Connected and Committed

think globally, act locally

Little Man at the library, through a globe that looks like it's been cracked down the middle and repaired as many times as it's been looked at. Love. this. photo.

Whew. New job responsibilities starting to show up on the plate today.  I will be communications coordinator for a huge project that my company is undertaking to bring itself back from a three year slump. The major players charged with the undertaking are meeting today and tomorrow to come up with a timeline to deliver to executives as to whether or not it's reasonable to expect it to roll out on the requested schedule.

Lots of trickle-down through the company from this table of decision makers, lots of people touched by what they choose to do. Lots of stress coming up, perhaps many jobs on the line if it doesn't do what it's intended to do.

Somehow I manage to stay above the panicking and just concentrate on what I need to learn how to do to help with the effort, which is just about everything. Mostly using computer applications I've never used in ways that I've not done before.  All good stuff to add to a skill set that will travel with me should that ever happen, just the unfamiliarity in the learning curve to go through.

Last night was Movie #2 from "The List" - Waking Life - an animated quest for enlightenment, the meaning of life, all that good stuff.  I'd say that I liked it, more than Capote, certainly, or any of the other Hollywood offerings that disappointed of late.  It was a bit long for my attention span though - I thought it could have gotten its message across with fewer monologues and fewer scenes with the main character walking into a new setting to receive said monologues. Do I think I am actually dreaming as I write this, as I live my day-to-day? Maybe.  It would explain a lot.

There definitely was empowerment in the monologues that touted no limits if we are the creators of what we "dream." I like that part. But I already believe that, so it's simply feeding where I resonate already.

Deeper. Need to go deeper.

porch!!!

less hollywood, more spirit

My search for meaningful film has led me to the library and off-beat rental store. If you read my latest newsletter, you may have investigated the 50 Spiritual Movies link - I decided to track down the titles on that list that I haven't watched, to see if they might add in a positive way to my daily quest for artful living experience.

Groundhog Day and Shawshank Redemption are hard acts to follow. The first title on the list that showed up on hold at the library was Box of Moonlight. Not even in the same league, I'm sorry to say - the story not even an eighth as compelling or desirable to suspend disbelief to enjoy.  There was definitely quirkiness in the supporting character who sold stolen lawn ornaments to fund his off-the-grid lifestyle who was teaching the uptight middle-aged main character how to lighten up and live a little. In the end, or rather from the beginning, I wasn't hooked by the plot or the transformation.

Harumph. Next!

cake

Before

After

friends don't let friends

A recent siting on the highways and biways. My political opinions don't put much stock in this bumper sticker because I think the label of a particular party doesn't mean much - political animals on both sides of our very partisan national scene behave badly enough to warrant substituting "Democrat" for "Republican" here and not much would change. I do like the play on the marketing classic that friends don't let friends drive drunk.

Recently I decided to take action on letting go of a relationship that had been in my life for a very long time but had grown into one of those "friendships" that didn't really flesh out the term. This relationship didn't feed me the way I wanted it to, it only siphoned energy from me when I participated in it, which was happening less and less because of the reaction I was having to its presence. 

I didn't relish the thought of hurting this person's feelings but knew that it was inevitable because of the chasm between our two worldviews and the tangle one can get into by trying to explain something to someone from another paradigm altogether.  So I kept my news brief and to the point, wishing this person well but withdrawing from the relationship.

The lesson here for me is how much more efficiently our lives run when our boundaries and intentions are very clear and our integrity about maintaining those things is just as strong and vigilant. Then there is no wasted energy on anyone's part spent wondering how to fix a relationship that cannot be mended - it doesn't have permission to materialize in the first place. The potential bops along until it finds its match in the vibe of someone else whose intentions and boundaries will allow it entry.

Using my gut as a Geiger counter of sorts, it just feels so much better not to pretend anymore. I get to be more myself now and move on, wiser and more appreciative of the vibes that do match and do manage to catch up with me. 

Anyone pursuing a dream and marshalling their energies in that direction may need to clean house in this respect at some point with one or more people in their lives whose relationship just don't contribute to the overall good of either party. I recommend making the split as soon as possible and not contemplating what you might be able to do to soften the blow or change about yourself to keep that person in your life. That just postpones the inevitableand compounds the wound.

Be brave. Have courage for your self and what good things will follow when you make the space for the new by getting rid of the nonfunctional. That person also will have room in their life for something new too. Who knows what will be able to show up for them now that you are out of the picture as well?

It's difficult, but not as difficult as living with a constant awareness of less than.

movies

I've been quite the movie buff here lately, taking in my third since Thursday, today's after work at a matinee. Which is probably more first-run film experiences than I've had in the last three years put together! I have to admit that two of them were paid for with free passes I obtained via my job, so that was part of the reason I would deign to grace the theaters with my presence so often. I just feel the need for some cinematic goodness at the moment; there really wasn't that much to be had though, in any of the films that I've seen.

The first was Family Stone. Then came Last Holiday. And tonight, Capote. Although there was an element in all three about going for your dreams that gave me about a minute of viewer satisfaction, the rest of the time I was just bored.

