Listen. Learn. Adapt.

I've noticed as I've grown older that I do less talking and more listening. This is a good thing. After all, I know me. I've known me for 32 years. I'm more interested in things that aren't me; things that help me to be better, do better and see things in a different light.

As the youngest of six kids, my role was often that of the listener...but I wasn't always a good one. I try harder now.  I make an effort to trim the noise and listen.  Really listen. 

It's a great way to learn; learn about other people, methods, process, insight, ideas, best practice, new practice, etc. Learning enables me to change, improve and adapt. I've found that I do my best work when I follow this formula.  

Listen. Learn. Adapt.

We Be Jammin'

I came home on Friday and the lovely blonde was jammin' - literally.  The boombox was blaring and she was dancing in the kitchen with our kiddos.  Few things make me happier than seeing things like that.

If you haven't changed the channel recently, I highly recommend it.  Here's a few oldies but goodies pumping from our playlist:

Otis Redding - anything, really...but I've Been Loving You Too Long is a personal fav

Nina Simone - Do I Move You

Penny & the Quarters - You & Me

Solomon Burke - Cry to Me (also equally great is If You Need Me)

Etta James - I'd Rather Go Blind

Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers - Little Bitty Pretty One

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - You've Really Got A Hold On Me

Temptations - I Wish It Would Rain

The Dells - Stay in My Corner

The Impressions - It's All Right

Anne Peebles - I Can't Stand the Rain

Wilson Pickett - In the Midnight Hour

Jackie Wilson - Lonely Teardrops

Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On

Van Morrison - Into the Mystic

Al Green - Let's Stay Together

Ideas 2 Share

One of my favorite things to do at the beginning of every week is watch/listen/read a few inspirational talks:

TED, 99%, commencement speeches

There are so many great messages out there -- so many people that have something to teach and pass on.

I recently stumbled upon a newer site (to me) - Creative Mornings: a global, monthly breakfast lecture series for creative types.  If you only have an hour to spare today, check out this talk from designer Aaron James Draplin of Draplin Design Co.  He gives an insightful view into his personal journey, hands out hilarious life lessons, and tells it like it is.

One thing that stuck out is right around 32:50 in the video where Draplin talks about Knowing What Really Matters in the End.  For him, it meant finding the time to help out a friend.  He touches on this more than once in his lecture and reminds us to leave room for the free stuff -- not just the things you're going to get paid for.  Passion projects aren't always money makers...but often times, they become the projects that you're most proud of.

Portland/CreativeMornings - Aaron James Draplin from CreativeMornings/Portland on Vimeo.

Shark Week

Shark Week has now become the longest running cable event in history.  25 years of jaw gripping, bone chilling, crazy-number-ranking viewership.  

I read a story last week that said the phenomenon began, like so many others, as an idea that was scribbled on a cocktail napkin (full story here).  Just a couple of colleagues, a couple of beers, kicking around ideas about cool programming. 

The best ideas always come about that way, right?  

Here's to collaboration...and next year's weeklong event, of course.

Zombie Chase

I hoard biz mag rags like they are family heirlooms.  I catalogue stories on entrepreneurs, startups, and other creatives for inspiration.  While reading Entrepreneur magazine this month, editor Amy Cosper (@entMagazineAmy) shared an extremely personal experience regarding losing everything in a recent fire.  Everything.  There's always an editor's note.  But this one was special...perhaps because it was so raw, open and honest.  It made me reflect on what holds me back from doing certain things, and how I would feel if I lost everything tomorrow.

Blame it on reading in bed at midnight, or that the new Resident Evil commercial was playing on TV in the background...but this was my thought: If you were running from a zombie, what would make your list of would've, should've, could've?  More than that...if you survived and had the opportunity to "reintegrate," how would you build your newly invigorated life?  I realize this is an extreme example to jump start the thought, but extreme is often necessary to provoke change.

Like many, there are things that I want to do but haven't found the time.  Why?  I'm stuck in my routine.

Today, I changed the routine.
I woke up an hour earlier.
I spent more time with my family before work.
I meditated about weaving all the things I want out of my dreams and into my reality.
I drove a different route.

I'm building my "would've, should've, could've" answer slowly...but I think I'm finally asking myself the right questions. 

On this birthday...

I am thankful for the twists & turns that brought me to this place at this time. I wouldn't change a thing. Here's to 32!

Shared Space

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few -- and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.  True friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the application."  -George Washington

When I was young, I always wanted time to speed up -- to get me to the place I had envisioned.  Move faster.  Now, it's the opposite.  I wish time would stand still for awhile -- let me breathe it in; sit on top of the world and observe the entire picture -- not just the scene I'm standing in.

So much of life seems like a rat race -- get where you're going faster, bigger, better, stronger.  You work so hard and sometimes forget to stop and appreciate what (and who) is around you.

I spent time with a very dear friend this week who paid me one of the best compliments I've ever received.  She said, "I can't tell you how great it is to just be in the same space with you."  

How simple.  Shared space.

The feeling was mutual. The time dedicated to sharing space with others seems rare...and at times, almost impossible.  We discussed growing older and how it's strange to reflect on the people that fall in and out of your circle.  They're like ghosts; a movie you think you've seen but can't remember the ending.  The friendships that remain -- those that resurface no matter how much times passes -- these are the friendships that are generally more meaningful.  They've become more valued.  More present.  More poignant.  Perhaps the application of shared time is just as rare as the intimacy of shared space.  

Like Ridin' a Bike

"Life is like riding a bicycle; to keep your balance, you must keep moving." -Albert Einstein

Einstein was right. But maybe he was also wrong. I think sometimes you have to stop moving so you can fall off.

