synchronistic strategy for makers part 2 (adding value by valuing ourselves ... and providing free coffee)

“A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes

 Now, before you start thinking this standing still thing is all about me being "spring-lazy" and expecting good stuff to just start falling in my lap


(I am and I do)

it is really about knowing that expanding one thing, expands everything 

and knowing (well, knowing is the wrong word here, but again I'm a little too spring-lazy to think up a better one) that like attracts like - that the law of attraction (please don't confuse this with The Secret) is always working.

When I managed a bank (many years ago and actually it was a savings and loan and not a bank) I organized Money Mondays at the local commuter train station.

We would set up a table and give out free coffee and a newsletter containing financial news and information. It included a networking component where we provided free space for local business people to post weekly announcements to promote their businesses.

The guidelines for these businesses were pretty simple.

Write the announcement as they wanted it to appear, use proper grammar and punctuation, make it under 2 paragraphs and have it to us by the Thursday - also we didn't allow repeats - a business could be involved week after week but the announcement had to be new.

I wanted to keep everything fresh and everyone physically and mentally involved in the process.

For the first few weeks/months, my memory is bad here, everything worked great. But there came a time when the announcements were arriving late with typos and poor grammar, businesses were changing a word here and there instead of offering up fresh information, sometimes people would just phone us with a few words and ask us to 'come up with something' for them. Commuters were just shoving them into their brief cases to get the free coffee.

I was ready to just bag the whole program. We had a team meeting and realized that our real frustration was coming from the impression that the local businesses, in their carelessness, were just not appreciating us. Now, I know that how we view others is really a reflection of our own behavior, so I knew that what was really going on was that we were not valuing our service.

Our early labor of love had become a chore and when we started taking our own efforts for granted everyone else did, too.

The minute we got real about what was going on - we decided instead of bagging the program we would make it freaking awesome. We bought new software and a camera, gave team members the time they needed to do a good job, we got more people involved - instead of expecting one person to throw it all together after the lobby closed on a Friday.

We made one small change to our guidelines for the businesses - we limited the number of announcements a business could run in any month to 2 and we limited the number we would print in any edition to 15.

We announced the new guidelines after we ran our first 'freaking awesome' edition and magically overnight we began attracting exactly the kind of announcements we wanted. Commuters began reading them again on their Monday train rides.

When we started valuing ourselves everyone else did, too.

So part 1 of our "spring stand still" is an assignment - think about where in our maker business we might be taking ourselves or our makings for granted. Where are other people not appreciating us? What did we enjoy doing in the past that now feels like a chore? What parts of our business are feeling tight and oppressive (a sure sign we have already outgrown them)?

Also think about any health issues we might be having, in particular with the right sides of our bodies, this might all fit in, too.

back tomorrow with part II (xo all)

using a little strategic synchronicity to grow our business

Whenever I say the words "grow our business" I get a little itchy.

Not itchy in a "I can't stand still, I am busting out of these duds and need to be moving" kind of way, but itchy in a "this isn't about bigger, better, faster, we can rebuild him, we have the technology and I don't want anyone thinking I mean that" kind of way.

This isn't about growing until we explode, or can't fit through the door, but all of life is expanding all the time.

It's what we're here for.

With a maker business, this growth is sometimes about the business externally in the world but often it's more of an internal shift - some decision by us that creates expansion in our life.

As makers, choosing to live an expanded life creates growth for our business.

(not the "more now" kind of expansion - that totally didn't work for Veruca Salt and won't work for us either, but the expansion that creates the space for us to show up for life in a bigger way)

I once thought of the internet as some kind of trap, the very word web had such a  negative vibe to me (and obviously it can be a negative place if we become addicted to it or use it in hurtful ways) - about the time I started to see this web as more of a connecting 'net', the safety net that is dissolving in so many other areas of our life as it expands here, I was able to connect with it in a much bigger way.

(if we don't love the internet, warts and all, there is only perfection in imperfection really, we probably shouldn't bother trying to make money here because how is that ever going to work for us)

As we evolve toward truth and openness, we have opened up space – cyberspace – for the purpose of helping us to express ourselves openly (this is why real stuff works best here).

So where the hell am I going with this and what does this have to do with the kind of strategy that creates the kind of synchronicity that expands our life and grows our business - well, you will have to check back tomorrow to see where all this is going but I will offer up a little hint:

Back in the days of traditional marketing, we would target customers (think ducks in a shooting gallery here) by putting them (think marketing models and computer generated spending data) into neat little boxes because, well honestly because we needed to know who we wanted to hit and they were easier to hit when they were ... standing still. 

Now that the internet (and evolution) has taken the entire idea of marketing and flipped it on its head - we are attracting customers and not targeting them anymore - going after them doesn't work the same way, they have to be looking for us - maybe we need to be the ones standing still. 

Back tomorrow with Strategic Synchronicity Part 1

a full moon in libra tomorrow collides with that spring busting out vibe

moon dancing strongly encouraged

Tomorrow's full moon in Libra may be kind of a doozy with effects felt for the next few days.

It's also the first full moon of the astrological year which begins with Aries, we are in the midst of Passover, ending the Lenton season approaching Easter, spring has sprung - and we have 4 major planets challenging this 'relationship' moon - whoa!

The only company this new moon has is the asteroid Justitia - you can probably guess from her name what she is all about.

She holds the scales of justice (divine justice) and truth and fairness and how appropriate this New Moon is in Libra (which represents some of the same things plus relationships) - also appropriate that the high court is looking at the fate of Prop 8 (marriage equality) right now. It's an order from chaos cycle for sure.

There is this dynamic at play of us (Aries) vs. others (Libra) - not versus like throw everyone into a boxing ring and see who is still standing, but there might be a little bit of this out there for us, so we need to keep our cool and not get all judgey on everyone and most especially on ourselves - not a time to stick our head in the sand though.

There is a sense of setting all the elements of our lives onto a giant scale and checking for imbalances - what needs to go? what is complete?

Things from the past come up for healing - maybe some startling things - stay open, assertive and empowered - we may just have to agree to disagree though.

