Earth Day Countdown - Getting a Little Greener in 2011 - Spring Cleaning

As Earth Day 2011 approaches there may be some ways we can tweak our lives and live a little bit greener.

Spring Cleaning for Greenies -

1. Reduce - this one is all about buying less stuff with less packaging and cutting the clutter in our lives.

(clutter gets in the way of everything - it is hard to even set an intention for what we want in life when we have filled our lives with too much stuff)

2. Reuse - after you create that pile of stuff you want to get rid off - take another look at the pile - can anything there be reused in a better way - not to hang onto it just to hang onto it - but don't toss the books when you can glue them together and make an amazing side table!

3. Recycle - I know you are already doing this so maybe the next step is a compost pile - composting is super easy

my post with some tips is HERE and a great post on the EcoEtsy blog is HERE.

I recently bought some wonderful worm compost tea to add to my garden from Maryellen of MaryZoom - she has volunteered to help me when I launch my very own kitchen worm bin with red wrigglers, which she promises do not smell and are easy to maintain.

4. Donate - 80% of what we own we never use - maybe someone else can! There is a great list of what to do with our stuff on Martha HERE

5. Make our own cleaning supplies HERE

6. Make it a no-trash cleaning day - ditch the paper towels, the throwaway mop-head thingies and those sticky pads that you have to toss - there are better alternatives to all of these things - if Grandma didn't clean it that way, we probably shouldn't either.

7. Break up with our mailman - get off the junkmail lists with greendimes.com or 41 pounds , go paperless with your statements when possible

At EcoEtsy we are having our 2nd annual Earth Day Auction - this year we are raising money for Habitat for Humanity in Japan - check it out HERE - there are several packages of handmade goodies you can bid on and get yourself some amazing loot while supporting a wonderful cause.

*Jane Austen quote dishtowel at Brookish

What Small Makers Might Learn from Big Companies and Their Policy & Procedure Manuals

When I worked for a bank we had lots of rules and lots of regulations and lots of manuals.

There was a rule for everything and a certain way that almost everything needed to be done.

Many of these ways and rules were exactly the reasons some of us no longer work for places like banks or dream of no longer working for places like banks

but one positive thing the writers of those policy and procedures manuals did for us was create a system of practices that allowed us

(even with a sign in every office reminding everyone that the customer was always right)

to say no when we needed to.

When we don't have any rules for what we will and will not do, we are more likely to make reactive rather than proactive decisions.

Reactive decisions are made on the fly and often depend on our emotion in the moment or on guilt or wanting approval - proactive decisions are thought out and support the intentions we have for our business.

Proactive decisions allow us to grow in intended ways. They help us set up the systems to spend our time in the best possible ways for us.

For example I get alot of requests for charity donations for auctions and things. Early on I would ask them to fax me a request with the letterhead of the charity and I would send them off some jewelry, but it got to be a little too much and what I really wanted to do with my donations; support the causes I was passionate about - was getting lost. So, I made myself a little policy about dealing with charity requests and I stick to it. I also made a little policy about brussel sprouts and I'm sticking to that one, too.

(this is not to say we can't bend the rules sometimes - except for the brussel sprouts rule because, well, they are really gross - because of course we can, but just not so often that the intention behind our setting it in the first place gets lost)

If you are asked to do something in the moment that you really don't want to do, you don't have to come up with lame excuses or trudge along and do it anyway - well, sometimes we do have to do the things we don't want to do and trudge along and do it anyway, of course, but those things should be the exception- mostly we should be doing the things that support the intentions we have for ourselves.

(you also do not have to answer a request until you are clear on what you want - saying "let me get back to you on that" - is often a good idea and allows you to see how the request fits in with the intention for your business and your life)

Some clear guidelines about what we will and what we will not do might make our small maker lives alot easier.

Sometimes the big companies get something right ... sometimes.

watch your back - they REALLY are out to get you today ...

Rules for April 1st - don't believe anything anyone says today, open doors slowly, do not move any oddly placed objects, check toilet seats for saran wrap, do not come running when your kids call you,

(sneak up on them - trust me- they are up to something)

check for thumb tacks before sitting down anywhere, do not eat anything that has been out of your sight for 10 seconds ...

(actually these are all good rules to live by everyday, except for the eating thing - that would be a hard one)

I don't want to make you all paranoid and suspicious today, but .... maybe you should be.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, congrats to Unni and Lindsay for their giveaway wins, don't forget to enter Studio724's amazing giveaway HERE - next week we will begin our Earth Day countdown, I will have a new upcycled tutorial you won't want to miss and a little post on the value of working together ....

xo - enjoy your weekend everyone ... and be careful .... seriously

Polarity and Making Things Happen - the wrap up - Part IV

You may have noticed that when you hold an intention with strong emotions, it will often happen -

partly because your passion will motivate you to take the actions you need to take, but sometimes it may also feel like things just fall into place, like life is opening a door just for you.

