Thoughts for today’s teens, and anyone needing fresh perspective. The first day of acrylic painting instructions in high school, someone ate my main project. No joking. We showed up with large canvasses, wide as I could stretch my arms. A 3×5 index card. And piles of very colorful salt-water taffy in wax-paper wrappers. Then the assignment: don’t eat the sweets, blow them up huge on the canvass! First, we glued them to the cards and made notes of the lighting so we could work on it for a few weeks. Then we carefully watched proportion and sketched the lines, shadows,…
Press Through The Net
Part Five in the New Beginnings Series Crisis hits! Just when you’re making progress on your dream project, the one you’ve secretly carried in your heart for years, something nasty happens. Maybe it’s a car crash, a great loss, illness, or an accident. Or it’s just an overwhelming amount of good things all calling out as a higher priority like sports and family commitments. Phew! It’s almost enough to make you quit all together. I’m afraid it’s also a sign you’re doing something great and need to consider putting your plans on temporary hold for a while if necessary. This…
All Star Authors Event
Last week’s post about updrafts, those key moments when your New Beginning gets a major boost from a circumstance or meeting, brought one for me with wonderful Starley Murray. On the exact day for our eight-year anniversary of losing everything in the wildfires of 2007, I was invited to a super author’s event in Los Angeles. It felt like time slowed down when I got to share our story and how I use all the challenges we’ve had to help others now. I thought you’d like to come backstage to watch it happening! Starley was so encouraging, and reminded me…
Find Your Updraft
Part four of the New Beginnings Series. And How I Became A Gemologist! So you’ve been working diligently to understand your deepest desire, gotten infrastructure in place to support a move, and watched for open doors. Perhaps you’ve just stepped through one and aren’t sure what to do next. That’s the key moment to look for an updraft, a shift coming your way to accelerate your change in direction. What is an updraft? Have you every watched a hot air balloon suddenly go very high in the air, as an invisible current of air brought it to new heights? That’s…
Coming Attractions!
It’s going to be a few more weeks before the launch date is announced, but this week I’m taking a brief break for a video blog with hints about what you can expect. And if you subscribe now to my website, BEFORE the launch, there will be additional benefits with the upcoming giveaways. Oops, well, one hint already! Next week we’ll continue the New Beginnings Series, focusing on waiting for your updraft. For the original series blog, check Five Tips for a Resilient Fall HERE. So what part of the series have you been working on so far? Outlining your…
Adapt to Open Doors
Part Three in the New Beginnings Series One of the special moments in pursuing your dream is when unexpected opportunities land on your doorstep. Sometimes they come at the craziest moment, when you’re tending a sick one, or mid-stream in another project on an entirely different subject. Has this ever happened to you? How did you respond? Were you rigid in sticking to your schedule or flexible enough to let yourself be open to possibilities? I’ve learned it’s important to pause and give special attention to the moment. Okay, the laundry may back up. And perhaps some other commitment has…
Build Your Infrastructure
Part two in the New Beginnings Series Have you ever watched a bridge or large building being built? First they dig the supports and pour the concrete. Then steel girders or other firm supports are raised as the building slowly goes in place. But before any of this, there were intricate blueprints and other planning involved so it wouldn’t topple over. Building an infrastructure, or supportive systems, to allow you to attain your goal is such a critical step in making a new beginning. If you don’t do this part right, when you reach high for a goal, your foundations…
ACFW 2015 Writer’s Conference
Magical Moments If you’re a reader, then I hope a few books have come into your life, helped you open a vision to a different way of thinking, and made you consider your course. It’s one thing to read them, another to meet the authors in person. I’m back home now, reading books with the kids, helping with homework and chores, regular kinds of things. But if I shut my eyes, I can remember the moments that seemed surreal this week. I wanted to share a few with you. Last year I went to this wonderful writer’s conference for the…
A present: Five Tips For A Resilient Fall
People keep asking, what can we do to make a difference with our kids, find our dreams, or make plans that actually help? Recently I visited the Dallas Museum of Art and saw this intricate painting by Gerald Murphy, with all the gears and perfect angles. It reminds me of how delicate and tremendous it can be to wind up new goals during a busy season of life. So to celebrate our one-year anniversary next week, I’m giving you Tips For A Resilient Fall. Here’s a five part, New Beginnings Series, just for you: Understand your dreams Have new dreams…
Goodbye Goodyear Blimp, Hello New Vision
Just look at this photo of the Goodyear Blimp – being retired! If the blimp community needs to keep advancing and growing by huge leaps, how could I be any different? Yet my stomach gave a little twist when I saw the title, “Goodbye Goodyear Blimp.” Immediately I remembered seeing it in the skies above stadiums or over the waters of the San Francisco Bay where I grew up. We’ve always loved glancing at it even just parked by the freeway when driving up to see the grandparents, too. I felt a little ill knowing its years of service were…
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