What More Is Possible

What if I wrote a love letter to my Divine Audience?

Before I do, it’s time to acknowledge Jeffrey Davis of #TrackingWonder.  This is part of a mid-2015 challenge, #DareToExcel  #1of1 and number 1 is considering a #BurningQuestion. Specifically, “What burning question of possibility will influence what & how you create during the next 30 to 90 days?“  There’s one for me, above, and one for you, below.

Plus a bunch of bonus “What ifs…?” to play with as jump-starters for your own sacred vision quest.

About that love letter… It sounds something like the following.

 

My Beloved,

What if … the impossible really does take just a little bit longer?

Lean in here with me. Consider if that which looks impossible and appears unlikely, is the game we play to strengthen our ability to give birth to the Great Work that is ours to do in this great shared playground.

Sixteen years ago, at the beginning of July, I started a new chapter, leaving behind a corporate job in publishing. Did I ever imagine what has transpired? And how long it has taken to feel like myself, and finally to write from a place of interconnection, inner and outer, you and me, in community, with collaboration and with sacred solitude …

I sing to you, darling and beloved multi-faceted creator, as you inhabit the murky land of the crossroad, the tumbled place called the #ChaosOfReinvention.  There, seemingly in the void, your purpose, essence, your very BEING — all of these bump up against the DO-ing of your Great Work, the creative you, creating life as art and work as art in this world of a billion paradoxes.

You know you are here to make a difference.

How do I see you?

I see the difference you ARE making by showing up. It’s revealed in the poetry of your presence, your healing, your art-making, your art-full life of cooking and reading, children, beloveds, and fur-companions, writing, singing, meditating, dancing, dreaming, making home, building, nurturing, nourishing, flourishing in your full-sensory goodness.

You ARE the difference you came here to make. My deep joy is seeing you, hearing you, and amplifying the YOU that is coming forth as apprentice to the Great Work that’s also coming forth.  And all of it along a path of joy that’s both sustainable and sustaining — and no longer just out of reach.

SmallerDiveDeep

When something isn’t fully aligned, there is discomfort, even pain.

Finding a way to honor your integrity and deep compassion, your vision and joy and divine spark, your commitment to life in all its sacred interdependencies, has ignited a flame of yearning so powerful in your tender heart that you are compelled to address it.

Take a moment at this #InterDependenceDay to consider what is beyond the edge of your current vision. Beyond activating the vision, ponder what more is possible when you step into the knowing of what is calling to be created next, what longs to be born as your next art-full creation in the world.

If this is you, sweet and often solitary maker-of-art, ask yourself if the following are next up on your menu of life-as-art-making:

* Creating a new story

* Birthing the next version of your gifts

* Putting rooted resonance and strong foundations under visionary and paradigm-shifting new approaches and processes

* Cultivating your change agency — clarifying your purpose, why you are here, and how you are meant to change and bless your Divine Audience

* Authoring the next narrative to uplevel your and others’ expression in the world

* Fresh iterations of your purpose, message, art, and work in the world

The book of your gifts and infinite potential hovers nearby, accessible to you in the #MultiVerse. Reach out, grasp this fist full of shadows, and dream them into being.

You are one intrepid explorer. Here, one-by-one, a community of conscious co-creators assembles, finding nourishment and connection, sustenance like an oasis and clear spring for a thirsting traveler.

Like-hearted. Full-sensory. Healing-intent-focused. Sacred impeccability. Book-writing. Message-expanding. Co-creating a world that works for all. Co-creative and collaborative community.

Mar2015LightingThePAth

For I see in your story the fractal essence of my journey.

You are smart and multi-tiered, a complex, many-faceted, and deep-thinking visionary-creator on many levels. You are change-maker and shero, delving deeply into the inner energies, the emergent of what-is-yet-to-be. Determined to bring it forth and make the difference (finally) that you were called here for.

Rebel and trailblazer, purposeful and art-full, a dash of entrepreneurial crossed with maverick, a journeyer and healer, heart-infused, soul-based: You are someone who stayed well-hidden wearing protective coloration, navigating an uneasy alliance with parts that felt fraudulent, unworthy, not enough. And an outer world that didn’t get it (you) on so many levels.

I, too, have walked the path of trying to do practical things and gaining no traction. I see you and know the heartache of dreams untended because the siren songs of distraction became overwhelming. Or dreams tended that don’t bring themselves out into the world.

