Call to Arms by Sasha Dichter
Posted: 29 August 2011 Filed under: #Trust30 1 Comment »
The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
What if today, right now, no jokes at all, you were actually in charge, the boss, the Head Honcho. Write the “call to arms” note you’re sending to everyone (staff, customers, suppliers, Board) charting the path ahead for the next 12 months and the next 5 years. Now take this manifesto, print it out somewhere you can see, preferably in big letters you can read from your chair.
You’re just written your own job description. You know what you have to do. Go!
(bonus: send it to the CEO with the title “The things we absolutely have to get right – nothing else matters.”)
(Author: Sasha Dichter)
Here are the things I know we have to get right:
1. Finding center
2. Finding the spiritual practice that works for us as a family
3. Making a family J
4. Finding work that sustains us and makes us whole
5. Spreading the message that change is here…and we’re making it happen
Why do I focus on the personal and not the work life? Because in the end, the job I’m doing right now is not what is what I have to get right. Not in the big picture.
Most Ordinary by Patti Digh
Posted: 29 August 2011 Filed under: #Trust30 Leave a comment »
Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong what is against it. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
We are our most potent at our most ordinary. And yet most of us discount our “ordinary” because it is, well, ordinary. Or so we believe. But my ordinary is not yours. Three things block us from putting down our clever and picking up our ordinary: false comparisons with others (I’m not as good a writer as _____), false expectations of ourselves (I should be on the NYTimes best seller list or not write at all), and false investments in a story (it’s all been written before, I shouldn’t bother). What are your false comparisons? What are your false expectations? What are your false investments in a story? List them. Each keep you from that internal knowing about which Emerson writes. Each keeps you from making your strong offer to the world. Put down your clever, and pick up your ordinary.
(Author: Patti Digh)
I just spent some time putting some of my latest project into my computer. I write freehand, so every project has the added step of typing it in, and I want to start early. But when I look at my own stories, no matter what they are, I feel these false ideals very strongly.
This project has gotten really positive feedback from my writing group this summer, and I’m excited to see where it goes. But I’ve never finished anything. And that’s what worries me. I think that real writers must write chronologically, from beginning to end, not episodically, like I do, because that must be why I never finish. I think that my prose is too terse, not descriptive enough, and that I’ll never be able to write enough words to make an entire book. I think that writing fantasy is inherently derivative, and that I’ll never write something that’s original, that’s my own, but that everything will just be a byproduct of what I’ve read.
Writing poetry is easier, in some ways, because it doesn’t feel like it has so many expectations. But while I’m primarily a poet, I haven’t always been, and I don’t think that’s all I’m supposed to be. But these longer projects carry a weight of expectation. I didn’t finish my play, why should I start something new? And what’s the point of a play that no one has performed, anyway? The voice gets loud sometimes…but I’m still writing.
Intuition by Susan Piver
Posted: 29 August 2011 Filed under: #Trust30 Leave a comment »
The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you could picture your intuition as a person, what would he or she look like? If you sat down together for dinner, what is the first thing he or she would tell you?
(Author: Susan Piver)
I’m fairly certain that my intuition is a woman, but I don’t think looks are all that important. While there are many elements of various genders and personalities within me, my intuition simply is. I feel like there are times that it’s so innately linked with me that I don’t even realize that it’s intuition speaking and not fact and reality. And when I try to hard, it goes away. So I guess if I were to describe my intuition by personality traits she would be elusive, even coy.
If we sat down together for dinner, I’m sure she would tell me to spend more time sitting, listening, being, and if I did we could be closer. It’s sort of like on retreats when you get that letter from Jesus that says basically, “hello…I’m waiting for you to pay attention to how much I love you.” The two things are not all that different.
Courage to Connect by David Spinks
Posted: 18 August 2011 Filed under: #Trust30 Leave a comment »
Men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions, and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath every moment. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Who is one person that you’ve been dying to connect with, but just haven’t had the courage to reach out to? First, reflect on why you want to get in touch with them. Then, reach out and set up a meeting.
(Author: David Spinks)
I don’t know that I’m “dying” to connect with anyone. I miss people. I enjoy people. But we find the time for each other when it’s right, and I don’t have a desperate longing for anyone who isn’t in my life. I have college friends I’d like to see more – but we’re fine – we plan phone dates, and do facebook, and see each other when we can. I’d love to meet Stacie’s 2nd daughter – but I know I will. I have friends who are local that I don’t see often enough, because they’re busy and I’m busy – but we do what we can.
Maybe the truth is that the person I need to connect with most is myself. I love my friends, but I think that even now the person I neglect the most is me. So I guess it’s time to carve out a way to do that.
Enthusiasm by Mars Dorian
Posted: 18 August 2011 Filed under: #Trust30 Leave a comment »
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” is a great line from Emerson. If there’s no enthusiasm in what you do, it won’t be remarkable and certainly won’t connect with people on an emotional basis. But, if you put that magic energy into all of your work, you can create something that touches people on a deeper level. How can you bring MORE enthusiasm into your work? What do you have to think or believe about your work to be totally excited about it? Answer it now.
