Remabulous

Put your intentions into your playlist!

As I write this post this morning, I am listening to Lionel Richie's "Dancing on the Ceiling." Searching through flickr for my image of the day, I found this one by Stebbi. It made me so happy I had to use it to show how I feel listening to this song.

I have been thinking a lot about play since my marketing seminar this past weekend. We need to feed our creative brains and so I was, pardon the pun, playing around with the word play.

We have always been music-loving beings. we made drums very early in our evolution and early on we learned to dance. When we were little we danced without concern or shame. As adults, many of us say "I don't dance" when the invitation is given to us.

What a shame. Even if it's only in the privacy of our homes or our cars, getting into music that moves us is so good for our bodies, our cells, and our world.

Imagine the reduction in road rage if we were all rocking out to happy music?

Part of my training as an Expressive Arts Therapist was in Music and Dance Therapy. Here are my tips about how your playlist can help you bring your a game and your best life:

image: "What a feeling. Dancing on the Ceiling" by Stebbi.

Bring play back into your working life.

All work and now play makes us dull. Today in the newsletter I shared how we need play much more than we realize.

Play is linked to the creative as well as to free-form thinking.

When we are grinding away on the same track over and over, we're not having new ideas. We're not expanding our approach or our abilities. We are just hammering over and over again on the same points.

What if we brought play back? How would that help us?

When we all started our professional lives, we had years of play informing our choices. Remember being a kid and playing at professions you wanted to try? I pretended to be a lawyer, tromping around the house with my dad's old briefcase and legal pads.

What if we played at being our most successful selves?

This week, play a little. Get dressed, make coffee, sit in a cafe, have meetings and make phone calls live your most sucessful self.

"What are you playing at?" is a put down many of us heard as kids. What if we took it back?

What do you want to play at this week? Think big. Think as big as you can about where you are dreaming of going.

Then play like you've made it. Have fun... the best ideas come to us when we are happy.

If I don't have a big laugh every day, I know I need to re-evaluate.

Have fun playing- and share your results with us!

image: "Little monks playing in the afternoon" by Sukanto Debnath.

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How I spent my Sunday this weekend. If you want a burst in business, your view will look like this:

Marketing is changing faster than we can think these days. I decided I hang out with awesome women at a SMARTY LA event this Sunday and learn what is up now. And guess what? Lorrie Thomas of www.webmarketingtherapy.com made it fun. Find a class in your area and reach out to people who will benefit from your business. I promise it will be worth it.

For those of you in places too cold for flowers:

Luxury of letting go #4: Simple Vacation Getaways, the Podcast!

This post serves two purposes: the announce to Remabulous has now started a podcast (yay!) and to talk about letting go of over the top travel.

When we think vacation, we often think of booking hotels and the expense of eating out and airfare. it can be as much of a headache to plan a vacation as it is to live the life that required a vacation in the first place!

We all need to take breaks, now more than ever. And my friend Tanya Madoff has been my reminder that vacations can be a beautiful group effort every year.

A few weeks ago, I made my annual trek to Stinson Beach for a long weekend celebrating Tanya's birthday in the company of wonderful friends I've gotten to know the past four times I have participated in this tradition. Tanya's simple strategy is this: rent a house with good friends, let everyone sign up for a meal and cook for the group, don't have any huge agenda, provide coloring materials and a hot tub and you've got the best vacation ever for less than the price of a plane ticket these days. Genius.

I stole Tanya away from the festivities for one of the reflective deep chats we love having on these weekends. Join us!

PS- the podcast is up on iTunes, so if you like what you hear, sign up and never miss another episode... click the magic orange RSS square below to get started.

Ask Remabulous: Ask Remabulous is asking you!

For the past several months on most Wednesdays, I have answered a reader question for Ask Remabulous.

But today, I am mixing it up! I want to know what you are doing to economize that feels empowering, exciting, and innovative.

