Take Back Your Life!

Dear lovers of life,

I often visit other blog sites for inspiration. I never know what gem I’m going to find. A few weeks ago, I stopped by the fabulous Expressive Hart blog. Ms. Hart’s teaching an e-course called Necessary Fire based on an idea she read in a book called Traveling with Pomegranates (by Sue Monk Kidd and Anne Kidd Taylor.) A mother and daughter travel to Greece and France together, where they discover new truths about themselves.

My husband’s Greek-American and way before I met him I had a wild and crazy time in Greece, so the Greek connection intrigued me enough to order the book. Honestly, I couldn’t put TWP down. Towards the end I stumbled on a paragraph I knew would make a great blog post. Letta, their travel guide says, “People do not come to Greece to rest. They come to gain their days.” Then a paragraph later, Anne, one of the authors, says, “I don’t want to miss out on what the Greeks call Zoe. Life. I want to live all of the whole glorious hazard.” (more…)

Hey courageous ones,

Recently, I saw one of my favorite up and coming singer/songwriters, Kim Jennings. The city of Worcester, Massachusetts, voted her its best female vocalist for 2010. If you ever get a chance to hear her perform in person, you’ll know why. She’s dazzling, daring and dynamic. Because I look for everyone’s life theme, I couldn’t help but notice that two of her songs both contained the same line: nowhere left to hide. She’s definitely come out of her hiding place. Have you? (more…)

Hey life renegades,

Life can seem like an endless slog or a magical love affair. It depends on your ability to answer the question, “What makes you get up in the morning?”

During my childhood, I couldn’t get enough of life. I raced out of bed to explore the natural landscape near my home. I scaled the face of Bald Rock (o.k. a small hill a few roads over), I climbed pine trees, I waded in brooks, I watched butterflies, I taught riding lessons in my back yards without the aid of actual horses.

That love disappeared when society shoved me onto the tracks headed toward conventional adulthood. By my late twenties, I kept asking, “Is this all there is?” I’d broken up with life. We’d gone our separate ways. I had no real reason to get up in the morning. I guess I had stumbled onto some kind of career track. Yet, the notion of a generic career never appealed to me. I always felt like a caged animal in a work zoo. If we lived in this free society I wondered, how come we can’t leave until 5:00? I began saying to colleagues, “Let’s bust out of here and sit at an outdoor cafe and drink salty margaritas.”

They’d say, “Oh, that sounds fun. Too much work today. Maybe next week?”

Those weeks turned into years and finally into a decade and still no disobedient margarita hookey.

I realized I had to help myself if I wanted to fall in love with life again. I volunteered at a theater in the next town as the curtain puller. This simple act of opening and closing an unbelievably heavy curtain led to me opening a new act on my own life.

One of the actors introduced me to karaoke and returned me to hiking and bike riding. With life once again coursing through my veins, I also reconnected with my rebellious roots.

I fell in love with life again. We’ve been going strong ever since.

Muse thx,

Giulietta

p.s. A few years ago I celebrated my birthday drinking salty margaritas at an outdoor cafe. As wonderful as I’d imagined. How about you? Have you had your margarita moment?

Hey people who dare!

My purpose for Giulietta the Muse has always been to encourage my readers and clients to summon up the courage to get out of lock-step. Looked up the definition of lock-step on Merriam-Webster.com. They define it as: a standard method or procedure that is mindlessly adhered to or that minimizes individuality. Lock-step marches you in a direction not of your conscious choosing. After awhile it becomes second nature. So much so, that you may not even realize you are marching until some event in your life forces you to notice it.

Such an event might be a job loss or an illness or even something as simple as a comment a friend or stranger makes. Once you look down and notice your legs marching in a direction you don’t recall pointing them in, the real life awakening begins.

For those of you want to turn around and “skip” in a new direction, please consider checking out my newest life shop: How to stop being so busy and start living a meaningful life.

If you live in the Greater Boston area and are free on Saturday, April 24th in the am, I’d love for you to join us!

Muse thanks,

Giulietta

Dear Lovers of Life,

I recently gave a blouse to charity that I bought six years ago, yet never wore. It was beautiful, but I kept “saving” it for a “special” occasion. Before a party or business event, I’d take it out of my closet, hold it up to myself in the mirror, feel pretty and then put it back! Never a good enough occasion.

By the time I found a “good” enough occasion, my pretty blouse no longer fit my style. I’d changed and it didn’t feel right when I put it on. It stayed in the closet for an additional few years.