Anyhoo, I just wanted to get this up, since I wrote it a while back. I've been having some health stuff lately - nothing major, just some old stuff cropping up - makes total sense with this cycle, but it's put me a little behind this week (is there a week I am not a little behind - the only person on the planet who does not think I am a little behind is standing behind me muttering 'not sure I would call that little'). It doesn't feel very spring-like here - I hope it's better for everyone else!

growing our business by leaps and boundaries

Unbounded Girls Polarity Ring with Sarah Donnell

Setting boundaries for our business isn't a one time set it and forget it kind of thing.

(unless you are in the crockpot business and if you are please hook me up with some new recipes - I just got one - I am already obsessed with it)

It's a practice.
 
We are always growing; always expanding.

(and when it feels like things are standing still it is just because things outside of us are busy catching up with us or falling into place for us)

We have no choice in this. It is just how the universe works. Our business works the same way.

When we are in the process of deciding to step into a new space or a new level or achieve something we have never tried before or whatever this looks like for us - there is always this part of us that wants the exact opposite.

(this is what polarity is all about folks, it's not just a locket after all)

There is a part (maybe an arm or a leg or an ovary) that just wants to hunker down and stay where we are. 

This isn't a bad thing (until it is, because it will be sooner or later).

A few quiet moments getting centered in our own heart will tell us if this "stay where we are" thing is about love - really loving where we are right now and wanting to wring every last drop of joy from it or if this "stay where we are" thing is about fear - of the unknown, of failing, of making a fool of ourself, of letting go of something good to just maybe have something great.

Creating boundaries around what we say we want is the best leverage we have against all the inner struggle (which might look like outer resistance, but it's really all inner stuff - trust me) that is certain to show up as soon as we decide we want something more.

Setting and upholding clear and healthy boundaries creates a place where self-sabotage is much less likely. I could write a gazillion posts about self-sabotage or maybe just one someday but it will be a doosie (stay tuned).

When I have some direction I want to take and I don't commit to a specific action I am never free of it.

The part of me that wants it - the part that doesn't want to "stay where we are" will be nagging me all the time. "Well, are you going to work on it now? How about now? What do you mean you are going to the movies, you can't go to the movies - you need to work on that thing we want!"  

But when I set up some boundaries for the leap - "I am going to work on this thing I want every Wednesday from 8 to noon" for example - then I am free and don't have to think about it the rest of the time.

Structure creates freedom.

Another boundary I have set up in the studio is not to answer my own phone. No, I haven't figured out how to get Olive to answer it (yet) and obviously if I know someone is going to call me at a certain time I answer the phone.

But for the rest of the time I set up a voicemail system and I return calls at the same time every day - yes, once a day (except for a customer emergency - I mean if a Polarity customer has somehow magnetized themselves to a train track and a speeding locomotive is fast approaching - I'm on my way - all my lockets come with a 911, 24 hour free emergency response unit, of course).

Julia Roberts made Pretty Woman at twenty one years old and refused to do a nude scene. It wasn't like she was a big movie star - it was her first starring role after all. She made a movie about being a prostitute and became the biggest movie star on the planet without doing a nude scene (even in 199? that was pretty remarkable). I don't think her success happened in spite of  her setting this personal boundary. I think it happened because she set this boundary and then she practiced it.

Now, I'm not exactly comparing my refusal to answer the phone with Julia's refusal to take off her clothes but I kind of am (and I refuse to take off my clothes, too - in fact my customers, and Olive, demand that I don't ... in writing actually). Maybe it's time we all sat down and really got clear with our own business boundaries - who knows what kind of freedom we can create for ourselves with some structure.

a wake, magical thinking and if you call me ma'am I'll cut ya'

We went to a wake for hub's 93 year old landlord. She was a real firecracker and he loved her. She lived her entire life in our very small town - in the very same house in fact. And although this information got hubs all wet eyed about small town life, it made me want to move now.

I flashed ahead to a time when I could be laid out in that same room, except no one would have ever heard of me, people would be all - who? how long did she live here? that long?? hmm I never even noticed her. what house? oh her - she was the one with the Kerry sign and the ... dandelions.

I want need to move folks. 

So I start affirming for the right house.  I don't make a vision board and get all focused on the details (although I do waste half a day on pinterest) - I am not trying to manipulate anything here. I know that the unwritten subtitle to the book The Secret is The Secret to More Karma. This is too big a deal to get what we want and then figure out we don't want it.

I release a personal focus - I affirm this move to be in the best interest of all concerned. I call in divine order - I know that our ideal home is out there for us as well as the ideal buyers for our home.

I mentally return my home to the universal flow so someone else can line up with its vibration easily.

I detach from the outcome - detachment is the most important part in all of this - this creates space for creation.

So now we are fixing up our house, which is going to be a process (notice I didn't say this is going to be a lot of work, because I don't really want to put that in writing although I guess I just did ... probably because this is going to be a lot of work) because we have let things slide around here. But I know there is some other woman, maybe on pinterest right now, imagining it - I don't want to let her down.

For those who don't believe in this manifesting stuff I want to offer up the following story that also happened this week as proof.

I really hate the word ma'am. I think we all do. I am not sure why. Maybe because it sounds too much like damn or spam or mammogram. Visions of dentures and bobby pins and someone gently holding my elbow and guiding me down the stairs always pops into my head.  

It makes me feel like the human equivalent 

of a wilted corsage. 

I mean, do you think Joan Jett would put up with this crap?! I might have to take somebody down!

There is a local restaurant where the waiters and waitresses always say this - drives me nuts (note- they call hubs "sir" and he loves it). I think "sir" would drive me nuts, too. I would have to think of it in a "to sir, we love" (great movie) kind of way if I were him.

We went there this week and before I went in, I did a little silent release of my annoyance at this word - we can only change ourselves after all. I thought about how the letters could be rearranged into mama and I loved that word, so I just imagined ma'am as someone actually calling me mama as in red hot mama, of course.

The waiter approached our table and I'm thinking red hot mama, red hot mama - and the waiter says "Hello folks. Sir, what would you and the young lady like to start with?"

I spit water all over the place.

