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QUICK, TASTY NO-CAL “READABLE SNACKS BITES”
To give you a little lift and a little more life…
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“It’s summertime and the livin’ is easy”
Lyrics from “Porgy & Bess” by Gershwin & Heyward
Sometime around the middle of June, I realized that it was really summer, the time of easy livin’ but I was finding my summer livin’ not so easy. The extremely hot weather meant that I got up earlier so I could walk my dogs or work in the yard. In the evening, I kept working longer because it was too hot to go outside. What happened to my plan of taking life this summer a little easier? As soon as I had an extra space in my schedule, I filled it up with “to do’s”. Finally, I had enough!
So I vowed to at least slip in some easy livin’ time and thought I might share my ideas with you. Maybe you can enjoy some, too. I realized that whatever I did had to be simple, with not much planning or expense and these had to be some things I could just slip in when I was getting cabin fever. So here are a few ideas :
Easy Livin’ Coolers
· Went to free “Movie on the Lawn” at a local church. We brought lawn chairs & church supplied popcorn & drinks. It was definitely old-fashioned fun with a old somewhat corny movie that encouraged clapping & cheering. Lots of churches & parks are doing this- check around your area.
· Spent a wonderful hour at my local library reading magazines. Read things I’d never seen before. There is something about a fresh shiny magazine to enjoy that we just don’t get from magazines on the Internet.
· Slipped in some time to just browse some favorite local shops, The Bag Lady & Green With Envy .
o Read the cards, found some great ideas for gifts
o Chatted with friendly staff and was very impressed with the creativity of displays as well as merchandise.
o Bought a trinket to remind me to “take it easy.”
I’d love to add your ideas to the “Easy Livin’ Coolers List. Send me a comment & I will include it.
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MIDLIFE, MILES AND MIRACLES
This is a story about a midlife crisis that resulted in internal and external miracles…and the many miles that were traveled along the way.
Midlife crisis is usually joked about as the time when people buy the fancy sports and find a young, good-looking person to ride in it. But even if you don’t approach this time in that way, midlife is certainly a time to reexamine your life, make some big changes and perhaps go in a different direction.
This is the story about how one woman is doing that & is inspiring others to create their own “new journey”.
The Inner Journey
About three years ago, Soulo Entrepreneurs member, Tamela Rich came to me to help her deal with the loss of her business and to help her find a new career direction. Tamela did a lot of inner work to connect with what she really wanted to do. She had long loved to write but had, like many of us, not seen using her talent as a viable business. But as she connected with her passion, her energy returned and doors began to open for her.
She created a successful business writing for financial markets. And after having dealt with her own crisis, she decided to write about the trade offs everyone must make in life. With the financial meltdown still playing out, she’s researching the book by talking to financial traders across the country about their trade offs – personally and professionally.
She also wanted to have some fun, live a dream, and make a difference…All great midlife goals
So next week, she will start riding across the country to conduct her research, not in a shiny sports car, but on a shiny new motorcycle. Along the way she’ll be raising money for The National Breast Cancer Foundation.
The Outer Journey
Of course, there were a few obstacles to realizing her dream. Minor ones like she had never ridden a motorcycle.
She had little money of her own, didn’t know many people around the country, and a few other “minor” challenges.
Oh yeah, and she didn’t have a motorcycle or the means to buy on
And some people who asked her, “What are you thinking? “ and other discouraging remarks.
The Dream
But she had a dream and out of that dream has come some miracles –like the new BMW motorcycle and the dozens of “little” sponsorships from friends. strangers and businesses across the country. In the spirit of “If you build it, they will come,” her dream is coming tru
Biker Babe
And on June 26, she will start her “outward journey” with lots of support. plenty of contacts, a book contract and a new bike. In the process, she has inspired all of us to reconnect with our passions and find a way to make a difference in the world…especially our own.
Tamela gives a new meaning to “You Rock, Biker Babe!
You can follow Tamela’s travels on Roadtrip.TamelaRich.com
Lookit! I’m on TV!
I had the wonderful fortune to be interviewed by WCNC /
Channel 36,reporter, Bobby Sisk, for my support group called “The Bucket Brigade ” for people who are unemployed or in some type of transition.The article was also featured in 5/23 Charlotte
Observer Business section.
It was a little scary to do and of course when I saw myself on t.v. , I was surprised at how I looked .But it was also fun and exciting and I hope that it will help some of the folks who are stressed and need some support.
It’s the part of being laid off many people don’t expect: the emotional toll it takes to lose one job and then look for another.
That’s where Dr. Jeannie Fennell of tries to help. A psychologist, she started a job support group last November called the Bucket Brigade.
“I realized there was a lot of help for resume writing, but not a lot for what is the stress part and the toll it takes on you physically and emotionally,” she said.
