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Paying it Forward

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

People told me this would happen.  Not being able to think of what to write in a blog.  Hmmm.  Here I am determined to deal with and beat down the “Mr. You Can’t Write” saboteur that keeps lurking around my blog.    Actually, the more I think about it, the more the rebel in me rises and I am determined to not let the saboteurs take over.   I will write, dammit! (she says in a Scarlett O’Hara way.)

And this on the eve of announcing my live blog.   Okay, Jo, so just throw off the stupid restraints and  write.  Talk about the name of the blog, at least.

Dance Travel Connect Love.  That’s the name of this blog and it goes around the dancing women logo.

Dance Travel Connect Love (R)

Dance Travel Connect Love

And what it means is that I will be gathering women to dance with me, travel to exotic places for retreats, connecting with each other and their own hearts.  And then there’s love.  Always, it’s about love….love to the other women in other countries and to the people along the way in our lives.  It’s about loving ourselves, too.

I keep thinking that there are rules to this blogging and there probably are.   But so what….I’m probably not following any of them.  I’m just finding my way and I am writing.   I really do have something to say but I don’t want to pretend, I want to be authentic and worthwhile for people to read.

I had a special treat today.  A former client lovingly told me that because of the work we did together, that she was where she is today in the world.  That she had realized some of her own dreams directly through our work together.  She said   “I heard you talk about your own dreams and it made me realize that I could have mine, too.  And then you encouraged me to do a vision board and as a result, I am now in this house that I love so much.”    I paused for a moment and thought to myself, well,  Jo, you said the same thing to your coach a few years ago when you were so grateful to her for the growth in yourself.  There is nothing, nothing better than having someone really “get you.”   And having someone give you that unconditional regard.  Good lord, if I’ve done that with my clients, I feel proud.  And today was a pure demonstration to me of how it works.  We really do pay it forward.  Each time we are with someone and we listen and we inspire them with our own boldness, they get to do it too.  How cool is that?

So here we are.  I did it.  Wrote another post.  I figure that if only one other person reads this and felt inspired or touched, then it’s worth wrestling the saboteurs.  Thank you, dear readers for getting through this.   Let me know what you think about what I’ve written.

Questions to journal on or think about:   where are you being a role model for others?  Who has helped you along the way? Where are you paying it forward?    It may be time to send them a silent thank you and/or it’s time to recognize how you make an impact on others.  Pay it forward and see what happens.

Women Waiting

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

pathway-large

I am a woman who is so, so lucky to be in a network of wise women of master retreat coaches from all over the US.  This morning I was on a call with a few of these coaches and there was this theme, a thread, that ran through the hour long conversation.   The strand was like this:   The end of the first month in 2010 is rapidly approaching and “it’s so not what I expected” or “I’ m not walking a straight line with scheduling retreats”  (Yours Truly).  We spoke about women waiting… how we women spend a lifetime waiting…..waiting for our children to be born, waiting for them to take their first steps, waiting for our periods to start, waiting to find the love of our lives,  waiting for our first job to come through…..we are women waiting.

And Helene Van Manen, our leader and retreat coach mentor  Coach Helene sang us the song…

“We are women waiting

We are waiting

We are waiting for our children to remember to return.

We are women waiting”

I am waiting now for life to unfold in the manner it’s going to be this year.  I know that I will be out on three military assignments; one of them will be with my beloved.  I know that my son and his fiance are getting married.  And I know that I will be 60 soon and that I will celebrate.  And I know that everything can change in the blink of an eye.

This journey is one of trust.  And as Michelle Burns  Coach Michelle said on this call, “there is a gift in waiting and receiving.   Remember the Divine Feminine.”   I know that I have seen this feminine power  so many times at my retreats…..women receiving support and help from each other.   There is power in not knowing although it drives most of us crazy because we don’t know and it’s scary not to know.   There is such power in waiting and trusting.  Trusting that it will unfold in exactly the perfect manner for us to learn.