Here are some of the “What ifs … ” to consider

I ponder these for me, for you, for all of us called to the path of purposeful messenger, change-maker, sage-hearted evoutionary. These “What if …” questions are the coin of the realm for the Creator. Examine these “What ifs…” and tailor them to your own inquiries.

 

* What if the creating you’re called to do now or next, whether it’s writing, authoring, art-making, book-creation, blog-building, curricula-writing, speaking, even marketing, can carry the energetic essence of the healing imprint you’re here to offer?

* What if the stuckness was simply a message to yourself about connecting in with all levels of your being in the most perfect timing for your essence to come forth?

* What if you could connect with a gentle yet spacious container for creating your book (or web site or speaker’s sheet or …?), in a creation process deeply connected with your inner psyche, your gifts, your sources of guidance? And finally come out with the words that connect deeply to the heart of your people, words you didn’t even know you knew?

* What if you could bring mind, body, spirit, heart essence and soul-purpose all to play together at your creative table?

* What if you connected with a foundation of purpose, magnified mindfulness, amplified your conscious intent, in partnership with a guide through the depths of creation process that is calling to your yearning? And then bringing it all back out into the manifest world?

* What if you could magnetize your very being into deep and purposeful alignment with your change-making vision for your creation?

* What if you felt both free yet supported, liberated yet in safe and sacred partnership to create from that place where you allow your wisdom and the process to have its way with you?

* What if your process for connecting your story with the heart of your people and their yearning nourished you and them?

* What if engaging with your people was a sacred trust?

* What if surrender and trust were your watchwords?

* What if you really surrendered and really trusted?

* What if it IS really finally SAFE to bring your sage-hearted creations into the light of day?

* What if you could do what you do in a co-creative and collaborative container, while being seen into the YOU you are here to be?

* What more is possible if you bring it alive through the magic of “What if…” and it is so?

Are you willing to breathe into what more is possible? Can you entertain the possibility that the impossible might indeed be possible with TLC and a re-frame?  How about holding a new, shiny “What if…” in your heart of hearts that yearns to believe the impossible only takes bit longer?

Divine creator, you, consider these. Explore. Inquire. Hold the infinite possibility that you are right now strengthening your ability to give birth to your Great Work, whatever is yours to do. And don’t do it alone!

I’d love to connect for a conversation if that seems like a fun next step. Email me at jasbjm(at)earthlink(dot)net to inquire about setting a time for conversation.

 

You are loved, and you ARE love!

Bobbye

Bobbye Middendorf, Poet of Pure Potentiality, is your visionary (yet grounded) guide, a combination sounding-board and wordsmith.
Bobbye Middendorf, Poet of Pure Potentiality, is your visionary (yet grounded) guide, a combination sounding-board and wordsmith.

 

P.S. Or consider joining me for a deep immersive creative vision quest on the train journey playshop from Chicago to Albuquerque. Read more at the link and contact me at jasbjm(at)earthlink(dot)net to learn more.

 

 

 

Honor Your Dream. Give It Words.

Yes, there it is: Honor Your Dream. How long has it been in hiding? How long have you maintained the silence? How long have you felt “on the verge” of expressing it, yet always pull back at the last minute?

So here sits your challenge: Give It Words.

Does that feel threatening? Scary? Exhilarating? I acknowledge you for even considering that it may be time to open the closet door and dust off the dreams so you can clothe them in words to bring them forth. 

One of the hardest tasks in the world is to tell your own story.

 

Especially for those of us called to make a difference in the world — to transform, to do something that hasn’t been done, to create anew — bringing forth our message is a doubly challenging endeavor.  The typical models just don’t fit.  It’s discouraging.

 

Maybe you’ve spent a lot of time trying to create your messages, to shape your marketing, to put together web sites or speaker sheets or articles,  blogs or books. You long for your words to reflect the truth of the potentials and possibilities that are bubbling up inside you.

 

And yet, you haven’t captured the essence in spite of giving it your best effort. Your words are falling short of saying what you really want to say.

 

  • But how to put it into words?
  • How to articulate the ineffable?!
  • How to say it so the most perfect people “get it?”

 

How can you express what you do with authenticity and put it out there in words so that your most perfect people hear your message? There’s the rub.

 

Even as an experienced writer/marketer, I’ve faced the challenge of saying what I do so that people “get it.”  And when they don’t,  that hurts, especially when you’ve put your heart into saying what you do and it just doesn’t connect.

 

And it’s not only the message. It’s your WHO: your people, tribe, community. Once the message is ready to be shared, you face  the challenge of putting it in front of your most perfect clients, so they will be able to say, “Yes! That’s me. I want some of that!”

