365 Inspirations—348: Live Music: Pepper Proud & Whitney Monge on the Virginia V

"There's something about good live music. It enters your heart and then it starts to slowly spread out from there. It moves its way out from your chest, down your legs and arms and out through your finger tips, toes and top of your head. And from there it keeps spreading, just like love."—Katherine Jenkins

Seattle is a place where things happen. Coffee, music, books, airplanes, computers happen here. My students once asked me why so many successful businesses and artists come from Seattle.

My theory is that for much of the year it's dark and rainy, so people start creating. They create companies, songs, gadgets, books, you name it. This place is fertile for creation.

Tonight I got to see two up and coming musicians play AMAZING music aboard the Virginia V steamer ship that was decked out in holiday lights and docked down on Lake Union.

I saw Whitney Monge and Pepper Proud.

 Mark my words, these two musicians are going to make history and I'll later be able to say I saw them with an intimate audience aboard a steamer ship.

There's something about good live music. It enters your heart and then it starts to slowly spread out from there. It moves its way out from your chest, down your legs and arms and out through your finger tips, toes and top of your head. And from there it keeps spreading, just like love.

That's what I felt tonight. I felt a lot of love and creativity. I felt the stuff dreams are made of. The part that many of us have lost in our day to day lives. Music, good music, can carry you back. Good books can do that too.

I'm so happy I went to this concert out on Lake Union. It made my night.

Whitney Monge

Pepper Proud

Have you been to a small live concert lately? Did you feel moved by what you heard?

365 Inspirations—330: Setting Intentions

Leading a Workshop at Kalani on the Big Island, Hawaii on Intuitive Writing

"I had let go of WAITING for anything. I had moved on to the next creation and while I was in the act of creating, this good news came through. And that is how it has happened again and again...."—Katherine Jenkins

Yoon and I are offering a very special retreat for the New Year. It's called Setting Intentions: An Intuitive Writing, Collaging and Yoga Retreat. You can find out more about it on the side bar of this blog or on my Yoga and Writing Retreats page HERE.

I am a BIG believer in setting intentions. All the best things in my life came to me by doing this. I have notebooks/journals full of pages which state my intentions and an art presentation book full of collages (like vision boards) that I've created on retreat and in my own free time.

I can tell you one thing I've learned for sure: These methods, which activate a different part of the brain, WORK.

But they don't work in the way you'd like them to. The intentions you set for your life come when they are ready to come. Sometimes they slip through the back door or sneak up on you when you've completely forgotten about them.

If you are waiting for something to happen, you may be waiting for a lifetime. The best things in life come when you least expect them to. Of course you have to do the groundwork, but let go of the outcome. It's that simple.

Lots of people quit before they even start. The road may seem long or difficult, but I truly believe that the FIRST STEP is just as important as any other step towards living a life that is uniquely yours.

Intuitive writing, which I'll talk more about in my retreat, has helped me in uncovering my subconscious mind. That's where the juice of life lies. If you've ever had a hunch, a vivid dream, an inner calling or a gut feeling, you are tapping into that authentic part of yourself that wants to be front and center in your life but has somehow taken a back seat to the 'rational,' 'practical,' or 'realistic'. Not that these aren't important in life, but they've somehow taken over the wheel completely.

They took over the wheel in my life and still sit on my shoulder and tell me to 'get real' from time to time.

But what is 'real'?

Intuitive writing and collaging are playful ways of bringing back that childlike innocence and purity to our lives. Somehow, in our need to be mature or grown up, we've lost touch with that purity. Instinctively, we all know what makes us happy and what fills us with joy, but it's easy to lose touch with that as we get older.

Do you feel happiness and joy in your life? Do you like the way your are living? Are you completely satisfied with your life?

If you can say "yes" to all these questions, I congratulate you!

I wasn't able to say "yes" to all those questions. I didn't know what I really wanted until I started to creatively explore this area of my life through writing and collaging. Meditation and yoga also helped shed light on that inner part of myself that had been buried beneath a pile of 'have tos' and 'shoulds'.

