Your Young Genius Calls In Your Divine Audience

Has your young genius been lost somewhere along the way?

As this Equinox season unfolds, I invite you to inquire into your own young inner genius, her health, her presence in your life, how she showed up then, and how to invite her back to play, and in particular to enrich the entire fabric of your Great Work that is emerging, that is being called forth from within you.

Circle/Reflections
Circle/Reflections

The following challenge, started earlier in the summer, has continued to tickle my fancy behind the scenes as multiple dimensions and deep levels of change are currently playing out for me.

With acknowledgements to Jeffrey Davis of Tracking Wonder for this summertime #DareToExcel Challenge. This is #3 for #Daredevils and other conscious co-creators.

Take a few minutes to remember a time when you were nine – or around that age – when you felt free to be your best.

Feel an exact moment in time and place. Are you outdoors or indoors? How does the air feel? How do you feel in your body? What are you uniquely doing or making? Who are you with and how are you uniquely relating to others?

Looking back with full compassion toward yourself, what 1-3 adjectives would you use to describe your younger self at her or his best?

These are your 3 Young Genius Qualities.

How can you bring some of those young genius qualities forward to this project?

Share: Post written reflections or the three young genius qualities you commit to bring forward.

 

So what are my three young genius qualities?

Curiosity. Observing/Listening. Dreaming.

An only child, often left to my own devices, summer was for dreaming and reading, drawing, listening into the stream of imaginary friends who stepped out of the pages of books, magic, daring. Imagining myself as Nancy Drew during languid summers, reading, imagining, dreaming, reading some more. Observing the fireflies and butterflies. Tasting sweet concord grapes, stretched out in the grass made crisp by the summer sunshine. Listening to the crickets and then crackling campfires. Walking in the dark under the stars, hours with markers, and once at a dude ranch — Horses! (That one ultimately didn’t go as I dreamed…but I did learn about cleaning a cast iron skillet with sand on our breakfast trail ride.)

And in partnership with that magical genius child, her shadowy wounded child plays around the edges. Still. She holds loss and grief that was too much to bear then, and now, in a powerful time of change, it’s all being offered up for clearing. Love and loss and grief — all reminders of how it once was and how it all changed so suddenly.

What are your young genius qualities?

If you’re someone with curiosity rarely sated, who deeply appreciates the gifts of listening/observing, who still has a dream percolating inside, let’s see if we are growing in a garden together. (You probably also have a passion for words, images, healing/wholeness, following a spiritual path, and are deeply engaged with purpose.)

I am called to focus on the wise women, women who ardently yearn for a secret weapon to see them through Kali’s fire, the chaos of their reinvention, and onto the other side.

Especially if you are a woman in the third act, you find dreams now impossible to ignore. You need your inner partners, the inner genius child and the wounded one, as well as your connection to a source (or sources) of guidance.  And outer collaborators are helpful, if you are ready to take a stand for your new and evolving, highly purposeful, change-the-world body of work (even and especially if it’s not yet fully formed).

As thought partner and sounding board for women in the third act, like you, I hold the space and help you recognize yourself as purposeful change agent, sage-hearted messenger, co-creator of a new paradigm world, and conscious collaborator with the emerging future. You’re ready for connecting in with guidance in real-time and within collaborative co-creative new paradigm spaces.

Harvest Season

At the Equinox, and with the upcoming Harvest Full Moon, (and a lunar eclipse!) big things are shaking loose on so many levels. Have you been feeling these shifts?

You know now is the time to harvest your wisdom. It’s the season for the blueprint of your Great Work to emerge. You are in a place of creative ferment, and clarity seems just out of reach. Articulating the pre-verbal birthing of your new program or book or body of work, you seek the sacred emergent words — words you didn’t even know you knew — and a way to organize and package those gifts and brilliance.

From there, what if you could discover a sacred space, listening for the whispers of your Divine Audience just waiting to be called forth into YOUR circle? Your soul tribe is ready to connect and celebrate the birth of your revelatory manifestation and body of work.

Your young inner genius has much to contribute to your body of work. When you consciously partner with your young genius, listen to the wisdom from your wounded one, and tap into real-time, practical source(s) of guidance, you are poised for making the biggest difference. YOU matter. Your divine audience is waiting for you! Your Emerging Future beckons!

