I woke up this morning feeling like a kid in a candy shop. I’m getting very excited about learning to draw, even at the age of 54.

You see it begins this way: A year ago I wrote down 118 life goals that I wanted to achieve before I die. Some goals were travel and adventure goals, some were seeing my favorite musicians while some were goals of philanthropy and community service. I’m happy to report that several of my simpler goals have been achieved and I’ve added significantly to the list.

One goals was to attend the Betty Edward’s “Drawing on the right Side of the Brain” course http://www.drawright.com/ and to significantly improve my ability to draw. Well this week I get to start a drawing course based in part on Betty’s work and put on by the University of Richmond’s (UR) School of Continuing Studies (SCS). Since I’m staff at UR the course is free! Can’t beat that deal can you?

Once I have a few drawings under my belt I’ll post some before and after samples and report on progress.

Its been nearly 11 months since I’ve written a blog post here at Vital Journey. My reluctance to blog has been a series of pure unadulterated excuses. Its easy to let the time slip by, living life and frittering away time in so many uncountable and unappreciated ways and not getting to the really stretch goals in your life. Nevertheless, in the end, blogging reluctance has manifested in my head like an ongoing series of mosquito bites. Each one not so bad, but the shear number of irritations has kept me away.

So you might ask, irritated at what? Well I’ve fallen into a trap that I have warned my kids about and my life coaching customers. I’ve compared myself to other friends and twitteriees that blog. You see, I work in IT in Higher Education. Many of my friends on twitter and elsewhere are well-established faculty or long standing members of the Higher Education community. There can wax elegantly about topics of passion. Many write and speak publically as part of their profession. Consider the excellent blog at Gardner Writes as the standard-bearer.

You see, I’m a technical geek that has a science and engineering background. Society tells us we are not good at writing, social skills and other forms of living in the community. I may be a geek, but I’m a full fledged member of the community and those stereotypes just don’t exist in my existence anymore. They are no longer part of my universe.

As I tell my life-coaching customers, don’t be denied by your self limiting beliefs. The more I believe I can’t blog, the more I can’t. I’m no longer going to compare myself to others in the blogging community. As Leo Babauta says, Life’s Enough: Stop Comparing Yourself to Others.

Today is the beginning: I’m making a commitment to tear down my self limiting geek beliefs and begin again. Knowing that with practice, my written expression will improve. There is no reason I can’t become a blogger extraordinaire.

So go identify some of your self limiting beliefs and tear them down. Dream big. You just might achieve something extraordinary.

While researching related blogs I came across Zen Habits by Leo Babauta who seems to be on the same type of journey I’m one.  He appears to be a year or two ahead of me in getting the word out that You Can Change Your Life for the better. Happiness and inspiration are your destiny.  In a recent post he talks about Design Your Life: What Would You Do If You Had Nothing To Do? Give Zen Habits a read and visit back here as I continue to provide insight into how be on a Vital Journey.

Technorati Tags: alignment, inspiration, zen

At our house we are starting on a journey to simplify our lives in many ways. We have accumulated way too much stuff and we lead complicated, typical lives as parents as taxi drivers. We have to spend too much time fixing and repairing stuff and we have to push our kids to be creative, even when we know that they have the skills already to be wonderfully creative. As we approach our simplification experiments, I’m reminded of what those that have gone before us have said.

Henry David Thoreau once said:

“Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, Simplify, Simplify.”

And his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson replied:

“one ‘Simplify’ would have been sufficient.”

So here we go - simplify, simplify, simplify and once that is done we will reduce it again to one simplify! Why TV first? It is easy! Have you every wondered, how do I get my kids to be more creative, read more, engage in team play with each other and not bicker so much? We know the brain numbing that can occur with too much TV. As someone that grew up on Hawaii Five-O, Gillian’s Island and so much more, I have come to treasure my movements reading, writing, traveling, exploring relationships and the grand outdoors so much more than anything else in life. So we turned off the TV.

On Tuesday (Sept. 4th), the first day of School we turned it off for everyone. That means no news for mom and dad to start the day, no Law and Order to end the day and no TV to quell the angst of boredom with the kids. So far the results have been exceptionally positive. There has been only a little slippage. One or two of us have reached for the TV controller, and hit the power button, only to realized that in that moment of presumed control we were operating without control, autonomous actions veiled in some sense of self control of our so called “entertainment” life….

Initial Results Only Positive

On Tuesday we went to our local public library and checked out piles of books. A habit already with us, but one now with a hereto never before seen amount of motivation for the kids to avoid boredom. And in those short 4 days since Tuesday, all of the books but one have been read and put to rest. As well, my oldest has been culling books from her new found High School friends, and sharing her own with them as well. I suspect our no TV rule has forced first year High School conversations with others that would not have occurred for my somewhat relationship resistant daughter. And best of all, I’ve caught my daughters hugging each other several times and conspiring together on how to have fun and then making it happen.

And as an end to our fast paced work day, we get to come home and enjoy the quiet in the house punctuated by an occasional voyage back to old Rock and Roll on FM Radio. I’ll report back in a few weeks on how the experiment is going and what the long term prospects are for limited TV in the house. One thing is certain however, if we turn TV back on, the time it’s on will be very Limited. Stayed tuned for more Experiments in Life Simplification.

Some Useful Sites for Life Simplification

Ohio State University Extension - Life Savors: How to Simplify Your Life
The Simple Living Network
Zen Habits
Center for Screen Time Awareness
AdBusters.org Turn Off TV Week Promotion

Technorati Tags: creativity, family, simplification, zen

Some people wonder all the time if they should be doing something better with their time.   A better job, a better relationship, a better hobby, a mission in life! Are you one of them or are you already in the zone or flow?

Walt Whitman described being in the zone this way:

“Well, every man has a religion;
has something in heaven or earth which he
will give up everything else for - something which
absorbs him - which may be regarded by others
as being useless - yet it is his dream, it is his lodestar,
it is his master. That, whatever it is seized
upon me, made me its servant, slave - induced
me to set aside the other ambitions - a
trail of glory in the heavens,
which I followed, followed with a full heart….
When once I am convinced, I never let go…”

If this passage resonates with you then you are one of the lucky ones.  You are operating in the flow and dare I say are inspired to do what you do!  You should know, if his words don’t resonate with you then you haven’t found that one special thing you need to devote your time, energy, passion and most of all your love to…

Fret not!  There is hope!  More than I year ago I was in what most people would call a very successful career. But I was unfulfilled.  My health was suffering, my relationships were suffering and I was flat out unhappy! Don’t get me wrong. I did a good job and was rewarded. But I dreaded going to work and came home tired and unable to recharge my energy. My kids thought I was a crump!

So I set out on a journey to discover what I should be doing. To find my passion, to get inspired, to be one with infinite capacity…  

The journey has only just begun, but alone the way I have already gotten my dream job and discovered my mission outside of work.  So when I first heard this passage by Walt Whitman, I knew instantly that it was written for me. It spoke to my head and heart. You see, most of my day at work and at home feels like flow. And the more I focus on that feeling, the more I operate in the zone. What I do every day is now my oxygen, my nutrient, my life blood!

I’ve started this blog, Vital Journey, to help inspire you to find your passions, to be in the flow, to be in the zone. I hope to teach, coach and outline some of what has worked for me.  I’ll try to make you laugh, sometimes make you cry and hopefully outline some of the steps that you can take to find your place!  And from time to time I’ll just complain about things as well.

As we take this journey together, let me know what’s working for you and what’s not. Let’s elevate each other, to be all that we can be and more!

Technorati Tags: inspiration, career, flow