“if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you won’t get them in."

Reading Carol Leigh's post on our Yahoo Alumni Group site this morning, motivated me to visit Leslie Avon Miller's blog.
In Leslie's "About Me" section on her blog she has written: "I am a collage artist who’s question is “I wonder what would happen if I…?”

Thoughts that came to me after reading the question “I wonder what would happen if I…?”:
1. I don't have the time to even consider this question?
2. Why try, you aren't creative.
3. I'll feel frustrated when I try something and realize I don't know how to do "it".
4. People will think "it's" stupid.
5. I don't have an original idea.
6. I have to finish my to-do list first.
7. When I'm old and can't do other things, I'll try.........

Beliefs on the page look very different than they do in my head.

I keep saying I'll schedule myself into the day....I say, This week I'll block out 2 hours and actually use the multitude of photography tutorials available to me on Scott Kelby's website.... Tutorials I signed up for, I'm charged for as they are auto deducted monthly, and I don't make use of them. That's just plain insanity because I really want to watch the video tutorials on Adobe Photoshop CS4, Lightroom 2, and many, many other available tutorials.

Leslie's blog got my attention. People motivate me. I know that about myself. Of myself, I am lazy, an excuse maker, a rationalizer and addicted to reading about others work/art online, instead of doing my own work. I do end up feeling motivated viewing the incredible art others create. I seem to have good intentions and then the phone rings, I get distracted by one task, then another and another, and I'm off and running, forgetting my desires and feeling sad I don't have more time in the day. You know, the old, poor me.

Time is precious. I deserve. Somehow I have to learn to start saying yes to Linda. I've always thought I needed to learn to say no to others. I've not ever thought about saying yes to Linda. Hmmmmmm. I wonder if this will work. I'm always telling others, "My happiness is my responsibility."
To be continued............(as my friend LR says)

The first blogger I ever read.

The link below takes you to a woman blogger I followed religiously for many years. And then all of a sudden she stopped maintaining her blog. Tonight I happened upon an old link to her blog and low and behold found she is back blogging again.

http://www.adventurejournalist.com/

In an old computer folder I found a file document I'd saved from a "Challenge" assignment Tee Poole (then named Tonya) had posted. I followed her suggestion and wrote on the assignment and had such an amazing awareness from my own writing, I gave the assignment to my sponsees. Here is the intro I included with the Scratch Off Tournament:

Before Tonya stopped keeping her daily blog, I read every entry she wrote. I luckily happened upon Tonya’s blog about 4 years ago. She was my mentor. A day didn’t go by without racing to read her blog. Her writing and photography speak to my heart. I was very sad when she stopped blogging earlier this year. Tonya had/has an incredible following as evidenced by the 33 comments in response to her challenge below.

This blog entry below provided an evening’s entertainment for about 16 of us when I gave this assignment out and then we all met and read what we scratched off, how it made us feel and what we got out of doing the assignment. Try it. You’ll be surprised how good you’ll feel. I’d love to hear about your experience.

December 17, 2004

The living scratch-off tournament

Today, I challenge each of you to unload something substantial in your lives.

Whether it be a major life decision you've been putting off, something unpleasant but necessary you've been avoiding for awhile, getting something heavy off your chest, off your mind, ridding yourself of extra negative baggage, saying something that's been on the tip of your tongue for a long time, confronting something, removing something, completing something, beginning something, ending something. Even down to just knocking a heavy to-do list item from your list that's somehow managed to transfer from day.. to day.. to day... for weeks or months now, and never gets addressed.

All of these things put weight on our shoulders. They take up precious mental real estate and put lots of psychic yardage between ourselves and the things we WANT to be doing, experiencing, thinking about. Which results in the negative loops we have so much trouble digging out of.

So go rid yourself of something, and then come back here and tell us about it. In fact, I want this for you (and me) so much that I won't be posting another word here until I've got at least 25 responses in comments. Even if it takes all weekend, or the rest of next week. Or longer. Share this with your friends/family/readers too, you can direct them here if you like so they can share their own.

What can you rid yourself of?

You're ready. GO.

Posted by tonya at 11:04 AM | Comments (33)

http://www.adventurejournalist.com/notebook/