Many years ago, while in a long course of meditation, I saw an image of my very first book. I saw the title Lessons form the Monk I Married. I saw the entire book, with all its pages and chapters, as if someone had flipped it right in front of my face.

At first, I was irritated by this. After all, I was there to meditate. I was in a serious, long course of meditation. I wasn't supposed to be daydreaming about a book.

But it kept coming back again and again and again...

In 2012, that book was traditionally published exactly how I saw it in my mind's eye.

A few days ago I was lamenting that I hadn't heard much about my book lately from my agent. I was worried and thought I needed to do something more.

Today, while I was working on material for my upcoming retreat in January, my agent contacted me to let me know that I had received an offer for the simplified Chinese rights of my book. That meant that my book would be available in Mainland China! The complex Chinese rights had already sold, which covered Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong, but this was the cherry on the cake and I did NOT know it was coming.

I had let go of WAITING for anything. I had moved on to the next creation (my upcoming retreat) and while I was in the act of creating, this news came through. And that is how it has happened again and again....

Only through my own experience can I say for sure that this works.

I invite you to attend my upcoming retreat to experience how you might put these tools to use in your own life. If you can't attend, perhaps you know a loved one, family member or friend who might find this retreat useful. I'm also available for personalized Skype sessions on this topic.

And now a few questions for you...

Do you feel you are living the life you were meant to live? If not, what would it take you to get there?

365 Inspirations—242: Face to Face Communication

Friends sharing an umbrella at beach in Seattle

"We maintain thousands more friends than any human being in history, but at the cost of complexity and depth. Every minute spent online is a minute of face-to-face time lost."—Daniel H. Wilson

Since Wednesday evening, we've had guests in our house. It's been wonderful. We've gotten a chance to spend face to face time with real live human beings. We've hugged, laughed, smiled, gone on walks, eaten, told stories, and spent quality time together. I think this is a rare thing these days.

Of course we have lots to do. We leave for a two-week trip to Peru the day after tomorrow and haven't thought too much about it, but I think we pretty much have all we need and are as ready as we'll ever be.

Being with friends has pulled me out of that 'list of things to do' mode and brought me into the present moment. It's made me realize that it's not the thinking of all the things you have to do that gets them done, it's being present in each moment for what is necessary that things are accomplished.

And sometimes it's good to surrender a little.

I surrendered to the time with my friends and it brought me so much joy.

Every time we are able to surrender to the moment at hand and just be with what is and even find joy in it, we open the door for more joy to enter our lives.

John Lennon said, "Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans." I don't want to be busy making other plans, I want to be here for life.

I want to spend face to face time with people. When we share the time with others, we expand our world.

Face to face time with friends brings us out of our little world of habits, plans and patterns and makes us see the bigger picture. When you add the new dynamic of another person, suddenly you see things through a larger filter.

After all, we don't live in a vacuum. Our lives are meant to touch each other. I really believe this.

It's this sharing, loving and 'live' interaction with one another that really opens us up and makes us see things in a new way.

Have you spent quality face to face time with anyone lately. Have you spent time with any new or old friends who have added a wider perspective to your life?

365 Inspirations—220: Bedtime

View from where we are housesitting in Seattle

"Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh..."—Taps by Daniel Butterfield

The day was full and very productive. Yoon and I went to the Seattle Art Museum and saw 30 Years of (Outrageous) Japanese Fashion, ate lunch at a lovely Chinese restaurant with a view of the Sound and then went to Pike Place Market.

We are housesitting on Puget Sound and the picture to the left is our view!

Tomorrow we head off on our third annual yoga/writing retreat at The Yoga Lodge on Whidbey Island. We were also preparing for that.

Now I'm pooped, to be quite honest, and the guest bedroom where I sleep while I'm housesitting here is calling my name. In fact, it's been calling my name for the past two hours.

My inspiration is bedtime.