Welcome, young genius! Welcome, wise woman! Remember that all parts serve, so let’s have a co-creation party!

 

Shero: Your Heroine’s Quest

In early 2012, I joined a course at En*Theos with Jennifer Louden called Shero’s Journey. It was a powerful path to walk. This piece of writing emerged from that time.

 

The Shero's Journey and the boots that make it all possible.

A shero journeys across the universe,

her footprints among the stars, opening realms before lunch and back to concoct a dinner for her beloveds.

Fully inhabiting all the corners of her life and befriending all her inner selves, she radiates like the heart of a star, staying grounded in her own power like the Iron Crystal Heart of Mother Earth**.

She rides the waves and nurtures the garden, cultivates the inner wisdom and shares with all on her path the vital energies of co-creation.

She unfurls Divine Love like a magic carpet at the hearth, its glow and warmth are sparks and candle flames freely shared.

Every element, at need, answers her call of pure spirit — the flow of the waters, the spark of Divine Fire, the grounded knowledge of Mother Earth, Gaia, the messages of wisdom from the animal kingdoms, the lessons of interdependence whispered by the plants and played on the wind at the top of the trees.

And grounding it all in Pure Being, growing infinity loops in a garden of grace and reweaving tender and brilliant threads with healing warp and woof on the loom of Divine Expression.

Claiming your Shero on her own heroine’s quest:  Yes, it is true that it will not necessarily look like the Hero’s Journey. That is not for you to concern yourself with. Instead, put on your boots and be willing to walk the walk … that

you are willing to  claim your true power as a Divine Co-Creatrix*.

(*with thanks to Julie Daley at UnabashedlyFemale.com

and **acknowledging Barbara Hand Clow)

 

Love and light dear sisters, whether you are your own heroine or your own shero, and many blessings on your journey, your quest, your path!
~Bobbye

 

Time to Thrive!


Thrive 2012: New Momentum for Human Unity

Thrive in 2012 & Beyond:

Join me and help 

Co-Create the NEW Story


Reserve the date:
Saturday, October 27, 2012
9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Jean Marie Ryan Center: Misericordia Campus
6300 N. Ridge Avenue, Chicago, Illinois

Experience a day of connection, reflection and co-creation…

Support a positive approach to the powerful leaps in consciousness
unfolding in 2012 — and as we prepare for 2013.

Together in community, we explore three major shifts —
three changes that make the new paradigm possible:

  • individuality to interdependence
  • competition to cooperation
  • separation to reverence

Step into your NEW role as an integral player in these
delicious possibilities that are emerging!

Enjoy heartfelt community, deepening meditations, inspiring speakers, exhibitors offering uplifting goods and services, and live music.

Just imagine yourself at the end of an empowering day filled with thoughtful presenters and panelists. Dip into and taste the gifts of the day — palpable, even in our listing of events:

THE SECOND COMING OF CONSCIOUSNESS: A Cause for Celebrating Oneness
The keynote will be presented by Emanuel Kuntzelman, founder Center for Cultural Interchange/Greenheart, and a lifelong seeker and advocate for cultural understanding, environmental awareness and world peace.

COOPERATION: Creating our Emerging Future
Presented by Noreen Kelly, Communication Consultant, Coach and Trust Strategist.

REVERENCE: The Pulse of the New Story
Presented by Francis Rothluebber, Author, Spiritual Director and Founder of New Momentum for Human Unity.

PANELISTS:
Janelle Brittain, Speaker, Trainer, Executive Coach, Consultant and Author
Chris Buhrman, Vice President, creative director, Cramer-Krasselt and Film Director, City of the Dawn
Jean Carter-Hill, Cofounder and Executive Director, Imagine Englewood IF …

MEDITATION: Offered by Jennifer Kim, Director, The Peace School.

LIVE MUSIC: Presented by Jennie Landfield, Musician, Composer and Producer.

REGISTRATION:
$115 by 10/23 ~  $130 by 10/27
$35 student discount available
Lunch included ~ Plenty of FREE parking

TO REGISTER AND FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Online: New Momentum for Human Unity
or http://www.NewMomentumFHU.org
Contact: Dexanne Card at 773-259-2565 or dexanne@newmomentumfhu.org

PRESENTED BY:  New Momentum for Human Unity

STRENGTHEN CONNECTION ~ DEEPEN AWARENESS ~ CO-CREATE THE NEW STORY

I am honored to be among a beautiful gathering of media sponsors for this event. I will be there on Saturday. Please be sure to say hello!

 

Keep shining your light,

Bobbye Middendorf
Poet of Pure Potentiality

 

Summer Camps for Conscious Creators–Part 1

A shout-out to you, Conscious Creator: A lifetime feeling like a misfit, aching for the joy and refreshment of being replenished from deep within, longing to make the connection with like-hearted others… Make this summer your time to shine your light. Solstice, called Midsummer, is the start of summer, so DECIDE that this is your summer to create momentum and connect with your tribe. Here’s a start-of-summer listing of summer camps for Conscious Creators. En-JOY!

For Conscious Creators -- Summer Camp Creations
A believing mirror for Conscious Creators; Image by Bobbye Middendorf

What will YOU make of this remarkable summer?
Ask yourself if it’s time for your own Summer
Camp. If you are a Conscious Creator, this is
YOUR time. Replenishment and creative play are
key to your health, wealth, and personal growth.

Take time to look into one or more of these
supportive communities/classes. You’ll play with like-
hearted others and build your impetus and
momentum with the wealth of information,
inspiration, and guidance to move along
the Dreams of Your Heart’s Desires!

Lots of rich and delicious opportunities to
create your future — starting THIS weekend!

It’s no secret that time seems to be moving at
warp speed and everything is changing almost
before it’s born.

That said, you’ll discover a
spacious creativity available when you step
into the Kairos time of the Conscious Creator…

The eternal present remains uncluttered and
focused, a place where you can step into
your fertile phase of BEE-ing!

1. Saturday June 23:
Bring Your Inner Vision — Out!
Virtual Vision Boarding with Sherry Murry

This event is the first of several fantastic outlets
for energizing your vision, purpose, projects, and
conscious connections over this summer 2012!

Get started here with my friend Sherry Murry’s
virtual workshop to sharpen up your Vision for the
rest of 2012 by creating your very own tailor-made
Summer 2012 Vision Board.
Details at:
http://visionwithin.eventbrite.com/

(Tell Sherry that Bobbye sent you!
It’s a soul-replenishing process from the
Songstress of Soul!)

2. Sunday June 24:
Live and in person in Chicagoland!
Gathering Chicago’s Change Agents:
Cultural Creatives Unite at
Chicago IONS.

This is an event for you if you’ve always felt
like you never quite fit in. You may be on a
path of Change Agent, Thought Leader, or Messenger.

Even if you don’t call yourself that (yet),
Paul Ray gave us a name: Cultural Creatives.

On Sunday, Adam Shames of Kreativity Network
updates the community with the latest
research based on his interview with Paul Ray.
Most important of all: It’s a
gathering of the Cultural Creative Tribe on 6-24.
(and you can connect with me live if you are able to
come out for it.) I’ll be scribing our community
town-hall findings, discoveries, and conclusions
on the flip chart.

If one-people-one-planet resonates for you,
we would love you to join us. Details:
http://chicagoions.org/programs.html

3. Monday June 25 at 5pm Eastern Time is the LAST
DAY and MOMENT for you to sign up
for Web Site Campwhere you get the hands-on
know-how to bypass a webmaster and go live with your
WordPress website.

Just Imagine how you feel.. fall is in the air,
the kids are back at school…
and you are confidently posting new content and
programs and updates on your OWN WordPress website !
What a relief!
How long have you been waiting?
Wait no longer!

If this is the summer that — no matter what —
your website goes live — then my colleague and
mentor Christina Hills is the best person to hold
your hand and show you the inner workings for
your own D-I-Y WordPress website.

Get comfortable with the basics.
You’ll soon fearlessly go under the hood,
see the Dashboard as a friend, and you’ll
get your web site up — finally!

Imagine building your website with WordPress–
and loving the process! It IS possible. Christina
helped me with my WordPress website.
And this short course is a great value.

Christina’s Summer Program covers the fundamentals
of WordPress for non-techie people who want
to build a website without a webmaster.

