The power of resistance
June 12, 2011 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Visual Meditation of the Week
The most magnificent waves only happen when the ocean meets the resistance of land
It might seem like the water has all the power but in fact land and water push back on each other to create something amazing
Fear works the same way – meet it with strength and steadfastness then watch what happens
What fear can you meet head on right now?
Finding your balance
May 29, 2011 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Visual Meditation of the Week
It’s a sad fact that very few things in life come with training wheels.
That doesn’t mean perfection is expected or even possible instantaneously.
It means that bruises are part of the process and metaphoric helmets are more common than you might think.
Where are you holding back because you’re afraid of taking a spill?
Finding the real fear
May 22, 2011 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Visual Meditation of the Week
Someone “afraid of heights” is generally ok with visiting Denver (the mile-high city) – meaning they are really afraid of falling not altitude.
While that may seem like semantics you can’t face what you can’t identify.
A fear of failure may really be a fear of success; of standing out, setting yourself apart and above your family and friends.
Imagine yourself pursuing your goals -climbing mountains, starting a business, losing weight. What are you afraid will happen?
5 ways to get traction on that project that never gets done
July 1, 2009 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Importance of Motivation
I have had a home repair project hanging over my head for the last three years. Ignoring it not only doesn’t make it go away but is starting to make me embarrassed about the front of my house. It started with the discovery of rot at the base of one of the columns. Since there was a couple of hundred pounds sitting on it, things were starting to lean. So I geared up my bravery and google and learned how to jack up a column and replaced the base. Then I found rot in less structural areas because the paint was coming off. So last summer I excavated all of that and stopped any further damage but not before the fall rains started leaving me to wait until this summer to finish it. Also leaving the porch with peeling paint, gouged out holes, and unfinished wood where I’d gotten in a few replaced pieces. In short it looked like Mothra had visited and then left in disgust. Ughh! The time it’s taken to deal with a relatively common issue is frustrating. I’ve not been lazy about it, rather more intimidated. I don’t love using power tools and I’ve been afraid of what I’d find next. Which is pretty much the perfect recipe for not getting something done.
The one strategy that definitely doesn’t work is waiting until everything else gets done and there is no other choice. I am tackling it this week and will finish it soon. Here are the five things I’m doing to finally get this off my plate and my guilt list:
- Break it down into small tasks and only tackle one per day. So on Monday, I inspected everything to see what might need to be redone from last summer and what was still to be done. Tuesday I cut and nailed in the replacement parts. Today, I’m scrubbing the old paint and going to the hardware store for exterior wood putty.
- Radically decrease the importance of anything else – the bathroom isn’t getting scrubbed this week and I’ve not been quite as good about blogging as I normally am.
- Go easy on yourself – a little sleeping in for one week isn’t going to do any damage, particularly if it lets me focus that much harder on the task at hand.
- Go for ‘as good as you know how to do’ instead of perfect. The real benefit to an older house that was build soundly but not perfectly is that repairing it doesn’t have to be perfect either. Some of my corners match what was there and some don’t, because I’m replacing the wood the best way I know how. If I were going for the perfect restoration job, I’d have to stop, learn, and buy equipment to cut the angles that were originally used. I’m not cutting corners (no pun intended) on the structural integrity but I’m allowing for adequate on the cosmetic side of things.
- Rewards – incentives work! All the fixings for making a caipirinha are in the kitchen and I can deal with anything if at the end of day I can sit on the shaded deck with an icy, lime drink in hand.
Putting myself out there
March 5, 2009 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Juliet's Journal
My comfort zone is definitely in the planning and building stages of any project – the parts where failures can be kept private and things done completely on my own schedule. This week marks the beginning of the transition from that phase to the one of public input and reception for my two blogging projects (this site and www.nurdle.net) This week I started posting links to these two sites on the various social networks and next week I’ll start advertising (using my free credits that came with the web host account.) And from this point on I’ve committed to myself to post on a fairly regular schedule so that any new visitors have a reason to return. (No pressure!)
