Whoda thunk it?

As discussed in a Rx for Caregivers' posting,  "The best is yet to be," surprised myself this morning by telling a friend to stick with me, that the initiatives I'm working on will open up just-right employment opportunities for retirees such as she.  The words came out of my mouth because my brain already sees them as done deals.  Amazing. 

And a mega butt kick to make it so!  

Thinking about transforming something born in my imagination into a tangible THING turns my thoughts to my sister.  Mim - eight years my senior - held that what is manifested is never as awesome as what we can envision.  That is so NOT my experience.  My wedding turned out the way I'd imagined - only better.  Ditto my marriage!  True also for the Brand Voice news bulletin, which nobly & notably fulfilled its use -AND- turned out to be the first online regional employee newsletter in ALL of Prudential business groups.  True also for The Cupcake Lady, for The Retreat, for my various blogs, my coaching sessions with Jane Kerschner - all turned out considerably better than I dreamed.

So why expect anything less than WOW for the Rx for Caregivers' page-a-day calendar?  for The Whole Elder Catalogue?  For Cyber Access for the Technically Timid ~or~ En Famille Friends?  

Whoda thunk it?  Actually, anyone who knows my track record!

MONEY, WEALTH, RICHES - the words that shall not be spoken

Somewhere along my 66 years, I picked up the message that money was icky, dirty, defiling.  This has come rushing to the fore as I work my way through Jen Sincero's You Are A Badass At Making Money.  Every time I think, "Well, that's my last great dunder-headed idea about money," another jumps out to shake me up.

It's wondrously uplifting to copy out statements like page 154's "The Universe wants you to grown & bloom into the most glorious version of yourself.  Growth happens through friction & challenge, & the lesson we learn through those experiences."  Ah, yes - my psyche purrs writing out such wondrous words. 

However, my breath gets shorter, faster as I write, "Money appreciates for the appreciative" (p 157) & I went into full crisis mode copying out "Get clear on the amount of money I'm going to make, the specifics of what the money is for, and how freakin' awesome it feels to make it."  (p. 172-73)  Seriously?  Isn't that...  sacrilegious?

And it drags me in deeper -

• Decide, with unshakable commitment, that I am making this money.
• Get a plan together to make the money I desire (gonna burn in hell!) to make, chunk the plan back into bite-sized pieces, and focus my ass off on one goal at a time.
• Hold an image in my mind of the live I'm creating & all the money that's flowing toward me with excitement (the money is excited? me? both?), hardcore faith & deep gratitude.
• Do my BEST, wherever I'm at, whatever I'm doing & always do everything - everything - with an attitude of gratitude.  
• When the Universe presents a How that leads in the direction of my goal to make more money (breathing is immediately labored), leap into its lovin' arms immediately.  Especially if it's scary.  Go for it.  Let fear be your compass. 

Just writing out those points were scary, am light headed due as much to the shortness of my breath as to the growing edginess I feel experiencing my strong NEGATIVE reaction to the very thought of money.  

It's hard to describe - - thinking about money makes me feel defenseless because the very word brings all my defensive shields up, full force.  

Here's the twist - since succeeding in any field typically leads to the making of good money, holding negative thoughts of big bucks becomes a strong disincentive for accomplishing important goals, a pull against creating outcomes positively affecting countless people.  

I've written about this before, but the deeper I get into Jen's book, the more it keeps coming up & the more shocked I continue to be at how my sense of money being bad remains ingrained encoded entrenched in my psyche.  Still.  At page 178.  

Will I have worked through it by the final paragraph on page 267?  Stay tuned!

Dodging the banana peel

In You're A Badass About Making Money, Jen Sincero notes - -  "One of the biggest banana peels on the road to success is fragmenting your time & focus.  If you're all over the place, you're half-assing a bunch of different things instead of kicking ass at one thing."

Or as I often quote the brilliant artist, asked at the 2001 National Polymer Clay Guild Conference HOW his team came up with their wondrous designs - - "It's not a question of coming up with ideas, but to figure out which few among the many to develop."

My own projects have been winnowed down to two - putting together the Rx for the Caregiver page-a-day calendar & organizing a 05/15/18 Age Justice event in Philadelphia, a sister rally to the one the national Radical Age Movement is throwing in Central Park.  Get those two won & done, then tackle the others.

Sidestep the banana!

Clarity Questions - Week of 01/28/18

My best memory of the week - this is tough!  A lot of wow memories.  Has to be hearing Anders Gyllenhaal's speak on the state of the 1st amendment in our digital age, part of Bryn Athyn College's Distinquished Speakers series.  A terrific presentation from an accomplished communicator & all-around great guy, plus an impromptu reunion of the Class of '70.

What I'm most grateful for this week -  a generous Universe that continues to set awesome people in my paths.  

Accomplishments this week that make me smile - getting HCIC thank you notes up to date, introducing three new masks at Upper Moreland's fundraiser, picking up Florence then John then getting to Patricia's for the monthly creatives circle then dropping off Florence then getting the last two items for the fundraiser craft activity then getting there at 5:15 p.m. while staying relaxed & having a great time through it all, enjoying hearing Neal & Christa at The Zen Den then hoofing up the hill to Puck to hear John Austin, photocopying the wonderful template John designed for the Rx for Caregivers page-a-day calendar, 

A challenge I faced this week - getting connected to my first monthly meeting of the Radical Age Movement.  