Bedtime was something I fought when I was young and now I welcome it with open arms.

I can't wait to get under the covers and dream, dream, dream.

For the past two nights, I've had very vivid dreams where I saw clearly the answers to some things I had questions about. When I woke up, I knew exactly what I had to do. I look forward to laying down and letting go again.

Sometimes the day can be so full and that makes bedtime even more of a treat! Now I will leave you with a beautiful sign we saw in Pike Place Market today! It sums up how I feel these days...

Good night all. Sweet dreams!

Is bedtime something you look forward to? Do you dream at night?

365 Inspirations—192: Winds of Change

Blue Moon

“You see things; you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?”—George Bernard Shaw

The wind is whirling in my world.

Winds of change have come, but I'm still working out the details. I'm still just getting little pieces. It's like a gigantic puzzle I'm putting together, but I have no idea what it will look like in the end.

So for now, it's just flashes and images. Last night I had a dream I was on a huge wide river on a raft drifting. Then the current picked up and I was going over rapids. I couldn't see where I was going, but I did not feel scared. I trusted that I would be led to the right place.

I got off at a rocky shore and started to climb huge boulders up the side of a mountain. It was so steep and jagged. The view below me was amazing and scary at the same time. I had almost made it to the top when a hawk circled around and landed almost on me thinking I was food. I shooed him away. Then I scrambled up a few more rocks.

Inches from the top,  a bald eagle was peering down at me from a nearby tree branch. We were looking straight into each others eyes. I was not his prey, I was him and he was me.

Beyond the eagle, I could see berries in a tree. There were three kinds of berries growing off one branch and they looked enticing, but I did not want to disturb the eagle's turf any longer and slowly made my way back down.

Lots of these kinds of dreams about nature, the earth and animals have been coming to me. A new book is forming. I want to tell you about it. But right now I'm just flowing with these winds of change and it's so exciting.

Did you ever have a very vivid dream that you remembered? Did it have any significance for you in your life?

365 Inspirations—164: Dreams

"Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning."—Gloria Steinem 

It's very rare that I remember my dreams. I can recall one flying dream I had not too long ago. It felt so amazing to fly. I felt free, expanded and comfortable. I didn't want to wake up from that dream.

I rarely have nightmares these days.

Most of my dreams tend to be fragmented. They are often a colorful quilt of bits and pieces of my life.

Sometimes I don't really know if the pieces even fit together because it's hard to make sense of my dreams.

I do believe that dreams can tell us much about our waking life.

I also believe that we can remember the details of our dreams if we choose to and even choose the kinds of dreams we want to have.

Dreams are something I'd like to explore more.

Do you dream? Can you remember your dreams?

365 Inspirations—151: Interview with Torre DeRoche, Author of Love with a Chance of Drowning, and FREE book giveaway

"To the adventurer: put one foot in front of the other and don’t stop until you get there. To the writer: put one word in front of the other and don’t stop until you get there."—Torre DeRoche

Do you blog about your adventures? Are you dreaming of writing and publishing a book?

I'm thrilled to have author Torre DeRoche here today to talk about her new book, Love with a Chance of Drowning and to talk about her journey from blogger to published author in three countries (USA, Australia and the UK). She also has a movie offer on the table. Does it get any better than that? I can't remember exactly where I first *met* Torre out there in the blogging world, but I knew we had a lot in common. I also have my own journey from blogger to published author and LOVE a good adventure. 

I devoured Torre's book in two days and I've been dreaming of taking up sailing lessons ever since. Here's my short synopsis of this fabulous book:

Australian native Torre unexpectedly meets handsome, Argentinian sailor in bar in San Francisco. He sweeps her off her feet, but there is ONE BIG PROBLEM. He is about to sail around the world in his small sailboat and Torre is terrified of deep water. 

And that's where the adventure begins and it's a page turner. Today I'm giving away one free copy of Torre's book on this blog. Just leave a comment here with a mention that you'd like to enter in the drawing and I'll announce the winner here on my blog a week from today.

