Archive for March, 2010

March 31st, 2010

Joy Diet Update: Week 3 Desire

Sounds kinda sexy doesn’t it? Well it is!

This week’s challenge is all about identifying your true desire. Beck’s theory is that any strong desire, ache, or thirst that we have are like bread crumb’s left by our soul-little nuggets to help us find our way to our true calling. That path will lead us to our destiny. Pretty cool, I’d say.

The way to get there?

Another 15 minutes of nothingness.

On Oprah yesterday, Raquel Welch spoke words that sounded like gospel to me.

She said, “A moment of silence sometimes is the most scariest thing in the world.”

Amen sister! It’s been an uphill battle for me these last few weeks, but the trek IS getting much easier.

I set the timer, closed my eyes and easily went first to nothingness, second to truth and third to this question, “What do I want most right now?”

I was suddenly flooded with images. First, I saw a book-my book on how to help others reach their dreams. Then, I felt a wave of energy pulsate through me and became swept up in the electricity of something greater than me. I saw myself as a spiritual teacher, with online classes and magazine columns and presentations. In the image, I had a strong, unbreakable spirit and surprising certainty that my life’s purpose was to inspire others to find their own purpose and live the life of their dreams.

A dam broke open.

Instead of any fear of inadequacy or fear itself (the wretched old man that walks around asking me, “Why wish, hope or dream?” since I’ll never get what I want), I  was suddenly free. Free to dream the impossible. My imagination flowed through effortlessly like a dam broke open and with it all my fears washed away and I was suddenly filled with every possibility.

Beck says we grow up learning early not to feel hopeful out of the fear of being disappointed or that wanting something is somehow selfish or hopeless. In reaction, we bury our dreams, lose sight of our true purpose and settle for the safe road. Better to conform and live a life of safety, then to reach out, take a risk and lose everything.

I am surprised that in 15 minutes, Ms. Martha Beck in her delightful book, changed everything for me. Not only did I feel optimistic about my potential and a life not limited by fear, but it also helped get me back on track. During that 15 minutes, I started to visualize every job I have had so far and knew instantly whether they fit in with this new vision or whether it was a job I took for convenience.

Thank you Ms. Beck again for making me shake my head in sheer and utter disbelief!

But I have to ask, where were you when I took that job at Apple?!

CategoryFollowing your dreams, Happiness | Comment1 Comment »

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March 29th, 2010

We have a Winner!

photo by: ADoseofShipBoy’s

I just wanted to thank Carol McClelland (author of Green Careers For Dummies
and founder of Green Career Central) again for visiting 2inspired last week and for all of you who tuned in, asking great insightful questions and for helping to spread the word. It’s all of you who help make my own inspiring dreams come true.

But this post isn’t about me, it’s all about our winner. So Raechel Conover come on down…Congratulations you won! Hope you love your new Green Careers for Dummies book!

And as for the rest of the week, I’ll be posting on the third week of my joy diet. (If you’re behind and missed week one, click here.)

This week is all about desire. After doing nothing, and uncovering truth, so far I’ve learned that joy is a whole lot of work. It makes sense that some would sacrifice lasting happiness for a temporary fix.

That’s cause to live your life joyfully, you need to live it consciously. That means no more filling your time with stuff (shopping, food, errands, etc.) to avoid feeling _____ (fill-in-the-blank with your own personal emotion). Beck’s forcing me to deal head on with my demons with the ultimate goal of experiencing life to its fullest. It’s reinforcing my past belief that we avoid painful emotions out of fear. And that the fear, like all fear, is a lot worse than the fear itself.

Case in point: Last week I had two fears. Fears so great that I was in anguish the whole night before the day I was expecting fear 1 and fear 2. The next morning I woke up to both fears. The very thing I was worried would happen did. And you know what? It wasn’t even that bad. The day passed and the event became a nonevent. I learned quickly that it’s what we do to avoid the fear (drink, drugs, destruct) that’s tons more harmful than the actual emotion itself.