Strengths & supports I used to get me through the week - processing stuff as information instead of taking it personally, flipping negative things to constructive, persistence curiosity interest, LOVE, tackling the unfamiliar & uncomfortable, consistency & constancy, trusting in the Divine.

A lesson from the past week that I am taking into the current one - to speak up without fear.  At the end of the Radical Age Meeting, the moderator asked me for input, instead of thinking of all I don't know about issues around aging, I focused on what I did & offered some good comments & suggestions - and took on doing a 05/15/18 Age Justice event in Philadelphia instead of going up to the NYC Central Park event that's attracting some mega big wigs.  As part of the Q&A after Anders' talk, I mentioned something that another "expert" told me afterward he believed was wrong; turned out - to his surprise - that we were both right.  Reinforced that what I know has value, be comfortable using my voice, stay open to double checking & always listen to others.

Systems - bring 'em on!

I have flipped over James Clear, who dovetails with Mel Robbins in messaging that the key to successful doing in NOT being motivated - it is found in SYSTEMS, putting together the individual parts that form a whole.

As James explains:

• If you're a coach, your goal is to win a championship. Your system is what your team does at practice each day.
• If you're a writer, your goal is to write a book. Your system is the writing schedule that you follow each week.
• If you're a runner, your goal is to run a marathon. Your system is your training schedule for the month.
• If you're an entrepreneur, your goal is to build a million dollar business. Your system is your sales and marketing process.

Gobs of people seek to accomplish something meaningful & are blessed with the wherewithal to do it, are passionate about their goal & determined to reach it, yet fall short - or never full start - because they lack the system needed to make it so.

Systems - the next best step by next best step action plan, the nuts & bolts of getting from Point A to Point Z.

For years, I sought ways to fortify my woeful personal infrastructure. Andy Adams' recommendation that I read The Greatest Salesman In The World (read it as instructed, which took a year) strengthened my infrastructure. James Clear & Mel Robbins put that infrastructure to USE through systems.

Clarity, precision, action - the basics of effective systems; effective, well utilized systems - the basics of an effective, accomplished life.

Bring it on!

When the student is ready...

How long ago did I first hear, "When the student is ready, the teacher appears"?  Probably my middish twenties, possibly while having a cup of tea or a Kir Royale across the driveway, at Dorothy & Susie's apartment.

Teachers have been showing up, fast & fabulous, over the past 5+ years.  With stunning speed & effectiveness over the past 6+ months! 

This past week was a total jaw dropper, beginning with sharing a cuppa at the Lumberville General Store with a new friend.  Tom does for my brain what John did for my heart - brings it into focus, whittles away non-essentials, makes it bigger better bolder than I imagined.  And he connected me with James Clear, who blows away the fog that's cloaked my brain & imparted a clarity that feels like both a fresh discovery & a welcome homecoming! 

This student is SO very ready, so Universe - keep those teachers coming.

Midge Maisel reflects life

My thanks to Merry Farmer for hooking me on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a very short season (8 episodes) show on Amazon Prime.  Woe is me - the new episodes don't begin shooting until next month! 

Although the show is heavily laced with language that would make a sailor blush, the story lines are beautifully played out, with exceptional writing costuming filming matched toe-to-toe with performances.

Here's what hits home with Midge Maisel - - if she had been granted her greatest wish, she would have lived her life as a happy Jewish wife esconced in a lovely apartment with her husband & two kids.  It didn't work out that way, thanks to her husband being a hapless putz who had the ideal wife - she got him better spots at the Gaslight by bribing the manager with her to-die-for brisket.  She was, in every way, a great match for Joel Maisel - which was all too much for him.  Especially after she discovered that his brilliantly funny bit about Abe Lincoln was actually Bob Newhart's material.  Although she didn't make a big deal about Joel's comedy larceny - he refused to create original material - he knew it was a disappointment. 

He deals with it by blowing up his marriage.  As he expresses in the last episode of this first season, he couldn't handle that she was "too."  In every way, she was too right for him.  So, he leaves her for his even-younger-than 26-year old Midge. 

She responds by getting drunk & heading down to the Village to get back her Pyrex baking dish ("a glass baking dish, very durable") that had conveyed the briskets that nabbed Joel his better slots.  Her world is set on its ear when she wanders up on the stage - the audience assumes she is a comic.  And she, unintentionally, delivers a vitriolic, profanity-laced, BRILLIANTLY funny diatribe.  When she flashes her breasts, the cops move in & arrest her.  And that arrest is what connects her to Susie Myerson & even to Lenny Bruce.  Oh, and when Midge discovers that she is made of stronger stuff than she'd ever imagined. 

THAT, dear friends, is life as it actually plays out.  NOT as we're taught to expect it to be, but as it really works for all but the possibly not-so-blessed few.  What defines our lives, how the turn out, is typically the stuff that tosses us off the tracks, that derails our expectations, that flings away our expectations & leave us with our own version of Joel leaving Midge - with her Bryn Mawr degree & not real world experience - to find her real way.

Along the way, through those all-too-short eight episodes, she falls & rises, falls & rises, does something utterly brilliant yet professionally suicidal & comes out of it better than she would have been had she played by the book. 

I don't know why Merry loves Midge Maisel, but it's clear why I do - - Midge Maisel, a fiction Jewish housewife of the Upper West Side in 1958 NYC, is my soul sister, a reflection of my own roller coaster life that's turned out to be nothing like I planned & so totally, unpredictably SPECTACULAR.