Philip Seymour Hoffman gave a tremendous performance in Capote of a not very likable character, "a tragedy about a man who gets what he wants and is ultimately destroyed by it," as one reviewer puts it. Well, when you manipulate those around you on your way to your goal, I guess I'm just not all that intrigued anymore with the "seductive" story.

Queen Latifah's character in Last Holiday went through a long-overdue life overhaul because of a misdiagnosed terminal illness. I like the fact that she didn't become someone she was not, even though she was put into circumstances where she might very easily have. But from the first scene, I knew I wouldn't enjoy this film because it already looked dated, like a movie of the week does, with the cinematography just not up to snuff. And I'm not much of a fan of slapstick humor, either.

Family Stone at least had an interesting ending where everyone was where they were meant to be, but the usual sophomoric gags, plot twists and attempts at humor - Hollywood, I'm sorry, but you're still, just not doin' it for me.

Anybody want some free movie tickets? :~)

chimney!!!

A light tube that will illuminate the bathroom.

juxtaposition

There's a link I've bumped into twice now from so totally divergent corners of worldview that the juxtaposition is delightful.  The first came from here, and the second came from here, referring to where he bumped into it here.

The topic is a favorite of mine anyway, being the change junkie that I am - god I love the internet. See if any of these ideas gets your creative juices flowing.

Manifesto for Growth

I was made aware of this list today, An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. Some of the tenets I've seen explained from the other side of the fence, but I like the tenor and the passion behind this list. You can tell it's the thinking of an artist, one who has learned that taking risks and thinking differently is so much more empowering than playing it safe, hiding.

I'm finished hiding. I went out and recruited myself for a job that I've been unconsciously grooming myself for, oh  I don't know, maybe a lifetime.  My newest supervisor is the one who forwarded me this list, and it pleases me to no end that I've navigated my ship into these waters. How did I do it? By focusing on what I wanted, trying various actions at different times as well, but mostly focusing on what I wanted. And being open to the possibilities as they presented themselves, allowing situations to be recognized for the gifts that they are, and then running with them.

Lots of change in the next few months, and I'm instituting an exercise regimen with my rebounder and my favorite music into my mornings to help balance the stress and energy levels. I'm observing the moments of my day that I live artfully, resonating. Still crafting a mutually beneficial way to share that observation with the world that makes sense to me, but I'm paying attention and feeling the results more and more.

In the words of someone on an email discussion group today - "I realized that what's happening in my life right now is exactly where I want to be." It doesn't get any better than that.

windows!!! shingles!!!

new year rainbow

Biggest Loser

Oh my god - I am soooooo sleepy today. First day back to the day job after a significant absence or holiday break is always tough. Residual effects from New Year's Eve? Nope - I was in bed, alcohol free by 10:30 that evening.

What's contributing to this brain fog is my marathon session in front of the television last night, watching back-to-back episodes on Bravo channel of the reality show, Biggest Loser.

Before yesterday I had a vague understanding of the premise of the show, but by 8:00 PM I was intimately acquainted with its addictive ways. Couldn't tear myself away from the fascinating transformations taking place on the screen.

I was watching people making choices about taking control of their lives and creating them the way they wanted them to be. I was hearing people describe their experiences with "The Game", as it was affectionately called, in terms such as "empowering," and "finding the real me."

Granted, I witnessed what the producers and editors were willing to share with me - who knows what didn't make it past the cutting room floor - but the honesty and integrity on the part of The Game's participants was quite compelling.

At one point, I remember thinking this, this right here, is what the phrase, "Anything is possible," means. For these people to allow the filming of the process that unraveled their pain and their suffering, regardless of their monetary compensation, is amazing to me.

Who among us is willing to tear down the walls we build around us - whether they are constructed with food, sex, alcohol, computer time, reading, avoiding social or intimate situations - with people we claim to love, let alone in front of milllions of people via a camera lens?

Then I got to thinking about what a valuable tool this reality show concept could be, somehow minus the game aspect, which of course might take all of the incentive and motivation out of it for some people. But how awesome would it be to document and have available for those who choose to witness it, the processing of the journey.

There were only glimpses of the struggle each contestant faced when returning home without the safety net of a personal trainer and prepared meals. The difficulty of making choices that aren't popular or conventional; the painful but liberating inner wrestling match with whatever issues manifested as the addiction in the first place; the reaching out to people for support and love that makes our existence worthwhile.

Why not use television for that kind of example setting, instead of primarily escape? This medium aids and abets the forming of addictions - why not allow it to instruct and inform as well? There is an audience out there, hungry (ha!) for intelligent television and film, and I'm not the first to pose this question. I'm aware of only one daytime show that provides this kind of experience, bringing the viewer along for a vicarious ride into personal transformation.

What a hoot it would be to see message boards dedicated to discussions about making tough choices and changing lives, rather than the inane posts on the boards that debate the "hot"-ness of a particular actor.

Those people whose lives I witnessed beign transformed from week to week, they were all the biggest winners, as far as I'm concerned. Every last one of them.