Now for my interview with Torre:

When did you first start writing this book? Was it on the boat? In San Francisco when you met Ivan? When did the idea of a book about your experiences first take shape in your mind?

While sailing through the South Pacific, I kept a blog for family and friends to recount the crazy adventure that I’d accidentally found myself on. My parents hadn’t yet met the man I’d entrusted my life to on the Pacific Ocean, so I figured the least I could do was update my mother on my whereabouts, perhaps comfort her with some funny stories. 

When life aboard got challenging, I immersed myself in writing the blog as a means of ‘visiting’ home. I was desperately homesick at times. My words became my bridge between utter isolation and home. 

The blog audience expanded beyond my family, and the positive feedback I received inspired me to consider writing a book. When I returned back to land for good, I began writing after work, on weekends, and late at night. I repurposed some of the material from the blog. At 50,000 words, I finally admitted to myself that I was writing a book. 

What did you hope to show through telling your story?

When I tell people about my adventure across the Pacific on a leaky boat, so many of them say, “Oh my god, I could never do that! I’m too scared!” Yeah, well, me too. I wouldn’t even swim at the beach before I got on that boat. Through my story, I hope to show readers that fear doesn’t have to be a reason to stay at home, under the covers. 

But my number one reason for writing was simple: I wanted to take readers on a vicarious adventure and give them a good time. I want to make them laugh, cry, and cringe. 

Did you originally plan to self publish your book or did you first pursue a traditional route (agents and publishing houses) and then choose to self publish?

I queried agents for six months and, after having no luck with that, I decided to self-publish. A couple of weeks after launching, I received a Twitter message from a Hollywood producer who had chanced upon an excerpt of my book. He wanted to know if the option was available. 

I, of course, thought I was being fooled by a sad loser from small town America, but I sent him a book just in case it was legit. At approximately the same time, a UK publisher also scouted my book through social media. A month after self-publishing, I received two offers: one from the UK publisher and one from the Hollywood producer for the film option. 

Armed with two offers, it took me about four days to sign with a top New York agent. She immediately pitched to the US, and three publishers wanted to take it to auction. Hyperion came in with a great pre-emptive offer and we decided to take it. Shortly after, it went to auction in Australia and sold to Penguin. The rights have also sold in Brazil, and Brilliance Audio bought the worldwide audiobook rights. 

 For those who are debating about whether or not to seek traditional publishing or self publishing, what would you tell them? 

It’s incredibly thrilling to launch a book traditionally, whereas a self-published book launch is like throwing your cat a birthday party: it feels silly and indulgent, and it’s hard to get others excited about the party. But the royalties are higher, and you have greater control and fewer frustrations. 

I’m on the fence on this one. I think both routes have incredible advantages and disadvantages, so it comes down to personal choice. If it’s really important to you to have a traditional publisher, I suggest that you exhaust all of your options with that route first. Otherwise, if you’re an aggressive marketer and you feel ready to take on the tremendous workload required to self-publish a book well, then go straight for that option. 

How did you market your book after you self published?

I sent out a lot of free copies to bloggers and influencers to get people talking about it online. I pitched to Amazon’s top reviewers to get reviews, and I was quite successful with that. I wrote to magazine editors and asked for reviews, and some big mags came back with “Yes.” I did some guest posting, and I reached out to bloggers for reviews. I ran a series on a big blog called ‘Love and Travel Week,’ and I plugged my book at the bottom of each travel/love related piece. I also did quite a bit of online networking through Twitter, Facebook groups, and sailing or travel related forums.  

I know, after reading your story, that Seismic Pictures discovered you on Twitter. This is a dream come true for many writers and it set things up for your book to be published in Australia and abroad. How did this exciting chain of events happen exactly? 

It all began with Twitter… Two weeks after I self-published, I got a Twitter message from a Hollywood producer asking if the rights had been optioned yet. Two weeks after that, he emailed me an offer to buy the film option. At about the same time, I was contacted by a UK indie publisher, who also sent through an offer to buy the book.