Many folks do the same thing with their lives that I did with my shirt — they save it for retirement or after the kids get out of school or when they make more money or some other excuse. They want to do exciting things, yet don’t because it’s not the right time. Waiting for the right time, doesn’t make sense when most of us have no idea how long we’ll be a visitor on our beautiful planet.

Does that sound like you? Can you pinpoint why you keep putting off your life? Most of the reasons that stand in the way of you doing what you want in life are just excuses. Ask what the excuses shield you from? What will happen if you start doing some of these things?

What have you been putting off in your life and why? Or, what did you finally stop putting off and how did that change your life?

Muse thx,

Giulietta

Hey Awesome Folks,

About ten years ago, I tapped into my ability to see what’s awesome about a person. Something the person often can’t see in his or her self. It’s this inability to see our own awesomeness that holds us back from living an amazing life.

If we let it, life can beat us up and beat us down. When that happens you’re more likely to accept what you believe is fate – a life of mind and soul-numbing mediocrity. I’m sure you see it all the time. People at work, people on the subway, people at parties all exhibiting an overall lack of enthusiasm for life.

I’m here to tell you that you can get back your childhood enthusiasm and zest for life.

Yes, you are awesome!

Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. Institutions and people treat you like you’re mediocre to keep you from breaking out of your cage because they erroneously believe that people are better off in cages.

Much of the emotional pain and suffering in the world happens because people do not understand that they have the power to leave their cages any time they want. No one can keep us in there. Way too many people only figure this out on their deathbed. I’m guessing you don’t want to wait until it’s too late or you wouldn’t be reading this.

We all have something magnificent about us, something that will make the world a better place and make our own lives worth living with gusto. Our life challenge is to figure out what it is and release it to the world.

Here’s a baby step you can take towards finding your life challenge. Make a list right now of 5 things you do well and that you love to do. How often do you do them?

I’d love to hear one awesome thing about you. Please tell the world by writing it below!

Muse thx,
Giulieta

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

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

It’s definitely in vogue these days to be busy, very busy. The assumption being it’s a good thing, a sign you are living a full life, that you are fulfilled, that you are not lonely. Socrates didn’t seem to agree. He said, “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” And he lived back in 450ish BC. I could be wrong, but I’m guessing people today dash around a lot faster than they did back in his time. Thoreau also addressed the subject, “It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?”

Honestly, I try to avoid using the word busy. It’s never felt like a word I wanted to use to describe my life. It’s full, exciting and dynamic, but not overloaded with busyness. I still have time to self-reflect and think about my choices. If you look up busy in Webster’s, definition #4 says, “Full of distracting detail.” That intrigues me. Does being busy distract you from living the life you want to lead? I’ve had acquaintances who described themselves as “busy” but didn’t seem to get anything out of the busyness or do anything they really wanted to do.

Sometimes I wonder if people get addicted to being busy, to never slowing down long enough to figure out where they are going and if it’s a place they want to go to. But hey, maybe I’m off the mark here, maybe it’s good to be busy doing something all the time.

Not sure if your life is busy or satisfying?

Try following yourself for a day. Write down everything you do, why you’re doing it and what you think would happen if you didn’t do it. Kind of a mini self-evaluation. Then cross check it with things you’d like to be doing. Do the lists match?

Muse thx,

Giulietta

Hi thankful ones,

On occasion, I buy 9 x 4 inspirational notepads. Love the unique size. Makes it easy to tuck a quick note in with a payment, a small gift or an article. One of my favorite notepads is produced by the fabulous NJ company, “How To Live” (www.how-to-live.com). It says on the top “Life is full of gifts …” and on the bottom “be thankful.”

I first discovered this notepad 5 years ago and have sent individual sheets to many friends. It really got me thinking about life in a new way. Society has us galloping so fast through our days that we rarely have time to stop and smell the daily roses, to be thankful for all the riches we already have. We’re constantly being shuffled toward the next “best” thing to supposedly make us complete and/or happy, which makes it hard to enjoy and be thankful for what’s here right now.

I don’t want to gallop through life. It goes by fast enough on its own without helping it along. I want to savor every delicious moment — hanging out with friends, laughing with my husband, going on walks, singing at karaoke nights, writing essays. If anything I’d like to slow life down to make it last longer.

Do you feel the push or pull to gallop? When you aren’t galloping, what are you thankful for?

Muse thx,

Giulietta