Tag — 8Things
*8Things: Small Gratitudes
When the sun comes out and the college kids congregate in the public squares, my heart gets grateful. Little things become more easily seen and treasured. It must be all that light glimmering off the daffodils.
*8Things: Small Gratitudes
1. Morning cuddles with Cate.
2. Samson’s pitter pat toes when hears the word “walk.”
2. Sunlight at 8pm.
3. Being car-free.
4. Swiming solo.
5. A room of my own.
6. Cola on ice.
7. Sundays to ourselves.
8. The sound of the elevator at the end of the day.
What’s on your *8Things: Small Gratitudes list today? Grab a button and play along! Put your list in the comments; or post on your blog and give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below. (We’ll come come say hi! ) Thanks for being here!
*8Things: F*ck Conventional Wisdom
I want to run down the halls of my high school.
I want to scream at the top of my lungs.
I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world.
It’s just a lie you have to rise above.-J.Mayer, No Such Thing
This week’s list is a part of our series, Standing in Your Own Power…which is an extension of this *8Things . (It seems we have come full-circle.)
One of the things we’ve been talking about in our Standing in Your Own Power series is the difference between external sources of authority (institutions, cultural messages, etc) and internal sources of authority (The Muse, intuition, etc.) External sources often come cloaked in the guise of “conventional wisdom.” There are of course, good examples of conventional wisdom. “Look both ways before crossing the street” comes immediately to mind. But there are plenty of dubious CW soundbites as well.
As Jen Lemen once point out, “The Man” has really done a job on me. There are a number of thing in my head that I accept as truth without applying a critical eye. So, like Penny did with Fear, I’d like to say f*ck off to these *8 bits of conventional wisdom.
*8Things: F*ck Conventional Wisdom
1. I sound like my mother. Why does this have to be a bad thing? Motherhood is an honorable profession.
2. You should try to stay the size you were in high school. Seriously? This so does NOT honor our bodies.
3. It’s not a ‘real’ book unless it’s printed by a ‘real’ publisher. Um, who says?
4. Your children need to go to church. They need a religious foundation. Don’t get me started.
5. You need good grades. This is important for like, 5 minutes of your life. Average grades work fine.
6. You have to be financially secure. Really, the need for financial security and how you define it varies widely based on personality.
7. That’s not how it’s done. Anything remotely like this sets off big warning bells
What *8Things do you need to stop listening to? What does “everybody” know is true, but doesn’t work for you? Tell that stuff to take a hike in your *8Things: F*ck Conventional Wisdom list. Grab a button and play along! Put your list in the comments; or post it on your blog and give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below. (We’ll come come say hi! ) Thanks for being here!
*8Things: This I know
This week’s list is a part of our series, Standing in Your Own Power…which is an extension of this *8Things . (It seems we have come full-circle.)
When it comes to finding your power, a handy repeat-as-often-as-necessary exercise is to write a lit of things you know to be true. (Even Oprah does it.) I find that this list slips around a bit for me. So I like to do it a couple times a year. Here is my current list of:
*8Things: This I Know
1. I can succeed, even with chronic pain, if I define success by my own internally-identified terms.
2. As a mom, I kinda rock.
3. “Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and above all things, Love.”
4. You can love with your whole heart, no questions asked. (Jen Lemen said it, and I believe it.)
5. My gremlins are not testaments to truth telling, and therefore as witnesses, they can be ignored.
6. Art is my new church.
7. My family creates community wherever we go.
8. I can be married and be a self-actualized, happy, passion-following woman at the same time.
What are the things you know, that you Know, that you KNOW? These are the boulders at the foundation you use to stand in your own power. List your *8Things: This I Know in the comments, or grab a button and play along. If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.
*8Things:If (then)
I can tell there is hard, boring work to be done because suddenly my Gremlins are saying “If” a lot. “If only you had X you wouldn’t have to do Y.” It’s how they distract me from doing the tasks at hand. By whinning.
I’m going to try to turn whinning into a superpower by turning my major If’s into “If….then” clauses that might get me closer to my dream goals. Wanna play?
1. IF you had a start-up fund you would have the help you need for your small business. (THEN I’d better start reading Itty Biz because according to this interview, she is all about helping “single person business” get rolling.)
2. IF I had unlimited funds all my clothes would fit and be flattering. (THEN I’d better get rid of the unflattering stuff and start building a wardrobe that flatters one piece at a time.)
3. IF I could, I would spend a good portion of each winter in a sunny climate. (THEN I’d better get on some home exchange sites and see what we can work out.)
4. IF I was single I would never eat anything a but take-out and scrambled eggs for dinner. (THEN you better stop with the 50’s housewife “hot home cooked meal with two sides” crap and recognize that your family is fine with a bowl of spaghetti and some sliced bell peppers.)
5. IF I had more time I would swim every day. (THEN you better start realizing the time you have is the time you have, and choose to make swimming a priority.)
6. IF my bike was working I would ride it more. (THEN you better find the spare keys, walk it to the bike shop, and pump up the tires on Saturday.)
7. IF I knew how, I would get my readers talking a little bit more. (THEN you better start trying different techniques/ideas and see what works.)
