Take Back Your Life!

Hello fellow rebels! (and not so sure you are rebels),

While opening a new business account at the bank yesterday, my nice customer service person plugged in all sorts of names and numbers. He printed everything out and asked me to check it. I noticed right away my company name had a typo. He tried to fix it but the system wouldn’t let him so he called a number for help. The person on the other end said he had to close out everything and start all over.

Arduous as it seemed for both of us, he began to do just that. Then he typed in the correct name and it still came up the wrong name, so he called help again. This time the person told him, you can easily change that. No need to dump everything and start over.

I leaned over and said, “Always get a second opinion.” It’s more usual than not for people to tell you, “oh that can’t be done.” What they may really be saying is they don’t want to do it. If you believe something can be done in a more direct manner, keep going with your gut by getting a second opinion. Chances are good your gut is right.

Muse thx,

G.

I’m past the 30 day blog challenge but am so used to blogging every day that I couldn’t help myself.

Today I’d like to talk comments. Those wonderful cyber interactions every blogger lives for! Getting comments on a blog means someone is reading what I’ve written and they’ve been moved enough to respond. When I blogged for Skirt! Magazine for a month a year ago, I sometimes felt like I was speaking to an empty theater when I only received a few comments. Going back to some of those blogs, I’ve noticed they now have a view count. It amazed me how many people had actually read my writings. Sometimes in the thousands.

As a fellow blogger said to me, most people will not leave a comment but it doesn’t mean no one is reading it.

Do I leave comments? Yes. I do it for two reasons. To let the blogger know I’ve enjoyed their post and to pay it forward. I hope they will come to my blog and leave a comment or other people leaving comments will come to my site.

Be generous and leave a comment on a blog today!

Thx,

G.

This is my thirtieth post for Connie Green’s 30 day power blog challenge. Seems fitting to talk about one of my top ten traits: perseverance. I rarely give up once I commit myself to something. I’ve been in continuing ed classes where the class has whittled down to just me by the last two classes.

One instructor almost started crying asking me, “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” I said. “Your class was fantastic! People start out with good intentions and enthusiasm but life’s distractions get in the way.”

Because I’m well aware of the downward spiral nature of distractions, I work hard to stay the course. If the scared side of me shouts, “give up!” I block her out and keep going. There’s always time to do the things you really want to do. It all depends if you really want to do them or not.

I’d like to thank Connie Green for putting this challenge out there on Twitter. My web site was barely up when the challenge floated my way. I could have used that as a excuse to not try but I knew that was the part of my brain talking that wanted me to keep playing small. It’s been an amazing writing/blogging  journey!

I wish you the best in your own writing …

I’m almost done with the 30 day power blog challenge! It’s been great to have a goal to work towards, to be wanting to finish something with flying blogging colors. Will have 30 entries of ideas for future essays, blog posts, conversations, dreams,  life shops. It’s also spurred me on to start my own challenge. Am getting my other blog site ready for it!

Perhaps you will join me on this other challenge? Will let you know when it’s ready. As for today, it’s so lovely out, I’m going to take a walk. Walking always gets me centered and gives me even more ideas for writing and life shops. Think it’s the slowness of it all. The up close and personal nature of being one with the planet.

Cars zoom by everything. Life becomes a whirling blur.

Will you walk today?

Jimmy and I often walk around our neighborhood at night, a few hours after eating dinner. It’s quiet then, the traffic reduced to the occasional car zooming by. During our 1.5 mile tour of the neighborhood, the giant pearl of a moon shed enough light for us to see without turning our flashlights on. Usually it’s so dark, I cannot see anything where the tree canopy overhead becomes thick. Had we not taken the walk, I wouldn’t have even noticed there was a full moon. I joked to Jimmy we should return home and watch “American Werewolf in London” or “I was a Teenage Werewolf.”

I wondered why more people did not venture into the peaceful night after dinner. We pass many homes where the lights of the TV flicker from the front window. I’d love to have a TV free night, where everyone in the neighborhood gets released from their TV’s spell long enough to sit on their porches or stoops long enough to greet passersby.

Yesterday, Jimmy and I went to a State Park and took a walk along its “Sensory Trail.” It meandered through the woods, over boardwalks covering marshes, along the sides of a large brook. Normally, we hike to get exercise, to go as fast as we can. Today was different. We ambled. Jimmy spent a lot of time taking pictures of turtles, flowers, swans and even his first hummingbird! During a brief moment when the hummingbird wasn’t humming he managed to capture it digitally.

I walked slightly ahead, often finding myself waiting for Jimmy on the wooden benches I found at every turn. During those waits, I relaxed into the bench and listened to the birds “tweet” to each other and the water lap up against the shore.

Instead of just hurrying along a trail like we normally do, we took our time, feeding our senses with all nature had to offer.

I’ve decided to try something new every day for a month. A new food, a new movie, a new product, a new way of working, a new way of selling, a new way of being, a new way of listening. You get it.

Today, I tried a new food. Jimmy and I were driving through Allston, MA, and noticed a cute restaurant serving food from Burma! We’d had Indian and Thai and Vietnamese and Japanese and Chinese but never Burmese. In we walked. Super clean and cute with some neat artwork on the walls.

I asked the waitress to make a suggestion. She thought I’d like Y7 — ShweTaungKhotSwe. We started off with some yummy pastry appetizers called Samusar. Very good. Then came #7. Delicious. Jimmy like his curry too. The food tasted like a cross between Indian and Thai. Sure enough, the restaurant had a map in front of the restroom, which showed Burma’s located smack in the middle of India and Thailand. No wonder Burmese food tasted like a blend of the other two.

It’s called YoMa Burma. I highly recommend it.

Opened the paper this morning (yes, I still love the feel of newsprint) to read about a young man, an ex-Iraqi war vet, who is walking across the country for peace. Being in a war changed his feelings about wars or what he thought a war was. He walks about 20 miles a day, stopping to talk to people along the way. He’s also giving away his combat pay to various charities and causes.

Now that’s generous! How many of us would give away our hard earned cash to promote love? I like his spirit and sense of adventure and wish him well on his continued journey.

Please check out his blog, “Contagious Love Experiment.”

Anyone who lives in New England knows it’s been raining nonstop for at least a month, if not longer. Makes it hard to do summer things like hiking, biking, swimming, picnicking & photographing. Yes, I can still do them, but somehow biking through a thunder and lightening storm doesn’t feel particularly appealing.

I will say that as a result of the excess rain my yard looks lush & lively. The once parched lawn boasts wall to wall green, without any watering or adding of nasty fertilizers (something I don’t use anyway.) My own skin & hair feel amazingly moist. Two summers ago when the area experienced a drought my hair became so dry I thought it might ignite if I got anywhere near a flame. I will also say that the endless rain has given me more time to read, visit museums and work on my new essays.

As someone mentioned to me the other day, rain is just water.

I’m really enjoying Twitter. Been on it about a month. Seems like a great way to connect with people I never would have met. I also like the brevity of it. It forces me to get to the heart of whatever I’m going to say, to strip away the superfluous. At first I wasn’t sure what to even say, but after about a week I found my rhythm.

Surprisingly, I don’t tweet much about my work. Instead I find myself posting information I believe might help someone reading my tweets. My philosophy is that what goes around comes around, so if I send out good will, I’ll get good will back. I also believe it’s easier to make connections with others when I’m not talking about work. That can come later, after the connection happens.

How do you connect with others?