It happens live for 4 weeks, but then all
the materials stay online
for you to go through at your own pace.
Full details:
http://tinyurl.com/Websitecamp

Bonus:
If you sign up for Websitecamp through
my affiliate link,
http://tinyurl.com/Websitecamp

…then email me a copy of your receipt,
we’ll get you and your site onto
my schedule for a complimentary
“Inspire Your Message” copy review
(a $197 value) once the construction
dust settles.

4. Talk to me!
Leave a comment below (or send me an email
or use the contact form) and tell me how these events
land with you. Are you up for a summer
of letting your creative juices flow?

Let me know what’s up in your life, work,
and heart. How are you faring in refining
and polishing your message, regularly
sharing your great content, and connecting
with your perfect people for
building your tribe? Is it smooth sailing —
or have you hit some potholes?

How may I be of service to you in your
busy life and business?  (Sometimes a
believing mirror can help you see things
that are invisible to you.)

5…Watch for more news, events, and
inspired connections coming soon.

(Save the dates: July 23-August 16 for
a juicy new Write Synergies Circle gathering!)

Happy Summer 2012!
Happy Solstice!

May this dark of the moon
be the seed-starter for the
Dreams of Your Heart’s Desire.
And keep on shining your light — in words!

Love, Light & Laughter,
Bobbye

P.S.
And be sure to check out the
new 2012 Summer Solstice poem at
WriteSynergies.com:
http://tinyurl.com/JuneSolstice

P.P.S.
I’m just an email/phone call/Skype
session away if you’d love a dose of
creative support and inspiration for
your messages.

Last Night with the Linchpins

On 6-14, Linchpins gathered in local cafes, bars, and bookstores across the globe. Inspired by Seth Godin and his latest book of the same name, the gatherings were a way to connect with like-minded people ready to make things happen — things that matter.

The Linchpin Meet-Up was billed as “… the first ever unofficial official Seth Godin Linchpin worldwide Meetup.  A completely non-commercial chance to find and connect with other members of Seth’s tribe, an opportunity to talk, challenge, and inspire your fellow travelers.”

Read the write-up from Sandra Walker about the Linchpin event in Chicago on 6-14. (There were others happening locally too. Suburbs split off. The Chicagoland metro area covers quite a bit of territory.)

When I find people on Facebook or Linked-In or some flavor of a Ning site, I usually comment that there are so many ways to connect.  There are membership sites growing like crazy. I awoke this morning in a panic about all the circles that I have chosen to belong to, all the classes that I’m still committed to completing. The overwhelm is palpable.

With so many ways to connect, online conversations and tribes can be in some ways easier to manage. You can draw from the entire world to attract your people who resonate at the same frequency.  I was pleasantly surprised by the Linchpins event. People self-selected, people who like Seth Godin’s work, who think like Linchpins, who are determined to do work that matters. It was nice to connect face to face for a change.

Goldilocks Comes to YOUR Business

You remember Goldilocks,
the girl who was looking in the Bears’ house
for the “just right” porridge, chair, and bed?

What will Goldilocks find if she comes to
your home or business? When she looks
at your client relationships, will she see
the people who fit “just right?”

Who Are Your Just Right People?

The first 30-day blogging challenge
again brought me face to face with an ongoing
question that most of us self-employed folks
grapple with regularly:

Who are my clients who fit just right?
Who are the people in my just-right tribe?

Do you ever ask yourself similar questions?

With so many ways to package ourselves and our
services, so many venues and outlets, so many
ways to communicate and connect, how do we
decide where to start, what to do first, and most
importantly — WHO to connect with?
WHO most needs and benefits from our services
and products?

Need Just Right Clients? Check in with Goldilocks!

I recently finished Molly Gordon’s Goldilocks
Strategy class all about getting clients who
fit just right. I came out with a clear picture of
my just-right client, the words those just right clients say
when looking for services like mine, and stepping stones through
the many ways my clients can choose to work with me.

Molly has repackaged her particular brand of
gentle magic and has a special D-I-Y [Do-It-Yourself]
Home-Study version of the Goldilocks Strategy
for Getting Clients That Fit Just Right course —
the one I just completed this past spring.

If you’ve ever longed to be able to identify
who are the “just right clients” (or readers,
or customers, or circle, or tribe, or audience,
or buyers, or viewers, or participants in your groups…)
then this program may be a great fit for you.