With two deals on the table, I emailed the agent at the top of my Dream Agents list. She read the book over a weekend and offered me representation on the Monday. We began pitching immediately, and we received interest from several US publishers. We were about to go into auction when Hyperion came in with a preemptive deal too handsome to refuse. My rock star agent negotiated it up another 50% and we signed.

Then my foreign rights agent pitched to Australian publishers. Four big publishers went to auction and the book sold to Penguin. We also sold to Brazil and to Brilliance Audio. (My head is still spinning.)

Have you heard any news from Seismic Pictures? When can we expect the movie to be out on the big screen?

The script is currently underway! However—

My dad’s a scriptwriter by profession, and time and time again I’ve seen how tough it is to get a script turned into a movie. The possibility of a film is enormously exciting, but I won’t pop the cork out of the Cristal until filming commences. 

How has your life changed since meeting Ivan and setting foot on a sailboat? 

I have a lot more adventures. I take a lot more risks. I let my intuition guide me, and I believe in myself in a way that I didn’t before. I’m drawn to nature these days. I’ve become skilled at telling my fears to shut up. I don’t read the news anymore…

These are just a few changes that come to mind, but there are many. 

How has your life changed since being published in Australia and abroad?

Everything is much the same, to be honest! My book is on the shelves, I have a vague understanding that people are reading my words right now, I get a lot of emails, I check Amazon and Goodreads for reviews on a somewhat-obsessive basis… But other than that, everything is as it was before. 

Have you had any desire to get on a sailboat again? I know it wasn't one of your passions, but has it become a passion for you now?

There is no better way to see the world than by sailboat. Once you’ve arrived to a new country by the power of the wind, it’s incredibly hard to return to any kind of regular travel. However, after two years at sea I never managed to overcome seasickness! I have a sensitive inner ear, which means I get nauseous in cars, planes, buses, and boats. It sucks. If I could cure this problem, I would sail again. 

Now that you've somewhat conquered your fear of water and sailing, what is your biggest fear today? How will you conquer it? 

Standing within 20 feet of a cliff edge makes the back of my legs crawl. I have no immediate plans to face this fear. 

With the launch of my book, I had to face my fear of public speaking. This was perhaps worse than my fear of heights, so I’m going to sit back and revel in that accomplishment for a while before taking anything else on. My adrenalin glands need a break.

What would you say to all the other "fearful" adventurers out there or the struggling writers who are about ready to throw in the towel?

To the adventurer: put one foot in front of the other and don’t stop until you get there. To the writer: put one word in front of the other and don’t stop until you get there. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Torre DeRoche is an Australian native and a self-proclained fearful adventurer. When she's not at home in Melbourne, Australia, DeRoche is at large in the world, exploring, writing, painting pictures and snapping photos as she faces her fears one terrified step at a time. She blogs at www.fearfuladventurer.com

365 Inspirations—148: Chinese Translation/Publication of My Book!

Signing the Chinese (complex) contracts for my book

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."—Walt Disney

I don't if it was a coincidence that today I went out to eat Chinese food with Yoon for lunch AND I received the Chinese (complex) contracts in the mail for my book to be translated and published in Chinese. I am sending the contracts to my foreign agent in London tomorrow and the book will soon be available in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, for starters!

I've been to Hong Kong and loved it. I can just picture a commuter reading it on the subway or someone sucking down a bowl of noodles on the street with their nose in the book. The bummer is that I can't read Chinese, so I'll have to ask my Chinese speaking friends to read it to make sure it's accurate! I'm wondering what they'll do to the cover and what the title will look like.

I just checked out a website that translates any words to any language and here's what it came up with for the title Lessons from the Monk I Married:

和尚我結婚的教訓

Isn't that cool? I have no idea if it's accurate.

