Tag: legacy

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A Paradigm Shift to… Putting Yourself First

Tamarindo Beach

There is a really good book called The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron, in which she mentions that one of the important things to do is to set an artist’s date with yourself, at least once a week. It is a book about reigniting the inner artist in yourself. Simply, it means that it is important to take time for yourself, to awaken the side of you that you might put away in front of others, family, loved ones.

I read this somewhere recently: “There are two kinds of people in the world – those who walk into a room and say, ‘There you are!’ – and those who say, ‘Here I am!’ ” – Abigail Van Buren

I had a good chuckle when I read this. This isn’t about that.

Now, Putting Yourself First is important in the “You put the breathing mask on yourself first so that you can help the person next to you” kind of way. Many people live for the sake of others: Doing things that other people think is right for them; and helping others whom they think need help, and so on. Things to do, places to be, people to see… you know the motto.

Essentially the body and mind need time to re-assimilate to its surroundings and that means with little things such as, getting back to nature – we live in such a technological world now that it is hard to tear away from the mobile phone, the laptop, the iPad, or the TV. The body needs to rest to revitalize itself.

The mind also needs time to recuperate from all the external messages that it receives – and frankly, there has never been an age where we are bombarded with constant information on a daily basis. (There are days when I just keep going and going and then suddenly I hit a wall and think “OMG I have just reached my point of OVERLOAD – and I literally have to stop.) So step away from the techno babble and just relax with a book, or take a drive in your car to the country, venture a stroll in the park, or just sit and do nothing but daydream.

It is all about keeping the balance within yourself because if you don’t – your body and your mind will tell you anyway. I always think that when I hear people saying (or myself thinking or feeling) – I’m tired, I’ve had enough, I don’t feel like doing anything – that’s when you know that you have reached that point and need to Put Yourself First.

The body is like a barometer and if you listen to it carefully, it will tell you exactly what it needs.

Have a great restful weekend, respectfully, CC

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A Paradigm Shift to… Engage in Your Life

Now that we’ve gotten past the ‘passive’ paradigm shifts on the inner approaches to writing… let’s move on to the ‘active’ paradigms.

Engage in your life!

In order to keep your imagination active, it must be fed. The fodder for your imagination is in your real life. There is nothing weirder, crazier, more horrifying, or more amazing than real life. There’s some stuff you just can’t make up. You look at it, you twist it around, you try to explain it, you want to make sense of it, and then you say to yourself, “You just can’t make that kind of shit up!”

Some events are like that. And, those are the events that you want to take note of and share with others, the ones that make you think, “There’s no way that really happened!”

So, engage in your life. The writing part will come anyway because you just can’t help yourself. You need to step back from the madness and put it down to paper. Engaging in your life, getting out there, watching what goes on in the world, keeping your ear to the ground, and being active (physically or mentally) are all part of keeping your imagination alive.

Keeping this one short to engage in my life a little! 🙂

G’day

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A Paradigm Shift in Trust


Reflection by © CC Dailly

One of the most important elements in any relationship is trust.

And, so should it be with the relationship you have with yourself when it comes to writing.

It is a part of yourself that must be earned, nurtured, and rewarded. You must take care of that part of you fervently to keep it, just like any other relationship. You must spend time with it, you must not be mean to it, you must be patient, you must have love for it. And, in the case of writing, I would almost say that you need to have an unconditional love for it.

A reader can sense where you are coming and going from your writing. Are you insecure, scared, or are you confident and sure of yourself? Are you really giving of yourself, or are you pretending? Are you being honest or trite? Are you writing because you truly love it, or are you writing because you think that at the end of the rainbow there’s going to be a big stash? (Well, honestly, who wouldn’t really want that? — because it would mean that you could do it full-time and not be continuously trying to cram it in between the meals, the full-time job, the kids, the dog, the long commute…) But, inherently, at the bottom of your heart, you must love the craft. The simple art of putting down in letters, sentences, and paragraphs, your thoughts and ideas; the ones that you want others to read.

The more you write the more you learn to trust the path that you are on when putting pen to paper. As in real life, there are times when the path detours, detracts, becomes circuitous, but if you remain steadfast, persevering, loving your craft, as well as determined, your words and your stories will keep you on the right path. If you listen to your intuition, to that little inner voice, to the very core that drives you to write, you will be course-corrected when you detour, you will know which path to take if you reach a fork in the road, you will instinctively choose the right one for you.

And the rest of it is all exercise. Trust must be earned and you must remember to reward yourself as well.

A reward can be as simple as buying a new book, taking an afternoon off and relaxing with a cup of tea or coffee, or watching a movie.

You must be true to yourself in order for trust to grow and become the foundation. Your true self knows when you are lying, conniving, cheating yourself or others when you are putting your words down.

Perseverance, determination, intuition, consistency, and honesty in your writing will lead you to trusting in yourself, your writing, and your motivation.

~ CC Dailly

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The Paradigm Shift of Acceptance

Serenity by © CC Dailly

“No one thinks in your mind except you.” ~ Louise Hay

(Acceptance: to receive, to release resistance, to surrender yourself to)

Releasing resistance is a difficult feat. It seems such an easy thing to read and think about, but to put it into effect is a totally different exercise.

“If we could fly, we’d all have wings, and some of us don’t know why…” ~ Michael Hutchence

What are thoughts of resistance? — procrastination? fear? reluctance? uncertainty? And why is it that those come to the surface so much more easily than acceptance? All I can say, right at this very moment, is that acceptance and releasing resistance is hard work. It also brings about the task of living in the ‘now’ while planning and envisioning for the future and, at the same time, letting go of the past.

When you are ready to receive, it comes to you. And, I believe that thought holds true for everything in your life.

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The Paradigm Shift of Expectation

In Writing… 

Sunrise by CC Dailly

Expectation and anticipation are the keys to manifesting your desires.

Those just happen to be the two elements that keep readers glued to the pages of your book. Master the art of keeping your readers on the edge of their seats and you will have mastered the skill of expectation and anticipation.

What will happen next to the protagonist? Will he take the chance to change his life or will he just settle and watch the world go by?

The same should be expected in the story of your own life.

Expectation creates a certain excitable feeling. You will feel those wonderful butterflies in your stomach when you live your life with expectation and anticipation. (I’ll leave out the worry and angst that goes along with that for now.)

Writing should be approached with the same feeling of expectation:
Expect to write a great chapter.
Expect that your character and your story will develop in exactly the way it should.
Expect that you will accomplish what you have set out to create.
Expect to write everyday for a few minutes or an hour.
Expect the unexpected.

I expect that you will go out there and seize the world now that you have read this!

(So easy to say; so hard to do.)

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The Paradigm Shift of Creation

In Writing… 


The Word Lord    © Colette Baron-Reid

The second paradigm to shift is Creation.

A thought is just a thought until you write it down.

We receive messages from our inner selves — from an energy field that we can access and that is all around us. We write one sentence, a second one, and  then another, and before we know it, we have a paragraph.

We want to communicate to others. Something tells us that we MUST write, that others need to know, and that it might make a difference to someone else.

Once the thought is out there, it has a life of its own. A thought becomes an idea; it turns into a story, and then becomes a book.

What if…?

What if… a character takes a different route and ends up in a ditch in the middle of nowhere in a country he does not know? What if… there is a pack of hungry wolves nearby? What if… the only weapons he has is a flashlight and a pack of matches?

What if… I shut down my computer and go to the beach?

Sounds like a great idea! (I did that last week.)

CC
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http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/180048
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