CRESCENDOh Day Four and Madge's Thursday Musings...

Yup, it's day four on CRESCENDOh and my featured artists today are the craftylicious Cathie Filian and Kathy Peterson's inspiring Craft for Health blog. Please follow the link to visit these wonderful artists!

Madge muses...

The funny thing about life is that things are often not what they seem. We build up these grand expectations about them and then we realize that the shiny toy is maybe not so shiny at all. Expectation is a slippery slope. It can make us ignore our intuition and get caught up in our personal mythology. People can't actually know what we want from them if we don't speak it out loud. Things can't always unfold the way we'd like them to because we aren't the only ones in charge of reality.

I hear people often say that they have no regrets. I think that's pretty impressive, really. I surely have regrets. I think a life worth living almost always results in at least a few regrets. Living out loud means making choices that might not always end up the way we'd like them to. I think we all sometimes say something we didn't mean or forget to say something we did or opt for that shiny thing even when something in our gut tells us it might not be wise.

It's part of the deal. We will, if we march boldly ahead, make a few unfortunate turns and we will, if we live passionately, make a mistake or two. Yes, it's a dichotomy. There are no mistakes, but there are choices and consequences and some of the consequences are rather unpleasant. So perhaps we might call them mistakes, for lack of a better word? Those mistakes or consequences are opportunities and we can grow from them, learn from them and most importantly use them as a way to fine tune the practice of unconditional love. Practicing love for ourselves and love for those we encounter, especially those whom we don't much like.

We just keep making our way here through the wilderness and if we use our heart as our compass and our intellect to tender some of the intensity of the heart, we will at the very least end up having a most interesting journey.

I'm feeling introspective today. It is fall and this is what happens to me as winter starts lurking around the edges of my reality. I'm making huge changes and they're not going to make everyone happy. I'm probably going to step on a few toes without meaning to and I'm not quite sure how to prevent that. My entire reality and the entire fabric of my family's reality is shifting, and it is a huge thing. I have to hold on to the power of serendipity and the knowledge that no matter what choices I make, no matter where we end up, as long as I maintain the compassionate heart, all will be fine.

"My religion is kindness." The 14th Dalai Lama

"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. We seek problems because we need their gifts." Richard Bach Illusions

“There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they're necessary to reach the places we've chosen to go.” Richard Bach The Bridge Across Forever

Love
Madge

Charting the Course

Image Copyright Enoch Bolles

Today might be...just might be...a pivotal moment in my professional future.

More precisely, something that is happening today might be a pivotal moment in my professional future. Or not. I have no idea. It might not happen. I might not make the docket. I simply don't know. Truth be told, there's a lot riding on this moment, but I'm trying my best to keep it in perspective.

The fact is...every moment of our lives is pivotal. We have the power at every moment to shift things, beginning with our attitude and our perspective. Life isn't what happens to you, it's how you react to what happens and how much ownership you take for your reactions.

I think for the most part, we are in charge. Taking ownership of our lives means accepting responsibility for not just our reactions to things that happen to us, but how our choices create the opportunities for those things to happen. Think about that because it's important. Our lives are driven by a series of choices we make that create opportunities for things to happen to us. So what can you do, at this moment, to make it pivotal? How can you shift things? What small adjustments can you make to your current course that will result in your arriving at a pleasing destination?

My daughter said something so incredibly smart to my husband at dinner yesterday. She said, "If it's about the journey then why are you always in such a hurry?"

Brilliant.

When we rush through our lives without paying attention to the scenery, we miss out on so many potential pivotal moments. Life isn't a series of big events, it's a series of small moments and we are the connective thread. Those small moments may seem at the time and space in which they occur to be insignificant, but they are far more powerful than we imagine. Think about what happens when a ship's captain adjusts his wheel...think about what happens when a pilot changes course? Even the smallest adjustment has major impact.

Today there will be a series of pivotal moments in my professional and personal future. One of them is out of my control now. I have done all that I can over the past 45 years to prepare and now it is up to other people to decide if I am ready.

The remaining pivotal moments...are entirely in my hands.

I intend to examine, explore and experience them to their fullest potential.

How about you?

xoxo

Madge

Mangolicious

Image Copyright K. O. Munson

I’ve been working on some big ideas and yesterday one of them was shelved. It’s a really cool idea and I think folks would love it, but at least for the foreseeable future it’s not going to happen. It’s frustrating sometimes knowing that the people in charge of approving your big ideas and getting them out to the masses are often entirely lacking in vision, but what’s a gal to do?

You never quite know if you fit the suit, Johnny Bravo and it’s often got little to nothing to do with your talent. More often than not, it’s one or two people who have decided they want oranges and if you’re a mango you can forget about it. So what do you do when your big ideas get shelved? What do you do if you’re a mango in an orange world? You have a good cry. You feel really bad about your big idea and yourself for a moment or two. You beat yourself up a little for not being taller or smaller or younger or older or curvier or skinnier or more orangish...and then you shout out...as loud as you can...