My husband can read some Chinese characters because he was a monk in Korea for 10 years and they studied Buddhist texts that were written in Chinese. He's forgotten a lot, but can generally make out most characters.

Anyway, I was so excited to sign these today. It was one thing to get my book published in North America, but it's quite another to start having international sales. It will also be translated to Croatian and that is already in the works!

This is all beyond my wildest dreams and that just goes to show that even your wildest dreams can come true!

Have you ever accomplished anything that was beyond your wildest dreams? Is there a wild dream you want to accomplish?

365 Inspirations–142: There's That Word "Inspiring" Again....

On a yoga retreat led by my husband in Sedona, AZ

"Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day."—Pope Paul VI 

 What do you focus on everyday? Your problems or worries, you relationships, cleaning the house, finances? Love and peace?

Whatever you choose to focus on actually becomes your life! I'm a testimony to that. I decided to focus on inspiration this year and it has shown up everywhere in my life.

Just today I watched this video about a teenager who passed away on May 20, 2013, but his message was not about dying, it was all about LIVING!

It was such an inspirational video. I want to live my life like that. I want sow the seeds of love, happiness, peace and inspiration as if this were my last day on earth.

Because truth be told, we don't know how many days we have left. 

So why wait?

Why hesitate?

Why hold off on things that could make a difference RIGHT NOW?

So that little word "inspiration" snuck into my life again today. I received a new review on Amazon and here's what it said:

"Inspiring" (Hartford, CT ) May 15, 2013
Thank you, Katherine,  for sharing your lovely story with all of us. I hope more women find her story inspiring, and more men can be partners like Seong Yoon Lee." 

Here's the link to that review. 

None of us own this inspiration. It flows in and out of  everything. Whether or not we choose to recognize it in ourselves and others really depends on what we choose to focus on. For this year, I have chosen to focus on "inspiration".

  What have you chosen to focus on this year?

365 Inspirations—117: Dreams Taking Shape

"Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."—Steve Jobs

Sometimes it's hard to see a full picture of what our dreams are telling us. Yesterday, I got a full snapshot of what the picture looked like. All the pieces formed an overall theme and I knew what I wanted to do.

 I do collages often and they are another creative way of using the right brain to get ideas out of the head and onto paper. My friend who is an art therapist got me hooked on creating collages and I've always been amazed at how many of the things I've created on paper have actually come true in real life.

What I love about collaging is that there are no set rules. We can work with all kinds of materials, different textures and colors to bring what is inside to life.

A really good friend who was in the South Pacific for two years in the Peace Corps came over and we collaged together. She joined a collaging party at our house a couple of years ago and had such a great time, she requested to do it again.

We spread out all the materials on my dining room table and without further adieu, we got to work.

So for all of you who are wondering what this "birth of an idea" (Inspiration 116) is all about, my collage this evening sheds some light on the themes that are coming to me. I believe that we all intuitively know what we are meant to do, but often times the picture we get presents a challenge. I believe all of the challenges come from our own minds.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'm going to lay some foundations down under my pictures. I'm ready for this change!

Do you ever collage or participate in creative activities in order to get a view of what you are called to do?

365 Inspirations—60: Signs

"The question is not what you look at, but what you see."—Henry David Thoreau

I believe in signs. I always have. They are everywhere if we tune in.

Recently I've been thinking of trying out somewhere new to live. For a while, I thought I might like to live in Sedona, but I think I'd miss the ocean too much.

My husband and I went out for sushi today for lunch. I started talking about our upcoming yoga retreat in Hawaii. We'll be in Hilo, Hawaii this month with a group of students. I'm looking forward to experiencing a new place and seeing how I feel there.

Somehow, we both started talking about creating a retreat center in Hawaii and we agreed that it would be the perfect place for what we have in mind. We talked about how we think we might like Hilo with it's interesting climate,  landscape and volcanoes, but we'll have to see when we get there.

Just then, on the sushi conveyer belt, a sushi plate labeled "Volcano Roll" passed by right in front of us. This was odd because it was the first time to see it in this sushi shop where we are regular customers.

