Take Back Your Life!

Hey bad girls and boys & wednesday wishcasters,

In 2010, I wish for folks to disobey more. That’s right.

• Stand up and be counted, even if you’re the only one doing so.
• Make a scene.
• Say, “no” to anything that goes against your values.
• Catch all the shoulds flying at you and dump them in the trash can.
• Stop going along with programs you don’t believe in.
• Start being the change you want to see in the world.

People love to use, “I can’t make a difference” as an excuse for not standing up for what they really believe. That’s a big fat lie. You can make a difference – in your own life, in your neighborhood, in your country. The real question becomes, “Do you want to make a difference?”

If your life has no spark, if you feel like a dead-zone inside, if you complain about your situation, if you feel taken advantage of, if you keep asking yourself, “is this all there is to life?” chances are good you’re still that obedient little boy or girl who didn’t make your parents mad.

Perhaps, it’s time to …

Muse thx,

Giulietta

Hi rebellious readers,

I spent part of Sunday cleaning out my bureau drawers. For the first time in years, I now have enough room inside for the things I actually use, the stuff that’s usually sprawled on top.

I tossed out buttons for sweaters I no longer own, holiday cards from the last 7 years, airline/hotel info from a trip taken 4 years ago, yellowed shopping receipts, old lipsticks, empty plastic checkbook covers, broken earrings, random pieces of scribble, a 2 foot piece of rope, a ripped swim cap, medals from 20 years ago, broken jewelry, nail files, stretch bands for exercises I’m never going to do, old cat toys and dust.

There’s even more that I’ve heaped together for my first ever yard sale in the spring.

What was I saving this stuff for? What are you saving your stuff for? And why do we have so much stuff to begin with?

For a good chuckle, here’s a link to Comedian George Carlin’s timeless routine about stuff.

CARLIN ON STUFF

Way too much of life is spent managing stuff, protecting stuff, dragging around stuff, hiding stuff, crying over stuff, comparing stuff, worrying about stuff. If we can get out from underneath the weight of all this stuff, maybe we can lead the lives we desire?

How about you? Do you control your stuff or does it control you?

Happy 2010! The year of less stuff.

Muse thx,

Giulietta

Hey People Who Like To Do Things Differently,

I’m designating today “Flaunt Your Flaws Day.” The intense societal pressure to be perfect can make you do crazy things. It can drive you over the edge of despair. It can make you second guess your every move.

Forget perfect. It’s not achievable or desirable.

I used to think I had to be perfect: say perfect things, look perfect, be in perfect shape, be a perfect employee, be a perfect wife, be a perfect friend, be a perfect daughter, be a perfect small business owner.

Not interested in being perfect anymore. I want to be me with my so called flaws. Flaws get a bad rap. We’re supposed to keep working on them until they disappear. Flaws are the flip side of your greatest strength. You can’t be great without a balancing flaw. To be flawless is to be mediocre, to be unreal, to be dull and boring, to never make anyone mad, to always go along with the program, to live in fear.

The late, great Paul Newman said, “If you don’t have enemies, you don’t have character.”

Society and its institutions try to remove people’s flaws. Yet, if you remove them, you remove what’s unique, different and compelling about a person.

Take me. My greatest strength? You can’t pull the wool over my eyes. I will investigate anything that doesn’t add up and take action. My greatest flaw? You can’t pull the wool over my eyes. I will annoy anyone who does not want the status quo challenged/changed, who does not want anyone to look under the floor boards or take action.

If you get rid of your greatest strength, then you will also get rid of your greatest flaw. For that reason, I say celebrate your flaws!

What strength/flaw can you celebrate? Or maybe you don’t agree. I’d like to hear it and so would my open-minded readers.

Muse thx,

Giulietta

Hello fun folks!

Wishcasters are asked today what they would like to give. I’d like to give everyone who reads my blog today a breath of fresh air (ABOFA). You can take your ABOFA and use it to change anything you want in your life. Take a moment right now and state out loud what you want to change.

