Posts Tagged ‘Basic’
How Will You Be Transformed in 2016? #OneWord365
Each year is a season. Each year, we undergo a process of transformation, of some kind. We’re never the same person departing the year as we were walking in. Whether we’re intentional or not about this process, transformation always happens. For good, or for ill.
Ironically, the word transformation was one I chose for my ‘OneWord365’ for 2015 (I’m going to talk more about One Word 365 and how it’s impacted my life, and how it can impact yours, in the podcast on Wednesday.
There’s no doubt my life as a whole, and especially my perception of life, faith, spirituality, and creativity, has transformed in 2015. And as happened in previous years, the word I chose has become true in many more ways than I could have foreseen.
But what I’ve learned is we are always in a process of transformation. Whether we like it or not. The choice we have is not whether we’re going to be transformed, but how.
Read MoreWhy Authenticity Is About Integrity, Not Baring It All
I’ve talked a lot about here about authenticity. Finding authenticity in our work, and living an authentic life, are issues which are really important to me. Indeed, my free e-book on this blog is all about how we begin that journey of authenticity in regards to writing and artistic work.
But one mistake people can easily make when talking about authenticity, and being authentic, is to confuse this with exposing ourselves completely.
I’ve talked to writer friends going through very painful family circumstances, who are concerned if they don’t share information about this on their blog, if they don’t talk about it publicly, they aren’t being authentic.
And this is utter garbage.
Read MoreHow To Overcome Burnout (Guest Post by Brenda McGraw)
I’ve been taking a little break from blogging, but I’ll be back next week. Meanwhile, today I have another guest post for you all. I’m delighted to host my friend Brenda McGraw on this site.
Brenda is a author & speaker from South Carolina, a heart attack & cancer survivor who now helps people find joy beyond the complexities of modern life.
Today she’s sharing on an interesting perspective on an important subject – how we handle the burnout many of us today experience. I’ll be blogging around this topic soon myself. So, over to Brenda:
How do you handle burnout? When life just gets to be overwhelming and is coming at you faster than you can keep up with it, what happens? Do you shut down purposely? Or are you the one who keeps pushing yourself until you get sick and have to shut down?
Are we listening to our bodies when they are yelling at us that they are “stressed out,” or are we avoiding the signs of stress or burnout?
Read MoreWhy Talent Is A Sacred Gift, Not A Possession
I love to write. Tapping a keyboard, putting words into a document, for the betterment of others, it’s what brings me most joy. It’s my therapy, it’s my solace, and yet it’s also the medium I do most good in the lives of others. It’s both my most public and most private voice. The space which is mine and mine alone.
I’ve often worried about dying young, and not fulfilling my potential, and leaving nothing behind. But over Christmas, watching documentaries about Freddie Mercury and how he approached his own death – which unlike many of us, due to his condition, he had time to prepare himself for – one thing stuck out.
He threw himself into his creative work.
He knew that was his legacy, and like all great artists, when you listen to the words and music of his later life, they all seem like a goodbye message to us all. They’re some of the most authentic songs ever written. All with a raw honesty which suffering and death tends to expose in a way nothing else does.
For me, it was a reminder of the sacredness of every single word I put on a page. And I suddenly felt a sense of responsibility. That my words are a gift which has to go beyond myself.
Beyond, even, my lifetime (which hopefully, has a while to go yet).
And isn’t this the beauty of creativity?
Read MoreMuppets, Umbrellas & The Truth About Story
I’ve always loved the Muppets. And every time I’ve watched a Muppet TV show or movie I seem to learn a lesson. Over this last Christmas, they might have taught me their biggest lesson of all.
So what do I mean? Well, let’s backtrack a little.
All life is a story. It’s a story which is being told by each of us, and somehow each of our stories intertwines with many others to create a bigger story. There’s stories being told around us each and every day.
But there’s two things we often forget about stories.
