How to Leap from "To Do" to "Ta Da!"

It's the perennial first question in Western culture: "What do you do?" In an earlier era, I had a straightforward answer: "Marketing communications." (This was when "content" was plural, and referred to what you'd find in a book.) When my former life dissolved, so did easy categorizations. Later, when pressed for a sound bite, what ushered from my mouth depended on the moment — and the audience. I might say, "I facilitate conscious evolution," or, "I'm a life coach." The first was a truer reply in the fullness it conferred; yet often, the recipient's eyes would glaze over in confusion. If I answered, "I'm a midwife for the soul," the person might exclaim, "Oh, you're a midwife!"

You see the challenge. READ MORE

Worth

Owning our worth, whether as an entrepreneur, planetary change agent or life partner, means standing in our value proposition. This is who I am. This is my worth. This is my wealth. 

What is the connection between health and wealth (which also means well being)? "Misfortune" means you miss your fortune! It's playing with old paradigms (pair o' dimes) until we cut the cord, choose a new path. Read the rest!

Want to Be a World-Class Wordsmith?

I was blessed to have an exacting, exciting English teacher in high school who loved language as much as life itself, and was on a mission to see as many students as possible embrace it ardently. His work could have been called, "Extreme Literacy." I earned highest accolades for penning a 7-page essay without once using the word "thing" in lieu of a specific noun.

Those of us who signed up for Mr. Boyce's Advanced English class worshipped his precise pedagogy. One of the enduring expositions he shared is Leo Rosten's The Power of Words. I rediscovered this luminous learning in a file today and want to share it with you:

The Power of Words

by Leo Rosten

  

They sing. They hurt. They teach. They sanctify.

They were man's first immeasurable feat of magic.

They liberated us from ignorance and our barbarous past.

For without these marvelous scribbles, which build

letters into words, words into sentences, sentences

into systems and sciences and creeds, man would be

forever confined to the self-isolated prison of the cuttlefish or the

chimpanzee.

"One picture is worth ten thousand words," goes the timeworn Chinese

maxim.

"But," one writer tartly said, "It takes words to say that."

We live by words: Love, Truth, God.

We fight for words: Freedom, Country, Fame.

We die for words: Liberty, Glory, Honor.

They bestow the priceless gift of articulacy on

our minds and hearts — from "Mama" to "infinity."

And those who truly shape our destiny, the giants

who teach us, inspire us, lead us to deeds of immortality,

are those who use words with clarity, grandeur, and

passion: Socrates, Jesus, Luther, Lincoln, Churchill.

Give thanks for words' endless riches.

How to Use Your Life

I read The Alchemist perhaps fifteen years ago, but never fully grasped Paulo Coehlo's journey until today, when his semi-autobiographical The Zahir presented the key clue. In The Zahir, Coehlo chronicles his lifelong resistance and eventual surrender that allowed him to craft and publish The Pilgrimage at age 40. The Pilgrimage, his first novel, depicts his journey along the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, the transformational route in northern Spain that Shirley MacLaine also eloquently described, in The Camino.

I decided to read The Pilgrimage in 2012 after ingesting Coehlo's latest autobiographical masterpiece, Aleph. But it's only now, learning the order in which he wrote his books (The Pilgrimage first, then The Alchemist, beloved worldwide) that my ah-ha erupted: In The Alchemist, the young protagonist is named Santiago! With this brilliant literary echo, Coehlo conveys how he has become the path, his experience informing his journey and infusing the reader with faith in the outcome.

This is the essence and purpose of my own life work: to use what I have understood at each stage of my unfolding in service to the next, and to all with whom I come in contact. Are you using your life to its maximum potential, pouring the elixir of who you've been into who you're becoming?

The Zen of Plagiarism

I was sharing my indignation about someone plagiarizing my website content, and my friend's somewhat surprising response — about it all being "owned by God, anyway," and her lighthearted pointing out a magazine cover of someone dancing underwater, saying, "He's plagiarizing me, because I dance underwater!" caused me to begin questioning my reaction.

Why DO we get so upset when another copies "our" words or images? A respected speakers' newsletter just posed this precise question: would you use a colleague's idea (shared in casual conversation) in your own presentation without permission? How about without attribution?

I wrote:

"I've had my ideas appropriated without attribution many times, and had my content plagiarized. However, that said, I quote other people's words and ideas frequently, always with attribution, usually including a link to their website, blog, video, etc. I often email the individual to alert them to the reference so they can promote it to their own audience. Those featured appreciate both the promotion and the acknowledgment.

"In a world where six degrees of separation is now barely two, and we're Occupying Everything, sharing has become more of a gray area than ever. But as we all still take pride in our intellectual property — even if it's something uttered spontaneously in conversation with a colleague — it seems the least we can do is to honor one another by recognizing an original contribution, and passing it along with credit where it's due."

But now the trick cube is shifting. It's akin to a time I was in a brief relationship with someone who was also loving another. One morning, in the watery world between sleep and wakefulness, I sensed the entire situation and felt no pain. I understood in a flash that this was my true state, my high Self, observing, where emotional entanglement — or not — was a conscious decision.

And as I consider (literally, "with the stars") the concept that the ideas I bring forth are not my own, that I am but the vehicle to allow them manifestation, needing or wanting "credit" begins to seem humorous. I've written about how we carve up the planet, thinking we own it: "There are no actual map lines on Earth, delineating this country, this language, this religion, this culture from the next. We've created it all. It's our collective game. As we become technologically proficient, the playing field shrinks to a more agreeable size, and the game starts to seem superfluous."

From this perspective, "intellectual property" appears even more amusing. Do we own our thoughts? Especially now, when we're becoming more transparent and interconnected than ever before?

So … this feels good, right and true. And yet, if you were to paste this post onto your blog as your own, it might irk me. We're in process, opening from ownership and a sense of separation to unity consciousness. I'm aligned with the vision and values; my 3D self is shifting as rapidly as Love replaces fear.

Taking It Personally

Recently I suggested to a new, local editor that we meet in person to discuss some story assignments. She acquiesced, though I sensed she found it an unusual request.

Today I called a business prospect who responded to my initial email with an email asking several involved questions, and wanting a rate quote. Since he'd included a toll-free telephone number, thinking to connect as well as expedite the process, I phoned this morning.

He sounded nonplussed when I identified myself, saying, "I'd prefer to communicate by email if you don't mind. I'm interviewing a number of candidates." I felt like part of an assembly line, and dismissed — not to mention a lot less inclined to continue this potential "relationship".

Yet truth be told (because I always strive to share the complete story), I didn't accord his online post any more importance initially than any of the other ads I receive daily as a member of a freelance writers' network. With these sites, I troll for new business by sending out fairly generic letters, customized as the posting warrants.

Does the fact that he knew who I was make a difference, assuming he received numerous replies?

I can appreciate both perspectives. I opt for going the extra step and connecting via phone or even face-to-face when possible — especially if we're going to work together. Yet I've also enjoyed working virtually with many individuals and businesses around the world for many years. I see it as a question of balance.

How personally should we take or make our virtual connections? Your thoughts?