Creative Being

A Perfect Tribute

I found this tribute to June Carter Cash a couple of years ago. Whenever I read it, I long to be the person it was written about. I long to be that kind of person. I think in some ways I am that kind of person, so perhaps that is why I am drawn so much to these words. Of course in some ways, I have a long way to go. I share it because I love it so much.

A Yes! Attitude

Two months ago, I picked up a small yellow book in the business section of the bookstore. It was my second Jeffrey Gitomer book called The Little Gold Book of Yes! Attitude. It was an engaging, easy read and at first I dismissed it as stuff that I had read before. After reading the book, I felt inspired to try two things. The first was I decided to have a literal Yes! attitude at work. I always bring friendliness and enthusiasm and have been doing okay. But something about having a personal Yes! attitude seemed like something I just had to try.

Here's how I used that attitude. I decided that whatever my boss asked me to do, I would answer and mean Yes! I would not only agree, I would agree happily. Over the past two years in my part-time job, I could go a whole month without a real conversation with my boss. In fact, at my recent performance evaluation (which was excellent) we both realized that we rarely talk to each other about the job.

Within a week of bringing my Yes! attitude to work, my boss became a regular visitor to my office and I began to get interesting assignments. I was given lead position on several things.

The second thing from the book that I did was to substitute an hour of reading for an hour of TV. I decided to commit an hour a day to reading in a subject that I was interested in using towards my career. I was thinking at that time that it would prepare me to interview better for a position I was interested in but that didn't even exist yet.

So, for two months I studied my chosen career target.

A little back story. Right before I read this book, I had decided to give my notice and look for another job. I just felt like my job was going nowhere. I didn't hate it, I just wanted more. More responsibility, more hours, and of course more money. After I read the book, I became more engaged in my work and somehow the notice was never given.

Behind the scenes, things were taking place. I kept on with my Yes! actions and unbeknown to me, people were taking actions to create my new position. A position was created for me, in the area that I had been studying, working with people that I really like, and doing things I enjoy yet will force me to grow in experience and skills.

I know my committed and certain actions of the previous year and a half also set the scene for this change of events. However, I know in my heart, that following my Yes! steps is what dramatically changed things quickly. Yesterday, I was given an offer that was more than I had ever expected and is in line with what I love and believe in. I don't know if Jeffrey's words will affect anyone else this way but I have to pass this resource along.

What is Enough?

Is there enough money to make someone happy? There actually is an amount that in general, researchers can measure more happiness above and less below. It's the relatively modest amount of $40,000. After that, no dollar amount makes people measurably happy or not happy.

There also doesn't seem to be an amount of money that is ever enough? The richest people in the world are just as busy earning more money as the rest of us. Ten years ago, if I had been told that I'd have as much money coming in as I do now, I would have thought I would be rich because I imagined people with that amount of money to be rich. Of course, in reality, I'm still wanting more money.

But the realization that I had, that there will never be an "enough" point, has calmed me down quite a bit. The desire for more is good in that it does propel me to learn more, try more, grow more. In taking actions to achieve more abundance, I've gained in ways that I couldn't have anticipated. Mostly in that I have richer relationships than I ever did before.

In the search for purpose and wealth, I've also gotten to know myself better. As much as I like money, I like relationships. My greatest happiness is getting together with family or friends. Everything else is something to do in the meantime. Fortunately, I've also gotten to know myself well enough to have an interesting meantime. I have found work that is personally satisfying and interesting. I've found I like the challenge of creating personal excellence in my job. I have creative hobbies that I enjoy in my off hours.

At this moment, I do feel like I have enough. I also know that I am on my way to more. Because anything less than going for more would mean choosing to live less.

Thinking about Things

When I was a young newlywed, my husband and I decided to buy a new car for me to drive. I knew the model I wanted. I picked out the color. I picked out all the features I wanted. Then we put the order in and waited. For some reason, at that time, we chose to do that rather than taking something off the lot. It took about three months for my car to be delivered to the car dealership. I had three months of happily anticipating my first new car ever.

The car came and my husband drove me to pick it up. It was exactly like I had imagined. It was just what I wanted and believe me, I was happy to be done with my old car. I got in my new, perfect, just-as-I-had-requested car and began the drive home.