Other voices…. DianeMueller Coach Diane. “Realize the quality, not the quantity.”     As masters level retreat coaches, this is what we do.  We recognize that we are listening and waiting on a deep level to know what is right.  And each of you reading this, I challenge you as well to really listen to your life now.  I believe  that it is in the quality of your day that counts,  not in how much you can cram into the day.

And I was reminded by yet another wise woman on this call, Lois Perron  Coach Lois that sometimes even though we can’t see it at the time,  there is a reason that we are keeping our schedules open and that something bigger and more suitable for us can happen in those slots that are not filled.  Lois reads her journal from the previous year and sees how events happened unexpectedly, without her planning it and discovers that there were  delicious opportunities that she realized happened that might not have happened if she had filled that space ahead of time.

“You were wild once. Don’t let them tame you.”-Isadora Duncan

I am a woman who is waiting and like Helene, I want to live wild. I don’t want to be tamed.   I want to be in joyful waiting.  I want to live in joyful acceptance vs worry.    What is the way that you want to live?

We are women waiting…..

Master Retreat Coaches on Retreat in Colorado

Master Retreat Coaches on Retreat in Colorado

Creativity, Writing, Bookmaking

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

I can now say that I’ve been writing for 30 days straight.  Well, okay, I missed 2 days at Christmas, but then I made up the time writing for an hour or more on the other days.  I feel committed and kinda sassy when I write like this.   My writing coach says ” set the time for writing each day in your planner”.    Hmmmm.  This has not happened because I can find so many other things to do first, you know?  Like melting candlewax out of glass candles, or watering my houseplants, or checking emails, or polishing the VitaMix.  What I’ve learned so far about myself is that I can flat out find out a zillion things to instead of writing.  I guess I’m lucky that my obsessive compulsive tendencies keep me honest even if I have to write at 11:00 at night.  (Yes, this has happened.)

Geez.  I’m looking right now at a vase of flowers the water is all dirty looking and I’m restraining myself from jumping up and putting in fresh water.  “It would only take a couple of minutes”  I tell myself and but now that my butt is in the chair,  I promise myself not to leave the vicinity, I mean the chair,  for 30 minutes.   It’s torture but I’m doing it.  My attention deficit syndrome kicks in here and so I will just take some deep breaths and stay.  Just simply stay.

Working on my theme this year of Celebration, Creativity, and Simplicity.  Let’s see, there is automatic celebration with my 60th birthday arriving in March and my son getting married in August.  I’m launched the creativity part by attending a book binding class the day after my husband returned home….with him.    Listen, people, it was his idea.  For all of you women who do not have a Renaissance man, go out and get yourself one now.  He is the best and surprises me all the time.

Anyway, we signed up for this 3 hour course and ended up with delightful, cool, unique books.   Thom has now ordered the hole punch to make more little books, along with the hemp twine.  It’s so easy and not even that much investment.  Here’s what ours looked like.  Mine is the one that is round and Thom has the huge diagonal stripes.  (Okay, Jo you don’t have to analyze the reason why we chose totally different papers, although it is fun to toy with…hmmm.)

Books by Thom and Jo

Books by Thom and Jo

So between the writing and the book making, I’m doing my creative thing.  As for the simplicity thing,  I’m still working on that part.  Need to go through the emails and delete, delete, clear, and declutter.

I’m curious about what anyone who is reading this blog:

1)What have you done for 30 days straight and did it  indeed lead to a new habit?

2) what you are doing that’s creative right now?

3) how are you making your life more simple these days?

I’m looking for a few good ideas….

Canyonlands

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Here are photos from our recent photographic trip to the canyonlands in Utah.

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Getting Started

Friday, August 28th, 2009

It’s not easy to think of a name for a blog. I could get paralyzed in not knowing and then let myself not begin. I remember my grandmother once said, “honey, don’t ever start anything on Friday.” Hmmmm. We’ll, I’m starting anyway. Here’s to all the women I know who are busy and stressed and long for balance. I’m determined to simplify and slow down and lead the way somehow.