In falling, there is also balance. A sense of being grounded. A clean slate.

Falling gives you the chance to stop going round and round. To start over and move in a different direction.

Meet My Fam

Before we get too far along, it's essential to introduce the people that frequent my doodles, otherwise known as my weird little happy family.  Introducing Emerson (aka Son), Chris (I'm the curly one), Amanda (the lovely blonde), and Rosie (aka Nubbie).  For more about us click here.

Balance

The truth is balance, but the opposite of truth, which is unbalance, may not be a lie., a photo by chrislewman on Flickr.

As I get older, the hours that once seemed to endlessly flow are now overbooked.  Twenty-four hours just isn't enough to accomplish everything that I need to in one day.  After staying up into the wee hours, I often find myself squeezing a "to do" list in at 6am or any other random time throughout the day that isn't devoted to something else.  I'm constantly striving for more work/life balance.  

While sitting in the Starbucks drive-thru today [checking my gmail, ical, work email, work calendar & twitter] I began to think, "Is balance really possible?"  Balance for me could be imbalance for you.  And vice versa.

I think Susan Sontag said it best, "The truth is balance.  But the opposite of truth, which is unbalance, may not be a lie."

Why Doodle -1

I draw stick people a lot...on everything :)

Finding My Why

It's July 10th, 2012 and I am making a comeback to my much deprived blogosphere.

A little over two years ago, I took a hiatus after ending a 10 year relationship.  My life for all purposes should have been thrown off track.  But as it turns out, life has a way of showing you that the "here" is always exactly where you are intended to be.  I told the world [and anyone else listening] that I was perfectly fine being alone and figuring it out on my own.  In fact, I cursed relationships and was on a mission to "find myself."  No sooner than those words could escape my lips, I met the love of my life.  She has shown me the true meaning of "partner" in every sense of the word.  It's the kind of love that I never dreamed could exist beyond the movie screen.  

I could go on and on about the love in my life and I probably will in future blogs so I apologize now.  More to the point...

The original intent of Paint it Forward was to journal my creative nourishment project -- artistic or small acts of good will that I put out into the world, expecting nothing in return.  I can't say that the future intent has changed much.  

So my mission is this: align the rest of my life with the passion and inspiration that I've found in my love life.  Over the last year I've been in search of my "Why".  (I'm a huge fan of Simon Sinek and love his book Start With Why.  It is a MUST READ.)  I'm using this space as a journal of sorts to discuss projects that I've taken on over the past year -- aka current work (professional or other), mini "paint it forward" projects, and random thoughts and doodles.

I face timelines every day, so this will have none.  I am a work in progress and I own that statement proudly.  Here goes...something.

Change

PAINT IT FORWARD IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION.  

06.22.10 - Change: In the Blink...

Life is full of curve balls.  Things that you once thought were "stable" can change in the blink of an eye.  And sometimes--most of the time, in fact--it seems that everything good comes out of change.  Even when we try to fight it.

Evidence from the sudden drop in blog dates, my life was thrown a little off track after starting the PIF Project last year...or so I thought.  But as it turns out, getting thrown off track has thrown me EXACTLY to the point in life where I need to be: Motivation Road.  In the past 9 months, I successfully moved out of a life that was overwhelming me with "stuff" and into a new world of open doors and possibilities.  I feel like I can do anything.

I think we've all heard the saying, "90% of success in life is just showing up."  As I sit in my living room surrounded by business magazines, Oprah's Live Your Best Life book, my nerdy scrapbook of local successful entrepreneur articles, and my dog drifting to sleep next to me, I am bursting with ideas about what I want my future to look like.  In doing so, I have come to realize that 90% of success has to be about more than just showing up.  I've been showing up for years.  It has to do with love, passion, motivation, and surrounding yourself with a good support system.  But mostly, the secret is just getting out of your own way.

More to come about what I've been doing since the Paint it Forward project took a little hiatus from blog world. 



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Just Because

09.17.09 - Day 29: Paint it Forward

When I was little, I used to make my family little cards to tell them that I loved them ...just because. I remember one time when I took all of the pennies from my piggy bank and glued them to a sheet of paper in the shape of a heart to give to my sister, Rachelle, when she was sad about something.  Much to my dismay, half of it fell off before I could hand deliver it, but I still remember how tightly she hugged me because she could tell it was from my heart. I always had this thing with labeling my cards on the back, as if I was my own Hallmark brand or something.  I had forgotten about that until this past year when my Grandma Liz brought me an envelope full of cards I had left for them over the course of several years. When I "did the flip," it said  "From the Heart Cards" on the back in pencil.  I must have been 7 or 8 years old when I started doing that...so I guess I really was destined to be a marketing person.

Over the years, I have made and exchanged several cards with family and friends, but I had forgotten how much I truly love the simplicity of drawing with a pen.  I've been making whimsical flowers, trees and creatures like these since I was a kid--whether I was drawing them, cutting them out of paper or even making them from a paper napkin at dinner [clearly, I have an attention disorder].  I'm not sure what my fascination with flowers has always been, but in part, I think it is the realization that it's virtually impossible to be sad when someone gives you flowers.  They're like an instant gratification button--poof, you're happy.

The story behind these two cards in particular stems [pun intended] from my frustration with standing in the store for 30 minutes, unable to find a card that says what, or looks the way I want it to...so I made my own.

There are two people I'm sending these to: one is a dear friend that's been on my mind a lot lately, and the other I have yet to meet but has recently touched our family in a very special way.  That's all I'm really going to say about these.  I'm not sure they count as part of the PIF project, but it was something I'm glad I picked up again, for no real reason other than...just because.



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