Now public opinion will start impacting my goals. I could still write, publish, do whatever at no additional cost and on my own schedule, but my goal is to make enough money through affiliates, advertising, and other products to provide sufficient income to fund the time to continue at full speed. And that requires a willing public. Not only can’t I control that, but I can’t predict it either!
Time to trust in myself and my instincts and quite frankly the people I’m trying to attract to my sites. It may take a little time, but if there’s real value here, they’ll find their way. The real risk is that I’ll stop myself just short of that goal; that famous one inch away from the vein of gold. I’m determined not to stop there.
What are you waiting for?
March 4, 2009 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Tidbits
I know what it means to feel like you need to be good before starting something so that you can improve to excellent. My high school gymnasium had banners for Olympic medals in addition to the state and regional wins. I didn’t dare try out for anything; ‘just for fun’ wasn’t part of the curriculum. But it should be. So if you find the Nike ads a bit intimidating, maybe this clip will motivate you to try something that you aren’t sure you’ll be good at. Because you just never know:-)
How to start taking more and better risks right now
February 24, 2009 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Health and Happiness
Risks are not all created equal. Healthy risks (and the ones worth pursuing) are to gain those skills and abilities that you envy in other people, “I wish I was like that” or “I wish I could do that” or that make your eyes light up while you think “I wonder if…”. They are not things that make you nauseous or instill any other symptoms of fight or flight or that you know will be harmful. Sky diving is not a healthy risk for me personally because when I think about it, all I get is a feeling of dread, my stomach drops to my knees, and I can’t imagine feeling better about myself at the end of it. It may or may not be on your personal risk list.
The first step to learning to take more risks is to figure out which ones are on your personal list without making any immediate plans to tackle them or beat yourself up for not being there yet. Risks can be big or small, things that seem silly, or things that are universally acknowledged to be a really big deal. Healthy risks may be emotional risks, physical challenges or both. It’s okay; it’s your list and your timetable – there are no deadlines.
Why keep a written list?
Well, mostly because risks are sneaky and once conquered, they quickly slip from your memory as ever having been scary. Keeping a running list that you maintain helps to prove to yourself how brave you’re being and how far you’ve come. I’ve been keeping mine since 2004 and can now say that I typically cross off about 7 or 8 items each year but with each year the number grows… you may have more or less. When I look back at the early items, it’s hard to remember ever feeling like those were really risks!
Starting your list
Step 1. Create a list of risky things that you can identify now that you would like to tackle someday. Look over the list to make sure that you aren’t allowing anyone else’s risks onto your list just because you feel you should. Do you genuinely feel excited about the day when you’ll feel ready to take each one on, even if they feel overwhelming now?
Step 2. Copy the list to a permanent journal or computer document (I confess I keep mine in a spreadsheet) and leave enough room for the date when you complete each item. Be sure to leave some room at the end to add items as you think of them.
Step 3. Pick the risk that you want to start with and ask yourself if you feel ready to take it on. It’s okay to give yourself research time or just to sit with it for awhile. When you have met the challenge, mark the date it was completed next to it on the list and pick the next one to tackle.
Step 4. Add items to the list posthumously (the risk, not you!) That is, risks that you take and face but that you hadn’t thought to add to the list ahead of time. Example: fixing the leaking toilet – not something I anticipated having to deal with, and I was shaking with each turn of the wrench, but oh so proud of myself at the end of it and I know now that I could do it again with much less angst.
Step 5. Look over the completed items once a year on New Year’s or your birthday and really take stock of how far you’ve come and give yourself credit. Add any new risks you’ve thought of that you’d like to take on someday.
In the five years that I’ve been keeping my list it’s grown to around 75 items. Here are some examples of the range these can take:
Window shop inside Tiffany’s (10/1/2004)
Visit a psychic (5/27/2006)
Call the local gym (8/15/2006)
Wander around New York City by myself (1/25/2007)
Trade $100 on the stock market (tbd)
Drive to Alaska (tbd)