(and yes, this did kind of make me feel like I was out to dinner with my grandfather and about to order myself a rootbeer float and some mcnuggets, but proof is proof folks and at least I didn't have to start a brawl and do one of those Jersey Housewives table-flips we all learn here in nursery school - although that would have given the town something to remember me by)

Next week I will get back to my money series and some Etsy stuff I've been procrastinating posting about. Have a nice weekend everyone! xo

gone fishin' ... without any actual fish having to worry

Catching up with some wholesale stuff and balls I have dropped lately ... back to bloggerworld soon - I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! xo

your Etsy shop as a transition position (why the making is more important than the making money ... until it isn't anymore)

evolving butterflies from caterpillars

The only way to get unstuck is to create instability.

Stuck stuff is stable.

(think dentures, well-made dentures, wait, do they still make dentures ...)

And it sounds like stable is a good thing (it is a good solid word after all) but sometimes stable is over-rated. Sometimes things need to be shaken up so they can fall apart and we can see what we are left with.

Often people email me for advice about their Etsy shop or about opening an Etsy shop.

Maybe, they have put a lot of time into their shop (very seldom have they put a lot of money into their shop) and it just isn't making them any money and sometimes they have just discovered Etsy or been stalking Etsy on the side and are wondering if it is worth putting in the time because it may or may not make them any money in the future. They are stuck.

(this looking too far into the future with money doesn't work anyway - we are evolving - kicking and screaming sometimes, but evolving and just like the farmer moved into the factory when we evolved from a society where almost no one had a job into a society where almost everyone had a job - we are evolving again into ... well, something else, my magic 8 ball isn't saying, but the way money is tied to work has changed forever this is certain)

Now, I used to look at this person's Etsy shop and offer some kind of advice around their pictures or their message or their makings, well not usually about their makings

(I tread carefully around people's makings because I realize I am dealing with people's hearts here, and if I was to say something not so nice about your makings and you didn't feel it in your heart, you would know you probably needed to put a whole lot more of your heart into your makings)

but you get the idea - physical stuff. But now I would be more likely to look at the non-physical stuff first - like why are they making their stuff? Were they making it before Etsy? How did they get here? What is their intention with this?

Your Etsy shop is not guaranteed to make you money - no matter how much work you put into it.

(nope, no guarantees, this isn't a job with a guaranteed paycheck for your 20, 40, 60 hours)

Although jobs don't come with guarantees either - no gold watch with guaranteed health insurance for life for us my dear - our safety net has holes large enough that even our winter backsides, holed up with a hot chocolate and cider donuts, can slip through easily. This is ok though, this is more than ok - we are moving away from the factory paradigm and if this gold watch stuff still existed we wouldn't be able to.

And often people tell me they have put a lot of time into their shop when what they really need is to put a lot of time (and yes, money, too) into their business.

(but that's a whole other post)

Etsy is a great transition position though - a place to move into the energy of creation - a place to get unstuck

(think that guy who's name you have forgotten that you went out with between those two great loves of your life - yes, him, that guy, well, that guy was a very important part of your life because he helped you transition, well him and chocolate ice cream anyway.

Etsy might be one of the great loves of your life, but more likely he is that guy, and that guy may be no less important)

Putting our energy (time, focus, money) into any act of creation (a totally unstable thing to do) can move us out of stuck. If we did things that only had a guaranteed outcome we'd never move off the couch.

We don't get to know where this unstuck energy will lead us - our Etsy shop that isn't making any money can lead us to something amazing that would never have happened if our Etsy shop had been making us money - stay open to the possibilities.

This is what we have really created with our Etsy shop - this space of openness - this space of potential and its place isn't in Brooklyn or on the internet - its place is within us and our only job is to make sure it stays open.

the coal conspiracy - (don't blame me when this makes you mad enough to run screaming into the forest)

money does what we tell it to do (and how what it's doing lets us know what we are telling it) part III

locket wisdom: an open road is a good thing

Now the law of attraction is not the only law on our playground

(yes, we've gone from kitchen cupboards to playgrounds this month - can't wait to see where we end up in March)

The law of abundance is an important law, too.

The flow of abundance is always directed toward us (it's our birthright) - but our thoughts, beliefs, memories and levels of deserving-ness can create barriers.

This deservingness is rooted in self-care and is traditionally first (root) chakra stuff - the physical world - making our way, standing on our own two feet, handling life's changes, eating, addictions, anxiety, boundaries, money.  

This chakra is about presence - the be here now thing.

(with this shift we are living through money is moving into the 4th chakra (heart chakra) - so we'll focus on that one next time)

Imbalances in our root (first) chakra show up in our inner world as foot problems, legs, ankles, bones, blood, colon, immune disorders, spine, adrenals, etc. In our outer world imbalances here show up as fears, major changes in our safety and security (job loss, divorce), money problems, neediness, anxiety about the future, compulsions, addictions and eating disorders.

Now, to one degree or another because of this shift on the planet these last few years we are all a little unsteady and many people feel totally upside down - this probably is true for everyone except for the most extremely balanced and some who just haven't been that affected yet.

The root chakra is like a baby - feed me, take care of me, comfort me. Nourishment is a huge factor in the self-care of this chakra.

When I was a kid my mother always took the smallest, worst, most overcooked or undercooked piece of everything - when I became a mother I started doing the same thing. When hubs would take the last of the milk, it drove me crazy, I'd say "why don't you think about anyone else?" - he'd say, "well, someone has to drink it", and of course someone does have to drink it and why was I always making sure that someone wasn't me?

One day my daughter had a classroom party for one of her friends at school. When I picked her up at the end of the day I asked her how the cupcakes tasted (I had seen her eyes when we saw all the gorgeous colors when I dropped her off that morning)  and she said, "I don't know - they were short one cupcake, her mother didn't make enough, so I said I didn't want one." Now, I knew my daughter and I knew she had wanted that cupcake. I also knew exactly where she had learned to do this. Ouch.

I stopped doing it. So did she.