 

For those of you sharing messages of transformation, take a minute to feel into what it might be like to have a partner, a believing mirror, someone who “gets it” and can help you put words around that vision  you’ve been hiding for so long.

 

As writer, creation coach, and vision midwife, I help visionaries with the words and writing that bring forth the stories, wrap your gifts in words, and give shape and substance to your visions and dreams.

 

Especially if you are a woman in the best half of life — whose true gifts have been hidden or are only now coming forth — really take in the possibility that you might be able to express your stories and still feel safe. Feel heard. Feel embraced with understanding…Be held in a sacred container of conversation, content, and creation.

 

What would it feel like if you experienced your visions and messages coming to life in words?

Wouldn’t that change everything?

To open a conversation that just might change everything for you, please send me an email at bjmiddendorf(at)gmail(dot)com.  Give me the 100-word synopsis of your story and dream to make sure this is the most appropriate fit for you and bringing forth your dreams.

Everyone who responds will receive my BEEing Presence Plan Kit for Messengers.

 

 

Sometimes it’s a gem of truth

Molly Gordon wrote in her ezine today about how we don’t have to be superheroes and how to address our tendency to think we need to be.  Using the power of daily ritual is one way to keep the stress of superheroine roles out of our bodies.  Molly is expressing from her own deep truth of experience a great wisdom here — with a wink of fun tossed in for good measure. (Keep the crown, Molly. You deserve it!)

Seth Godin‘s post today on “winning” ended with this sentence: “What if the win is the ability to give a true gift?” It was one of those phrases that raised goosebumps, often for me an indicator of a powerful truth.

The gifts and creations (books, businesses, ventures, artworks, practices, creative projects) that you are bringing out to the world are created from the deepest heart of you. Coming from this fiery heart of creation, fueled by your passion for expressing your gift, you have a sacred trust to this, your creation and brainchild.

How can you maintain the purity of your intent as your creative project makes its way in the world? How can you preserve authenticity and integrity? How do you prevent it from becoming corrupted by the eddies and currents of the everyday and the toxic approaches that seem the common currencies?

This was one of the most powerful lessons from my recent retreat with the Dreams Alive and Relax-Online partners, Paul Bauer and Susan Castle. This powerful circle embodied the sacred and gave each of us the impetus to embrace our own sacred truth and creation while bringing it to life.

Your creations come from the heart and carry a sacred message. To speak that message in a way that connects with your perfect people (tribe, community, readers, clients, customers) requires a similarly sacred approach.  Isn’t it time for sharing the sacred stories in a way that your people can really get it?

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.

Boost Your Writing with Reading

I admit it. I’m a book person. (Yearbooks in school started my publishing journey. Then working in corporate book publishing for ~20 years. Then freelancing for a variety of publishers, ghostwriting books, marketing books, writing press releases for books, helping people with web sites about books, coaching people about their books… Finally focusing on creating my own books. And all the while reading and buying still more books. Maybe lightening my load soon when I get my new iPad. We’ll see…)

In fact, I may be a book-a-holic. Yes. There it is. Out there in public. One of my “drugs of choice” is books. My husband despairs of my book piles that threaten to topple over. Our house my not really be sturdy enough to house my existing library. (Clued in about this by those funny cracks that seem to keep appearing…)

During my childhood, summer was a time to fall deeply into books. I’ve also been an avid re-reader, revisiting stories that resonated with me time and again.  “So many books, so little time,” is a phrase that was tailor made for me. How about you?

Simultaneously to reading comes the writing. Or vice versa. In fact, there are real synergies that grow in a process of reading and writing.  Each one feeds off the other.

Many people are interested in bringing more ease and authenticity into their writing. They long to be purposeful with their messages about their businesses and projects and creations and ventures. One of the ways to find your authentic voice is to practice writing, ideally in a public sphere like this blogging challenge, where you will be able to tap into a zeitgeist and community of like-minded others and to receive feedback.  You’ll be both reader and writer here.

In addition to writing, reading can be a powerful way to embrace and test your writing. One summer, I went through the letters of Virginia Woolf — volume after volume. Yes, that summer my friends from college received letters from me that unconsciously picked up the tone and flavor of VW’s letters. You can’t help but learn from your reading. It’s what nourishes your soul and heart and voice and mind.

So I want to acknowledge and thank the folks at Flashlight Worthy Books on Twitter as  @flwbooks for sharing this link. It inspired my blog post (as books are wont to do) and offers windows to “see with fresh eyes” in ways to rethink and revisit your own writing process.

