Remabulous

Brief hiatus to go on an adventure...

Hello all! I am off to my college reunion this weekend... can't wait to play and visit the place I loved so much after graduating ten years ago. I have lots of tricks up the Remabulous sleeve and so I must take a little break from the blog until next Monday when I return...

I wish you all a magical week and cant' wait to share about my time in Ohio!

Podcast: Catherine Cassidy of LifeStyled!

This week, I had such a great time with the podcast... my friend Catherine Cassidy (far right, above, with me and Jessica Krewson of Design Krew) of LifeStyled came over to chat about what it means to her to support women in indulging in a healthy and fun lifestyle. She caters, does personal training, and personal styling. What a powerhouse! Her generosity of spirit and enthusiasm for her work is amazing. I only recently met Catherine at a business event, but we have since been part of a weekly mastermind group and I am so grateful for her inspiring presence in my life.

Join us on the live call this upcoming Tuesday the 26th of May at 12pm pacific to speak with Catherine live. rsvp to [email protected] for call-in details.

Enjoy! Click the orange box of fun below to listen...

Ask Remabulous: James Frey on the writing process and on tough times.

I usually answer a reader's question on Wednesdays, but this week I was lucky enough to get to film James Frey at a Book Soup event. After all the crazy things that have gone down in his career, I was particularly touched by what he shared about the process of finishing books and how it feels to complete a big project. That he is still writing after all he's encountered in his career is such an inspiration. I was so grateful to get to spend time with him this week and was so touched by how open he was to filming and letting me record his comments after the reading as well. Thank you , James! I know this will be more inspiring than anything I could answer this week, since it comes from one who's been in the creative trenches himself for a long time.

Enjoy:

How can you hold onto your creativity as an adult?

I shared this video with my newsletter subscribers this afternoon, and was so enamored with it I had to share it here, too. For those of you who have heard me going on and on about how the education system we are currently living with does not foster creativity or the skills that are needed in order to live well in this world at this time, we need to look at creativity differently from the beginning. Robinson calls it a skill as essential as literacy. I agree. Happy watching. It made my week, and I am just getting started!

Video Friday: Where were you this weekend? I was out learning for you...

So this post is going on the Friday slot, but it was recorded yesterday, which was Sunday. Time warp! I wanted to wait to post because I knew I would be so pumped from being in an amazing business seminar with Vanessa Summers, and because I wanted to introduce two members of my inspiration posse. Enjoy!

Podcast: Carl Sagan on Love and the Universe.

There wasn't a new interview for Remabulous this week, since I was busy having Stella Cheung on the live call. However, a friend referred me to this beautiful inspiring interview with Carl Sagan and I thought that I would share that this week instead.

Happy listening!

Ask Remabulous: How do I do what I love and stay in balance?

This week's question is one I think many of us consider as we pursue passionate work. Many of us spend a lot of time stressing about the long term outcome of working in jobs we don't love, but what about the balance we need to hold onto when we are pursuing what we love.

Here's this week's question:

"Dear Ask Remabulous,

I've been thinking about the colors of my life. There are so many things I want to do and try. I am making it a priority to surround myself with things that make me happy. But how can I make sure I don't go overboard?

I am scared that if I pursue everything it will suddenly be too much of a good thing. I'm not wanting to overload my life with too much STUFF. Even if all this new excitement and experimentation makes me happy, I worry that I'll end up losing sight of the simple pleasures.

I want there to be balance while I am expanding into a new and better life. I want to be healthy, while not knowing where life is headed at the same time!

How do I make choices that reflect my joy in new options and committing to my passion, while still having a life that isn't nuts. I guess that's what it all boils down to.

Thank you,

Wanting to climb all the beautiful mountains at once

Dear Mountains,

Thank you for this question! This is a topic we haven't really covered yet, that of taking care of yourself once you do follow your passion, and I am so happy to address it...

image: cessna 206

Expand your horizons.

Any of us who work in creative fields know that it's important to stay inspired. From Julia Cameron's Artist Date concept (taking yourself out on a creative outing once a week) to the creative person's love of travel, seeing new views is essential to keep producing meaningful and valuable work. 

 

As a creative entrepreneur, I have often noticed that working at home on the computer all day for long stretches of time is the worst thing I can do for my business. We all want to move forward and have many projects going. I know you end up still in pajamas coordinating e-mails and meetings at 6pm not knowing where the day went, too.

 

We all go through this, and even need those days, but in order to come up with new art or projects as an entrepreneur, we need to keep feeding the well. 

 

Can you remember a time when we went to contact a client or business associate and could not for the life of you call up passion about your work? Ever feel like your elevator pitch or your artist statement is like a dry cracker in your mouth? That's the time when you waited too long for a dose of expansion.

 

What's a dose of expansion? It's breaking out of your habitual comfort zone and looking at the world from a different perspective. I had a big dose myself while attending a Hindi wedding this past weekend: it never occurred to me that a long ceremony could be very comfortable and enjoyable for guests if its acceptable to chat, enjoy food and drinks, and get up and stretch during the proceedings. Very different than the western approach of no talking and get the ceremony over and done with asap, isn't it? I would never have gotten this shot from under my parasol across the lawn at a western wedding, and I am so grateful for that new view.

 

This challenge to my everyday thinking reminded me that often a creative rut is simply a blind spot where we are unable to get out of our own heads and look at the issue with fresh eyes and a different philosophy.

 

How to do this? Here are the 3 simple steps to break out of a creative culture rut:

 

1. Think of a culture you know very little about. This could be a different country or religion, or it could just be a community in your own city you've never connected with.
2. Attend an event, rent a movie, read a book, or buy a music album from this culture.
3. Look at all the places where you are currently stuck in your work or creative process and ask yourself what suggestions someone from this culture would make for you. Get out a pad of paper and two separate colors of pen and ask questions of someone who is part of this culture what ideas they would have for you- like an imaginary coaching session.

Repeat as needed. We are so often unaware that we simply accept certain concepts as truth or "the way it's done" when there are many many approaches to any situation. Often our way isn't the best way at all, and we never even realized this. Connecting with different cultures and their philosophy can open us up to richer relationships with the rest of the world and with ourselves. 

 

Try it out and let us know what you think! I'll post this article on the blog as well, so please share comments with me and each other there.

 

Monday Inspiration from Grasshopper.

Mondays can be tough for entrepreneurs. It's hard sometimes to shift out of weekend mode and into work mode (especially if you didn't take off for the weekend at all!), so I wanted to share this little video that a colleague from Smarty was kind enough to post on our mailing list this morning:

Video Friday: The feeding and care of a new idea.

Before we jump ahead to the nuts and bolts of planning out your project, I wanted to take a little time and talk about how to protect the delicate little plant your idea is now. Be careful with it and feed it well, and one day your little plant will be a big tree that gives back to all who encounter it. Here's how: