Next

I'm remembering when Steve Jobs left Apple, started a new company and called it Next.  Was it arrogance or bold expectation?  I'm guessing people in silicon valley are still scratching their heads over that.  As things turned out, "Next" took Jobs right back to Apple.

And the moral of this story could be:

When you are considering what comes next,

• In the end, making a choice to go in a hopelessly foolish direction will not be the cause of your downfall.  Rather, it will offer you chances to grow that you would have missed out on if you hadn't.
• Believing in yourself is not only a very powerful thing, it is your guiding light.
• The best time to leave is when everything that seemed unresolvable has been resolved and you can see yourself staying.

With wishes that your next is rich with everything you hoped it would be in unexpected and most wonderful ways--
Maureen

Just Show Up

I remember someone once saying that 90% of getting anything accomplished is in just showing up.  Whoever you are, I'd like to thank you for that critical piece of information.  Because people who've done great things rarely start out expecting to be so fabulously successful.  What got them to great things was doing their 90% and just going from there.

I share with you three treasured stories which fit my unabashedly liberal soul.  They are useful to remind myself why I will do my 90%:

Rosa Parks, years after her decision to take a seat on the bus lit up the South and began the movement to end the injustice suffered by souls too numerous to count, said once in an interview that she wasn't looking to start anything, she was just tired and wanted to sit down.

Joan Baez began performing on campus steps because she wanted attention, with no expectation her voice would carry her so far.  Or that the ballads she chose because they suited her voice would set her up for the freedom songs that would become her trademark.

Pete Seeger retreated to schools and sang songs for children when the Weavers were black balled and couldn't find a venue that would book them.  That would be the Pete Seeger who wrote "Where Have All The Flowers Gone", taught us This Land Is Your Land," "Kumbaya," "We Shall Overcome," and in his retirement years organized the effort to save the Hudson when it had become more of a cesspool than a river.

I'd be pleased if you'd like to borrow them.  What would please me more would be you finding your own treasures to spark you when showing up feels like it couldn't possibly be enough.

Tree People

I had this conversation with a tree soul once, through an intermediary.  One of the astounding things that happens in the work I do.  I got to ask it what trees expect to do for humans.  Renew the air with that carbon dioxide/oxygen exchange thing they do, right?  Mostly, they see that as one of the things they do to sustain themselves.  What they do for humans, as the tree soul explained, is to give structure.  "As a tree gives up its consciousness to become wood, that is the mission of the tree."

I sincerely hope loggers do not read this and use it to justify deforestation, and yet I cannot deny that the souls of trees will serve us.  I hope this leads us to reverence for the gifts they give.  To offer trees something in return as well--the time to grow and flourish here on the earth with us and to be taken with care and gratitude.  To make room in our view of who might be our brother to include the possibility of a tree.

Be A Flower

I live in an "on" environment.  In my environment, "off" is a very ungood thing.

You most likely live in this very same environment.  It is a very hard thing, to have "on" going all the time.  We can trash ourselves trying to do it.  Because we are innately flow-ers, which I have spelled here with a hyphen to save confusion. 

Our energy pulses, we have flows.  Women may get this better than men because we cannot but notice our bodies, made up of a lot of water, clearly and unequivocally flow with the tides. 

Given that our environment has moved so far away from letting flows happen there is little chance that it will change course, I offer a remedy in two parts:

• No need to panic when the low part of a flow is occurring.  The high part will follow.  Trust that it will.
• Just show up.  Be as genuinely present as you can.  Good things are still going on, you are still in the flow.

Peek-a-Boo

Remember Peek-a-Boo?  You drape a blanket over the baby's head, and then lift it up and say, "Peek-a-boo!" and the baby laughs and you laugh and you do it again and you both laugh some more.  The advanced version involves the baby figuring out it's even more fun when covers it eyes with its hands and chooses when to spring the surprise. 

Funny that the name of the game has never changed to You're Not There and Then You Are.  Students of growth patterns in early childhood are likely to point out that it takes a while for babies to get that they are not left for good when they cannot see their important people.  The game helps that scary first stage. 

I might add that dogs never get it.  It's like a miracle to them when you show up again. 

I expect you see this one coming and yes, I'm going to do it.  I am going to tell you that you are not alone and you are better at figuring this out than a baby or a dog.  Well, maybe the dog knows already.  At the risk of squeezing the heck out of a metaphor, I say you simply need to lift the blanket.

Breathe deeply, let go of all the distractions and allow your heart to tell you what you already know.  You are loved.  You are not alone.

Sticks and Notices

Final Notice!

I got one of those calls today.  I don't have the dimmest recall of a first notice, and if they are serious about not calling again, that would be more than fine with me.  They will, though.  They will do some slick form of auto-dialing and leave another recorded terribly urgent final notice message.  This will do nothing to get me the tiniest bit closer to choosing their stuff.  Makes me concerned about how they're going to stay in business.

I'm imagining now, how "This is your final notice!" would look done up in a sampler.  Instead of "Don't leave for tomorrow what you can get done today," for example.  I can't remember that moving me either. 

Fact:  You cannot get folks to do things by poking them with a stick for any longer than the stick is stuck in them.

If you find yourself poking yourself with that figurative stick, it's time to choose a better way.  I'm going to lay it out here for you to try.  It might make you feel self-conscious (okay, foolish) at the beginning.  Give it a week and see how you feel about it then:

Every time you do something that is the least bit not fun, exciting, uplifting and yet needs to get done, say, "That was great what you just did!  Thank you so very much!  I really appreciate that you  __________!" Every time.  Not necessarily out loud.

You're gonna love it!  I promise!

Do Overs

I worked for a time for a jewelry designer.  Fabulous things came out of his head, and most often worked out when they got to three dimensions.  When they didn't, the first attempt would be given back to the fabricator, usually with a re-thought description, for this thing called a do over.  That's all it took for something that had gone very wrong to turn into something perfect and beautiful. 

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could have do overs for those times and things that don't work out the way we hoped.  It will come as no surprise when I say we will not be getting them. 

This is not a place where everything is meant to be perfect and beautiful.  This is a place that is messy and turbulent and unpredictable and what goes on in our heads and hearts rarely comes out looking the same when it hits the ground.  What would we learn if we got everything right, or should I say, what we see as right?  

So let's try to get over our imperfect selves.  Set aside the guilt, take up the strength that is always embedded in our sorrow, see where we are in need of learning and do that.  Learn.