So anyone with me? Would love to hear about your own personal mission to joy, diet or not.

CategoryFacing Fears, Following your dreams, Happiness | Comment4 Comments »

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March 26th, 2010

Wondering if I fell off the joy wagon?

I haven’t posted about my first week on the joy diet, now have I? In case you’re wondering how it all went, I’ll tell ya.

I might have fell off the wagon a bit during the end of the first week.

Why?!

I know shocking right. I’m not blaming it on time or energy or even boredom. Instead, I went straight to the source:The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life.

Chapter 2: TRUTH

“If you can’t get yourself to do Menu Item #1 (nothing), you’re not ready for Menu Item #2.”

Beck says our resistance to doing nothing is a good indication that there is something we’re not wanting to deal with. Truth be told, after I read this chapter and forced myself to sit in nothing, a lot of dark somethings were unearthed. Truth behold waves of worries and a sudden uncovering of past events ran amock. I sat there for 15 minutes thinking, “Wow nothing! What a concept. Why didn’t I think of that!”

Nothing was the answer to a lot of my questions and the best part was that all I had to was sit there and do absolutely nothing. Imagine doing that for a living!

There’s something very healing about doing nothing. I wonder how much time each of us spends running around doing errands, typing on our computers and blackberries and how much energy that drains us and how much farther we get from our own truth.

If I could, I’d thank Ms. Beck for that one chapter alone. (Who I’ve actually met in person by the way and who recently Tweeted me, “Yay! I’m so excited you’re trying my “diet.” It’s still working for me, so my hopes for you are high.Keep me posted!” No joke. Really. I would not joke about this.)

Somehow all the stubborn attachments, fierce denial and false realities I’ve created over the years only to cover up fear and insecurity ended up imprisoning me. When I let certain situations be, I realized that they weren’t as scary as I thought. And the result was freeing.

I dare anyone to try it. Sit for 15 minutes and reflect on something painful you’re going through. I bet it won’t be as scary as you make it. In fact, you might learn that the story you told yourself about the event (a rejection from a publication, a conflict with a friend) was a lot worse than the even itself.

Then, come back here and tell me what you’ve experienced. It’s great to know I’m not in this alone.

CategoryFacing Fears | CommentNo Comments »

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March 24th, 2010

Guest Post: How I Found My Way to Green Careers

Well the day is finally here! I’ve been holding in my excitement for months now waiting until the day when I could feature this successful dreamer. After reading her 1998 book,”Seasons of Change : Using Nature’s Wisdom to Grow Through Life’s Inevitable Ups and Downs” I knew I had to feature her. Author of four books including her latest book, “Green Careers For Dummies, founder and executive director of her green career site, “Green Career Central, Carol McClelland, PhD, is a true inspiration! I’m happy to welcome her to 2inspired and am excited that she’s here. Read her story on what it took to get her to live the life of her dreams, green dreams that is, in the field of green careers.

Since 1991 I’ve worked with professionals in the midst of career transitions. My passion is helping mid-career professionals identify the work they love that matches their values and their lifestyle needs. Over time my work has taken different forms from one-on-one consulting, teaching career self-assessment courses at the local university, facilitating workshops and retreats, training other professionals to use my career programs with their own clients, and writing books, but the purpose of my work has always remained the same.

In 2007 I attended a book marketing conference in Los Angeles with a colleague. I was searching, trying to figure out my next step. Throughout the conference two themes caught my attention.

  1. Don’t wait to make a difference – do it now! – I’ve always known I wanted to contribute more to the environment in some way. I’d been waiting to act on this passion until…until when?
  2. Focus on ONE thing – Throughout my business I’ve always been torn between two topics – the career transition work I described above and helping people through major life transitions using nature and the seasons as the guiding metaphor. Finding the right balance and priorities for these two themes has been a constant source of confusion for me.

As I was trying to choose which ONE thing to focus on – my career work or my work with nature – I was torn. I didn’t want to give up either one. I don’t mind admitting it; I felt anxious, frustrated, and confused.

