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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Warm up with imagination.

The weather is cold
But my spirit is aflame:
Only footsteps were slowed
By the January snow and icy rain.

Stir yourself up,
Let your imagination loose.
Don't treat wonder as if
Your vision rides in the caboose.

Winter Wonderland

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Take time to look ahead...

I think the companies that begin their new fiscal year in July may have an edge on most of us.  It occurred to me recently that living in MN means that January is the month when I draw every part of my body toward the very core for warmth, which means that I regularly wear my shoulders up around my ears.  That serves a temporary purpose but strikes me so like convergent thinking that it brought a roll of my eyes.  New Year's Resolutions became an obvious mountain.

My strategy on "now and next" is highly convergent thinking.  Yes, it has value and has its place but not really in the dreaming part of setting new goals.  Dreaming and goal setting demands big picture possibilities.   It calls for big wide arm stretches, the kind that we are most prone to make on a warm day in July in MN.

I guess it all means that I am not really finished yet with my new year vision building.    Of course, this activity can be done any time.  But it often helps to have annual reminders to engage in this process.   Really, the other half of goal setting means the review of things accomplished which is good too.  

I was recently given a book that describes praying circles around our biggest dreams and greatest fears. Some of the author's goals were written as a graduate student and have extended through his lifetime.  Not all goals are to be checked on or checked off every January.

But my point is this.   Visioning and dreaming big is really important.   For some it is an act of faith.   For some it is a stretch activity that keeps their thinking and lives balanced.  For some it is an opportunity to reach beyond grasp as they consider their todays and tomorrows.

Yes, I have begun to write and talk about 2013 goals and visions.   I hope you will too.



Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New Year's Goals

It would be so easy to cite platitudes about new goals for the new year.  Actually, earlier New Year's Day I wrote about having none and relying on "now and next" to guide me forward.

What I remember now is that prior to launch of the new blog, I wrote about my favorite creative products and process: Wings to Fly and Hello, Come Fly With Me!  I haven't posted it yet.  What I understand in a new way today is that my focus was transformation.  Change alone, just stark, can be very harsh.   So, I studied the transformation of butterflies.   Oh yes, I used all the creative process steps and thought throughout the entire process.   But today, standing on the brink of 2013, I am aware that change alone can't offer the peace that the attitude of transformation provides.  Maybe the concepts mean the same thing for some, but I think the word transformation releases the word "same" from our minds and lips.  Something new is born.

I was given an article once about cocoon changes.   The article prepared the reader for the mushy ambiguous stages of this evolvement.   There are some things on the 2013 horizon that excite me deeply.  I also anticipate moments...maybe like now...where I will experience amorphous mush.

Now and next is perhaps the best way to start 2013 with focus.

Happy New Year.