Happy Independence Day to my US friends. (and to my Canadian friends, celebrating independence on Canada Day, July 1). The roots of what was initiated here in the US more than 234 years ago started with great possibilities. Some of that purity of intent has gotten corrupted over time. But there remain bright lights and good hearts dotted across the continent. From these embers, we must ignite the new hope.

Eleven years ago, right about this time of the summer, I too had reason to celebrate a personal independence when I stepped out of the corporate publishing world to create my own venture.  My journey over these 11 years has had ups and downs, but right now I am creating something new to lift the ceiling, so that greater possibilities open up like flowers before me and inside me and for all who choose to play in my circle. I’m raising my set point on good new stuff for myself and for the Write Synergies Circle that I am creating.

I completed 25 of the blog posts during the 30 day blog challenge convened by Jeanette Cates. Not bad considering I was unplugged at a retreat for 8 of those days. I received the “Mini 7″ award, which is completing 7 daily posts. I liked to joke that several of us completed multiple “mini 7s.” It was great fun shared with a cool circle of people. I truly appreciate everyone’s energies as we journeyed together. I look forward to the mutual support from this special circle of people as we move forward.

In Lake Geneva, as I reported here earlier, I fell into a circle of heart-full new friends. In Hawaiian, it’s called an “O’Hana,” or family. And that’s just how it felt. Energized from this gathering, and using it as a springboard, my process and creations are being magnified at an amazing rate.

Over the past year, I have been shapeshifting the copywriting I do. It’s not going away, but it is morphing as all living things do.  For those who can benefit from coaching, even if they don’t need the copywriting, I am adding Full Presence Coaching as a sacred listening space to support people on their creative and business journeys.   I realize that some people can benefit from entering into a sacred space as part of these Full Presence mirror conversations — a perfect way to metabolize the learnings that they are going through. Send me an email if you want to discuss the coaching option.

I continue to work deeply with Susan Castle, Paul Bauer, Jan Stringer, Alan Hickman, as well as my coaches Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski. It’s interesting to observe how the mentors most important in my life right now are committed couples. Just noticing, that’s all.

AND YET:  “Just Noticing” is absolutely crucial. Think about this. Act on this. Aim, for a week, to build “just noticing,” into your everyday life.  As I write this at the kitchen table in my personal Shangri-La, the crows visit. Crow has become one of my totems since I began noticing crow’s presence in my daily life at crucial moments over the past year. Crow, like the yin and yang bracelet I wear, symbolizes the unity of the polarities.

“Just noticing.”

See what you notice, then report back. What are you able to notice when you pay attention to what is around you? What about when you pay attention to the story behind the story? I look forward to your shared insights and stories.

Here’s to independence and noticing!
Bobbye Middendorf
The Write Synergies Guru

#mini7, 30-day-blogging-challenge, Alan Hickman, Bobbye Middendorf, Canada Day, coaching, Copywriting, Independence Day, intent, Jan Stringer, Jeanette Cates, Jim Sniechowski, Judith Sherven, Lake Geneva, O'Hana, Paul Bauer, Publishing, Shangri-La, Susan Castle, The Write Synergies Guru

If your family was anything like mine, bragging was discouraged. Do you remember being admonished not to brag? Not to be too full of yourself? And now here we are — many of us — entrepreneurs, soul-preneurs, professionals in private practice, the tribe of Conscious Creators, caregivers, healers, writers, authors, artists.

Everyone is being asked to market — not only products, services, but ourselves!  With the old family tapes running in the background, it’s not easy. How are you supposed to talk about yourself, your services, your projects, creations, ventures, and businesses without what sounds suspiciously like “bragging” — at least to those old critical deeply internalized voices?

And some of us are pushing the envelope even more: We are determined to stand fully in our power and presence, to finally shine our light full on. Now that’s something those internalized voices of yesteryear really perceive as over the top. It’s like an internal thermostat. Nope. Not THAT visible. “That’s even worse than bragging,” the internalized critic seems to say.

What to do? How do we work around the critic? How to come out with the work and be able to stand in our own power and possibility?

What if that inner critic is doing its best to  protect you? Based on the old programming, of course, but doing its best nevertheless. What if we could enter into a conversation with that inner critical voice? I can hear the guffaws already.

Here’s an excerpt of what I told Ronna Detrick over at her Renegade Conversations site. It’s all about an approach that befriends those troublesome inner voices.

In Ronna’s post, she wrote: “…far more about my deepest, age-old insecurities. They rear their ugly heads in times of fear. They are familiar. And I fight to keep them at bay.”

What I suggested is:  “What if you didn’t? Fight to keep them at bay? What if you were simply able to  be curious? What if you had a conversation with them? What if you sat with them and let them sit with you? What if you said, “Thank you. I’m curious. What are you trying to protect me from? You’ve done such an amazing job of protecting me. Can we talk about this?”

Open a dialogue. Put it on paper. Say thank you to the parts who are doing their best, perhaps based on old programs or instructions. And talk to them. Take your strength and your gift, (and yes, Ronna is amazing at nurturing deep conversations) turn it on that part of yourself that seems so troubling. Bring it into the conversational circle. Let it have its say.

Your protectors are there to protect you. You don’t have to squash them or get rid of them. You just have to talk to them, get them to work WITH you and your dreams and your purpose instead of against it. I know…it’s a lesson I have to keep learning over and over again. But it merits consideration I think.

This advice is inspired in part by the True Purpose and parts work of Tim Kelley and Jeffery Van Dyk over at True Purpose.
There’s also a Parts work workshop. To find out more: Audios from Aligning Your Psyche Teleclass 6/11 & Understanding Your Psyche Teleclass 5/25

inner critic, Jeffrey Van Dyk, Purpose, Renegade Conversations, Ronna Detrick, soul-preneurs, Tim Kelley, True Purpose

“Focus on what is mine to do.” –Tomar Levine

Your Time to Bloom: Tomar Levine has a gracious online home at this link. Her voice is gentle and her toolbox is extensive. It’s especially yummy for those with creative yearnings who feel they haven’t lived into their fullness — yet.

Tomar and I have been in online classes together here and there over the years. We share a passion for learning and maybe a bit of reticence in “putting ourselves out there.”

In an email note that followed up a recent phone conversation the other day, she said this. “Focus on what is mine to do.” How timely. That’s exactly where I am too.  Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity talks about “just showing up on the page.” That, I realize, is part of what is mine to do.  (Hence how good for me is this blog challenge!)

I’ve latched onto Tomar’s simple phrase that is so rich in reverberations. It sounds more grounded and less grandiose than “Owning Your Greatness.” But it tills much the same ground.

Both frame a way of Being that taps into life purpose, into the reason why we are here. They speak to the ongoing process of giving our gifts, of manifesting and embodying the service we are here to do with the people we are meant to help, the contribution that our creation is meant to make.

Whether you approach it in a matter-of-fact way (“Focus on what is mine to do.”) or in an expansive and out-there “Owning Your Greatness” sort of way, the bottom line is to  generate from the root of our Being the tasks of Doing in the world. Being comes first, the foundation. Then the doing, the action.

By doing the doing, by taking the action, even imperfect action, we create shifts. We make things happen. It’s time to pull back the curtain of reticence. The proponents who advise listening to the still small voice speak perhaps more softly than some others. That doesn’t mean the message is any less important than the ones who “shout.”

In fact, you might consider that the opposite is true. I acknowledge Tomar for the inspiration that started this post.  And thanks also for this 30 Day Blog Challenge. It  is helping me show up, take action, be on the page, as I  build the bridge for myself and my tribe.

contribution, gifts, Julia Cameron, manifesting, owning your greatness, Purpose, taking action, The Artist's Way, Tomar Levine, tribe, Your Time to Bloom

Caroline Myss launched the tour for her new book, “Defy Gravity,” with a talk in Chicago at the UIC Forum on Tuesday night, 13 October; her hometown is a nearby suburb. She spoke of the journey she has been on since her first book, and her profound shifts since she shared the mystic journey in “Entering the Castle,” her most recent book about Theresa of Avila.

Now she is stepping into her own as practicing and modern-day mystic. The new book is a call-to-action, a call to mysticism (As she says, “Look alive!”) for all of us and all the planetary natural systems as we face the tumultuous times we are in all together on this planet.

“You are powerful,” she says. Tapping into this oneness with the Divine through prayer is not only the path of the mystic, but is also the path of power, and the pathway out of personal and planetary destruction. As she lives her purpose and deepens her understanding of that purpose with each book, she has once again created an antidote to despair and call to deepening a true connection with spirit.

Defy Gravity has just been published by Hay House.

Caroline Myss, Defy Gravity, Hay House, mysticism

“The ultimate test comes when you try living from your new purpose.”

–True Purpose: 12 Strategies for Discovering the Difference You Are Meant to Make by Tim Kelley
http://cli.gs/hDtvRP

Enjoy the sheer delight of randomness, but a mindful and intentional randomness that somehow reinforces the process of owning your greatness as you work to live your purpose! Falling into the digital rabbit hole today, connecting with the wisdom of old friends, still trying to make all the digital media connections.  Following my friend’s instructions (below), I came up with the quote (above).

Instructions from my friend Elke Siller Macartney from InspirationU  (http://www.inspirationu.com)

“Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence AS YOUR STATUS. Then POST these instructions in a comment on your status.
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST book.”

We find meaning in the random uncovering of what is there waiting for us.  Following the above instructions, a kind of    bibliomancy–divination by means of a book, esp. [but not in this case] the Bible, opened at random to some verse or passage, which is then interpreted.” [from dictionary.com]— I have happened upon something that is meaningful.  But is it meaningful because the book was the nearest one?   Yet consider that the reader found meaning in the 5th sentence on a particular random page.  Such coming up with something meaningful speaks of larger purposes and synchronicities and synergies where we all find meanings greater than the sum of the parts through random walks through the nearest book.  Bravo to bibliomancy!

bibliomancy, Elke Macartney, InspirationU, owning your greatness, Purpose, Tim Kelley, True Purpose