This is a time for us to come together, share what we know and what we've learned. I've got two more days this week of what I am doing for my world of budgeting and shifting priorities.

What would you say to someone who wanted to cut back in an empowered way? What is your advice to the readers of Ask Remabulous?

I can't wait to learn from you.

Plus, how awesome is it that we can have Rosie the Riveter and Uncle Sam rocking out in the same image?

I couldn't resist.

Go team!

Luxury of letting go #2: Rethinking Shopping.

We are a nation of shoppers. After the attacks of 9/11/2001, who can forget the advice that the best thing we could do to help was go shopping? Before we gave blood, before we volunteered. Go shopping!

Many of us have had to adjust our shopping budgets and where we put our dollars is more important than ever now. I was just reading this month's Bust magazine, which makes a good point: while big banks and corporations are receiving government money and bailouts that allow them to keep getting bonuses, small business owners are having difficulty covering their bills.

When the economy was up, anyone could get a loan and many creative people benefited and were able to get started. Let's make sure we budget to help them keep going. Here are some ways to cut back on shopping and still boost sales for those who need the money most:

image: Irargerich.

Luxury of letting go #1: No more cable tv.

Here we are: post number one about paring down in a way that feels good. In the US, we tend to get caught up in this more is more mentality. We want to super-size. I am not immune to this. When I find myself doing something I enjoy, like going to yoga, I often catch myself thinking, "This is really good. I need to do it A LOT more." Instead of just enjoying that class at that time as the right thing and trusting it will happen again. Sometimes letting go can be a luxury we never think of allowing ourselves. We are all so scared of losing things right now. The media blares on about mortgage crisis and foreclosures. It can feel scary to give things up now, when we want to cling onto what we have.

I gave up cable last week. I knew I had to cut some expenses, and that seemed the logical one to give up. And it felt good. I love that I just have netflix now- I can focus on catching up on series that I missed and listen to NPR to get news. It made my home feel richer to me, rather than depleted by having to give something up.

There is a sense of space now in my home that I didn't have before. I am already more creative about how I stay informed and entertained: between YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, and public radio, I realize that I am just as connected as I was before, if not more so, because now I am actively engaged in searching for and watching things that relate to me.

I still saw Obama on Leno, just a few days later on YouTube.

How would it be to give up TV? What would change about your life? Does this feel like a huge sacrifice, or a relief? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Amazing how asking these questions has opened up how I think about budgeting. When I can make an empowered choice, spending responsibly is quite fun.

image: "forgotten television" by autowitch.

Thoughts on the good life, whatever that may mean.

It's funny. the past few weeks I have been hearing the following phrase a lot: "You have a really great life." Someone this past weekend was kind enough to say that if she could go back to being my age, she would want to have my life.

I started thinking about this when someone reacted to my newsletter the same way last week.

I wondered what kind of life they think I have. Where they fill in the gaps of what I don't share online. Because the truth is, all of us who choose to have lives in this forum are quite careful about what we share and what we don't.

Since my business is one in which I am trying to help people have the lives they have dreamed of, I am quite careful to stay on the upside with my public persona and to share those things that I do that may inspire others to follow their dreams as well.

But I started to wonder this past week if I am doing people a disservice by giving the incorrect impression that this life is easy or isn't a ton of work every day.

Artist of the week: Charlie Kratzer, the sharpie king!

 
Sometimes limited circumstances can be what opens up your creativity. This was apparently out a while ago, but I am so inspired by this man who created a whole world in sharpie on his basement walls. Sometimes we are so used to spending lots of money on things when something simpler creates a more beautiful and personal result.

I certainly feel that way about my brussels sprouts, broccoli, and pepper plants that are growing like mad outside my front door. I am also loving reused glass food jars from peanut butter, pasta sauce and bean dip as storage containers. I love bulk items in glass jars, I must say.

What could you try this week that allowed limits or economizing to create something new and beautiful?