What's your dream?

Be Ready: Magic is everywhere!

2009-12-09T18:12:00.000-08:00

I had an amazing opportunity last weekend to gather with a group of 30ish former strangers (and some old friends) to contemplate optimism and its role in creating magic in our lives. The gathering was called a Holiday Seed Plot. So many gifts grew from the fertile time we spent together up in the gorge. It was remarkable on many levels. A constant theme among us was the importance of being present to the moment, seeing the beauty and magic in the every day, and being ready to receive the many good things that come our way each moment. The time we shared was magic, and it's everywhere if you're willing to look for it.

You Reading This, BE READY!

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
Sounds from outside fill the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
Than the breathing respect that you carry
Wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
For time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this new glimpse that you found: carrying into evening
All that you want from this day. This interval you spent
Reading or hearing this, keep it for life––

What can anyone give you greater than now,
Starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

– William Stafford

Please communicate so I am not bought duplicates . . .

2009-11-19T19:25:00.000-08:00

I've always believed the holidays are all about dreaming. And dreams of Christmases past are available "on demand" in my nocturnal mind-movies this time of year. They are dramedies of the best kind, filled with magic, love, gratitude and above all wishes granted, dreams fulfilled. As the resident Auntie Claus in my family, I emailed the younger generation on my "to shop for" list to inquire about what they hope for under the tree. I expected some creative responses, but this one took the cake! It came from my 11-year old niece, and followed two others from her (complete with web links to the wished for items) to an array of our family members . Read on. . .

"hi if you have any troubles opening my lists please let me know by e-mail.
i may be sending you a third list which is almost the same but combined.

if you have any ???? e-mail me please.

and remember please communicate with each other so i am not bought duplicates.

if you have any ideas please e-mail me

i will tell you if i enjoy that idea.

you rock!!!!!!!!"

I laughed out loud when I received this in my email. And even harder when my sister reported that she had asked her if she was "too pushy". And I thought heck no! How bold! How refreshing to get an honest answer to my inquiry that tells me exactly what is dancing behind her eyes as she sleeps. And how sad really, that she has to remind the grown ups in her life to talk to each other. Most of the family is now well past the age of 11, so sometimes we forget that the moments of surprise and joy that accompany opening packages filled with little dreams on Christmas morning is just the tiniest bit tainted when you rip off the wrapping to see yet another of the same thing. As a grown up, I mask my disappointment pretty well. But as a child, it takes away a little bit of the magic. And I, for one, want to experience as much of that magic as I can. This child gives me magic when I talk to her before she heads to sleep "so Santa can come", and when she wakes up everyone in the house, breathless over the abundance that is nestled beneath the lights and branches of the tree. This may be the last year she believes in Santa and Reindeer and cookies eaten and notes left behind (at least in the literal sense). But I'm pretty certain she'll continue–as her mother and I do-to believe that somehow, when you put your wishes out there, the universal Santa will do it's best to grant them. In her candor, she reminds us to be crystal clear about our desires; to be honest about how much of a good thing is too much or whether something sounds good or not; and to communicate with each other. And– judging by her list–she reminds us to DREAM BIG. And why not? If you never put it out there, you've got no chance of getting it!

Winning Big

2009-11-11T16:04:00.000-08:00

I confess. .. myself and a few other fabulous women I know, gather with some frequency under a variety of names. For a few years we called ourselves the lipstick mafia. This week we'll be gathering under a new name, the Witches of Eastside. Not that we are of the Wicca, nor do we have any issue with those that are. But what we are, ultimately is a bunch of dreamers. Today we pooled our resources to play the lottery. Why? Because the dream of Winning Big fuels our creative minds. We dream of starting a foundation (mine would focus on helping kids with mental health challenge). We dream of traveling to far away places. We dream of leaving behind the weight we carry that is the cement shoes of the standard-fare American dream (mortgage, car payments, medical costs, kids education, planning for retirement, etc. etc. ). We dream of being financially free.

Winning Big for our clan would remove the things that interrupt our joy. Free of the burdensome responsibilities that we chose our way into over a lifetime of climbing ladders, changing directions and building our own communities. Free to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Just thinking about winning big stops us in our tracks. We release all fear, doubt and insecurity. We smile. We laugh out loud. We imagine the possible. We feel free. Knowing this we stop, and we realize if money is the only thing standing in our way. . . we are already Winning Big.