We both looked at each other and said simultaneously, "Volcano Roll."

We walked outside and considered seeing a movie at the theater across the street. Nothing looked interesting, and we turned and left. We saw a movie poster that caught our eye and returned to the reader board to look at the movie times. No one was in line, but the woman selling tickets was talking to a male friend using the microphone from inside the ticket box.

Just then, clear as a bell, the man said, "So you are spontaneously moving to Hawaii?"

The woman selling tickets smiled and said, through the microphone, "Yes, I am."

My husband and I just stood there. We completely forgot about the movie or seeing a movie or looking at the reader board.

We left the ticket booth and wandered through the mall lost in thoughts about Hawaii.

Maybe it's just a pipe dream, but every great venture starts this way.

I believe in signs. I believe that we create our lives and we often notice what we need to.

Do you believe in signs? Have they ever led you to something new in your life?

365 Inspirations—41: 56 Up (The Movie)

"Life is what happens while you are waiting for something else."—Albert Camus

Today was the first week of the newest installment of the "7 Up" movies! Have you seen any of these? It's a British film and the creators of the documentary have been following the lives of a handful of people in England since they were all 7 years old. They are now 56!!!

It's very fascinating to hear what these children wanted to do when they grew up and what they are actually doing now. Every seven years, the film crew meets again with this group of people and they get a recap of their lives.

It so interesting how much our early childhood and family situations shape who we become. Our beliefs about ourselves are set very early on in life and if we want to break out of some of the negative attributes about ourselves, we have to work extremely hard at it.

All the people in the movie have gone various directions in their lives. Most of them married, most of them had children, some got divorced, some remarried, some travelled, most held jobs and many actually did the jobs they said they wanted to do as a young child.

I highly recommend this movie. It is such an interesting look at "a life". Even though it is just snippets of a life, it makes you think and reevaluate your own life and the things you are doing.

You realize, from the movie, that time goes by so fast and before you know it, you are 56!!!

It makes me think that I'd like to create a list right now with my husband of things I still want to do.

I'd like to travel a bit more and focus more on writing!

Do you have a bucket list? Are there things you still want to do in your life that you haven't? What are those things?

365 Inspirations—28: Sharing

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'” ―Erma Bombeck

I believe we are all here for a reason and each and every one of us has something to share or offer. You may not believe it, but you have a gift or gift(s). There's only one of you and only you can do things the way you do them.

I decided it was high time to offer something new to world. I have had my blog here since 2009. In 2010 I blogged lessons for 365 days, in 2011 I did weekly lessons and in 2012 my book, Lessons from the Monk I Married, was born and I went on a east and west coast tour with my husband and blogged about the experience. Now I'm offering 365 Inspirations for 2013. Not an easy task, but I get so much inspiration from sharing with others and discovering others gifts and talents.

Blogging every single day takes time and effort, but I'm committed to this opening and this sharing. Recently I felt like I wanted to offer more. I love how easy it is to connect via computer with access to blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc., but I've recently felt like I want to share what I have learned through more of a personal relationship.

I don't know if you noticed, but I added new tabs to my blog. I should have done it months ago, but I was a bit fearful. I hesitated a long time and finally took the afternoon and added all the information above that I've wanted to add for months, but was afraid to do for whatever reason.

In Retreats and Classes, I'm currently offering a new class called Discover Your Passion and Live an Authentic Life. You can read all about it in this section. All of my writing has been about finding the inspirational all around me and discovering my true path. My blogging journey has lead me to an agent, a publisher and a host of other amazing writers and bloggers. I could never have dreamed of this when I started my journey here. Blogging helped me let go of so much fear and has opened doors to so many interesting and new things in my life. I'm ready to share that and to help others move past fear and into living fully and authentically, on whatever path one chooses.

So if you are ready to take a leap of faith, please join me on this journey here or by taking my newly offered series of classes! I can't wait to see what life has in store for you!