That was when I realized that having a new thing, didn't particulary change my happiness level. I had the car and I was simply driving it home. In itself, it wasn't making me one bit happier. I was still me. I still had all the me stuff going on that had been going on before. Yes, I appreciated my new ride, but I still remember the distinct feeling of a let down, of realizing that having something new really didn't change anything.

A Night With Oprah

I did have a moment of worry about whether I should share my experience with Oprah in my blog. Perhaps she would think it was tacky.  I did decide that I would NOT write about it and I would preserve our newly formed friendship and keep it private. That was, until I woke up and realized it was a dream.

This dream was notable for three things: I could remember it, it was vivid, and it seemed to last a long long time. It was a real dream adventure.

She was wearing a pink sweat suit. I was supposed to be going to my college class. I had already missed one and missing two would mean I'd have to drop the class. I decided to miss the class, since having a day with Oprah would be pretty awesome and maybe not something that would come along again. Good decision.

One of the things that stood out about being with Oprah was how safe I felt. Because when you're with Oprah, you just know you're going to be okay. I have never felt like that in life or in a dream before. We did some cool stuff. We talked a lot. We even ended up for a while in my childhood neighborhood. She offered me my own television show. It was tempting but that isn't one of my particular dreams.

I just have never had a dream like this that was so vivid, with so many layers, and that was so enjoyable. Even after I knew it was a dream, I stayed put, savoring the experience. It was as good as if it had really happened.

Making Cards

One of my hobbies lately has been making note-cards. They are cut out of magazines. They look much better than I photograph them, that's for sure. After making about fifteen of them I also realized that they are all affirmations. Bright beautiful affirmations.

In the making, I connect with my loving creative self. Even if there was no other pay-off, that would certainly be a great one.

Most people will tell me that they aren't creative. I don't believe anyone that says that because everyone has ways of creating. I think most people get caught up in measuring their talent in art as a measurement of their creativity. And they aren't the same thing at all.

I think playing with creativity and acting on it allow it to flow into other areas of my life. While doing these cards the past few weeks, I have definitely noticed that I have better ideas at work. It doesn't make sense in a linear way. I also feel more confident about just about everything. I am discovering that for me, creating in a way that is pleasant, increases satisfaction in other areas of my life.

Inspired Action

One of my goals for this year is to double my income. My fiscal year runs from May to May (that's my birth month). I decided it was time to go to the next level.

Several months ago, I approached the director of another department at my place of employment. I had come across an activity that I thought would work well for her department and offered to help her put it together. That little action began a relationship between our two departments and I guess I came to the notice of some higher ups. I continued my otherwise fine performance of my usual duties in my part-time job (20 hours/week). My job has down time during parts of the year. I have to be bodily present but if my work is done, no one cares what I do. I've heard co-workers be thankful for the Internet on many occasions. Other co-workers will visit with each other.

I find little projects for myself. I  create work to do that enables me to learn new skills that will enhance how I do my job. After the first year, my boss began giving me assignments that usually went to full-time people.

Something's Missing!

When I lived in West Virginia and later when I lived in Michigan, music was an important ingredient of my life. I always played music when I was working on something. I bought Cd's on a regular basis and I was always on the lookout for inspiring music. In West Virginia, I had a couple of fun places to shop for music: Natural Wonders (best store ever--why oh why did you have to go out of business???) and the Gift Odyssey (another super cool store--why oh why did you have to change locations and become creepy???).  I discovered Adrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. I bought lots of Celtic music, classical guitar, the Irish whistle, and lots of eclectic not-on-any-chart music.  It was always a treat to find something or someone new.  In Michigan, I began to experiment with classic compositions.

Since moving to Texas, I do believe that I've only bought Il Divo Cd's. As much as I like the boys, I'm sure there is way more good stuff out there.  I have had music amnesia for three years! But today I've remembered what an import part music has played in my creative endeavors in the past. The Isabella Catalog always has interesting choices listed (My hands-down favorite catalog ever) and I think I'll start there.

Bursting

I don't know if other people get like this, but I feel fairly bursting with ideas right now. I have two new projects going.

Forking not Spooning

Life feels good again.