Nourishing ourselves properly, standing up for ourselves,

(I don't let people cut me in line, hubs cringes when I say anything - I'm very polite, mostly, and try not to go all Jersey on them unless I absolutely have to - I know, for me, I need to stand up for myself - for hubs, he needs to be able to get in the back of the line sometimes - we are not all here to experience the same things even when our experience is exactly the same)

barefoot walks in grass or sand, hiking outdoors, making our home inviting, clearing clutter, cleaning things, putting our hands in dirt, massages, baths, caring for a pet

(before I had a regular meditation practice and even now when I let it lapse, I used to have kind of anxiety/panic attacks when I got overworked and overwhelmed- I had one this past Christmas season on a crazy making/shipping day - it always helped me to sit with my back against a tree holding a dog, luckily for me even when my dog was an 80 lb Labrador mix, this somehow always works)

- all these things can help us get back into our bodies.

Many times we disassociate from our bodies when we are very young, girls especially do this.

I read recently that very, very young girls when asked what their favorite body part is will say anything - their stomachs, their legs, their butts - but by age 4 or 5 those same girls will instinctively answer - their hair, their eyes, their faces - their bodies are already starting to become foreign spaces to them, places that could be unsafe.

(when I had gone out with hubs a few times he said to me "there is one thing about you that is just perfect" I was thinking he would say 'your eyes or legs or hair' - well, I didn't actually think he would say my hair ... but he said ... "your teeth" - the better to chomp down on one of your main life supporting arteries I wanted to say - ugh)

Back next time to connect the law of abundance with money and the 4th chakra it's evolving into.

xo all

(a note about nourishment - I have been working with the Body Ecology Diet - diet meaning eating plan, not weight loss, it's focused on making our acidic bodies more alkaline and I have noticed some immediate good things - especially with the lemon in room temperature water which I drink all day now - no more headaches and my puffy eyes are much better)

what's good for you is good for your business (this is not always reversible advice) plus mercury goes retrograde

mercury goes retrograde - time to lighten up

I had some really good advice today from my accupunc-turist

(and yes, I like to say my accupunc-turist,
not that I own her or anything like that, although I've almost paid her enough by now to own her big screen tv, but it makes me feel important like I am one of those people who gets to say 'my accountant', or 'my lawyer' or 'my trainer' - sigh)

Anyhoo - she said, "what's good for you is good for your business."

It was like one of those Oprah moments, and then she laughed, "but what's good for your business

isn't always good for you."

I just thought I would pass on this little gem before it slips into the vast expanse of darkness I call my memory.

I had been relating to her a story one of hub's customers had told us about his business problems and how this was a dog eat dog world, and hubs and the other men present, I believe caught up in some kind of testosterone group hug, without any actual hugging, of course - boy germs and all, were all nodding and agreeing with him and going on and on about survival of the fittest.

And I was like, "Wait a minute, this isn't a dog eat dog world. This isn't even a dog eat squirrel world. This isn't a survival of the fittest world. This may be a non-survival of the very least fit (the one gazelle the lion is able to actually catch), but there is a whole lot of surviving going on."

This was followed by a lot of dead air.

(I mean seriously folks, if this was a dog eat dog world- do you think I would let Olive out of my sight for one single moment, no I didn't think so)

How this related back to the accupuncturist's words of wisdom I don't remember - it will probably come back to me when Mercury goes retrograde this weekend.

Yes, Mercury is retrograding for the next few weeks - during the retrograde period it is like Mercury has gone down into the underworld to play with Hermes and Persephone - it makes us more right-brain orientated, perfect for us crafty makers in winter. It is dark down there, so our other senses will be stronger. We will feel extra sensitive now, maybe even psychic and yes, even more thin-skinned at times

(personally if I get any more thin skinned, things are going to get ugly and by things I mean, my bones and veins and muscles, which will be sticking out all over the place, so unattractive, I hate when that happens).

Everything will seem hyper-real during a Pisces retrograde … we will start to notice things we had overlooked before.

This noticing will allow us to re-evaluate, renovate, re-charge, return, reinvent, just think "re" - all good stuff.

The things to look out for during a retrograde are miscommunications (the underworld has terrible mail service), gadgets malfunctioning (the underworld has terrible internet service, too) and it's dark so we are more likely to make mistakes - try waiting until you can see clearly to make important changes if possible.

money does what we tell it to do (and how what it's doing lets us know what we are telling it) part II

little known factoid: owls are very good with money

Now, we are on a mystical journey here and sometimes looking for logical reasons on a mystical journey is not totally useful.

In fact the very act of looking for the reason for a problem (for example a money problem) keeps us in the energy of the problem and leaves us stuck; firmly planted in that vibration.

Maybe we aren't here for the lesson - maybe we're just here for the experience. 

Maybe earth isn't a school (unless you think it's a school and then yes, for you, it will be a school and you will sit with your problem until you have figured it out or maybe until someone comes along and sees that you have solved this problem and reflects this back to you and gives you a passing grade or maybe you will sit and wait for an A+, and if this is the case, you may be sitting with your problem for a very long time) - instead of thinking 'school' - let's try thinking 'playground'.

(and if you're thinking now wait a minute isn't a playground a part of the school, but no, this is the playground on the other side of town by the soccer field and the basketball courts)

And not everything that happens on the playground is fun and games because yes, people get hurt on the playground and yes, people learn lessons on the playground - but ultimately we are all on the playground for the experience of being there.

There are some rules on our playground (beside no hitting and no name calling because those are the kind of things we have free will to use as we see fit and hopefully we will see fit not to hit). The real rules on our playground are universal laws and they do not require our belief or understanding of them for them to work. They are posted everywhere and they are posted no where.

When it comes to money and abundance everyone talks about the Law of Attraction and yes, this is one of the laws of our playground but it is not the only law and it is definitely not the most important law when it comes to money, but let's touch on it first anyway.

You probably played with magnets when you were a kid (or maybe yesterday if you have one of my lockets) - you were probably fascinated by the way some objects were attracted to them, others jumped away and even more things were just indifferent to the magnets altogether.

If I stuck magnets all over you (and I have the magnetic inventory to carry this out, so be nice), you would expect that some things would stick to you, others would leap away and many more would show no reaction. 

This is kind of the way

the law of attraction works. 

We unconsciously transmit our energy - some of our qualities are magnetic (of the same vibration) with certain people, places and things, some of our qualities are repellent (showers and deodorant will not help us with this) and some situations have no magnetic pull from our energy one way or the other.

