FITFS ..and Chattering About It

Our Following in the Footsteps today is known as The Chatter Blog.

First I must take a moment to say thanks to my supporters and cheering voices.  I am empowered and probably a little bit cheeky at this point.  We all need to get a little cheeky now and then!

Colleen Brown – even her name has a poetry to it which is a good thing because every thing she creates has flow and rhythm and humour and wit and passion.  Her very first post was on Sept. 13, 2009.  And her very first statement was, “I don’t have any wisdom to share.”

Well, she certainly proves herself wrong on a daily business.  Don’t you love it when people prove themselves wrong especially when it is about themselves?

Colleen is prolific and hilarious and when she is not killing us with laughter she touches our hearts with sentiment.

She bikes.  Hence the bikecolleenbrown of her addy.

She loves her Irish heritage. Oh and just a bit of a warning to the enemies of planet earth – you won’t get far with this black belt defending us.  Can you imagine – a black belt?  How long it took and all the hard work, focus and strength it took to reach it.  Wow!

Colleen is part of my core group – from the beginning – and if she has not heard from me for a bit she will fire off an email or FB message making sure I am still in the land of the living. My favourite though it is hard to choose is from May 20, 2011

She writes great fiction – though I tried to find it on her site and could not — so Colleen if you would like to direct us to that wonderful woman seeking out her past and finding much more I would sure reread it.

So what can I learn from Colleen?  Get it down, get out, write write write!  The choicest morsels come from the heart ( that in no way means I eat organ meat ingestion – ugh!)

Have a wonderful day and please do catch up with this writer!

Life’s Straight Course vs The Roller Coaster

I would never ever, even if begged, bribed, or coerced ride a real roller coaster.  I don’t doubt the safety but wonder if my heart would just stop mid ride but I have habitually ridden those rickety tracks in life, living with passion and energy, embracing the highs and philosophizing my way through the lows, mostly with a ‘this too shall pass’ attitude.

I love feeling the thrill, the joy, the superman of it all but I find with advancing age that I now feel if I want this engine to keep running I had better slow my life to a more consistent speed.  Hmmm slow is the wrong word because I am not slowing, just attempting to keep things at a more constant rate with less revving and down shifting (is that the right term?) guaranteeing a smoother longer ride.  That’s the smart way…right?

Now who am I kidding……I am just feeling a little tired tonight and know that when the morrow dawns my current quiet joy is going to blossom, rev, and ride again!

Sweet energizing dreams all!

I Woke Up With Will Smith This Morning

I Woke Up With Will Smith This Morning

Waking up and before stirring towards a busy day I decided to start inspired. In days gone by when folk settled for the night with a routine of setting out things for the next day which may or may not include teeth in a glass, my nightly routine is to plug in the iPad and the iPhone so I am ready to roll first thing.

This morning I grabbed the pad and googled – ‘successful people’.  Among the selection was Will Smith, so snuggling down, ear phones in I listened and watched this very successful person.  I say person not actor as his success is in life not just in his craft.

Will Smith says:

I love living…it’s infectious.. and you can’t fake that.

I have a great time with my life and I want to share that.

We did not grow up believing that where we were was where we were going to be.  We grew up believing that where we were almost didn’t matter.  What mattered is that we were becoming something greater.

Your talent will fail you if you do not work hard.  You are not going to outwork me.  If you stay ready you don’t have to get ready.

I don’t want to be an icon, I want to be an idea.  I want to represent possibility.

I want the world to be better because I was here.

Plan A is you must believe.

Being realistic is the most common road to mediocrity.  Thinking of a light bulb was not realistic.  Bending metal and flying people was not realistic.

What you think is real, thoughts are real.  Thoughts, dreams, feelings are real.

There is redemptive power in making that choice.  I decide what is, who is.

Success takes obsessive focus. Be completely motivated. The person who works the hardest wins.  Learn how not to quit.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you you cannot do something.

I believe as Chris Hughs does in spiritual genetics which I got from my mother and grandmother.

I believe in happy endings.  You have got to believe you can be happily married for fifty years to be happily married for fifty years.
 
People ask me about racism in Hollywood.  Why would I acknowledge racism?  When you acknowledge something you give it power.

Fame may exist for some but greatness exists in all of us.

I believe in running and reading.  Running teaches you not to quit. And reading…there is no problem you have that someone else has not had and conquered and written about.

Know you can!

It works for me. Have a great day everyone!

When Heaven Becomes Hell or Something Like That

When Heaven Becomes Hell or Something Like That

I have always had an addictive personality I think. Put more positively I guess I would have to say I am passionate. That sounds better!