7 Great Titles for a Writer Digging for Inspiration

And welcome to the second 30 day blogging challenge for 2010. Follow the fun on Twitter at #blog30.

Copywriting: The Case of the Missing Keyword — Blog Challenge Post 26

Copywriting. There. I said it. It’s part of the name of this site. It’s a valuable keyword. But it’s practically invisible, rarely written about here. What gives?

In post 25, defining Write Synergies, I said I’d address the case of this missing keyword—copywriting. I started with Write Synergies, but tacking on a popular keyword seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

On my longer marketing journey from starting this site (and even before) to now, I’ve come to realize that copywriting is a tool. It remains an important tool if you want to connect with your community, your niche market.  Copywriting helps you tell the story of your product or service in a way that connects to your people.  You identify the obstacles and challenges they are facing, then proceed to engage them in a process of understanding and accepting your offer — what will solve the problem or help them overcome the obstacle — the thing that’s most present and painful relating to your topic. (And if you’re like most of my ideal clients, you’ll add lots of value and transformations along the way, what those clients need but didn’t know they could even dream of asking for.)

The old definition of copywriting was “Salesmanship in print.” You’ll still find that traditional kind of copywriting around: hard sell sales letters, fear-based mailings, screen after screen of online letters, flashing buttons and arrows, an urgency that feels false and forced. “Salesmanship” is changing even as the jaded, cynical and info-overloaded world of people out there surfing, texting, tweeting, are finally realizing they are hungry for something else, something different, something more nourishing to both body and soul.

For those of us calling ourselves soul-preneurs, conscious creators, authors, writers, artists, healers, those in conscious business or soft sell marketing or mindful service providers and messengers with a message of change, hope and transformation, we are the ones committed to contributing and serving our communities.  For us, that kind of copywriting doesn’t ring true. Our people are looking for a genuine connection. In the old regime, authenticity and genuine connection are in short supply.  Our people hunger for our authenticity to touch their hearts. We know it, yet all that seems to be available are the old tools.

My writing journey and client interactions have indicated that copywriting, as a tool for outer expression, is best partnered with an inner journey first.  Many of the posts at Write Synergies Copywriting set the stage and make the case for the importance of that inner journey, what I sometimes call your creative or marketing vision quest. In fact, if you’ve followed along the 30 Day Blogging Challenge, you’ve joined me on an inner journey here.

While I’ve said very little about copywriting, it’s not because copywriting is not important. Rather, it’s because for those of us who bring the fire and passion of service and contribution and leadership to our work, copywriting, at least in the old sense, is necessary but not sufficient.

Some of my clients don’t even like it that I have copywriting as part of the name of my site. “That sells you short. It doesn’t get close to all you do!” they cry. But it is a piece of what I do. Crazy as it sounds, the big vision at WriteSynergiesCopywriting is to literally redefine the model and best practices for what copywriting really means. Copywriting, by the way, is but one of the many pieces of magic I do with words. The point I emphasize to all my clients is the crucial role that the inner journey plays, even in a seemingly straightforward process like copywriting.

Part of the magic, in doing this inner Write Synergies work with clients (and before getting to the copywriting per se) is that we excavate each client’s inner voice. We uncover the vision at the heart of her purpose, why she is here, why she is called to share her message.  We tap into the deepest level of authenticity that he is willing and able to bring to forth at the present moment. Who knows? Maybe in the next iteration, we will go deeper.

Copywriting is a tool, a powerful tool. During its heyday in the 20th Century, it convinced us we needed things that we didn’t even know we needed.  (Maybe, as it turns out, we really didn’t need them…) Now in this paradigm-changing moment, we reshape the old tools to the new world. We reconfigure the tools to serve the highest purpose that we can manifest in our work and creations. The new reforged tools are malleable partners with you (more synergies magic!) to communicate the highest message, the conscious and mindful path that your project, venture or creation offers to your tribe. We are in the midst of a transformative and visionary moment. I urge you to reforge the tools at hand using the heat and fire drawn from your inner journey first.

There are plenty of practical tools and many great teachers. I was inspired to write about my own “missing keyword” when I read this post by my colleague Connie Ragan Green, the brilliant and diligent teacher who convened this 30 day blogging challenge. It seems keywords are a challenge for many of us.

For practical, hands-on insights around keywords for your tribe, check out Connie’s post: http://ebookwritingandmarketingsecrets.com/free-keyword-research-how-to-use-keywords-to-build-your-internet-business/#comment-4427

Hey #blog30: We are sprinting to the finish line. It’s been a blast!