In those situations you were in the flow of polarized energy, focusing on either the outward flow of creative expression (giving) or the inward flow of acquisition (getting or maybe think of it as receiving, that sounds better).

Instead of mixing the two polarities together, you mostly focused on one flow or the other. It was either “I want to give” or “I want to get.”

You may be thinking, but I want both and that could be true, but maybe try a strong focus with your intention on just one and see what happens.

Our intention and attention are very powerful.

If you want to make things and make a living making those things - a strong outward focus would be "I want to create something amazing that will inspire people" which with polarity will create a laser beam focus on amazing and with passion and self discipline you will create amazing and life will support your amazing and the money will follow (as long as you are open to the many ways that it may come to you) to support your being able to give to others your amazing.

A strong inward focus could be "I want to make money with my makings" which with polarity (and passion and self discipline) will create a laser beam focus on money and the work that will follow will be edited and re-edited in order to make the most money with it until it is very likely amazing, too.

The "getting" focus of - I want to make money - though may take you to places and have you doing things that do not always sit well with you as a maker if you are not inclined toward this way of being in the world in the first place (and you will know if you are just by what feels right to you).

(many makers, being innately creative and creativity having an innately outward focus feel more comfortable focusing on the giving with this and how wonderful would the world be if we were all focused on giving!)

This is kind of simplifying things, but it really is kind of simple at its core.

Sometimes only the creator of the intention can know if it is an inward or outward polarity - you can create a business for the pure joy of making something amazing - you can create a business so people will think you are amazing - the outward polarity may be the only one that really leads to happiness, but that is another post.

Of course you still need that intention to inspire your passion (you need it to be something that gets you excited and fired up) and you need the self discipline to take the action to go through those doors as they open.

(and sometimes they will just crack open a little peak and you get to decide if you stick your big toe in or force that door open with your shoulder - I vote shoulder, but I'm from Jersey, remember)

With polarity you really can't lose -

especially if you're wearing the locket (wink).

* I can see for miles print by Bucks County Frames

Polarizing Our Intentions - what to do when we aren't a narcissist, but we aren't Mother Teresa either - Part III

OK, back to my polarity series- you will find Part I HERE and Part II HERE to see if you are attracted to these concepts.

(couldn't resist a little magnet maker humor)

Intentions that align well with outflow (from your consciousness out to the universe):

•write a book •build a business •compose a song •throw a party

Intentions that align well with inflow (from the universe into your consciousness):

•get a new car, job, etc •attract a new love •receive an amount of money

There are people who work with these concepts and think of outward energy as good and inward energy as bad, but it is not that simple, although I absolutely think we will each be drawn more toward one way of being in the world than the other way, since one way focuses on giving and the other on taking -

but they both work equally well, at least for a while.

At some point a more outward focused person will probably have to deal with themes of self care (valuing our own worth, time, etc), competitiveness and ambition

and the more inward focused person with themes of caring, compassion and connection because this is not a linear path for any of us.

These are just pitstops not permanent resting places.

I think people get much more done in a much more effortless way with a pure focus on one stream (not the way we mostly all go at things with a little give out and a little take in - which works of course, but maybe not as effortlessly) -

and yes, this is why so many people totally focused on themselves can get so far in life (not to judge that, but definitely not to endorse it either) and also the reason they usually have some sort of awakening or downfall involving compassion and caring and connection because these lessons get lost if this inward focus becomes too great.

Anyhoo, I am not sure why I felt the need to post about polarity this week, but these are just some concepts I have been working with in my own life and thought maybe someone might benefit from thinking about them, too.

My hubby (a person probably more naturally inclined toward inward energy, but who has been working on a more outward focus these last few years) -

gives away alot of free since he started his own business. He was upset (ok really pissed off) last week when a customer he gives alot of free to (advice, services, after hours, etc) had gone to a larger competitor, a competitor who would never give away any free, for a job that would have provided us with a nice little chunk of change.

He came home ranting about raising his prices and ready to never do anything for free ever again -

(thoughts that he is actually very comfortable with since he is kind of predisposed to this way of being)

but he had to kind of look at the fact that he gets a lot of satisfaction, appreciation, respect and money from that giving away things for free.

Of course we are not trying to be Mother Teresa here -

but we are just trying to create things that are real and focused for us right now and see where this takes us.