(Author: Mars Dorian)
This is an interesting question to address while in the midst of a career change. I know that in many ways, more enthusiasm will come when I am fully in my new career as counselor because that’s what I want to be doing. But I’m not there yet. And maintaining enthusiasm is hard in a job where I’m still there because I like it, because I’m good at it, because I need the money, but I don’t love it anymore. And there are still things that I do love – I love the kids, the families, the rewards of a wonderful production – but I don’t love the day to day of it all. I love my co-workers, and that’s really the key factor – even on days when we don’t love the day we’re having or the work we’re doing in that moment, we have each other. It helps. And it brings the enthusiasm back. That, and the smiles and hugs from the kids, which are irreplaceable.
You Know by Jen Louden
Posted: 18 August 2011 Filed under: #Trust30 Leave a comment »
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
We live in a society of advice columns, experts and make-over shows. Without even knowing it, you can begin to believe someone knows better than you how to live your life. Someone might know a particular something better – like how to bake a three-layer molten coconut chocolate cake or how to build a website – but nobody else on the planet knows how to live your life better than you. (Although one or two people may think they do.) For today, trying asking yourself often, especially before you make a choice, “What do I know about this?”
(Author: Jen Louden)
Today is a hard day to write about what I know. I’ve spent today sad and tired, for no particular reason. And in some ways, that is what I know. As someone who suffers from depression, I know that there are days when just being awake is hard. When putting together a meal is like solving the most challenging calculus or debating the most obscure philosophy. And when trying to acknowledge what I’m good at is like bailing water with a bottomless bucket.
But knowing this, knowing that when I have these days I still get out of bed and go to work – or in today’s case, do laundry – that I still love the things I love, even though I don’t feel inspired or excited by them – that’s important knowledge. Knowing that I’m not the only one who struggles to get out of bed when I’m weighed down my own emotions will make me a better counselor someday, because I’ve been there, and I’m not afraid to admit that it’s hard work.
And I know that it will get better. As I work, slowly, to take better care of myself, and do what I love instead of just what I’m good at. As I try, daily, to bring positivity into my life through people, and food, and books, and writing, and all the other things that I love even when I don’t feel like I love them. It will get better because it already has – I’ve come so far from the days of hibernation and shower sobbing and appetite-deadening soul-ache – but that’s hard to remember on the hard days, even though I know they used to be much worse.
Speak Less by Laura Kimball
Posted: 6 August 2011 Filed under: #Trust30 Leave a comment »What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know I. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I once received a fortune cookie that read: “Speak less of your plans, you’ll get more done.” What’s one project that you’ve been sitting on and thinking about but haven’t made progress on? What’s stopping you? What would happen if you actually went for it and did it?
(Author: Laura Kimball)
There are so many. I have most of a play written that I need to type, organize, and finish. I have a book that I just started that I want to write on more than just Mondays, and am afraid that once Monday writing group ends, I’ll let it sit between retreats like I did with my play. I should be writing poetry, and putting it together in some way. I need to lose weight, get healthy and exercise more, so I can have a healthy, low risk pregnancy sooner rather than later. And all of these fall by the wayside because I also have to earn money to support myself while I’m taking classes to move forward on the biggest project – this new career. And along with that career, I’d love to work on alternative therapies, continuing ed, and lots of other things that will continue to distract me. As always the issue is not that I am not interested, not engaged, but that there are too many things that I love and engage in.
Facing (and Fearing) by Dan Andrews
Posted: 4 August 2011 Filed under: #Trust30 Leave a comment »Greatness appeals to the future. If I can be firm enough to-day to do right, and scorn eyes, I must have done so much right before as to defend me now. Be it how it will, do right now. Always scorn appearances, and you always may. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Trusting intuition and making decisions based on it is the most important activity of the creative artist and entrepreneur. If you are facing (and fearing) a difficult life decision, ask yourself these three questions:
1) “What are the costs of inaction?” I find it can be helpful to fight fear with fear. Fears of acting are easily and immediately articulated by our “lizard brains” (thanks Seth) e.g. what if I fail? what if I look stupid? If you systematically and clearly list the main costs of inaction, they will generally overshadow your immediate fears.
2) “What kind of person do I want to be?” I’ve found this question to be extremely useful. I admire people who act bravely and decisively. I know the only way to join their ranks is to face decisions that scare me. By seeing my actions as a path to becoming something I admire, I am more likely to act and make the tough calls.
3) “In the event of failure, could I generate an alterative positive outcome?” Imagine yourself failing to an extreme. What could you learn or do in that situation to make it a positive experience? We are generally so committed to the results we seek at the outset of a task or project that we forget about all the incredible value and experience that comes from engaging the world proactively, learning, and improving our circumstances as we go along.
(Author: Dan Andrews)
1. Not writing means that what I could create sits unexplored. Not writing means that I spend my time doing meaningless things instead of creating. Not writing means not being fully myself.
2. I like people who do what they are passionate about – it’s hard, but I know that I need to make time for the things that I love, instead of just the things that need to get done.
3. I don’t like to fail. But I’ve learned from getting lost, from choosing wrong, and from many other failures. I’m open to learning this way again – but I don’t know that I’ll like it very much.
