I’m traveling this week spending time with family at a quiet beach on the “forgotten coast” of Florida. My work consists of chatting, eating, kayaking, biking, walking, writing, and reading. It’s bliss :).
Here’s a quick reminder from poet Mary Oliver about how important it is to participate, truly participate, in your life. Thanks to Jonathan Fields at The Good Life Project for posting this earlier this week. Continue reading
I’m a big believer in following a high energy path with anything you’re working on. If you don’t feel energy at the center of your body when you think about next steps in what you’re doing, it may be time for a change.
Eye rolls and sighs are your body’s clue that you’re on a low energy path. Sometimes these are obvious – oh, my! But sometimes only you can see and hear them like maybe when: Continue reading
We had Christopher Phillips in as a speaker at the library this week. Chris is the author of Socrates Cafe and Democracy Cafe which we used to model some of our programs at the library. Chris is an interesting, engaging, fun guy so we asked him back to talk about his latest book, A Child at Heart: Unlocking Your Creativity, Curiosity, and Reason at Every Age and Stage of Life.
Here are some of my favorite take-aways from Chris’s talk: Continue reading
For those of us who have a number of jobs, it’s tricky answering the simple question, “What do you do?” People like clarity and telling someone “what you do” helps them understand who you are and how you fit within the community. If you hesitate answering, you see them smile and take a step away. People who can’t say what they do are suspicious!
But what if you’re retired? Then you end up explaining “what you used to do.”
What if you don’t have a job? How do you define yourself then?
And what if you do volunteer work. Is that “what you do?”
And how about when the job you have doesn’t define you in any way? “Well, this is what I do but I don’t really like it.” Continue reading
Healthy people get stuff done. We are focused. We have good energy. We are productive.
A huge, huge part of being healthy and feeling great depends on the food you put in your body. If you feel bad after eating – you’re tired, acidic, foggy – that’s your body’s way of telling you that something is not right. If this is happening to you, track what you eat and how you feel after eating for a week or so, and then start experimenting to isolate the variables. Continue reading
Life is full of chance encounters that aren’t as random as they seem. The person you sit next to on a plane that gives you an idea for a new project. A conversation you have that months later leads you down a new path. The choice you made buying a house or choosing a school that led to all sorts of new relationships. A book you pulled from a shelf that gave you new insight on how the world works.
My latest awesome coincidence came out of the writers’ group at the library. One of our attendees mentioned, in passing, that she had a friend who wanted her to read The Artist’s Way. That led to our Artist’s Way group which has set me off in all sorts of new directions with writing as well as with beads. And all it took was listening as Tyche mentioned a book and a desire. And then listening to my gut to take action.
When I started this blog, I wrote about my Book of Coincidences. Here’s how that started… Continue reading
When you’re in a rut it’s a great idea to get off the path you’re on. You never know what cool thing is just around the corner. Or maybe your next great idea is hiding in front of you in plain sight. All it takes to find it is a little curiosity.
Here are a few ideas to jump-start your energy and get you onto a new, curious path. Continue reading
If you’re not healthy, it’s hard to get organized. And what’s at the core of good health? Good food!
Every April, the Food Revolution Network holds a free online Summit with a mix of speakers talking about the latest in food health. That may sound dry, but I’ve listened for the past 5 years and the content is always insightful and helpful. The speakers are top-notch; many are doctors with new ideas about food-health. And it’s free – as long as you resist buying their “empowerment” package! Continue reading
When people are struggling to get organized, the weirdest piece of advice I give them is to add something to their to-do list: Joy. It is counter-intuitive. Why not just focus on the multitude of tasks at hand?
Because if you’re struggling, it means you don’t want to tackle the tasks at hand. They seem like chores. They’re heavy. They’re things that have to be done. Yep. So add one more: Joy.
Organizational Habits 