(I should add in a little act of synchronicity - a customer who had given us a bad check for $1000.00 over a year ago that we thought we would never hear from again - walked into George's shop and paid him ... in cash ... the day after I wrote this post and more importantly the day after George got over being pissed off at the other guy and let it go)

Back tomorrow to wrap this up with specific ways we can work with this idea in Part IV

*give to others print by brook noel
*run mad print by bookfiend

Part II - Polarizing our Intentions or How Daisy Does It (not the 80's bachelor party flick)

So back to Polarity today and how this connects with manifesting our dreams.

Our strong emotions for our intention are actually the result of energy, not the cause of it.

The source of this energy is actually the universe itself. The energy is already there. We just need to connect some of it with our intention.

The polarity of the energy flow is simply its direction. The in-flowing energy has one polarity, and the out-flowing energy has the opposite polarity.

So the two basic ways energy can flow through us are:

1. Us -> Universe (we direct energy from our consciousness out to the universe)
2. Universe -> Us (we draw energy from the universe into our consciousness)

OK, now back to Cousin Daisy Mae

(I've had alot of strong tea this morning, I'm sorry)

because the very thing about her that drives some people crazy (ie, me) her total focus on herself - allows her to connect with this energy easier than most of us because most people direct our energy in both ways and the polarities kind of cancel each other out.

Most of us get muddled up in the middle of things - we set our intention to write the book so we can inspire other people through our story and so we can make alot of money - these two intentions (one flowing inward and one flowing outward) create a kind of energy deadlock - picture two fists pushing against each other.

Cousin Daisy Mae (with a pure inward focus) might say that she wanted to share her story with the world and she may even say that this grew out of a need to create something, but the true intentions that would get her into that energy flow would be to 1. share her story with the world to impress people (inward focus) and 2. make alot of money (inward focus)

and with a pure inward polarity for her intention (along with a strong emotion to align with a strong energy) and her self discipline she will manifest, I promise you, a book deal and advance faster than I can finish my tea and first sudoko.

Now, the same can absolutely happen with a pure outward focus for our intention where we focus solely on sharing our story and creating something amazing -

maybe this is a harder polarity because there could be a little voice in the back of our heads that is also sending out the thought - now, I need to get enough money for this because this is going to take alot of time or I need to get credit for this.

And maybe those thoughts that we push down and do not really want to look at cancels out the energy that the thought of creating the book has connected with.

Now, I am not saying we can't be thinking both these things - I want to give and I want to get (because this is exactly what almost all of us would be thinking) and I am not saying that thinking both things cannot work for us - because of course we can totally make this happen - but maybe it doesn't work so well with the more effortless flow of energy that is the law of attraction; not as part of the same intention anyway.

The best and most successful things I have ever created have been with a pure outward focus and such a strong sense of excitement and adventure about the whole thing that the lack of knowingness about the outcome just didn't factor into my thinking and I think the younger you are the easier this may be to do - because there is a kind of youthfulness and daring to this that comes easier to us when we are young and have less responsibilities and gets more complicated as life gets a little bigger and more demanding ... but is even more crucial to us then.

Part III - Wednesday - Polarizing Our Intentions - what to do when we aren't a narcissist, but we aren't Mother Teresa either

* ask, believe, receive print by colorbee
* giving you my heart photograph by Yann Pendaries

GIVEAWAY - Studio724 - Gorgeous Lime and Aluminum Tote!

CLOSED- WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED HERE THIS WEEK!
Studio 724 is the incredible shop of designer Lucia Bennett where some amazing urban design and modern vintage work is created!

After 20 years as a graphic designer, this ex-Jersey girl launched Moda Industria - a waterjet cutting business - in Bloomington, Indiana.

At Lucia’s bungalow, waterjet art is everywhere. It hangs beneath the front gable of the house, all around the front porch, inside of the front fence, between container plantings in which she grows vegetables and herbs, on her garden gate, along the exterior walls of the house, and all around the back deck with its outside cocktail bar.

(ok, I'm jealous, I admit it)

I have one of Lucia's amazing bags and it is just gorgeous, the felt is incredibly strong, the metal handle is incredibly smooth - it is really perfect and gets lots of attention!

We are so lucky to have one of Studio724's amazing pieces for this week's giveaway.

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive Studio724's 12" Lime Green Wool Felt and Aluminum Tote ($75 value) -

HOW TO WIN:

It's easy, peasy - just leave your contact information below with LEAVE A COMMENT and be sure to check out Studio 724's shop - you will find some amazing urban design and modern vintage pieces!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog
(5) Facebook this post

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to everyone.

DRAWING:
Enter by midnight, Sunday, April 10! Good Luck!

The winner announcement is here - thanks to everyone who entered!