You can read about it and get the details at:
Get Your Just Right Clients

OR go to this link. Just copy and paste it into
your browser bar:
http://budurl.com/JustRightClientsBJM

I’ve gotten great results from my work
with Molly in this course. And if you’re
anything like me,  if you’re a conscious creator,
an artist, healer, writer, or coach who is looking for ways
to authentically connect with “just right clients,
I bet you will too!

The Goldilocks Strategy shows you
step-by-step how to:

*Recognize your just-right clients
so you can focus on them and not
on some amorphous “public.”

*Find out exactly what they
want so you can honestly and
simply address their needs.

*Design products and services that
practically sell themselves.

And you’ll know how to do all
that and still be yourself.

You CAN learn to consistently get clients,
and not just any clients.
Clients who fit just-right.
Clients who hire you or buy your
products again and again. Clients who
tell other people about you.
(Can you say “word of mouth”?)

The Home Study Version of “Goldilocks”
ships on June 21. Check out this link:

http://budurl.com/JustRightClientsBJM

I so believe in Molly, her Authentic Promotion approach,
her business philosophy, what she teaches and how,
that I give my strongest possible recommendation.

Full disclosure:
As an affiliate, I will receive
a referral fee if you click my link
and you do choose to purchase.

You can read more about it and get the details at:
Get Your Just Right Clients

Or copy and paste:
http://budurl.com/JustRightClientsBJM

Here’s to all of us attracting an abundance of our
clients who fit just-right!

The Right Guide

The prior post suggested that readers build a bridge from their vision to their tribe. On the one side, you have your vision, your creation or your business. Then there are the people you serve.  I characterize the “bridge” as the message of your vision or business, put into irresistible marketing language (that also embodies the authenticity of YOUR voice) then opens the way for your perfect tribe to hear it, take it in, and take action on it.

My friend from #blog30, Melanie Kissell, noted in her comment on the post Build a Bridge from Your Vision to Your Tribe,  “Take your vision, go find a guide, and build your bridge!” And Rob added to the comments saying he was still looking for his guide.

Inspired by the comments from my companions on the #Blog30 challenge (for June) along with a recent conversation with Tomar Levine, I realize that many people seem to be wandering in a never-land, looking for a guide, not fully trusting those who so seductively say, “Follow me.”

If you are wanting a magic bullet, but don’t really believe in magic bullets, but (darn it) you still want it anyway, and you find yourself with a raging case of sign-up-itis…Not trusting yourself, thinking you need to learn more, hoping that this next one will be IT…

Well, I know how painful that can be. Realistically I know the temptations that lurk with every magnified online make-a-quantum-leap-in-10-seconds-or-less-while-on-a-private-jet-and-making-millions offer. I have also learned that, while such programs may actually be a good fit for some people, they have never been effective for me.

It’s OK. And there’s nothing wrong with YOU if some of those hyperinflated sales page claims strike you as a bit, um, unrealistic. Tempting, but you know better. Even with the other guides who are realistic, hard-working, diligent teachers and coaches, even with “the good guys” so to speak, even within that group, not every guide is a good fit for you, your vision, and your creation!

Think back about all the times you’ve heard certain pieces of advice. You’ve heard the basics over and over again. Yes, part of it is repetition, a proven way to learn. But another part is how one person may say something just a little bit differently, and BOOM! That person’s expression of the same advice really hits you, really sinks in.

This is an example of what my friends, coaches, and mentors Jan Stringer and Alan Hickman say, “The people who need it most, and they can only hear it from you.”

For your tribe, who are the people who can only hear it from you? Who are the ones listening intently for your voice? Is your voice out there? These are the people waiting for you to build your bridge. Are you doing what my friend Tomar says, “focusing on what is mine to do?”

(Such an exquisite turn of  phrase and so crucial that I’m planning an upcoming post just focusing on that.)

Who is your right bridge-building partner?  Because the essence of building that bridge is taking action, stepping out into the void to create the connection between your vision and your people.  Here’s how I’ve painted the picture of the people who might best hear it from me. If you resonate, be in touch!