The group meets the first and third Wednesday of each month at Julia’s Coffee in the Habitat for Humanity ReStore on Wendover Road. At this week’s meeting, six job seekers showed up and talked openly about the emotional process of figuring out what’s next.
“I worked in nonprofit for 12 years,” said 63-year-old Cindy Thomson.
Laid off last April, Thomson says she understood why her agency had to make cuts, but she still felt like she’d been rejected.
“I’m not that far from retirement age, so I say if you’re my age and you get laid off, you might be retired,” she said, laughing.
Thomson has attended the meetings since they started and finds the candid discussions helpful.
“I don’t do well at home by myself. My batteries will run down. I like to be around people so this group really helps,” she said.
Fennell said, “I hope that eventually this group goes away and that we don’t really need this anymore.”
But with more layoffs — this time in county government and schools — she expects the need to increase.
People with Great Courage
“I’m just very, very, very fortunate to be able to do this and be with these people and hear their stories. They are people with great courage,” Fennell said.
Fennell knows the pain of a pink slip firsthand. Before going back to school to get her doctorate in psychology, she worked as a recruiter and in human resources. She has hired and been fired.
“I often say I’ve been the person on both sides of the desk – the person looking for work and the person employed. In fact, when I moved to Charlotte, within about two months of being relocated by a company, I got laid off. I didn’t know anybody and it was really a tough time,” she said.
At each meeting a bucket is placed in the center of the table. Thomson says the message it sends is two-fold.
“One thing is you put doubts and fears and impatience in the bucket and leave it. And with the Bucket Brigade, there’s the analogy of throwing water on a fire and it takes a lot of people to pass the bucket, so we can all communicate with each other and understand what we’re all going through,” she said.
SHIFT Drumming Circle
A group for Women who desire a shift from the routine of everyday life and move towards experiencing the ancient heartbeat of the Earth using drums, rattles, dance, song and heart to heart conversation.
A sacred place to rediscover women’s spirituality and wisdom using rhythm.
No Experience Necessary!
Love Offering Accepted.
UPCOMING DATES: MAY 14TH & JUNE 25
7:00-9:00 pm
Contact me for location.
For 2 years I have hosted a free drumming circle in the summer. This circle is facilitated by Belinda Haverdill, http://www.belindahaverdill.com/ a counselor & a member of Soulo entrepreneur’s group. She wanted to have the drumming be outside and I volunteered my back porch. I’ve enjoyed it a lot & met some great women.
I really appreciate having Belinda organize it and I just get to be a participant; a welcome change of pace for me.
I’m really not a drummer but I like to make noise so I have lots of rattles and other toys to play with. I find it a great way to release stress and have some fun.
Transitions…Endings & Beginnings
ENDINGS, BEGINNINGS & THE SOMETIMES DARK HALLWAYS IN-BETWEN
This month we celebrate Black History month and next month, Women’s History month. So I have been thinking about my own history as an entrepreneur and woman in transition and what it means to me.
I notice that I want to “re-live” the successes of the past and hold on to them as a guide for the future. And even though I know that the times are very different now, I find it challenging to change my thinking about my history and look at the new world I am in.
I want it RIGHT NOW.
Sometimes, what once “was” gets in the way of being in the present. Having to change so quickly is upsetting and I want what was secure. I like beginnings but am not so sure about endings. And I really don’t like the dark hallways in between,
I want things to change and change for the better RIGHT NOW.
The Grief of Endings.
Recently one of my clients brought this type of experience to my attention as she cried over having to close part of her previously successful business. She said she kept thinking of how it used to be and was angry and sad that it is gone and said she could not imagine having to starting again.
I realized that she is going thru a grief process where anger and depression are normal stages and that until that is complete, she cannot move on.
We think of grief as only appropriate when a person dying but when part of our work or any other part of our life ends, it is a great loss …not only the money but the dreams, the security, the sense of safety and the identity.
But in order to have beginnings, we have to have endings so I suggested that she create a ceremony to release her business.She could then honor the tangible as well as the intangibles that her business gave her .It had given her much and it deserved an honoring at the end.
Rituals help us let go
Rituals and ceremony can be very powerful in creating appropriate endings…giving us a way to respect our history and mark an ending while celebrating what was.
She did create a ceremony where she burned some business cards, and other symbols, buried the ashes and then planted flowers there. And yes, she cried but it was cleansing. She said that it was a major step in releasing and going forward. Although grief is a long-term process, she created an ending so she can have a beginning…and her action moved her of out the dark hallway.
Most of us need to do the same in some place in our lives.
And as more of us have to change our work & our lives, it is important and freeing to release the old ways with gratitude and yes, some tears.
In honoring our history, we can appreciate it without it weighing us down.
So if your work or your life has “transitioned”, bless what it gave you and set yourself free to create a new path.