First, we have the power to shape our own story – we get to define our stories, they don’t just happen to us unless we give them the power to.
Second, our stories are like delicate flowers or ceramics – fragile, easily breakable, and delicate.
How do I know this? Because my until recently I’ve given authority to my circumstances to define much of who I am, rather than realising the power I had over my story.
Read MoreWhy To Begin 2015 With Grace – Not Plans or Goals
I’ve lost count of the posts I’ve seen in the last week about ‘making the most of 2015’, or ‘reviews of the year’ or ‘setting goals for the next year’ or a topic related to it.
There’s nothing wrong at all with these.They can be useful – and many of them have challenged and inspired me. It’s good to make plans and set goals with a new year coming.
But to me there’s something else we need to do first.
My biggest challenge to you all for this coming year, is before you execute any plans, goals or anything else,
to begin with grace.
To realise your true identity, your true self, as you are right now, with all it’s complications, mess, and difficulties
is enough. Already.
It’s healthy and important to make plans and set goals for our year – I’ve been doing some of my own – but remember whatever the outcome of your plans, whether you achieve your goals or not
you’re already enough.
Read MoreHow To Stay Authentic In The World Of Cyber Monday
It’s Cyber-Monday today. The Black Friday of the internet. In the UK alone there is expected to be expenditure of over £650 million. It’s the worst of consumerism. The worst of capitalism. The worst of marketing and business.
But business and marketing aren’t bad. Like anything, in the right context, they can be good – it’s the abuse and excess which taints them.
Which brings me to art. There are many artists who have and do make their living from their art. The work they create pays the bills. And we all need to pay bills.
So, naturally, for anyone wanting to make a living from their work, there becomes a huge temptation to create work which we know will sell. To invest our talent into work we know people will buy, which there is a guaranteed market for. And to market this work intensively.
As any artist will tell you, there is a cost to the work we create. Both in time, energy and money. And in time I’ve discovered, if we want to create better quality work, help more people, and expand our reach, then business and marketing have to be part of what we do.
But there’s something missing here.
Authenticity.
We need to balance authenticity with the reality of business and marketing. So how and why do we do this?
Read MoreThe Book I Created In 24 hours (& How To Get It Today)
I was just having an innocent, fun Facebook conversation with some writers, making a joke. On a useful list of 31 things to do every day for a month to begin blogging, which someone had posted, ‘Write an E-Book’ and ‘Publish an ‘E-Book’ were listed on successive days.
All I said was
‘E-Book in day? Really?’
And that was it. A little light-hearted joke. But then, a good friend, Christine, challenged me. Why couldn’t I create a book in a day? And not just a hastily arranged amateur book, but a full on, professional, quality e-book.
Why not try it?
Read MoreThe Secrets You Find At The End Of Yourself
In recent weeks life has been difficult. This very weekend I had an experience which brought me to the end of myself. Issues with finances, work, health and relationships. I was sitting at home, but I wasn’t feeling depressed. It had gone beyond this.
I was just not bothered.
I mean this not in a lazy way at all. Nor in a negative, suicidal sense. But more like indifference. To life. Pressures with money, with bad habits, diet, work, career. Tough choices, pressurised situations. And I felt indifferent.
Maybe not too much of a surprise. Many struggle with this.
But what made me sit up and notice, was how little I cared about the things I am most passionate about. And it opened my eyes to a truths. Truths I already knew of in theory, but had never experienced in such a personal way.
It revealed the lies about where I – and many of us – put our security. And the amazing blessing of having it grounded where it should be.
Read MoreYou Already Change The World – So Change It Well (Five Minute Friday)
(Picture: Richard Freeman via Creative Commons) Today I’m participating in Lisa-Jo Baker’s “Five-Minute Friday”. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, it’s simple: Write for 5 minutes, straight from the heart, on a given subject – and then share it. No edits, no marinading or reflecting – just write and share. Today’s word is ‘encouragement’. And as…
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