As the conference drew to an end, my colleague and I took some time to reflect on what we wanted to take away from the conference. I was describing my dilemma of choosing one of my passions over the other. Her first question was, what if you helped professionals find green careers?

I felt an immediate shock of recognition. It was as if all of my business choices and decisions over the years had prepared me for this next step in my business. This direction allowed me to focus on ONE target market while weaving my two passions together in a unique way. In addition the business would allow me to contribute to the state of the environment in a significant way.

Driving home to the Bay Area from Los Angeles gave me plenty of time to consider my new direction. Ideas were popping open like popcorn! Now, three years later, I’m still implementing ideas that came to me during that brainstorming session.

As I reflected on my decision to refocus my business on helping professionals find green careers, I was struck by how consistently “green” topics showed up throughout my life history: from the toys and books I loved as a child, to my favorite memories of family road trips to National Parts, to school projects I chose to work on. Later in life my passions, volunteer activities, and most poignant moments all relate to nature and the environment in some way.

I’m thrilled to be helping people discover their own passions and how they can use their passions and talents within the green economy.

Thanks SO much Carol! For more information on green jobs, you can visit Carol’s site Green Career Central. And if you’ve got any questions for Carol about green jobs and her book, Green Careers For Dummies, feel free to leave them here. She kindly offered to check in throughout the day to comment and answer questions. Plus, those who leave a comment, tweet or share the story on Facebook today will get an entry to win Carol’s book. The winner will be announced on Monday. Good luck!

Categoryjob, Resources, Successful Dreamers | Comment11 Comments »

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March 22nd, 2010

New Things on 2inspired

New to 2inspired? Or are you an oldie, but goodie who hasn’t checked around here in awhile? Besides being excited about the new guest hopping over on Wed., March 24th, there are a few other changes going on. Feel free to click over at my portfolio to see what I’ve been up to, see my new store at Amazon (here or up above), my collection of inspiring photos, peruse my sister site and find more info at my professional writing blog.

And for more info about this Wednesday’s giveaway… Join author Carol McClelland for her inspiring life story. She’ll be answering questions throughout the day about her new book, “Green Careers For Dummies.” Then, comment, tweet or facebook (or become a Facebook fan of 2inspired) about the event and you’ll get an extra entry for each (total of 3 possible)  in Wednesday’s giveaway. Good luck!

CategoryResources | CommentNo Comments »

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March 19th, 2010

Reject the Rejections

“Oh these little rejections how they add up quickly
One small sideways look and I feel so ungood…

Oh these little rejections how they disappear quickly
The moment I decide not to abandon me…”

– From Alanis Morissette’s “So Unsexy”

I was going to post this on my profession writer website, but realized that all of us experience rejection at some time or another, whether we’re writers or not. Just the other day in fact, someone close to me told me that I’m not that good of a writer.

In fact, over the years I’ve collected a list that would give Santa Claus a run for his money. Things like, “You think you’re good, but you’re not. You’re a poor writer. You’re just not that talented.” have once haunted me. And admittedly on occasion it still runs through my head during a particularly difficult day. Sometimes I wonder, “Are they right? Should I just give up?”

Here’s the thing. The more you venture out into the vast open land of possibility, the more you’ll open yourself up to rejection. When you do something outside your comfort zone, it makes others feel nervous and uncomfortable. They’ll start to wonder what’s wrong with them. Hence their reaction: They’ll try to keep you down, so they won’t have to feel uncomfortable around you.

Here’s what I’m not saying. I’m not talking about friends and family who love you and give you constructive feedback or criticism. I think it’s always wise to keep your eyes wide open and your ears as well. There’s always something you can learn from any situation.

What I’m saying is this: Don’t let other people sway you from doing what you feel is primal to you. Whether or not you’re good or bad, talented or not, you can still create the life you want. Give yourself the opportunity to see how far you can go without giving up just because someone told you not to.