As a child I read and read and read and that is one passion that remains today.  Back then it was the dreaded Uncle Arthur’s bedtime stories previously mentioned in No! No! Please No More Bedtime Stories!, Trixie Belden, anything by Pearl S. Buck..well the list is endless.

Lately I have blogged on some of my current favs which includes Stephenie Meyer and the whole Twilight thing.  The first I even knew about this series was the six o’clock news sometime ago, which showed a bunch of tweenies lined up to see the first movie.  The minute vampires were mentioned I shut the set off and muttered at great length to myself about the disgusting situation of the world and it’s youth and how no good could come out of the downward spiral society was on.  

That Christmas my daughter-in-law gave me…yup..the first Twilight book.  

So came my Cullen passion and it has not abated.  I have every book including The Short life of Bree Tanner.  I have on my desk top the leaked copy of Midnight Sun which Meyer posted since it was already out there and chose not to finish.  The books are filled with anticipation, mystery and myth.  Her character development is intense and in depth. The set has been a reread again and again seeking out what was said before that hinted at something explained two novels later.

Now my last two weekends have been reading marathons, barely poking my head out of the book, never mind the door.  So today I took myself in hand and sternly made myself go for a walk.  Fresh air – well as fresh as it can be – no books, no iPad, just a good old fashioned walk. No coffee shop because that meant reading and sipping.

I ended up at a mall, and not being a shopper I still entered and practiced the art of browsing, like normal people do, and bookstores were not allowed.  I strolled the whole mall and decided I needed something from Wal-Mart.

For the life of me I can’t remember what it was because as soon as I stepped in the door something unknown took over and stupefied me, and forced me, I swear, to approach a large table with BOOKS.  I could see it coming and reached way down deep, where pure grit resides, to prepare myself.  Why I could handle this.  I would look but not touch.  I would be master of  these insane urges for words, stories, poems, toilet cleaning instructions, anything.

Then I muttered a groan of agony mixed with a liberal dose of the ecstatic.  Before me lay the twilight saga: the official illustrated guide.  The first fifty-five pages are all about how Meyer came to write the story.  A total of five hundred and forty-three pages of history and detail of every character in the series.  I mean EVERY character!

I forced myself to visit my aunt for tea as planned, even though the book in the bag sang to me like a siren.  I forced myself to visit with my sister this evening,  when she arrived as invited, thinking please please just let me look at it. I even made time to read your blogs but now! Now as midnight approaches I am free to look.  

I have made myself promise it would be just a wee peek and I have every confidence that in a short time I can put it down, close the cover, have a normal night sleep, rise in the morning at a decent hour, clean my house, perhaps solve a world problem or two and then treat myself to this delicious demon of addiction.  I am sure I can.  I am. Sure.

Secret..Manifesting…and me…

Secrets and Manifesting and ….

About fourteen months ago, just before Christmas I was feeling a little lost, or down, or blah or whatever the choice word descriptions are these days.  My job of the previous few years had been challenging, but one I enjoyed until a bright – or maybe not so bright new manager convinced our company owner that he would drive us to inspiration in Recruitment by convincing her to slash all our salaries by thirty percent.  Now that had a not so surprising reaction from all affected who decided instead that we would do thirty percent less work.  Well almost all of us as one little bunny took it to heart and worked relentlessly to succeed.

Anyway having lived to the extent of my income this hit me where it hurts..namely the wallet.  And that definitely is NOT fun.  I was checking out some sales for Christmas presents, and being one woman who seems to have been born without a true shopping gene I usually drifted to a book store and latte.

The signs of my malaise were…well malaise, hopelessness about the future in general and a general internal pout that I hoped was not evident to others. For the first time in years I was also experiencing huge flare ups, or exacerbations of my old companion Fibromyalgia. So pain had settled in for a long stay.Oh and to meet my lifestyle I began to live more on credit cards and line of credit.  Perhaps a little more recklessly than necessary, but certainly in keeping with my personality.

One day in a bookstore of course I came upon The 
Secret by Byrne.  Having heard some hype and general discussion on the subject I decided to purchase mostly out of curiosity. 

So I settled down one Saturday morning curled up on the sofa to read. What can I say.  I was immediately glued to every word, every page. I read through all of that day and far into the night – not unusual for me when something catches my attention.  When exhaustion forced surrender to the land of nod I closed my eyes for a few short hours. 
The moment my eyes opened in the morning I was immersed immediately back in the book.

After thirty six hour of this I came out a different person,  My attitude changed and I greeted each day with confident, joy and anticipation.  Outlook changed, days were brighter,  I was filled with passion.  Wow and my life changed!

That was the start and it has been a journey of awareness. And that is what this series of blogs will be about.Cause there is a whole lot more to follow.