I’m still enjoying the snow fleas. I expect I’ve got at least a couple more weeks before all the snow melts and I can no longer see those little critters. I’ve learned that they are always there. They are just more noticeable on the snow white background. More info at my squidoo lens, snowfleas
March 25, 2009
Snow Feas
December 30, 2008
Freefall
Happy Holidays, My Friends!
Our winter white stuff has been falling, falling, and falling. My yard probably has about 4 feet of snow and there seems no end to it. I’ve already shoveled the roof once. Today I go for round two. If these blog entries cease, come find me. Bring shovels!
Relax. This article is not about the stock market, housing prices, the auto industry or any one of the other related 2008 news stories. I’m not standing on any stump or soapbox. In fact, I’m much higher. I’m on the roof.
This winter thus far has brought one very big, delightful surprise, better than any Christmas present I could have imagined. In the middle of more snow than we’ve seen in many, many winters I’ve also taken delivery of a childhood dream. I’ve got a new game called “Jumping off the Roof,” and I’m going to do it as many time as I possibly can while we’ve still got snow. My ladder is propped permanently against the front of the house. At a moments notice, I can make a quick climb, spread my arms wide, and let go, just like those thousands of times I imagined leaping from the roof as a child.
The freefalls I’m indulging in this month are way beyond the ego and its censors. They are beyond the structures we create to contain things. They are intuitive, imaginative, whimsical, with just the right touch of childishness. My body and imaginations have taken flight.
Now I’d be fibbing if I told you I have a clue about what I will do with this December 2008 experience, if anything. I can barely make it into a sensible blog article. But oh, my freefall antics have broken through some internal barriers, inhibitions, and worst-case scenarios that have been building for awhile, allowing the child in me to bubble to the surface.
I bet this childhood dream of taking flight from the roof is pretty common. It seems to have sort of a Peter Pan or Mary Poppins flavor to it. If as a child you had similar longings of jumping off the roof and flying, come on over. I’ve got soft landings, at least until the snow melts. Dreams can come true.
“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” ~Lewis Carroll
December 25, 2008
A New Year’s Theme
A New Year’s Theme in an affordable Group Coaching setting
Welcome in 2009 with a New Year’s Theme! Resolutions I’m not so big on. Themes I can embrace. And this year, I’d like to offer some affordable group coaching to those of you who also want to bag the resolutions and embrace your theme. This group will meet once each month for the entire 12 months of 2009. With your new 2009 theme in hand and heart, in monthly group coaching sessions we’ll help each other play out our themes it big ways.
Maybe your theme is the title of this December blog article, “Freefall.” You want to let go of inhibitions, restrictions and ego in 2009. Maybe your theme is more like November’s Thanksgiving article on “Thanks” and you want to be more appreciative of all you have and will become in 2009. Maybe your theme is “Living Light” to reflect your desire to be more open to what comes and let go of what is holding you down, while a fellow caller has chosen a theme like “I Can Do That” in order to move from sidelines into action.
In the spirit of openness, fun and light, I’ve kept requirements to a minimum…
- Join us when you can
- Leave us when you feel complete
- I’d like a minimum of 4 players to start
- Pay with PayPal, check or credit card, due on the 1st of each month that you intend to join us
Details at my Portage website.
“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” ~Will Rogers
February 4, 2008
A Hand Up Coaching
I am a board member of a wonderful non-profit organization called A Hand Up Coaching. You can learn more about us at www.ahuc.org. A Hand Up Coaching coaches are helping women make a difference. And the women helped through A Hand Up Coaching consider the assistance they receive to be priceless.
Please consider being a part of this gift. While our coaches and everyone else in the organization give their time freely, A Hand UP Coaching has operating expenses that must be met. It costs us $75 in operating expenses to work with a client for 90 days. Your tax-deductible investment is literally a lifeline for these women. We are not a government program. We operate efficiently and lean, ensuring that our donors receive the highest possible return on their investment.
Your donation will help a woman move beyond her circumstances. You will help a woman become productive and strong for her family and community. You become a team member in her success. ALL of your money goes to the operation of the program, not salaries.
A Hand Up Coaching has affiliate coaches in major cities across the country. From Kansas City to Sacramento, Dallas to Philadelphia, Los Angeles to Detroit, your contribution will very likely help a woman in your area.
You can help today by mailing your tax-deductible contribution to:
A Hand UP Coaching
Attn: Pam McConnell
17817 W. 69th Terr.
Shawnee, KS 66217
Pam will need your name and complete address so we can acknowledge your donation. She will send you a letter so that you may fully deduct your donation from your income taxes.
Thank you
Resources with a Bit of a Rant
A couple of weeks ago I was listening to the program This I Believe on National Public Radio. I heard the speaker say something to the effect that we must look at what we do if we want to know what we believe. I think she’s close to getting it right. I say listen to what you say if you want to know what you believe. But, looking at what you do will give you a clear indication of what you know to be true. That the distinction between a belief and a knowing is the difference between just talking about and actually doing.
Why do we shy away from saying “This I know?” Do we feel we are being rude or pushy in an arrogant way that will turn our listeners off? Are we afraid that if we firmly state what we know we are unable to change our mind? Perhaps we are too insecure and we are only willing to go as far as believing what we have been told.
What we know is more simple than what we say we believe. Perhaps what we know is so simple that there are no words. Our body simply knows this or that to be true and takes action.
My coaching and writing are filled to the brim with distinctions and musings like this. I love them. And I think distinctions are critical to understanding who we are and what we mean to say. Please don’t be lazy in your communication. Find the right word.
For those of you who love words and creating distinctions, check out Visuwords™ Online Graphic Dictionary. Wow, what a resource!
Thank you Coach Shann Vander Leek for sharing this website with me.
And please check out my Market America franchise web portal at www.marketamerica.com/debmartin/
While you’re there, check out the left hand column link to Health and Nutrition. You’ll be amazed. I KNOW these products are far superior.