Lately I have been so inspired by my friend Alisa aka Ducky’s Always Hungry.  It all started several months ago at Cake Day.  Our office celebrates all of the birthdays and anniversaries the last Friday of each month.

Anyway, we were sitting there in the lunchroom chowing down on the delicious Moist & Creamy cakes when she starts talking about this woman, on the food network, who was “discovered” from her food blog posts.

My friend Alisa is a foodie – one who is willing to explore and try absolutely anything, was posting photos of her culinary adventures to Facebook on a regular basis under the title – “I’m always hungry”.  She is also well traveled and writes a travel journal (aka personal blog) that she shares with family and close friends.  Having read many articles that she had written, I knew she could write.

So, after swallowing my mouthful of heavenly Bananas Foster cake, I said to her, (more…)

I would probably not be considered a risk taker – I haven’t been skydiving or bungee jumping. The thing is, being a risk taker is not really something that can be measured other than by the person taking the risk.  This is because taking a risk is based on your own personal comfort zone.

What one person considers risky another might think is something fun to do on a regular basis (e.g., cliff diving).  So, by measure of my own comfort zone (which is somewhere between the couch and my regular paying job), I take risks on a pretty regular basis.

Why should you take risks? (more…)

Heather Morrow & Dr. Martha Beck (2010)

In January of 2010, I had the honor of meeting Dr. Martha Beck and hear her give an inspirational keynote speech at the Craft & Hobby Association Convention.   If you follow Oprah, you might recognize the name — Dr. Beck (call me Marty) is an author of many self-help books and is a regular columnist in O: The Oprah Magazine.

At the time, I wrote a brief article for my Creative Souls eZine.  I have been working on getting myself back on center with organizing the piles of piles and I came across the notes I had taken that day in this tiny little notebook.  So, I thought I would share them to maybe inspire you to Follow Your North Star.

As I took these notes, I felt as if she was talking just to me.   (more…)

In the commencement address given at Stanford University in 2005, Steve Jobs spoke about his life and all that he had learned.  This was shortly after surgery to remove a pancreatic cancer tumor.

You can see the speech here, but I wanted to talk to you about one point that really resonated for me.  He spoke of connecting the dots and how all of his experiences (good and bad) led him to where/who he was today.

Without dropping out of college; taking a calligraphy class; building the first Macintosh computer in his parent’s garage; getting fired from Apple – the company he had created; (more…)

Post written by Leo Babauta.

A father and his son went fishing on a small boat, hungry.

The father helped his son reel in his first fish, and it was a beauty. “Great catch, son,” the father said.

“Yes, but I’m worried I’m missing out on better fish,” the son said. “What if I could catch a bigger, tastier fish?”

“Maybe you should try,” the father said.

And the son did, catching an even bigger fish an hour later. “A real beaut,” the father said.

“But what if there are better fish out there?” the son asked.

“Maybe you should try,” the father said.

And the son did, catching a bigger fish, then wondering if there were better fish, catching another, and so on.

At the end of the day, the son was exhausted. The father asked, “How did the fish taste?”

The son hesitated. “I’m not sure. I was so busy looking for better fish that I didn’t taste any of them.”

The father smiled contentedly, patted his belly. “Don’t worry. They were delicious.”

—

We are all of us like the son. We all worry, at some time or other, that we’re missing out on things.

It’s why we’re so busy — we take on so much because we don’t want to miss out. We take on dozens of goals and aspirations, because we don’t want to miss out. (more…)

Post written by Ted Moreno.

I used to be one of those people who always had to have an answer for everything, you know, a “know it all.” Then one day someone told me “You’re not at smart as you think you are, and you’re not fooling anyone.” The nerve!! But it was true. So I stopped being a person that to have the answer and started letting other people come up with the answer. That was a lot easier!

Sometimes I still find myself needing to come up with an answer, figure it out, or worse, make something up. But lately, I’m attempting to cultivate the peace and freedom that comes from saying “I don’t know.” I’ve been giving myself permission to not know. And you know what?  I’m feeling pretty good about being a “not know it all.”

These days it’s almost a sin to not know. “What?” you often hear people say, “You didn’t know that?”

Seems like everybody needs to know everything. (more…)

Post written by Leo Babauta.

Have you ever set out to start a new habit or goal, but found your willpower lacking?

Many new ventures are foiled by the morning email habit, for example — we want to exercise or write or meditate, but we can’t resist checking out email for just a minute … and then we’ve gotten lost, down the rabbit hole.

How can we build the willpower to beat these bad habits? (more…)

Guest post by Joe Wilner from www.shakeoffthegrind.com.

What if life was an open canvas where you were free to create a stunning vision and express yourself fully?

One of the most empowering ways to view life is as a creation that we are free to mold and shape as we desire.

We all have behaviors, circumstances, and past experiences we want to surmount and would change if we could. However, we don’t have to be restricted by past mistakes or the baggage we have carried in our life.

For some reason we get scared and hesitant about changing our lifestyle, or we believe we don’t deserve or couldn’t handle a more significant life. We have the capability to develop a life that makes an impression and that we’re proud of.

Begin uncovering (more…)