the world, although amazing to have under our hats, doesn’t replace heart and soul.

Or stories, because everyone is fascinated by a good story.

So please, use your effective voice, tell your powerful story, and keep bringing the awesome.

Like Barack Obama says, we’ve got work to do.

French-Kiss Life

“Of course it takes a clear intention to be a steward  of the heart. It takes time to enquire, to show interest, to listen sincerely. What an honor and a joy it is to have someone like you cross my path, because you are the rare sort of person who understands, and at the end of the day, our greatest achievement gets down to love” 

A good friend of mine gave me a card when I had finished a course with her.

On it said ‘french-kiss life’  

Now, You can take that many ways, I suppose.  Every day I wake up and I look at it.

Depending on the day, it shows me a different meaning.

I never really felt it though, until the beginning of this week.

I have been off for the past 3 days for a knee injury, staying home and doing homework. Ice the knee, stretch the knee.

You know, you’ve had something like this, at some point. 

I have had a busy month (read prior post) and have seemed to have flourished in the chaotic-ness of it all.

I have also learned a few things.

1. I like to work from home, in front of the open window. I haven’t felt SUCH CREATIVITY in weeks, nay, MONTHS.   Fuck, YES!

2. I have done a lot of thinking, about unfinished things, friendships, you, and I.

3. I learned that being present counts, and being here, steeped in homework, writing and creativity, makes me feel like a fat, well fed baby.  I am HAPPY.  Sometimes, I even coo. (but not in front of people)

4. Intrinsic knowledge. We all have it, and some of us forget it’s there, or how to access it.

The calmness, the growing up of the puppy, the learning inside the living.

The knowing of your own true north.

The wanting and the hunger of it all.

We have missed our chances before, deviated and strayed.

French-Kiss Life, I am on the warrior path to get you.

I am grateful for your patience.

 

“If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again.”

It’s been an interesting month.

I started a course non-related to anything in my life. (except books), I’ve kind of learned to ski, I’ve injured myself learning to ski, and am working two jobs.
That’s a lot to take on.
For the first time in my life, I am loving the chaos. All this flexing and bending and learning has made me hungry. Literally and metaphorically.

For what?

I am not sure.

I am thinking for flux and change and of course, new adventures.

When I was last up the mountain, I fell, fell hard. I was hurt and in pain. At the same time, I really wanted to finish my run. That’s how determined I am to learn how to ski. I haven’t loved a sport this much since I played soccer as a littler girl.

Someone(s) very close to me in my life,  says I give up too easily on things.

As I get older, I found that yes, I do.
Whether its from fear, imagined remembered pain, or even actually succeeding at that one awesome, amazing thing.
It could be all three.

I can ski. It’s hard and exhausting, and extremely challenging. And I’m kind of in love with it.
Even though it f*%&ed up my knee for now.

I remember this feeling.
Grit and determination to pursue something I love.

Welcome back.
Now, what else can I learn to do, be and love.

There’s always room for more.

My Favorite Walk

Annika Ruohonen Photography

The best thing about walks is that they prevent me from doing anything. I pride myself on not ever having had a dull moment in my life. Well, the downside to that is that I find it difficult not to do anything. When I’m out on a walk I can’t write emails, arrange photos or write blog posts. Walking gives me the privilege of letting my thoughts flow freely and that, I think, is necessary if you want to be creative. I have sometimes found the solution for a problem at work while having a walk in the woods, quite suddenly without even trying to find it, or not knowing that I was looking for it. I don’t know if there is any scientific proof for it, but I feel that there is so much truth in the saying that having a walk clears you mind.

I don’t have a…

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Just Some Sunday Reading

 

 

As our society gets more complex and our people get more complacent, the role of the jester is more vital than ever before.

Please stop sitting around.

We need you to make a ruckus.

 

Seth Godin ~ Linchpin

 

The Same but Different

The Same but Different.

The Same but Different

When you read something, watch a show or read another’s work, what about it sticks with you far after you’ve left it?

What keeps you coming back to that one passage, quote or picture, again and again?

When I write, it comes from a place deep inside. Even when I write a draft down on paper, what comes out when I sit down at my keyboard, is inevitably something completely different.  I don’t know how it happens. It just does, I’ve learned to accept that there is a fountain, somewhere inside me that allows for this.

Please do not think I am bragging, I’m not.  It’s not a gift if you brag about it.

So as I sit here, I am thinking about a conversation I had recently with a friend. I asked if they had read any of the blog lately. What came out of that conversation is that the premise is different and the outcome the same.

Which,  in a way , is completely astute.

It also got me to thinking. How do I change that?

As people looking to teach and educate and spew out feelings (sometimes), how do we create differently, and yet with the same vivaciousness and loudness, time after time?

I like to ask a lot of questions. Mostly because I have the curiosity of a puppy at a park.

I tend to mimic what I like, and somehow make it into my own. Fake it till you make it, yes?

Then again, sometimes I have no control about what comes out of my heart/head, and I don’t believe much in editing myself.

Because, as much as I am writing for you, dear readers, I am also writing for me. To really get a grasp of all of those spew-y feelings and thoughts that tend to hide from the light, and fester and grow fangs.

So, in regards to change, who knows?  It happens, it never stops, and I am pretty sure it balks at being corralled.

One thing I know for sure is, I will always be truthful, even if my voice shakes.

You can bet on it.

 

(See, the same, but different)

An Ancient Ritual

There are many kinds of stories, sharing and learning stories, laugh till you grow a six-pack stories (thank you Marta), and low down, sad stories.

Have you heard a good story lately?

I bet you are hearing one right now.

In your own head.

Am I right?

Welcome to the stories we tell ourselves.

I don’t know about you, but I am in my head, a lot more than I am outside of it.  And in there,  is a magical place where things take place. Although, most of the time, no one else knows about them. Therein lies the problem. We tell ourselves stories that involve other people, without them knowing.

That spells trouble, don’tcha think?

If people are not aware of your expectations, how will they know when they fall short, or exceed them.

For instance, a little scenario.

Girl and boy are dating. Girl wants to have dinner with boy. Boy goes out instead. Girl is left eating ice cream on the couch after feeling rejected. Girl didn’t let boy know what she was expecting of him, therefore, was let down.  Boy was not let in on the inside deal.

Those who are not INFORMED, cannot PREFORM.

HELLO!!!!

“If you don’t tell me what you want straight away, you get nothing at all.”

I tell myself this a lot. And boy, it makes a difference.

When you become aware of your stories, and realize, that by sharing them, you allow people to give you and receive from you, what you want and need.  Life becomes a little sweeter, and a little more  carefree.

Think about the last time you could have shared a story with someone you wanted something from. Now, how could have the outcome been different if you were to out right say: “Hey I want or I need X, how shall we make this work so we are both happy? ”

It becomes easier to share, when you make it a conscious practice.

Try it, share a story with me.

x

Imagine, if there was a door like this in your life.

Would it make things easier? Harder? Would

you use it often? Or is it enough to know that

that it was there.