And if you’ve found your own right guide to help you build the bridge and open up the path for your just right perfect clients, share with us  how you found this person and why they’re a good fit for you! It’s useful for all of us to see and hear about successful connections.

Build a Bridge from Your Vision to Your Tribe

How do you connect your venture, creation, business, project, or book — your brainchild — to your perfect audience, tribe, circle, or community?

You need a bridge. You need a strong bridge that weaves together:

~the heart of your vision, its benefits, how it will change the corner of the world you are intending to change.
~the authenticity of your voice, the integrity of your heart, the power of your soul manifesting through your intended creation and its message.
~the clear expression of how you can solve the problems or help your people overcome the challenges or deal with the issues you address.
~the longings and yearnings of those people who can only hear it from you — your tribe, your community, your readers, your clients.
~the words that create the connections, the written words that weave all these elements together so that all the pieces stand together as something brand new and stronger than any one of the items alone — i.e., synergies.

You can build the bridge and chart the path across the gap between your vision and your tribe. And sometimes it’s nice to have a guide to show you the way.

Delight Your People — Blog Challenge Post 22

What will it take to bring spine tingling delight to your people, your perfect customers, clients, to your tribe, circle, audience, community, readers, viewers, listeners?

Following this Write Synergies Path, we’ve traversed the inner path of awakening awareness. We’ve added accountability, built momentum (inner and outer) for your foundation, and we’ve talked about creating and implementing.

But who is it all for? And how can you create your vision in such a way that it really resonates down to the tippy toes of your perfect people? People talk about niches, of not trying to serve the whole world. But that often feels, in particular for the heart-full soul-preneurs, visionaries and thought leaders who don’t want to leave anyone behind, that they are being forced into a box that they’ve worked so hard to get out of, the smallness box.

You don’t want to leave anyone behind, and you resist forcing yourself and your message back into a tiny, ill-fitting box.  Reflect back to your own experience working with people. You know there are certain people who are more fun to be with, people with whom it’s hardly “work” at all to serve them, to offer your products.  These are the people who need to “hear it from you,” as Jan Stringer and Alan Hickman like to point out. (You also know in your bones that there are people for whom the whole thing is just an uphill climb. Those may be the clients who need to hear the message from someone else, not you!) The people who can only hear it from you: This is the essence of a niche — your tribe.

There’s something compelling about the basic idea of like-attracts-like, the law of attraction. In the coaching I’ve had with Jan and Alan, co-authors of  BEE-ing Attraction: What Love Has to Do with Business and Marketing , and with their BEEing Attraction work, this like-attracts-like principle leads to a “trick” question. You ask, “What makes my perfect customers/clients tick?”  As it turns out, it’s probably the same thing that makes you tick.

Hmmm. So in essence you are creating your business or program or service that addresses a singular challenge or obstacle that you have somehow successfully dealt with for yourself. The delight comes, on your customers’ side, when they so totally “get it” that you “get them” and their obstacle. They see themselves reflected in the words on your site or that they hear in your teleseminar or in your conversations. They know that you have a deep understanding, not only of the pain of the obstacle, but also the solution to release that pain. That is the beginning of the delight. And there’s more.

More than even the solution to their problem or a way to address their challenge, what they most appreciate is your Presence, loving them and their problem, loving offering the solution, listening for their particular nuances.  Developing Presence in your own way, your authentic content and presentation and voice, creates a dramatic result, a Presence you can share with your customers. By taking the time to develop yourself on this inner path work, you have more to offer the people you are here to serve, and you will be serving them at an even more profound level.

Your Presence — in your words, in your articles, blog posts, videos, audios, in your conversation –  is a source of delight to the people who need to hear it from you. It is the deep listening that you bring to your client interactions. It is the deep understanding and empathy that you have for the challenges they are going through.  It is your authenticity and the love that you bring to heal the pain of the obstacle, problem, or challenge by offering your services and products as solution. And at the foundation of your products and services: It’s you. Your Presence, honed to a crescendo of power to be totally with your clients, meeting them wherever they are on their path.

Delight is a pale imitation of what they will really feel when you, your Presence, is completely in the moment with your clients.

As my mentors, Judith and Jim say, “It’s all in the connection.” Developing your Presence is the path to creating the connections that matter.

Connect with our 30-day blogging challenge on Twitter at #blog30