Write Synergies: What It Means — Blog Challenge Post 25

Write Synergies. It’s the name of this blog. (Oh yes, along with copywriting. We’re getting to that tomorrow…with the case of the missing keyword…Watch for it!)

Write Synergies: It’s the name of the book that’s under construction, the process, the sub-processes, even the author, who calls herself (for heaven’s sake) the Write Synergies Guru. More on gurus coming too.

Needing to write a blog post to explain what Write Synergies means indicates that the name isn’t ideal.  Maybe the people in the #blog30 challenge have been especially kind and have kept an open mind to explore such a non-keyword-named blog.  (thank you.)

As I pondered how to reinvent myself once again –to rename this body of work, at one coach’s suggestion — (I’ve been doing reinventing rather regularly. To hear about my lifelong commitment to reset, listen to my BlogTalkRadio interview with Nina Price on her show, Push the Reset Button.) — What happened?  A client said, “You know, that word synergies, it’s a perfect description of how it was, what happened, what you did, when you worked with me.” Whoa.

For the moment, I’m back to this word that no one understands–Synergies.

So, for the down and dirty explanation:  Synergies = Energies + Synthesis.  Synergies means energetically putting something together that’s greater than the sum of the parts. It encompasses the energies around bringing things together in new ways. (Remember the equation: thesis –>antithesis–>synthesis.)  It brings together the opposites to create something brand new.

Bottling up the synergies magic through and with words.
Those hidden (or not so hidden) synergies are what I help people uncover in their own creative vision.   Sometimes it’s something they didn’t even know was there.

The Write Synergies process supports conscious creators at any place along the spectrum of the creative process: in tapping their vision; in writing and polishing up their creations; with their copy, the message of the creation, so it connects;  in their communicating and outreach to their tribes; even in finding and connecting to the tribes…And to do that, I write. I listen and write. Write and listen.

For people looking for the courage to call themselves writers and authors, who want help, mentoring, support, inspiration, and encouragement in their own writing process, I serve as coach, teacher, and guide.

I write for people and about their projects and creations. We collaborate on writing so my conscious creator clients build the strong inner foundation that will support their outer work of bringing their creation, book, web site, newsletter, or healing venture fully into the world.

I use words, written words primarily, to help my people generate results greater than the sum of the parts. I help people bring their creations to life and to light. I listen and write souls (and their gifts) into authentic expression. (To do this, I have an extensive toolkit of expertise and experience. Again, a topic for another day.)

No matter where you are in a process of writing and conscious creation, you may need support, a sounding board, someone whose expertise resides in all the many manifestations of the written word.

Write Synergies is an alchemical, transformative process that moves with you along the path of your heart and soul, to where you really want to go. I love being your guide, joining you on your creative journey.

And for my new friends from the 30-day blog challenge, #blog30 on Twitter, I want to acknowledge all the gifts and greatness of your expressions and messages in the conversations over this past month. Thank you. You are truly owning your greatness in the world with the unique manifestation of YOU!

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

Create and Implement

Create and Implement: Sounds simple. And it’s the heart of the matter, isn’t it? If you are a visionary author, writer, messenger, thought leader, or conscious creator with a mission to heal, the idea is to get the work (and its healing results) out there into the world, to start serving the people you came here to serve.

I just read a review for a creativity process book over at Amazon, and there are now comments on the comments. One of those subcomments really struck home. Do these creativity process books help you take action on making your art (whatever it may be)? Or does the process lull you into endless loops of reflecting on the process?

It’s a fine line, I think. Because the inner journey, as discussed in prior posts, is important to building a strong foundation for the outer expression of your work and gifts and greatness in the world. But at a certain  point, it’s time to just do the work, to build the house, write the book, call the clients. How can you use these “process” approaches to launch you into the doing of the actual work (art) you came here to do (make) — and not as an excuse for endless procrastination and preparation?

Note to self: Is this a potential danger of the Write Synergies Path work that I am creating? How may I structure this “process” so it’s more about moving my people forward with doing whatever is the important work/art/creation/venture?  How do I prevent myself and others from falling into the thrall of something completely impractical and tail-chasing as an excuse to avoid the work of creating?  How can I make sure there is practical traction?

My personal challenge IS in doing my “own work,” whatever that may look like. It looked for a time like poetry. And for time it looked a lot like collage/assemblage. Then photography. Now it seems to want to shape itself into a book. Or several. And collaborating with visionary thought leader clients to support and mentor them in creating their most important writing projects.

