Advice Girl: Making a Mondo Beyondo List

Time for Mondo Beyondo…Back to dreaming. Back to fertile ground. Back to reaching for hope.
UPDATE: Congratualtions to Tess Marshall of Anchors and Masts! She won the Mondo Beyondo drawing and will be recieving Begininngs, Tweet, and Reka Twige Kwifasha No Gufasha Abandi (Let’s Learn to How to Help Ourselves and Others) in the mail soon! Thanks to everyone here and on Twitter who played along!
Andrea told Jen, and Jen told me how to write Mondo Beyond Lists. These are the biggest of our big dreams — the real whoppers you can hardly admitt to. Making the list is a little like a prayer, sort of a request to the universe, and if you are very brave, the beginnings of an affirmation.
Since I’ve started the habit I’ve seen some things come to fruition (living abroad, getting out of the body image trap, making a life habit of yoga) and some of those hot desires have cooled down and gone away. (surfing, adopting, living in Italy)
There are new dreams in my being these days and I feel afraid for them, because they seem so fragile. So I decided to write them down today and make them a little more real — things always seem more concrete to me if they are on a page in word or in image. Usually I would want to make a list like this pretty — with watercolors and mixed media. But today all I had was a sharpie and some cardstock. And you know what? It was enough. So here is my Mondo Beyond List for now:
-Sing my lungs out in front of a big crowd, preferably with these folks.
-Transfer (in good time) to the UK, somewhere midsized like this.
-Get a paid, monthly column in a national magazine where I can feature pieces about seasonal rites and rituals.
-Publish three books: Tales from an Urban Abbess, Soulcrafting for Kids, and A Very Mild Narcissist (an image-based journal.)
-Have at least one good Muslim friend with whom I could really share my soul (and vice versa).
-Watch a sabbath community form organically where we could co-exsist with a few soulmates.
-Find a healthy way to practice the priesthood again.
-Travel to Africa with Jen, Mada, Odette, Grace, Lillian, Eden, and Cate to watch the women there step further into thier own power.
-Keep our ties strong with Souren; see him a couple of times a year long enough to reconnect.
-Be truly migraine-free. (Wow, it took all my breathe to whisper that one.)
-Stop fighting with time and be at peace with what I get done in any given day, month, year, season….
-Be on a first-name, call-any-time friendship basis with at least one artist I admire because they are learning to master his or her craft. Right now the short list would include Sabrina, John, Tim,Ira, or any voice from this show.
What is your Mondo Beyondo dreams? Make them real in the comments, give us your top choice on Twitter, or link to your blog below. One lucky Mondo Maker will get a copy of Jen’s new zine, one of the orginals, and just for fun, one of my zines from last year, Tweet. Contest will close on Monday morning. Go on now, dream big!










May 23rd, 2008 at 9:52 am
I heard about Mondo Beyondo this last year for the first time and instantly got shivers. I love the idea, and writing down my scariest, most brilliant dreams has given purpose to a very difficult year. Here is my list: http://cappuccinosophy.blogspot.com/2008/01/part-two.html, which I posted in hopes of inspiring others to see the delirious potential in their own lives as well!
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I started one of these about 9 months ago. I should check and see what I wrote. I’ll think on this. Thanks for sharing.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Mondo Beyondo… hmm… My biggest Mondo Beyondo dream item right now is to do what I love for a living. To quit my day job and make money writing, crafting, and bringing people together. I was just going to quantify it with some ‘if’s and ‘but’s, but i’ll leave it just the way it is.
May 24th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Oh yes, I love this idea, I must start a list. And I think your last item will be on it - stop fighting with time.
And Bath is a fabulously beautiful city. My former life coach lives there, if you ever want a contact who might be able to help.
May 25th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
mondo beyondo: wake up each morning with a smile. no matter what time, no matter who woke me up. wouldn’t that be awesome?
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Hi Rachelle,
I just want to say thank you. This post is something I really, really needed to read today. I followed your links to Jen’s blog, and Jen also had some words that I didn’t even know I needed to hear, but which rang a bell in my heart.
I forwarded your site and Jen’s to my best friend, who responded immediately with gratitude because her 14-year-old is doing her best to turn both her parents bald and aged in the course of one weekend, and SHE needed to read encouraging things.
So, thank you.
Best wishes,
Cindy