(kind of like me and Downton Abbey - yes, I love Mary and it's great to see Elizabeth McGovern again, but must every storyline always have a happy ending ... of course I haven't seen season 3 yet)

Now we are not stuck with these unconscious transmissions we are sending out  (but remember they are unconscious and unconscious things don't get changed with our brains, they get changed with our hearts - we can't think our way out of this stuff and actually over-thinking, which women in particular often do, thanks in part to our large hippocampus - is a very big signal that we need to start feeling instead of thinking - we can't make the mind do the work of the heart) - just like a magnet that can be flipped over to a different polarity, we can flip our transmissions to attract changes, too.

The easiest way to get into our heart space is with gratitude - for what we have and for what the future holds - always putting our attention (the law of attention is another law in our playground) on what we want to feel and not what we want to have - connecting back to yesterday's post - we want oxytocin (love) not dopamine (ego) flowing through our bodies!

Part III - more laws and specific ways to make your money do what we want it to do

money does what we tell it to do (and how what it's doing will let us know what we are telling it) part I

everything is edible (sort of ) cufflinks

I've read money was invented as a way to get the things we needed without us having to barter an exact exchange and this makes sense.

(I've also read it was invented as a way to pay taxes which feels true, too)

Whatever money's origin, what was actually created was a barrier to exchange (giving and receiving) where no barrier existed naturally.

(kind of like those other made up barriers like intelligence exams, international boundaries and child safety caps)

Everything in nature has its own natural rhythm - an innate trusting of life and surrender to its flow. The natural world grows and produces through giving and receiving just by being.

We have manipulated this natural flow of giving and receiving - of feast and famine, of tides moving in and out - with money (you might think "of course we invented money, we couldn't very well have avoided it" and I would agree we would have a very different world if we had avoided it).

Researchers have shown that money has 3 effects on our brains:

(this is totally fascinating so stay with me here)

1. When money is received - the hormone dopamine is released in our brains. When kept in balance dopamine is a healthy stimulus toward positive experiences, but dopamine is also the hormone that plays a large part in addiction, as in give me more and more and more. It always relies on something outside of ourselves as a trigger. Dopamine doesn’t change the pleasure involved with a behavior, just how much we want to do it - it's the total ego hormone.

2) When money is released - when we use it to pay for needed/wanted stuff and services, pain receptors in the brain are triggered (probably why we complain stuff costs us an arm and a leg because it feels like it actually does).

So, when we buy something we want we get that little hit of dopamine to counteract the pain response when we have to part with our money and when we pay for things like internet service or insurance we just get the pain.

3) When money is allowed to flow - given to others without expectations of getting anything in return, it causes the release of oxytocin in the brain. This hormone is the chemical released when a mother bonds with her baby, when couples hold hands, when friends hug each other and when people smile at strangers. Oxytocin is an actual physical manifestation of love.

This research makes total sense because in a world where only love is real - releasing the love hormone when money moves the way it is supposed to or I should say - releasing the love hormone when energy moves the way it would naturally move makes perfect sense.

(some people like to quote the Course in Miracles as saying there is only love and fear and this is not what the course says - the course says there is only love and its lack. Fear isn't the opposite of love, fear is the lack of love - just like darkness is the lack of light - fear itself doesn't exist anymore than darkness does)

This may not mean that we stand on the street corner and give our money away without any expectations of anything in return - although this would be pretty powerful stuff - but it does mean there are ways to work with the natural flow of giving and receiving, especially when the old rules don't work anymore, to create more abundance in our lives.

Part II - money does what we tell it to do (and how to make it listen better than your 3 year old)

happy president's day (or we're evolving caterpillars into butterflies here)

climate change - keystone xl pipeline rally 2/17/13

Some days it feels like everything is just a huge mess. A mess that is so big and so multi-layered and so out of our hands that it is like we are all living in one of those hopeless hoarder houses with the newspapers and the cockroaches.

On better days we survey the world and say ok - this is what it is - we made this mess, we can unmake it - I wish I was starting from somewhere else but I can only start from right here.

Bruce Lipton (check him out if you haven't already, he connects the spiritual with the science in exciting ways) likes to compare civilization's current spiritual evolution with that of the caterpillar.

(and on days when we cannot imagine we could possibly get from where we are now to where we need to be, this little guy is our guy to think about)

Imagine for a moment we are a single cell among the millions of cells that make up a caterpillar. Our little world has been operating like a well-oiled machine and creeping along most predictably until one day the machine begins to shake and shutter. Systems fail. Cells begin to commit suicide. There is a sense of doom and darkness.

But, from within the dying population of cells, a new breed of cell starts to immerge. They are called imaginal cells (really how cool is that).

Clustering in communities they devise a plan out of the wreckage. They create a great flying machine - a butterfly - that enables the survivor cells to escape the ashes of the caterpillar world and experience the unimaginable (and yet not unimaginable because it is the imaginal cells that did it) beautiful butterfly world.

And the most amazing thing of all is that the caterpillar and the butterfly have the exact same DNA.

They are just receiving and responding to a different organizing signal.

This is where we are in the world today - all of us deciding which organizing signal we are going to tune into. The media is reporting a caterpillar world - doom and gloom with every man-made system in trouble.

And yet, everywhere, human imaginal cells are waking up to a new possibility. They are clustering and communicating and tuning away from the signal of fear and into the signal of love.

Love is not some mushy gushy sentiment reserved for Valentine's Day, but the vibrational glue that will help build us our new flying machine.

We are those imaginal cells - although it may not seem totally evident to us now - the future is literally in our imaginations; in our thinking.

Positive thinking isn't the opposite of negative thinking. Positive thinking is the opposite of wishy, washy thinking. Positive thinking isn't about flowers and puppies; it's the other definition of positive - the one that means certain. 

Yesterday I went to the largest ever U.S. climate change rally - tens of thousands of people (I think 50,000) marching and laughing and singing for change.

( I never sing in public, saving my Lucy Ricardo voice for the shower and poor Olive, but even I was singing yesterday, in fact my throat hurts today - I feel a little like Adele, well except for the genius and the millions of rabid fans)

On the one hand we were hoping to catch President Obama's attention regarding his upcoming Keystone XL Pipeline decision but we were very focused on what we were gathering for, not what we were gathering against (pushing against stuff only gets us to the place of more of this stuff we are pushing against - it puts us in vibration with it - when what we really want is to evolve higher).