“SCREW THAT! I AM FABULOUS!”

You have to believe in yourself and your brilliance. You have to be willing to take rejection and keep on moving forward. You have to know that if oranges are popular right now with the ‘not visionaries’ in charge...mangos just might be the next big thing. So be ready to knock their socks off when that day comes...which might be sooner than later because the winds are constantly changing direction.

I have a page from a magazine taped on the shelf next to my desk with ghastly movie reviews of some of the most successful and well loved films in history. This page reminds me that even if you’re not everyone’s cup of tea...if you make great tea someone will love it. Maybe lots of folks will love it, but no matter how delicious you are someone will think you tasteless. C’est la vie. It’s a damn good thing Elvis didn’t listen to the person who told him to keep driving trucks...and Hemingway kept trying to sell books after over a hundred rejection letters...and Dr. Seuss didn’t listen to the children’s book publishers who thought his books too weird for the masses...because without that tenacity and self-belief the world would have missed out. All because some ‘not visionaries’ were looking for oranges instead of mangos.

I’ve got some other big ideas simmering right now and I do believe that one of them is going to cook up really nicely. Onward and upwards. Success happens when the right big idea and the right visionaries come together at the right moment. I’m a mango and I’m going to be as mangolicious as possible because when it’s my time to shine I’ll be ready.

I’m mangolicious. How about you?

Until next time...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo
Madge

Embracing Our Flaws

Image Copyright Enoch Bolles

I have flip flops to design, books to review, emails to send, projects to make for my new book and yet...I feel like writing about something else today. So there, straw pile!

Tonia Davenport posted a provocative blog that got me thinking. I like to think, but it can be so distracting, can’t it? Tonia was discussing meeting ourselves where we are instead of comparing ourselves to others and I think that’s a point worth exploring.

It is easier to see the flaws in the tapestry than it is to grasp the beauty in the overall design. The key to success is in celebrating our strengths and more importantly in seeing the infinite potential in the things we perceive as weakness. The ‘flaws’ just might be the point and they definitely contribute something incredibly important to the totality of who we are.

The Impatient Crafter™ began in an email I sent to my husband when I finally and fully accepted that I am innately lazy. This laziness or impatience (or if I’m feeling like a Zen master-my desire to pursue the path of least resistance) deeply informs my creativity. If I can find a way to do something faster, easier and more simply, I will do it. If I can get there sooner and get on to the next idea but still have a rich and fulfilling journey and a worthwhile result, sign me up! So does that really make me lazy or does that make me innovative? Am I a sea slug or am I a visionary?

Does my not wanting to spend a month on one design make me impatient? Yes, yes it does.

Is that impatience a virtue? In my case, yes. Yes, it is.

Tonia brought up a great point and its one worth contemplating deeply. These things we see as personal flaws aren’t really flaws at all. In shifting our perspective we can see them as unique personal traits that can unlock opportunities.

We tend to be our own harshest critics and most failure to succeed begins with self flagellation that is followed by the failure to attempt. Many of us are far more afraid of the possibility of success than we are of the comfort of failure. If we create success...we are making a bigger splash in the pool and those splashes create waves and those waves create ripples and those ripples expand outward and make change. Change is scary.

If we don’t ever try...we won’t have to deal with the complications that result from succeeding.

Plus we all have that inner critic pecking away at our self esteem.

Next time the inner critic starts harping on you about something, see if there isn’t a gift disguised as a flaw in the topic of that diatribe. Crack the nut and see what’s inside. Turn that inner critic into your personal alarm bell for worthwhile possibilities.

The more we become ourselves without excuse or shame or fear, the richer and more fulfilling our journey will be. There are as many pathways to joy as there are people walking them.

Carpe Gaudium.

xoxo
Madge

Craft an Interesting Life

If I weren't a craft maven, I'd be singing and acting. I put that on hold so I could be a Mom. I didn't want to be away at night rehearsing and performing and miss out on watching my daughter bloom. I'm so very glad that I did, because being a parent is by far the best thing I've ever done. I have absolutely no regrets. This is a segment from the Cabaret show I started when my daughter was a baby. I plan to get back to this...in fact...there's something simmering on the back burner right now!

If you knew all of the kooky schemes I've cooked up since I've been married. All of the times my family has stood behind me while I tried to make impossible dreams real! It's rather funny when we look back on it all. I have more than dyed red hair in common with Lucy McGillicutty. Vocal competitions, endless auditions, call backs, crazy job interviews, a very unfortunate evening at the Mellon Jazz Festival, product lines that almost happened and fell apart, TV hosting job short lists...the hours of home crafted audition tapes alone are hilarious. I have a penchant for attempting the impossible. Sometimes it works out for me...and sometimes not...but at least it's never boring. I'm not just here to show you how to make crafts, I'm here to show you how to craft your life. Craft an interesting one, it'll give you something to smile about when you're old

It's never too late to become the person you were meant to be. Ever. If anyone tries to tell you differently, that's merely because they've given up on their dreams. Never give up.

xoxo,
Madge