Living life safe. Stability and comfort can be good things. But sometimes you need to reach beyond what’s familiar to get to your dreams. If I listened to the hundreds (okay maybe not hundreds) of people who deterred me from following my dreams, I would be safe, unhappy and stagnant. Not the kind of life I had in mind. I wouldn’t have move to California, traveled to Europe or start my own freelance writing business.

Think about it this way. Everyone has to start somewhere. So what if you’re not up to par with the greats, you’re sole purpose in life is to find the path of your dreams. And that path is made for you and only you. To get to where you want to go, you need to start from here. Here’s what I’ve learned: If you keep working at it, you will get better. I can say that my writing has gotten so much better in one year let alone the 20 years since I started.

After reading Walt Disney’s biography in Neil Gabler’s Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (Vintage), I was first astonished by what the author called was an unexplained and unfounded confidence in Disney’s abilities at an early age. Even though he had no reason and no experience to be cocky, he was. Now I think, “Oh he got it!”

He had the passion that makes one think he’s going to change the world. It’s funny that in the end, Disney wasn’t doing the animation he started out with. In fact, a lot of his employees couldn’t really say what Disney did. But they knew what he was good at. He was passionate about whatever he put his mind too. And I’ve come to realize that this is key to fulfilling your dreams.

So go ahead. Be obnoxiously confident about yourself and your talent. If you won’t, nobody else will be. And who are you to do it? Well, you’re the one person responsible for changing your world.

Pssstt...Want more info on Wed, March 24th’s giveaway? Catch me on Twitter, and Facebook. Then keep coming back here for more.

CategoryFollowing your dreams | Comment1 Comment »

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March 18th, 2010

Day 3 of the Joy Diet

Well I’ve made it half way through the first week. I’ll admit that this is the easiest diet I’ve been on physically, but the most challenging mentally.

The difference between a joy diet and a food one? I’m not depriving myself of anything, except maybe 15 min of my time.

The hard part? Convincing myself I get to feel joy by doing nothing.

So yesterday, I didn’t make my 10:00 pm appointment with me, myself and I. At this point, I’m laughing at how crazy it is that I can’t fit in a mere 15 minutes of doing nothing into my day. Anyway, I finally found it at 11:45 pm last night.

The honest truth? Even though I’ve had an impressive experience so far, the whole day I was actually dreading it. Now that the novelty of nothing was wearing off, would I still enjoy it or would it be pure silent torture?

The reality. I was working on an article about my dog, talking to my mom to get more information. After I got off the phone with her, I was consumed with guilt. The guilt for not being there when my dog passed. It was a horrible feeling and then worse I thought, “Now I have to go sit in a corner for 15 min and think about nothing!” (Add dramatic sigh here.)

The outcome. Doing nothing couldn’t have came at a better time actually. Sitting in silence, thoughts came flooding to me (as I expected). What I didn’t expect were that the thoughts would be comforting ones. Things like, “You couldn’t have done anything if you were there. She knew you loved her. Things happen for a reason and everything is the way it should be” starting flowing into my mind. Then a peace settled on me. It was a soothing balm that my wounded heart needed. Afterwards I fell into a sea of nothingness where I was neither awake nor asleep.

The bottom line: I might not have felt joy, but I definitely felt peace. Looking forward to trying it again tonight.

CategoryHappiness | CommentNo Comments »

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March 17th, 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day + Green Reveal

What a great day for a green day! I promised I’d share the surprise and I’m just about ready to burst. But first…

A few days ago I declared a diet-a joyful one. (a.k.a. The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life)
I’ve been doing it and let me tell you how it’s been going so far.

I started on Monday and boy was I in need of the first tip:

Do Nothing!

I wasn’t too worried because I thought, “How hard is it to do nothing, really?”

It was pretty hard. In fact, I had to squeeze in time to do it, in between going to the gym and watching my 4 year old rabbit. Not a good idea, by the way. It was a struggle to do nothing when you’ve got a bunny pushing you with his little nose. I sat their for 15 min trying hard to do nothing, but in fact, watching him (I admit) was actually doing something.