Happy President's Day all - I'm off to accupuncture and then going to clean my messy house - the hoarder references have made me a little uneasy ....

Part III - Do I have to stick my tongue to a flagpole, people!

a little cork love from olive

Now, it is quite clear to me, through the liberal use of my Magic 8 Ball and a reader's comment (thank you Janell) that we are still not feeling it.

(and it is a proven fact that if one person says something, ten other people are thinking it, so I will trudge on here, plus I like to think ten people are reading this)

This word artist feels like something someone over there is doing - maybe someone with an art degree

(although I know many women with art degrees and some who teach art and call themselves teachers or art teachers, but still choke a little bit on the word artist)

maybe someone with a canvas and some oil paints

(although I know women who paint everyday and because they don't sell what they paint they choke a little bit - or a lot - on the word)

maybe someone with talent.

Gulp, yup, I think it's the "t" word that gets us.

(that little voice that says who do you think you are and not a sweet "who do you think you are?" like we are stumbling around with amnesia and a kindly little old lady asks us our name and hands us a cookie, but more like "who do you think you are?" as if the salesgirl at Bloomingdale's, maybe the one with the super elastic looking eyelashes - I just want to grab them and stretch them out and see where they end up - and the bottle of cologne perched in her hand mid-spiff - has spied us removing our coat with the saggy lining - wth has happened to my coat lining?? - and trying on that $800 leather jacket)

It's the talent thing.

Not, that we see ourselves as talentless, of course, we are damn good at what we do, we are makers after all - we are all in agreement on that one.

We make scarves and necklaces. We make e-books and soap. We make conversations and cookies. We make a business (maybe, maybe not). We make a life with our makings (always). Yes, we are makers.

In what way is a maker not an artist? Name one.

(I double dog dare you on this one)

I think we are I have been a little chicken to use this word. I think it is this little chicken part of me that keeps me from getting accepted into certain shows and certain categories within certain shows. I have been practicing though. I say, "I am an artist" and feel where the tension (block) is in my body and work on releasing that.

(a great release exercise, works for me with pain, too - based on accupressure points and psychology is the tapping solution - very easy to do, google it if you are interested, Cheryl Richardson has a video on youtube - I wouldn't do it in line at the post office, but it is strangely effective)

I say it in the grocery store.

"Paper or plastic?"
"I am an artist."

I say it in the restaurant.

"Lemon in your tea?"
"I am an artist."

I say it to hubs every night.

"Anything good happen today?
"I am an artist."

It's starting to work (I am an artist).

Anyhoo, if this is a conversation that interests you, Seth Godin has an excellent new book, The Icharus Deception, how high will you fly, that may get you thinking about "why we have decided we are not artists and whether it is worth considering why we made this decision and what it might take to unmake it."

No answers from Olive on this one, just more questions - I am feeling the need to relate the word artist to anyone living an authentic life and touching other people with their authenticity - someone focused on the journey and not the finish line - someone like us.

(I am an artist)

Happy Valentine's Day XO

art is the making that has something to say

OK, let's think about this.

Craftsperson, maker, artisan - these are all within our comfort zone, so what is it about the word artist that makes our palms itch.

(and yes, I realize I am using the word "we" while having no idea how you, dear reader, feel about this, but I have a suspicion you might feel like I do .. plus I shook my magic 8 ball and it read "it is certain", so I feel compelled to continue)

I have a brother who can draw anything --->

(he also teaches music and can play anything, which makes him totally talented and yes, a wee bit annoying, dammit)

He was born like this - we have no idea how and if it wasn't for his addiction to Pixar movies and blue cheese we might think the hospital made one of those switched at birth mistakes that Lifetime movies and million dollar lawsuits are made of.

When you have an artist in the family - everyone else, kind of just by default, becomes 'not an artist'. It goes without saying that when someone can draw anything and someone else is gluing feathers to a plastic sandwich bag and calling it a pocketbook (yes, this is the part where I come in) it's probably not going to be called art.

But when we define art as "the making that has something to say, something that connects", things shift (yes, maybe even for a plastic bag decorated with feathers).  

The things, which do not even have to be things and often aren't, created with heart and soul and originality and boldness; the things birthed from our desire to express, our desire to be vulnerable and connect - are art. And if artists are people who make art, then who are we again?

If we explore artist archetypes and their shadows : genius (madness), success (starving artist),
talent (ecentricity) we can see that this new paradigm we are living in requires some archetypal tweaks.

"art is not a gene or a specific talent. art is an attitude, culturally driven and available to anyone who chooses to adopt it. art isn't something sold in a gallery or performed on a stage. art is the unique work of a human being, work that touches another. most painters, it turns out, aren't artists at all - they are safety-seeking copycats." - seth godin

Working without a net? We're an artist. Working from our heart? We're an artist. Creating something that touches others (and that something can be a conversation)? We're an artist. Art is real and art is vulnerable and personal and committed. And the people doing real things (the actual things don't matter) and allowing themselves to be vulnerable and committed are artists. So who are we again?

And if we are still thinking - all well and good but, I'm still not comfortable with this word, this word just isn't me - maybe it would be worth taking some time to figure out how we have arrived at this decision, maybe it is worth looking at what we are really afraid of.

part III what am I really afraid of

if you knew what you were doing you wouldn't be an artist

eeebee print

A friend of mine was recently interviewed by a jewelry making magazine and one of the questions she was asked referred to her as an artist.

This word artist made her uncomfortable and she changed it to craftsperson.

I have done stuff like this myself.

(I love the word craftsperson, too, and grew into that one with calluses and hand tools and time - I earned that one, but artist ... )

The word artist always resonates inside me as ARTIST!!! Capital letters and exclamation points and expectations

and the probability that if I dared to claim this word for myself it was only a matter of time before someone would come along and yank open the curtain and there I would be on a step stool and my tippy toes all wobbly and sweaty and stammering about how I really was an artist .... really.

This is some scary shit.

"art is difficult, risky and frightening -

it's also the only option if we choose to care."

