Create a Balance

“I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the place in you, where lies your love, your light, your truth and your beauty. I honor the place in you, where…if you are in that place in you … and I am in that place in me…then there is only one of us”

- Leo Buscaglia

In honor of simplifying my life, I have decided to intentionally go on an internet hiatus from June 27 through July 8. I’m sure I will experience some symptons of withdrawal at first since the internet is my primary vehicle for information (email, facebook, marketwatch, blog stats, etc) and since my blog is one of my primary creative outlets.

I will be online over the next 12 days, but it will be limited and more of an exception than a regular part of my routine.

Leave a Comment and WIN!

So if you are visiting CreateaBalance.com during my adventure of reclaiming my offline time, I welcome you (actually I plead, beg, and insist that you) leave me juicy comments that I can read when I return from my hiatus.

The person who leaves the most comments on this blog between June 27 and July 8 wins a fabulous CreateaBalance prize!

 While you are joyfully perusing my blog (and leaving me tons of smashing comments) I will be spending more time writing in my paper-based journal, walking on the beach, meditating, swimming, playing with my kids, and painting.

Don’t forget to look for my June 2008 edition of my Life Balance Report during the week of July 7.

Namastey. L’hitraot. Until July.

From the darkness she rises. Holding on to inspiring visions, covering her ears as she hums loud enough to ignore her inner critics (click here to hear the song she is humming), she nearly knocked me down this week. 

I had no choice but to find the time to meet her needs. Within a matter of days, I bought paint brush pens off eBay and went on a shopping spree for additional paint, a protactor (yes - I bought a protractor), a flexible curve measuring stick, pencils, markers, and canvas paper.

My first painting of 2008 is almost finished and I plan to display it on CreateaBalance.com in my Life Balance Report - June 2008 post.

I am amazed at the different emotions and thoughts that surface while I paint.

“I am an Artist!” ~ Stacey Hoffer Weckstein

I did it! I created a post on Chicago’s craigslist in search of people interested in forming a succulent wild writers group in the Evanston/Skokie area. Since I returned from Kripalu, I have not been successful in finding a creative community or a writers group….so I decided to create my own.

Please forward this post or my contact information if you know anyone in the Chicago, Evanston, or Skokie area interested in joining my new creative community. 

Here’s my blurb from craigslist and a link to the original craigslist posting: http://chicago.craigslist.org/nch/grp/727210479.html

I’m forming a group for succulent wild writers who want to be living their creative dreams. I want to incorporate SARK’s new book (Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper: Gifting the World with Your Words and Stories, and Creating the Time and Energy to Actually Do It) into our meetings. Inspired by SARK’s Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper workshop that I recently attended, this group is for everyone - creative writers, journal-keepers, artists, and anyone with stories to share. No writing experience needed. I am looking to build a local creative community and can’t wait to hear from you. Reply to this posting if you are interested!

I’m curious to see if anyone replies to the post.

I am about to burst with excitement!

I am on SARK’s Website!

For anyone who read my rave review of SARK’s Juicy Pens Thirsty Paper workshop in my May 2008 Life Balance Report post or my This is How I Dare post knows how awakening this workshop was for me. At the end of the workshop, SARK gave us a testimonial hotline to use if we wanted to provide her with feedback regarding the workshop. I of course called the hotline to tell Susan (aka SARK) how much I appreciated her energy and how inspired I was to intentionally live my creative dream each and every day.

So here is the super fun news >> SARK placed my succulent workshop testimonial onto her website.

Click here to hear my crazy testimonial.

She also personally thanked me in her latest eletter. Click here to read the eletter.

If you are not familiar with SARK and her contagious inspiration be sure to sign up for her free monthly newsletter by sending an email to sarkeletter@aweber.com. According the SARK’s website, you should receive a confirmation email with a link that you click to verify that you want to sign up.

If you are familiar with SARK,  be sure to PRE-ORDER your copy of her new book JUICY PENS, THIRSTY PAPER: Gifting the World with Your Words and Stories, and Creating the Time and Energy to Actually Do It  that comes out on August 5, 2008. Click the link below to PRE-ORDER your copy today!

Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper:
Gifting the World with Your Words and Stories,
and Creating the Time and Energy to Actually Do It

Money Magazine is providing a seven-week easy-to-follow plan to help you get your finances in order. I like the concept of taking seven weeks to get focused on finances. It is enough time to stay focused without getting overwhelmed. Week one includes a creative interactive activity filled with index cards, writing, and conversation.