Yesterday, I tried it again. Morning came and went. Then early evening came as went too. I’m a horrible dieter, but this was ridiculous! I knew I needed just 15 minutes so I simply had to get nothing done.

I’m happy to say that at 10 pm I finally shut the door and sat in my room for 15 minutes doing nothing. At first, the sound of nothingness felt like it was seeping into my brain. I thought I would crazy by the white noise around me. Then, every single sound (e.g. cars, the sound of the bunny walking in his cage) seemed heightened. I heard things I never heard before.

After that faded, I started thinking, like the monkey brain often does. Thinking about what I would write about this situation, what tomorrow would be like, etc. Then came worrying-worrying about how long this was, should I be doing something else, was the timer working?

After my brain thoughts tired me out, I began wondering how long I was sitting there in nothingness. It felt like an eternity. I thought I knew 15 minutes. I knew it like the back of my hand. The way it felt while I was killing time to go to an appointment or go to the gym. That 15 minutes was like one breath and it was gone. This 15 minutes felt like forever.

Then it dawned on me!

Maybe this is the secret of life, I’ve been searching for. A way to press pause on time. Instead of rushing around, trying to make use of my time, what if I just sat there and did nothing? I’d always thought doing so was wasting it, but what if I’d been doing it wrong all along?

Doing nothing! What a concept! I’m going to try again tonight and the rest of the week. We’ll see what a few more days will do. But I got to say, I’m pretty impressed with just these past two days. Maybe you should try it to.

Okay back to the something BIG I promised in 1 week!

Ever heard of those dummy books? You know those how-to do something books which are pretty much _______ fill in the blank and there’s a dummy book for it?

Well there’s one that just happened to come out recently and I just happened to have a chance to meet the inspiring author.

The book?

Green Careers For Dummies

The author?

Carol McClelland, PhD. She’s also the founder and executive director of Green Career Central.

The reveal?

She’ll be joining us here on 2inspired on Wednesday, March 24th so mark your calendars. And get ready to post questions and comments for her on that date. For all of you searching for your dream career, ask away and tune in to find out if this book might lead you to the green dream career you’re looking for.

The bonus?

She’s also giving away one of her Green Careers for Dummies books! Pretty exciting, eh? A perfect reveal for a green themed day.

How’s that for a Happy St. Patty’s Day?!

CategoryFollowing your dreams, job | Comment2 Comments »

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March 15th, 2010

A Joyful Diet

A joyful diet sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it? But as spring approaches, I’m dieting to find out.

First of all, I have to say I’m not a dieting girl. Every time I attempt to go on a diet, it lasts all of 6 hours and then I’m spent. I think the problem is that most diets are all about deprivation. And frankly, I don’t have the time and energy for that.

But JOY?! That I could get into. Especially since the person who wrote it is one of my favorite authors: life coach, O magazine contributor and best-selling author Ms. Martha Beck.

After reading two of her books, I was craving more. More importantly joy is actually something I wouldn’t mind going on a diet for.

So here’s the deal:

There’s 10 tips for Martha Beck’s Joy Diet. I’m going to try it, one a week for the next 10 weeks and see if it brings me more joy.

Are you in?

You can follow along here or get your own book (The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life) and try it with me.

*Haven’t forgot about my BIG surprise yet? Have you? Well stick around because I’m unveiling the green treat this Wednesday, March 17th.

CategoryBook Reviews, Happiness, How to | Comment1 Comment »

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March 11th, 2010

TGIG?

It’s Friday! Aren’t you glad we made it to the end of the week? With my surprise drawing near (March 24th), I’m getting more and more excited for the big reveal. I hope you are too!  You should because those of you tuning in that day will be in for something good. Trust me.

But back to the hint. The title of this post is TGIG. Thank Goodness It’s Green! Wednesday, March 24th will be something eco-friendly so those interested in everything green or know someone who is, please share the news and keep coming back for more info. You won’t regret it!

CategoryResources | CommentNo Comments »

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