I spend a lot of time with my little boy. He’s pretty great, and everyone tells us he’s their favorite toddler (obviously he’s ours), but I’m pretty sure he’s exactly as special as every other almost-three-year old, which is to say amazingly, unimaginably special. I figure he probably does much the same stuff they all do. Which is to say, he plays. And I play with him, as often as I can between the dishes and the laundry and such. I also watch… and learn.
Here are a few pearls of wisdom I’ve distilled from observing (usually in jealous awe) his effortless, totally un-self-conscious creative play. Read the rest of this entry »
As mentioned previously, I am participating in a ‘blogging contest’ sponsored by Ariel Hyatt of Cyber PR. The objective is to write 9 blog posts, one for each of the 9 chapters of Ariel’s book, ‘Music Success in Nine Weeks’. This is part two of my first ‘official’ blog entry.
Well, as promised in Part 1, I went off to battle with my demons and came back victorious, carrying the Spoils Of War: some goals for 2010 that I am prepared to stand behind. I wrote these by hand last night, after turning the computer OFF, as it’s about the only way I can really isolate myself from distractions completely enough for such a task.
I also did this between 2 and 3 am – a time when the phone is extremely unlikely to ring, the family is asleep, and really nothing else is going on. My brain, if I am not asleep or exhausted or surfing, is often a kind of neuron furnace in the wee hours… and when I get going, I can usually more or less keep up with it in a kind of frenzied chicken-scratch shorthand I used to use when taking notes in university. It takes some time to decode later, but it’s effective.
I have divided my results into Personal and Professional categories; only the Professional set will be included here, as I don’t really think personal ‘resolutions’ are particularly relevant to others. In fact, I don’t spend a lot of time on them, for various reasons; I may try to install a few new habits this year, but I won’t bore you with the details here. I’m actually pretty happy with my personal life, so I’m not looking for major changes there. One or two long-term goals that are better kept private.
Having said that, by its very nature this kind of thing is ‘all about me’… all I can do is try to keep the focus, as always, on aspects of my own experience that seem likely to be more universal; hopefully readers will connect to those. If so, please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Read the rest of this entry »
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Meet Mister Fear (perhaps you know him already?)
In this week’s issue, our hero finally meets his arch-nemesis face to face… and with astounding courage and lightning speed, leaps up and strips away the mask from his terrifying visage, revealing fear’s true face…