-seth godin

The first time I visited a museum I was in the 4th grade. I was uber excited for this class trip and wore a green plaid vinyl raincoat with a green corduroy collar and carried a Josie and the Pussycats lunchbox.

(that unbeknownst - is that a word, I think so, I just love those 11 letters-to me housed a cheese on white bread sandwich, although I had begged my mother for anything except a cheese on white bread sandwich and she had assured me that it was most decidedly not a cheese on white bread sandwich)

I wandered past the African art and the Asian art and the art of Ancient Egypt and the paintings and sculptures of the European masters.

The paintings were hanging behind ropes and men with uniforms and stern faces stood watch. They were beautiful and amazing and flawless and they were untouchable.

After lunch we clamored into another wing. The boys were laughing and pushing and pointing and pronouncing this stuff was definitely "not art - we could make this stuff", they laughed.

I was mesmerized - this stuff I could understand, this stuff I could touch, was art? I asked the teacher, "what do you call this art?" and he said, "this is called modern art - this is art that has something to say".

Modern art - art that had something to say - I liked the sound of that and I definitely wasn't laughing.

If modern art was something that everybody could make then maybe even a little girl with a crooked hair cut and a Josie and the Pussycats lunchbox with a cheese on white bread sandwich still lying uneaten inside could make it, too.

Part II - what are we saying?

ways to work with today's new moon ...

print by revigorer

Today's New Moon in Aquarius is too good to miss. To make the most of this energy use affirmations that reflect the Aquarius archetype and then take some action in support of that affirmation.

These are the ones I am working with, so you can see what I mean:

I am aware of new trends and easily cooperate with them.

(energy - the future, technology, trends)

I easily see the actions that will give meaning to my life. I have the courage to take these actions.

(energy - long range goals, follow heart)

I create wonderful win-wins with other people.

(energy - humanitarian)

I easily attract exciting, revolutionary experiences.

(energy - rebel)

(this one could get interesting but let's be bold - it is an Aquarius new moon after all)

I attract and begin happy and healthy new friendships.

(energy - friendship)

I enjoy clear, right insights that lead to my dream of ____ coming true.

(energy - objectivity)

I am easily able to consider other people's opinions.

(energy - detachment)

I enjoy perfect circulatory, vein, ankle, calf (all things ruled by the amazing Aquarius archetype) health.

xo

better sorry than safe ... (plus that lucky new moon)

print by ink the print

Lessons learned this week month:

1. Always ask a doctor who is ordering a test involving radiation what exactly this test will tell us and what exactly our action after this test might be because if the action is something we can do without the test - then can we just do that and see if it works and avoid the radiation

(this actually worked for me this week to avoid a CT scan of my eyes because the treatment was exactly the same at this point regardless of the scan results - I think docs can be a little radiation happy)

2. I went to an Etsy Wholesale meet-up for NYIGF sellers, yes, you heard me, even though this was the kind of social-function thing I avoid at all costs I put on my big girl pants and drove into the city.

(and the weather was very similar to my last drive to Etsy - the time I got lost and never got there)

"How bad can this be, really?" I asked myself which is the same optimistic attitude I take to every social event, all buffet restaurants and most all Nicolas Cage movies.

The meeting was in a hotel in Brooklyn - I was thinking hotel meeting room, chairs, power-point, snacks. It was hotel lobby, standing room only, postcard not power-point and I think I saw an appetizer tray at one point but the only thing I was ingesting were my fingernails.

But I muddled through dear readers so I could report back to you with the following:

1. The new Etsy Wholesale site will be juried
2. Makers can be designers and have the work outsourced
3. There will be a flat monthly fee not a percentage of sales
4. We will be able to print out the pages like linesheets
5. They have many buyers lined up (unclear how new buyers will be sourced)
6. Customers can order without paying (pay at shipment, etc, whatever shop's terms are)
7. Unclear if buyers can see prices without registering

That's all I know and who knows how much of this is subject to change. They are in the planning stages, but I know they have a whole hell of a lot of programmers now, so maybe things will fall together quickly.

The meeting left me with many more questions than answers but on the plus side I got to meet Amy (thepeachtree), who I knew from my old treasury days; she works at Etsy now and is super sweet and positive and not prone to any fingernail ingesting that I could see.

3. Get your Vitamin D level checked.

OK, on to the New Moon tomorrow in my beloved birth sign of Aquarius.  The new moon is when the sun and the moon are in the same constellation - the moon goes dark - things can feel a little less light, a little less hopeful maybe and there is a lot of Pisces stuff happening right now with Mercury and Mars so there may be a little guilt, showing of vulnerabilities, a little intuition

(things may look better than they actually are with Pisces so don't bet the farm - unless you have one of those dire factory farms where the chickens don't get any sunlight, then bet away)

fears creeping in, sensitive feelings getting hurt and then BAM which could feel more like bam depending on where this falls in our personal charts and that is ok, too - we have this wonderful new moon in an air sign to uplift us and help us to innovate, think outside the box, hell, toss recycle the box.

The moon also trines Ceres so we have luck, timing and the ability to bounce back here, too. No sign is better than Aquarius for positive leaps!

Aquarius rules the house of friendship, relationships, humanity, think long range goals, commitments, win-wins and networking.

Aquarius is the cycle to raise our energy; to get unstuck. The cycle to begin something. It doesn't matter what it is we start - what matters is our motivation.

The most important thing is to get moving (you can't choose the wrong road) - in story books (and astrological charts) action is almost always followed by the semi-sextile, the kind of half-opportunity that could look more like stumbling upon a gaggle of hungry ogres (yes, they move in gaggles like geese those ogres) - the sort of road blocks "time to take our medicine, pay our dues, show us how badly we want this" that may cause us to turn back, find another way or push through

(any of which are totally appropriate decisions depending on the circumstances) - at this part of our journey, the new moon - we start.

Take some action step, we don't have to do everything now - the new moon is the time of darkness, like winter, the time of germination - if you want to work with this energy - just do something.

I'll get back to Saturn Saturday next week- sorry to everyone I have left hanging for their charts!