8. IF I could hire someone who could write code, I wouldn’t have to do so much manual fiddly work on my websites. (THEN you better start asking around to find out how to hire this mysterious person and how much it would cost.)
What is your list for *8Things : IF (THEN)? Let us know in the comments, or grab a button and play along. If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.
*8Things: Learned/Learning/Learn
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about things I would like to learn to do, and accomplishments I’d like to celebrate. (It must be Spring.) So here are my *8Things: Learned/Learning/Learn. (Hopefully this will quiet my Monkey Mind down a bit so I can do the learning bit that’s on my plate right now!) I hope you’ll play along!
Learned:
1. To play the Guitar. I’m only suitable for 3rd grade campfire sing alongs, but I’ve got a few songs.
2. To exercise Regularly. I’ve Pavlov-ed myself into 5 day a week exercise!
3. To eat without gluten.
Learning:
4. How to not eat sugar.
5. How to produce free and for-fee content at the same time.
(Want to) Learn:
6. Some form of morning meditation. (Any suggestions of what type and why you like it would be much appreciated.)
7. How to use my spendy camera.
8. Photoshop basics.
What are your *8Things : Learned/Learning/Learn? Let us know in the comments, or grab a button and play along. If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.
*8Things: Whimsy
Whimsy’s been on my mind lately. So here’s a list of *8Whimiscal Things that are easily found around me. What’s your whimsy?
1. Mother of Pearl Opera Glasses (bought for me by Paul at a Danish Loppemarked)
2. Mardis Gras Baby (purple)
3. Spoon Ring
4. Gremlin House.
5. Paul’s grandmother’s paint-by-numbers.
6. Mason jar of vintage silver door knobs.
7. Music box innards, which play “Puff the Magic Dragon.”
8. Flea market oil painting of the Little Mermaid.
What is your list for *8Things : Whimsy Around Me? Let us know in the comments, or grab a button and play along. If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalinkin the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.
*8Things: Songs for Standing in Your Power
Today at *8Things we are circling the wagons and rounding up songs that help us Stand in Our Own Power. (For more posts on this theme click here.)
1. That I Would Be Good, Alanis Morissette
2. Crawl, Polyphonic Spree
3. Knuckle Down, Ani DiFranco,
4. The Glory of Love, Bette Midler
5. Live High, Jason Mraz
6. Yahweh, U2
7. Better Together, Jack Johnson
9. Bold as Love, John Mayer
What tunes let you stand firm? What songs help you walk strong? Leave your *8Things list in the comments below or give us the permalink to the list on your blog in the Mr. Linky below. (We’ll come say ”hi!”) Thanks for being here.
*8Things: Standing in Your Own Power
I feel powerful in this photo. What image captures you standing in your own power?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this turn of phrase I use with the girls and with clients – “standing in your own power.” I’m not even completely sure what I mean by it, but I know it is key.
I know it means not letting your internal authority be overruled by outside sources of authority (religious institutions, schools, “experts”).
I know it has to do with tapping into your intuition.
And I know it is the most essential thing I can teach my girls.
Someday I’d like to do a series of guest posts on this, asking wise souls to guide us. In the meantime here are *8Things I know about Standing in Your Own Power.
1. Defy institutions.
2. Correspond with The Muse.
3. Practice whimsy.
4. Breathe into your Manipura (solar plexus) chakra.
5. Write lists of things you know to be true.
6. Forget conventional wisdom.
7. Muscle test your decisions.
8. Live my this dictum: “What would you do today, if you knew you could not fail?” – Robert Schuller
What is your list for *8Things that help you stand in your own power? Let us know in the comments, or grab a button and play along. If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalinkin the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.
*8Things: Observe Closely
Today’s *8Things list come from @KateJumps, my Copenhagen neighbor and a record-breaking skydiver. She suggests that we use this week to observe the place we live, and learn to love it a little more. What are *8 Observations about the world around you?
*8Things Observed in my Neighborhood
(These first 4 are from my husband, Paul. He emailed them to me from the train on his way to work this morning. So sweet!)
1. two magpies in the traffic circle.
2. a red–as in “Oh she just got her hair dyed red”–squirrel.
3. a woman wearing jeans with a maroon paint stripe on her ass imitating as if she had sat on a newly painted park bench.
4. …and the snow is almost gone
5. little yellow flowers poking up thru the lawn in the havn (garden/park).
6. snowdrops with their buds not quite opened.
7. the swans returning to the city’s søer (lakes.)
8. flower sellers outside the Stog (train) station.
What is your list for *8Things: Observed in my Neighborhood? Let us know in the comments, or grab a button and play along. If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.
*8Things: Mantras For Writers
You guys, I am so depressed. Seriously, the last three days I have barely gotten out of bed. The winter is kicking my ass. And yet, everyday, I write. What are the mantras you say to get you thru the resistance? Do tell!
*8 Mantras for Writers
1) hello resistance. hope you’ll be going along soon.
2) you can show up at the page.
3) breathe the next breath, write the next word.
4) you don’t have to be first or best, just creating is worth it.
5) your story matters, sing it from the rooftops.
6) shitty first drafts are writing.
7) everything counts: outlining, drafting, editing.
8) any writing is enough for today.
What are your mantras for fighting resistance? Organize your mind and give us a little preview in the comments, or grab a buttonand play along. If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.