Week One: Identify your top three financial goals (45 minute project)

Week Two: Create emergency cash reserves (15 minute minute project)

Week Three: Put the right price on your life (35 minute project)

Week Four: Put bills on autopilot (6-15 minute project)

Week Five: Diversify your savings (60 minute project)

Week Six: Automate your other investments (90 minute project)

Week Seven: Receive less bills and track your spending  (45 minute project)

The thought of Monday mornings have been painful for me this summer. By Sunday evening I’m just getting into the groove of my summer love affair with my family. Splashing, dancing, kicking, running, laughing, and playing are but few of the fun action words describing my weekend w/ my boys. Watermelon, schwarma, ice cream, sushi, cantelope, smoothies, and popsicles are but a few of the festive nibbles describing my weekend meals and snacks. 

Sigh…..

As I prepare to send my kids off to school Monday morning, I pull out my bag of poems to reflect, refocus, and reconnect with life outside of my dream-like summer weekend. This week I’d like to share another poem that SARK shared with me during her Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper workshop. It is a poem by Portia Nelson (1920 - 2001) and it reminds me to be more aware of where I am walking and whether I need to reconsider alternative roads. 

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
By Portia Nelson

Chapter One
I walk down the street
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost… I am helpless,
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter Two
I walk down the same street,
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter Three
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in… it’s a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter Four
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter Five
I walk down another street.

As a life balance enthusiast, I use many tricks to rummage the web for blogs that spark my interest. Today I found a web site called Life Balance, but the URL is http://kathrynworthingtonsmythe.blogspot.com. The first thing that I was drawn to was Kathryn’s definition of Life Balance:

“Life Balance: A feat we try to achieve while searching to be the best that we can be, while simultaneously raising our children to do the same. This is the equilibrium in our inner life force whereby our heartbeat matches the divine force that exists all around us. When this life balance peaks, our sense of peace, joy, love and wisdom acts as one with our very soul.” 

~Kathryn Worthington Smythe, http://kathrynworthingtonsmythe.blogspot.com

From what Kathryn’s blog has taught me about Kathryn, she is fighting the daily urge to run away to Paris, rent a chateau, and get a personal trainer named Pierre. After reading that, how could I not give her a spotlight on CreateaBalance.com?

And to any of you thinking about sharing your voice through a blog - stop thinking and start writing! Click here for information and resources about how to create a blog. 

In my Life Balance Report - May 2008 post, I admitted my poor score on staying organized and declared to readers that June will be better. So far, it has gotten worse. How do I balance household chores with wanting to spend all of my free time outside playing? Hmmmm….do I soak in the shade on a blanket reading freshly picked library books or sort through a laundry basket of clutter that has been gathered from every room in my house? After I put the kids to bed, do I read Real Simple (LOL - nothing is real simple) next to an open window with a summer breeze dancing into the air or do I get rid of the clutter that is covering almost every square inch of my floor? Hmmmmm….looks like there will be no balance in staying organized for me today.

I’m realizing most of my life balance goals are things I want to incorporate into my life. With staying organized, however, it seems like the reverse - I want to get clutter out of my life. I can admit the problem: I simply can not put things away where I found them. Some hardwiring in my brain must have gone haywire somewhere along the way.

Here is a glimpse of my reality. From where I am writing I can see:

• A winter purse that needed to be put away three months ago.
• Empty water bottles (hey, at least I’m drinking water).
• An empty gift box left over from Mother’s Day.
• My suitcase from Kripalu (still partially full).
• My flashlight from last week’s storm.

Ugggg. It’s such a drowning feeling. If my college roommate is reading this, I know she must be laughing at the memories of all of my clutter (back then we used to call it chachka) that loomed on   my side of our underground loft. I used to laugh at my mom when she made me clean my room to “get ready for the cleaning lady”. I thought that was the most ridiculous concept. I knew I hit rock bottom yesterday when I actually called the woman who cleans my house and cancelled for today….because I didn’t have the energy to “get ready for the cleaning lady”.

Am I doomed to be a clutter magnet?

NO! This is just a perfect example of life balance being a practice and not a goal or destination. Tomorrow is another day. Container Store here I come!

For all of you searching to find Monday balance, after a summer filled weekend, I’d like to share one of my favorite poems with you. I’m working on treating all of my grouchy life visitors honorably and with open arms. I recognize everyone and everything has some gift to offer, but sometimes I’m too exhausted to unwrap all the layers of grouchy gifts. 

So many years later, Rumi continues to inspire.

The Guest House
by Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

It appears I am taking a break from writing and instead sharing life balance news and posts found on the interest lately. Instead of resisting, I acknowledge this shift and welcome the possibilities of also becoming an online resource for life balance information. My juicy pens will come back, but for now, here’s the buss from the past week.

• CNN’s Work/Life Balance Calculator
• Life Balance is a Choice
• Work-life balance: not seeing integration as intrusion
• 63 Things To Do With Your Kids Before They Grow Up
• Career Life Balance Radio
• What’s More Important than Your Career?
  The Answer is Right Under Your Nose