Keep Moving!
On this week’s Kniss Connection video, I compare our life path to walking a trail… only occasionally do we see the markers that assure us we’re headed in the right direction. To get to the next trail marker, we need to keep moving.
Wise Words by Will Smith
This is a great compilation of interviews with Will Smith. I didn’t know much about his philosophy apart from a few soundbites I’d heard around the time The Pursuit of Happyness came out, but check out what he’s got to say. His passion and his message provide a crucial voice for today’s world, where people often believe they are the victim of circumstances outside of their control (the economy, the government, et cetera). Will offers a different, and refreshing, perspective:
Greatness exists in all of us.
Lay one brick at a time.
Focus on making a difference.
Represent an idea.
You have to believe.
Nothing is unrealistic.
Be willing to die for the Truth.
Protect your dream.
And one of my favorite quotes: “Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.”
The Present Moment
This week’s Kniss Connection video focuses on the power of the present moment. As Chris Howard said, “Stop next monthing yourself.”
Being Human
I met my friend Sean Stephenson at his office today and couldn’t resist giving him a hard time about being a Sox fan. I grew up on the north side of Chicago, so my allegiance remains with the Cubs, even though I haven’t followed baseball in years. Throughout our conversation Sean, being Sean, asked some super in depth questions and, while they weren’t unexpected, they still tapped into a place in me that felt fragile. He reminded me of the normalcy of “being human.” Apparently, it is all too easy for me to forget…
Hence the topic of this week’s Kniss Connection video:
Blog Challenge: What did you start this year that you’re proud of?
from Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge
The Question: What did you start this year that you’re proud of?
I recently started “Kniss Connection,” a weekly video series to kick start the week with a positive perspective. I spend a couple minutes talking about a particular topic each week; it’s quick and easily accessible. I love the idea that, with today’s technology, there is potential to inspire and empower people all over the world. If I can make even one person’s day a little brighter, or give them a tool to manage stress, or build rapport with others, then the whole thing is completely worth it.
It’s been a learning lesson for me too… Not only am I getting to know more about video and sound editing software, but working on this project continues to poke my perfectionist buttons. I’m a 7 on the enneagram, so I’m well aware of how easy it is to take on the negative qualities of a 1 – the perfectionist. These videos provide a consistent opportunity to practice letting go and relaxing, instead of obsessing over every last detail of sound quality, background, what I said, etc… I won’t even mention how long the first video took to create, with take after take, but now, it’s becoming a more fluid process.
Here’s the most recent video, in which I talk about an equation I learned from Jack Canfield’s Success Principles (E+R=O).
If you’re interested, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel and receive an email reminder when new videos are posted.
I am Most Grateful
I am most grateful for the people in my life whose faith in me supports, uplifts, and transcends the faith I have in myself…
When YOU believe in me, it reminds me that there is a little more I can give, a deeper place I can go, some incredible potential to be actualized… YOU inspire me to lift my chin, look my fear in the face and step forward.
I step forward choosing love, and it is your love that lends its strength, helping me to once again discover that strength within myself.
Thank YOU for believing in me.
Blog Challenge: Best Night Out
from Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge
The Question: Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?
There were probably a few nights, now melded in memory, from my last residency at Pacific in June. There was the uncontrollable laughter–the kind that you’re almost concerned about whether or not you’ll be able to take another breath, but the thought of losing consciousness owing to oxygen shortage makes everything even funnier… the kind that makes your obliques hurt more than they have from abdominal crunches.
When I laugh that hard tears stream down my cheeks.
There was that time when Aaron raised his hand, and we just lost it. There were homemade brownies. There was red wine in real wine glasses thanks to Eric. There was that all night conversation… To say that that night, or nights, rocked my world, would be vastly understated.
Pictured here with my fiction writing friends, Jason Sandefur and Alissa Nielsen.
Of Life and Laughter
Seriously?? Life is so frickin’ weird. Hilarious actually… like I can’t stop laughing. As Sean Stephenson says in his kick ass book, Get Off Your “But,” “I’ve learned to focus my focus on one solitary question: What’s funny about this? This puts all my conscious awareness on seeing the comical side of any situation and the resulting laughter takes care of the stress.”
Two weeks ago this guy is serenading me with gorgeous songs and a guitar on his front porch in SE Portland, asking about dating me, and today he’s joined a Franciscan monastery. Awesome…
The guy I swore I would not date has won my heart and the one I thought I would date shrouds himself in tortured unavailability.
Funny stuff.
I am thinking about the power of our souls to pull exactly what we need out of this life experience. And from this perspective, all I can do is chuckle.
There is harmony in the flow of the universe… If we allow ourselves to relax into it, to become one with the music. There is only the current, the pouring out of love and the experience we came here to partake of. In that, there can only be gratitude… and laughter.
