I’m going to be disobedient and start my post today with a shameless plug for my upcoming on-line essay writing class. To learn more about it, please click on “Secrets of Personal Essay Writing.” Once you learn the secrets, writing a publishable essay becomes a whole lot easier. My in-depth comments on your writing assignments are well worth the price of admission.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about being a “grown up.” The title of this article is a quote by Andre Malraux, a french novelist. I found it in a fab book I’m reading called, “Last Child in the Woods.”  Real juicy if you like to hang out in forests, talk to animals or look at the stars.

So, what’ a grown up anyway? Webster’s defines it as “not childish or immature.” Continuing on I look up childish. “Lacking complexity. Simple.” Aren’t a lot of us grown-ups trying to simplify our lives? Get rid of the complexity. Get rid of the pretention (an antonym of simple)?

I know I am. It’s an ongoing process, but I’m actively reclaiming my child-like ways. For example, I love to go out at night and look up at the stars. Michael Bungay Stanier (Box of Crayons) suggested in a newsletter to go outside, hold up your arms and shout, “How Fantastic.” I’ve been doing that for maybe three years now. At first, I have to admit I felt a bit self-conscious. (Showing excitement? Who me, an adult?) Once I got comfortable with it, I got other grown-ups to do it. Be daring and give it a try tonight — you might grow-down …

Growing up instead of growing down might be the cause of much adult angst out there. It takes a lot of energy to suppress excitement, to stop seeing the awe in life. Eventually, it becomes second-nature until everything in your world takes on an ugly grey cast.

One of the more moving quotes in the Woods book, recounts a story told by a Girl Scout Leader who takes a group of urban children with AIDS to the mountains. In the middle of the night, she steps outside the tent with a nine-year old girl who has never seen stars before. The leader says, “That night, I saw the power of nature on a child. She was a changed person. From that moment on, she saw everything, the camouflaged lizard that everyone else skipped by. She used her senses. She was awake.”

How do we re-awaken ourselves, re-ignite our senses, get back to loving our lives in order to see them as the miracles they are?

Muse thx, Giulietta

It’s interesting how we come into this world adventurous. Yet, over time become fearful due to societal conditioning. What’s the point of taking pretty fearless humans and fearasizing them? How does that make the world a better place?

I spent most of my childhood exploring the world within walking/biking distance. I waded in streams, climbed mountains, danced whenever I pleased, performed back flips of the diving board, galloped my horse through the woods, wrote creative stories, paddled down rivers, laughed constantly. My life was a daring adventure. I wanted to learn about everything. I wanted to experience everything. I wanted to wake up every morning and do something new.

Then almost as suddenly, it became an undaring adventure. The invisible societal hands started to mold me with stronger and stronger Plaster of Paris until I felt so heavy I could no longer venture very far.

Still alive in my mold, I took to chipping from the inside out — (kinda like a personal Shawshank Redemption where I’m digging a tunnel out of the thick mold). With a lot of persistence, I eventually busted out of the Plaster of Paris that encased me.

Now, life seems like a daring adventure again!

I wanted to tell my fab readers about a neat on-line program I’ve put together with Tricia Dycka, the Negativity Slayer. It’s called “Dare to live your own life: You can do it! It’s for anyone who wants to bust out of his or her Plaster of Paris mold and resume seeing life as an adventure. If you want to read more about it, please click DARE. It will be a fun time for those who DARE to register.

Whether this program appeals to you or not, I’d love to hear if your life is or isn’t a daring adventure. Maybe share a memorable adventure of late?

Muse thx, Giulietta

I’m bombarded with great ideas. They flow freely through by brain and also freely out of my brain if I don’t write them down. So, I carry an “Aha” notebook around with me. Even wrote “Aha Notebook” on the front. I write essay ideas, column ideas, life shop ideas, recipe ideas, logo ideas, blog post ideas and anything else I want to remember, but know I’ll forget.

If you think about it, all the products you use and the songs you hear and the movies you see and the books you read, they all stared with someone’s “Aha” moment. The difference? That person acted on their “Aha” moment.

I noticed that a friend was teaching an on-line journaling class. I got an “Aha” and thought, “I can take my in-person essay writing class and turn it into an on-line writing class.” I submitting my idea and am half-way through teaching the class. It’s been such a great experience I want to teach it again!

Many of my “Aha” moments I act on. Then there are the ones I don’t fully act on. I start them, then get diverted to something else. Months or years later, I almost always stumble on someone doing an idea close to the one I didn’t fully act on. Instead of saying, “Now, why didn’t I think of that?” I say, “Now, why didn’t I act on that?”

All of us get unbelievable ideas. Only a few of us act on them.

If you don’t already, try carrying around an “Aha” notebook. Write your great ideas down. Then pick one and act on it! Hey, there might be someone who’s had an “Aha” moment about stopping the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Yet, didn’t act on it. Don’t you wish this person would?

Your ideas can make a difference!