I was supposed to live to be 102 and be shot by a jealous wife

bookplate at vintage inclination

I am taking a little blog break this week to

1. celebrate a very big birthday (yes, I said very)

(although my memory is mostly still intact because just yesterday I was reminiscing about another birthday morning when I put on my red striped Jackson Arts & Craft Camp t-shirt, a pair of denim overalls with white socks and looked at my recently permed reflection, yes a Toni home job, and solemnly wished that I would look like that forever ... )

2. gather information about this "grave" thyroid prognosis I have just been given

(which started when an eye doctor while looking at my eyelids asked "do you have a rash on your shin" - I do - and yes, I said eye doctor and yes I said shin - the auto immune system is a tricky thing folks - when she asked me such random correctness I actually felt my teeth chatter - I thought she was about to rip off her face and confess herself an alien - it was the same feeling I had when riding in the car with my father many years ago listening to the radio and he said "what year is this?" - I thought he had lost his mind on the way to the mall - and I stammered "...uh, 1986" and he said, "It is?! I thought this song was older." - which is totally unconnected, but a totally scary moment, and again this is the birthday season of reminiscing folks)

I am pulling this week's giveaway and will bring it back when I have the time to give it a proper promotion (and yes, this involves t-shirts and balloons and the Miss America pageant hand-wave).

There is a LUCKY new moon this Sunday (I know you are thinking, not another new moon), but trust me this one is a goodie - you must be starting something new now - you must - this is the time - I will post more on this later.

Saturn Saturday - a wrap up and intro to this month's fun

greek goddess art print by LipsticKissPress

This post wraps up my Saturn and Nodes of the Moon charts for last month's volunteers. I am so grateful to all of you for letting me get my feet wet with this again - thank you!

Over the next few weeks I'm starting a new series working with the energies of the first four asteroids sited in the 1800's - Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta.

Just like the planets of our birth chart, the position of these asteroids at the time of our birth carries meaning about our astrological makeup and reflects how our goddess energies influence us!
(plus they are fascinating!)

Ceres (known to the Greeks as Demeter) is the mother - the provider, the nurturer - the goddess archetype of spring. Ceres represents the part of our nature that longs to give birth and then nourish and sustain new life. She represents the essential bonding or lack of that occurs between mother and child. She is the impulse to nurture and also to be nurtured by others.

Ceres's daughter, Persephone, was abducted by Pluto, lord of the underworld. The grieving mother, Ceres wandered the earth in search of her missing child.

In her grief, depression and anger, she caused a famine, withholding nourishment from the world until her daughter was returned. Persephone meanwhile had eaten pomegranate seeds, a symbol of sexual awareness, which gave Pluto a claim over her so she could not be returned permanently to her mother.

(damn you pomegranate seeds!)

A deal was reached so Persephone would spend part of each year in the underworld with Pluto caring for the souls of the dead, but each spring would be reunited with her mother in the upper world as she initiated the dead into the rites of rebirth (spring).

Ceres in our chart alerts us to any challenges with nurturing and directs us to the kinds of experience we need to feel unconditionally loved and accepted.

We'll take a look at her and Pallas (known to the Greeks as Athena) next week.

If anyone wants to know how the asteroids Ceres and Pallas harmonize and clash with the other points in your chart send me your birth date (yes, I need year, too - sorry), place and time or leave this info in the comments section at the end of this post.

Now to our next guinea pig volunteer : Bliss.

no more phonebooths = no more heroes - is anyone investigating the possible connection - call Soledad

anyone can be a superhero

Being a hero was a tricky job.

Besides being able to change into your superhero cape in a tiny little phonebooth and besides being able to leap tall buildings in a  single bound, well, we pretty much required that you be ... perfect.

And because this perfection, this state of rightness, doesn't really exist it required some conspiratorial bullshit to keep your superhero cape on straight.

We are living in a time of incredible change - the beginning of ... well, something else - something real.

A world where real trumps right;

a place where there is no perfect and the real heroes are the makers

(anyone making a real life and making real choices, even when things get messy and scary and we don't know what the hell we are doing yet or where the hell this is all going)

who are scared to death but putting ourselves out there anyway. This stuff is not for sissies.

Courage is telling our story,

not being immune to criticism

- Brene Brown

(and if you haven't watched her TED talk lately, it's HERE)

This new paradigm has the superhero confused.

(and we can't really blame her because we are the ones who gave her that cape, and pointed her toward the tallest building and told her she could fly in the first place)

Tomorrow is hub's birthday and I just bought the makings for his cake (and yes, we're talking Duncan Hines here). It reminded me of his 21st birthday when I made him a cake and it was such a mess that I tossed it and bought him a store made one. Then he called and said he couldn't wait to come over and eat the cake I baked. Ugh. So, I tossed the bakery box in with the cake I'd baked and presented the faked-baked-cake as my own.

Now, this is not such a terrible thing to do, obviously - I've done way worse things than this to hubs over the years, but George has gone on and on about this cake for decades - I swear to God he married me because he thought I would bake a cake like this faked-baked-cake everyday for the rest of his life (poor guy). This morning when I asked what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday his eyes sort of glazed over (this could be a dry eye thing - we are old now) and lamented, "remember that cake .....".

Our heroes, like everything else we see, are mirrors. We see ourselves in them and now that life is requiring us to go deeper we are not always liking what we are finding.

(like mistresses and performance enhancing drugs and drones and cake boxes hidden in garbage cans)

And whether we believe this go-deeper thing is a planetary cycle change where everything that isn't like our current vibration comes up to be looked at (like I do) or that this go-deeper thing is an internet, nothing can hide here anymore thing (like I do, too) - it doesn't matter - it only matters that we somehow, someway find the guts to be real.

Maybe we can't be right and learn something.

And yes, I'm going to confess to that faked-baked-cake or maybe just let hubs read this post. I think he might be as disappointed in me as the world is in Lance Armstrong. Marriage is not for sissies either.

all decisions are really two decisions ... (on why there are no wrong choices)

Let's not take action to make up for a lack of focus ... but once we decide we must take action.  

"A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided." 

- Tony Robbins

And once we decide and then take action we make a second decision.

"We choose and in making that choice then have to choose again to be right with that decision or to be bitter and regretful." 

- Kathy

 

and of course if everything falls (as grandma would say) to hell in a hand basket we always have this

a little words of wisdom from the good doctor today

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