This post, “create and implement,” is really all about encouraging you in the doing of your work. To do full justice to “create and implement,” it really calls for more detail than a  single blog post here.

You ask, “Do I just start creating?”  Yes. Sometimes you just start. Sometimes, instead, the creation “starts” you–its call is so persistent that it seeps out of your pores and your pen or across the keyboard without your even being full aware of it. This is the luscious process of what I call “divine dictation.” Something comes out, flows out the pen and onto the page.  I know I wrote it, but I don’t have a clue where it came from. These are the moments of the gift. It’s important to grab the gift moments, treasure them, and build on them. They are the gold.

Then there are the other moments, when the engine is cold and it’s tough to start. These are the times when the “Just do it,” motto comes in handy. Times that call for the admonishment to be willing to write what Anne Lamott calls, the “shitty first draft.” Get something out there. Pen to paper even when you don’t really “feel like it.” (And here, a perfect time for acknowledging the gift of the 30 day blog challenge, to get stuff done and out in spite of resistance, procrastination. So thanks #blog30 community!)

Remember: It’s a stronger house with a foundation, and it’s a stronger creation when it has the grounding and foundation of having done the inner work first, tapping into the vision and building on your authenticity, gifts, and greatness.

Be grateful for the gifts and moments of golden flow. But keep on writing (creating) anyway, even if you feel like you are plugging along up a steep incline. Think of the view when you get to the top. Just make sure you are climbing the right mountain!

Writing to Awaken Self Awareness–Blog Challenge Post 17

The Write Synergies Path to Owning Your Greatness starts with Awakening Your Awareness. There are many paths to do this, many helpful ways to wake ourselves up. This particular path follows the trajectory of the written word as a way to get present with who you are right now, your Being in the moment and in relation to a particular issue that you consciously want to wake up around. (Or to put it another way, you want to shift your energy or boost the mojo or heal the shadow.)

So that this doesn’t become all floaty and ungrounded, start with your intention, identify the issue, then do brief five-minute timed writings answering the questions posed at the end of this post.

First, create an intention of safety and openness around doing this “awaken your awareness” process and following this particular path.  For example, you might start by saying, thinking, or even writing something like:

I intend to be fully present with this Awakening Awareness exercise. I am willing to allow the download of words onto paper, trusting the inner wisdom will flow from Source (the Universe, God, Soul, or whatever term you are comfortable with).  I will communicate with honesty and generosity, integrity and authenticity, and with the deepest and most profound compassion for the highest good for all concerned.

The wisdom lives within you, if you can just slow down long enough to listen. Writing in this focused yet open-hearted manner can tap into your remarkable inner resources, or, if you prefer, your inner connection to something greater than the “you.”

Second, select an issue (problem, challenge, question) that will be your focus for this Awakening Awareness exercise. It can be something in-your-face, what wakes you up in the middle of the night, or spins the wheels of your brain so you can’t get to sleep in the first place. Or, you might choose a smaller but annoying issue, something that keeps cropping up to bother you. As you write down the issue at hand, phrase it nonjudgmentally, as though you are simply an observer, curious about this particular situation.

Third, get grounded and present by taking at least three deep breaths, full inhales, complete exhales. Release all the tension, stress, judgment. Review your intention. Observe your issue dispassionately. From this observer perspective, allow your the words to come out in answer to the following questions. If no words come, then just write the question over and over. Or write, “I don’t know what to write.” Either way, just keep the pen moving. Something usually breaks free.  Write uninterrupted, no stopping,  for five timer minutes.

Give yourself at least five minutes for each of the following questions. See what appears. If all you get is resistance, then so be it.  If so, try this question when the process isn’t opening up: If you DID know the answer, what would it be? By keeping the pen moving, surprising things emerge.

The Questions for your Writing to Awaken Self-Awareness Reflection:

1 Who are you Being right now as it relates to the issue you have chosen?

2 Where are you right now, as it relates to the issue you are facing? (Where as in physically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, creatively, financially, relationally, etc.)

3 What are you thinking about this issue right now?

4 What are you feeling about this issue right now?

5 What ELSE is present right now in your five-sensory present-moment universe? What is filling your five senses?

6 What is tickling at your sixth sense?

7 How might you place this issue (problem, challenge, question) into a larger context? What would that make it look like?

8 Why is it important to wake up about this issue right now?

There’s your start, your writing to awaken self-awareness written reflection, all done in less than an  hour, even if you give every question seven minutes instead of five. You might be surprised by what comes out in the flow.