Have you read about someone making a business out of an idea you had awhile back? If you did, any reason why you hesitated?

Much thx, Giulietta

For today’s post, I decided to pick a random quote out of my quote book. Landed on some neat words from the psychologist and philosopher William James, “To change one’s life: Start immediately. Do it Flamboyantly. No Exceptions.”

Did some quick research. William is the brother of novelist Henry James (Turn of the Screw, Portrait of a Lady). What intrigues me is that William lived from 1842 to 1910, so even back then people wanted to wake up and change their lives. If you surf the Internet you may get the idea we are the first generation to be dissatisfied with the status quote. Clearly that isn’t the case. Feeling hemmed in by one’s circumstances has been around for a long time. We just like to think we are somehow more emotionally advanced.

Why is it so hard for humans to changes their lives, to live flamboyantly?

Interestingly enough, I got in trouble for dressing flamboyantly at my first job out of college. I wore big earrings and really bright orange and yellow floral patterns, purple, lime green, etc. My boss took me to breakfast one morning and said, “You dress too flamboyantly.” I knew right then I needed to find another job and that the conventional work arena was going to conflict with my personality.

Why are we supposed to tone ourselves down at work? Will that make us work better or make us more controllable? I never quite understood the “dressing down” philosophy.

I’m curious if this quote speaks to you. Are there ways you could live more flamboyantly or would you rather keep your life the way it is?

Muse thx, Giulietta

If you’ve got any kind of blogger’s block, Jamie Ridler’s Wednesday Wishcasting will take care of it. Sometimes it’s easier for writers to write when they’ve got a prompt. I’d like to learn how to see every situation from both sides, to have the superpower of empathy. The Free Dictionary defines empathy as, “the ability to sense and understand someone else’s feelings as if they were one’s own.”

Even as I write this it occurs to me that further developing this emotional superpower will aid me in my oil painting. At the moment, I’m painting a close in shot of several colorful carousel horses (like some other wishcasters, I grew up riding horses and have found them appearing in many of my paintings. Perhaps a longing to own a horse again?). What if I did a painting where I try to paint from the perspective of whatever I’m painting? What is the carousel horse thinking? Or is it me or some part of me? Am I the subject of everything I paint? Are you?

That ability to get inside of anything we do creatively, write, paint, sculpt, craft, collage might take us to a new level of artistic freedom. I’m going to give it a try … How about you?

Muse thx,

Giulietta

Perfect writing never gets published or finished because there’s no such thing. Sometimes sending an essay or article to an editor is the best thing you can do for a piece of writing. Many times, I’ve hit the send button only to simultaneously realize as my essay hurtles through cyber space that the ending made no sense.

The editor usually shares my revelation by sending me a rejection. I toss the rejection into the virtual trash, bask in my newfound humility, rewrite the ending and send it somewhere else.

Sometimes you need to let go of a piece of writing to find it.

Happy writing to all of you!

Muse thx, G.

p.s. I’m teaching an essay writing class in August. Click here for more details!

Secrets of Essay Writing

It’s called the transformation. Without a transformation, your story will fall flat. No one will care. That’s a big problem with a lot of talks – the speaker leaves out the transformation. The audience has no idea how you can help them get from emotional point A to emotional point B.

So, now it’s done.

At first I resisted writing essays until a friend described them as “conversations” with a friend. The best ones read and sound like an intimate talk, the kind where you reveal yourself, like you do with a good friend.

Holding back, being afraid of revealing yourself makes it impossible to write something worth reading. I like to get things off my chest, because if you keep them on your chest they weigh you down like a concrete block. Your soul just keeps sinking to the bottom of whatever your wallowing in.

What can you reveal today?

Decided to enter The Art of Nonconformity Essay/Blog Challenge. Instead of waiting until 3 days before the deadline: July 11, I got writing immediately. Let it sit for a few days then resumed editing.

Letting it sit works wonders. Returning after a few days I clearly see what’s not working and what is working. Sometimes a sentence seems fantastic, until I step back from it. When I return I see it just doesn’t fit. So, I rework it until every line has a purpose.

A good approach to a lot of things in life. Get going. Let it percolate. Then get going again. Giving something space gives it perspective.

The key to enjoying karaoke is to pick songs you love but are also in your vocal range. For me that’s Linda Ronstadt. She’s got the most amazing voice. Just love her 40′s songs. They work best for my voice and my romantic side. Am currently working on “When You Wish Upon A Star,” “Skylark,” and “Lover Man.” Lover Man I also play on the piano so it’s a double musical treat. Have done “Someone to Watch Over Me,” and “I’ve got a Crush on You.” If the karaoke crowd is young they may not recognize the songs. I still do them anyway! Then I throw in a dance number towards the end of the evening.

If you’ve got some time, go to itunes and listen to Linda sing any of these songs. Her voice flows up and down effortlessly while also being rich and full. No weak upper register. The voice of an angel!