Or fill in the blank right here ________________________________.

Can you feel the ABOFA breezing over you?

Close your eyes. Let go of whatever fear keeps you from making this change. Yes, just let it go. The breeze will sweep it away.

Enjoy!

Muse thx, Giulietta

Hey rule breakers,

I’m listening to a book on CD by Marshall Goldsmith called, “What got you here, won’t get you there.” He discusses the 20 habits that hold successful corporate types back. Even though I’m not a corporate manager, many of the habits spoke to me. Probably because at one point or another in my life, I’ve exhibited them. One in particular, I know I still do at times: Respond to someone’s comment with “No, But or However.” Marshall says that we do this to make ourselves right and the other person wrong.

Yikes!

Never thought of it that way. It makes sense. His advice? Pretty simple. Stop saying those three words in response to what someone says. Let the other person be “right.”

Then I started to muse, “Why is it so hard for many of us (me at times!) to let other people be right? Or at a minimum be neither right nor wrong? I can see now that opinions can be expressed without keeping score or winning the debate. It all depends how you say it.

Will I ever say, “No, But or However” again? Sure. I’m human and there will be times when I may say them to save some land or historic buildings or something else I perceive to be defenseless and that’s o.k. I’m just going to try and be more aware of it in situations that are not life or death, now that I know saying “No, But or However” negatively affects the person I say it too.

How about some of you? Have you noticed that you use those words in an attempt to win or be right or have the last word? Why is it hard sometimes for us humans to have win-win discussions? I’d love to hear what you think.

Muse thx, Giulietta

Hey daring ones,

Jamie Ridler’s wishcasting circle prompt asks readers, “What does your spirit wish for?” I wish for more folks to realize they are in charge of their own lives. Yes, it can seem like others call your shots, but only if you let them. Much of the malaise out there stems from false feelings of being out of control, of not having a say in your daily life.

What a magical, energetic world we’d have if people did more of what they wanted instead of what others wanted. Who started this silliness anyway? It’s clearly not working. Why not stop it?

Here’s an idea. Try listing all the things you believe you have to do, why you do them and what would happen if you didn’t do them. I know it can be scary to hold the power of your own life course in your hands. But wouldn’t that be better than the way you feel now?

Muse thx, Giulietta

At his concerts, Bruce Springsteen is famous for yelling out, “Is there anybody alive out there?” It’s also a lyric from his song “Radio Nowhere.”

I often wonder that myself. Sure, people are clinically alive, but are they emotionally, mentally and spiritually alive? Are they waking up in the morning with a zest for life? There’s a big difference between following the beaten path and following your own path, between going through robotic motions and going through your own unique motions, between sleepwalking through life and going through life wide awake.

In my twenties & early thirties, I can say with absolute certainty I was sleepwalking through life. I looked for a mate, tried feverishly to eradicate the microscopic sliver of cellulite on the back of my thighs, shopped for outfits that made me look “hot” and tried to hold onto whatever job I had. I woke up every morning thinking, “Is this all there is?”

Fortunately, something woke me up, something slapped me on the face until I came to, something broke the stupor I’d encased myself in. For me it was singing. What a difference! Now, I can’t wait to get up in the morning, to learn something new, to meet someone new, to try something new.

I met a woman once who told me she felt dead inside. I wonder how many other people feel that way. As Tony Manero said in Saturday Night Fever, “There’s ways of killing yourself without killing yourself.”

Instead of raising our next generation to be dutiful consumers, why not raise them to be alive people? Can you imagine a world where people are encouraged to go for their “it” instead of being encouraged to hold back and hold on and hold out (usually for the lowest discount price?)

I’ll leave you with more lyrics from Radio Nowhere in the hopes we can turn life into Radio Somewhere …

“I was spinnin’ around a dead dial
Just another lost number in a file
Dancin’ down a dark hole
Just searchin’ for a world with some soul”

Muse thx, Giulietta