Do you have any special talents or gifts? What are they? Do you believe you have something to share with others? What is it?

Week Eight-Lesson Eight: Don't Be Afraid To Finish What You've Started

My book is due to the publisher March 1st and to be honest, I'm scared and dragging my feet.

I've never been good with endings. I'm fantastic with ideas and getting the ball rolling, I slog through the process of seeing the ideas become reality, but when I get to the end or close to the end, I feel like my legs (or my fingers in this case) are heavily leaded. Every step (press of a key) feels weighty. At the end of any BIG project or event, I often go into either panic mode or avoidance mode. Thoughts like, "I don't know if I can finish this" or "I don't know if I can do this" swirl through my mind. Is there a phobia for that? A fear of finishing things? Does anyone know what it's called?

This isn't a new phobia for me. I've written about it before. I wrote about how I trained for a half marathon after college for weeks and weeks and weeks. I was prepared for the task at hand, but once I got close to the finish line I practically had to crawl over it. But the phobia goes back as far as early childhood. I was at a lake swimming in the "kiddie" section. If you wanted to swim out with the big kids, you had to pass a swim test. You had to swim out to a dock and turn around and swim back to the starting dock. I would say that the distance between the two docks was about the length of an average-sized swimming pool. I watched my sister do this with poise and grace. She swam effortlessly through the sparkling lake without a trace of exhaustion, pulled herself up on the starting dock and said, "Your turn!"

I hesitantly got into the water. I started off great. Nice even pace, clean strokes--I touched the dock and then pushed off with my feet out into the open water again. I could see my father and sister sitting on the starting dock. My father yelled, "C'mon, you are almost there!" And then everything got blurry. About a meter from the starting dock, I began to sink. I stuck my hand up in the air and the lifeguard dove in to rescue me and bring me safely up on the dock. I was humiliated. I am the older sister. Why couldn't I finish this easy swimming test? I wrote about this in a previous post and my sister commented and let me know that I did that test again and passed with flying colors. I don't remember that part.

So here I am again, a week before the finish line and I'm starting to sink. Or maybe I'm just coasting. Not sure. I woke up late, had a nice meal with my husband, took a walk, goofed around on the internet, read a few books for "research" and now I'm writing to you all on my blog and it's 4:12pm. Where did my day go?

What I've come to realize is that dreams are never quite like reality. It doesn't mean you shouldn't dream. You must dream. Just don't get stuck in the dream. Put a foundation under that dream of yours, otherwise what's the point? Dreaming and coming up with ideas are the easy part. Seeing your dreams through to the very END is the hard part. Why? Because when you dream about becoming an author or an actor or a painter or a musician or starting a business or changing careers or having a baby or getting married, the pictures of what this life looks like in your mind's eye are, well, dream-like. You don't imagine the baby screaming non-stop or the hours of writing with no human contact or the money issues or the lack of work or the economy crashing. Everything in your dream is rosy and cheery and maybe even....perfect!

But nothing is perfect. No one's life is perfect. I'm not a perfect writer. But I continue because I set this dream into motion. I put the foundations down. I asked for it and I got it and now I have to FINISH IT! And to be truthful, it's not as easy as I thought it would be. But I accept the good with the difficult and hard and crazy and uneasy and painful and uncertain. That's part of the whole package. It wouldn't be worth it if all I had to do was wave my magic wand and, BEHOLD! the book appeared. What would be the point of that? What makes a dream worthwhile is not just having a dream become reality, but what one has to go through to realize it.

So here I am at the end. I'm in avoidance mode. I'm afraid to finish. Maybe I'm afraid it's not good enough. I need another tweek here and another tweek there before it's perfect. But it is what it is and to be honest, I think it's pretty darn good. So with that, I'm going to take the bull by its horns and I'm going to face all my fears and I'm going to finish this thing. Yes, that's what I'm going to do. March 1st, I hear you calling and I promise I will deliver...