Archive for the ‘Taking A Stand For FUN’ Category

Suffering Mantra

Friday, February 7th, 2014

Welcome new readers! Let me know what speaks to you and what you would like to hear more about, if you will. My intention is that you get at least one thing that sticks with you and helps you when you need a sparkle of inspiration.

I’m suffering with the Lingering Crud, a virus that invites a new virus to replace it when it starts to die. Low energy meets a cough… Time to be extraordinarily kind to ourselves.

Smart Thoughts for Stupid Moments Podcast

is http://smartthoughtsforstupidmoments.libsyn.com/

In the last episode of Smart Thoughts for Stupid Moments, I regaled you with my Freedom Mantra based on the Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz.
This episode turns the Freedom Mantra inside out and reminds us how we tend to add to our own suffering by: assuming bad things, taking everything personally, trying to more than our best, and speaking cruelly to ourselves. In this way we bind ourselves to our suffering and have no energy to play, love, and sing. So let’s call a Code You, as my dear friend the singing nurse Deb Gauldin would say, and WAKE Up, Deb’s website is: www.debgauldin.com

Valentine’s Day Giggle

This will make you laugh, guaranteed!

Beware of the Doghouse – YouTube

Remember: Trusting the process will set you free–eventually!

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Having Fun with Frustration

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

I realized today that I have allowed myself to believe in frustration. It is as if a well-dressed man with a nifty briefcase knocked on my door and asked very politely if he could come in and ruin my life.

He seemed so rational, so sure of himself, that I let him in to my sacred inner life.

As it happens, he had a very impressive book that he had prepared for me which explained why it was logical and right for me to live in a near constant state of frustration.

He sat down beside me, laid the book on the table, and turned to page 1. The heading on this page was: “Why Vicki Deserves to Feel Frustrated.”

I won’t go into detail, but basically the man showed me why I was completely right and the people I was frustrated with were completely wrong. He showed me how unfair it was that my technological supports kept breaking. I was, in short, completely justified in feeling frustrated. Completely.

Well, isn’t that just wonderful!

The problem is that feeling frustrated has been stealing my joy. Yes, I was certainly right and justified, but I was also not having much fun. Even the things I usually enjoy doing, such as writing essays like this, I wasn’t enjoying because of this backlog of frustration I had allowed to build up in my body.

I had actually made the mistake of taking frustration seriously! I know better than this!

When I’m riding with someone in a car, and we pull up to a busy intersection, I listen with serenity as the driver says, “We’ll never get into this traffic!”

When I hear this remark, I start counting. I never even get past 30 before “never” turns out to be possible after all. We do get into the traffic. The driver believed in frustration, but I knew better.

I am now building a business, and I am taking this building of my new business seriously. And taking this business-building seriously left a crack in my sanity that allowed Mr. Frustration to get inside my head and wreak havoc.

Well, Mr. Frustration, you are fired! The next time you come to my door and invite me to feel frustrated, I’m going to figure out a way to have fun with the situation instead. And you better believe I’m good at it and I will succeed! You are doomed, Mr. Frustration! I have unmasked you and I will never invite you into my sacred inner life again.

The End – for now anyway.

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Fun with Laundry

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

As you may know, I believe Fun Is not a four letter word. I Know that If we are able to Inject Fun into almost every  situation, we are more  clearheaded,  lighthearted,  and full of vitality. When injecting fun into every situation is as natural to us as shaking our fists at errant drivers, we will be able to see more clearly who we are meant to be. (How is that for an introduction that connects this article with My Big Mission?)

Doing the Laundry Can Feel Overwhelming.

Injecting fun into doing the laundry is a great place to start.  Learn how to inject fun into almost anything.  Besides death and taxes, the laundry shall always be with us. If we keep up on this task, it’s not much of a problem. But if we put off doing the laundry because it’s not fun and feels like drudgery, we are setting ourselves up for unhappiness.

So if we learn how  to inject Fun into doing the laundry we will accomplish several things at once   (Multi-taskers take note!):

  • We will build our resilience.
  • We will learn to be proactive instead of procrastinate.
  • We will increase our sense of well-being and self-esteem.
  • And we’ll get the damn laundry done!

Here is how my husband Murray and I make doing laundry fun:

Murray works four days a weeks at the coast, I do much of my work from home, so the bulk of laundry duty falls to me. I am fine about that. Unlike technology, which sometimes tries to kill me, the laundry is a concrete task.  B ecause I can touch everything and move everything at will, I have Control over the laundry. And Control, as you may know, is an aphrodisiac. Therefore, doing the laundry is sexy.  If doing the laundry is sexy, then I am sexy. If I am 58 and sexy, this is a good thing. This is one reason Murray really likes it when it’s  Laundry  Day.

First I pick up clothes, put them in the washer, add the soap, turn on the water, and voilà! Wet, clean clothes.  I move the wet clothes into the dryer, turn the dial, and voilà!  — dry clothes.

So far, so good.

It’s the folding of the laundry that can back up and not be fun. Also, because I am legally blind, matching socks can be a black hole energy  and joy suck. That’s the technical term for it. I could choose to gnash my teeth, and shake my fist at Fate, for strikingly blind in my 30s, and bringing such frustration and misery upon my innocent self. I’ve done a bit of this and in some ways it’s a little bit fun, but mostly thinking and feeling this way just makes me feel icky.

The Joy of Flinging

My solution to this sock-matching dilemma: fling all of Murray’s socks and underwear onto the floor next to his dresser.  Directions: I pick up one of Murray’s socks, fling it to the floor. and shout: “Take that, socks that are difficult to match!”  I swell with power. “And take that, Murray’s underwear, too!”

I’m having fun and the laundry is getting sorted. But perhaps the most important part of this story, is how Murray interprets this underwear/sock pile on the floor. When he comes home, and walks into our bedroom, and sees the pile of socks and underwear he usually shouts with joy something like: “The Laundry Goddess has paid me a visit!”

Let me tell you, his calling me the Laundry Goddess makes it much easier for me to do his laundry for him with joy. I know he’s going to be thrilled, and I mean thrilled, when he sees the pile of clean socks and underwear on the floor. He interprets this pile, which lesser peoples might think of as proof of my sloppiness, as proof that I love him.

So here are the simple, though not always easy, steps to injecting fun into anything:

  1. Decide you are going to inject fun into everything you can.
  2. Find a way to change the story of oppression to a story of Joy. Let yourself be a little wicked and a little outrageous in this process.
  3. Marry someone with a great sense of humor who really loves you.

See? Simple.

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Kicking the Dinosaur of Doubt Out

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Last summer, while in the beautiful city of Vancouver BC, I made a Vow.

The last time I made a Vow was when I was about 10 years old and I looked around my family and saw violence, alcohol abuse, and despair. I made a sacred Vow to myself that I would not re-create this family.

I kept that Vow. There was never any doubt that I would do whatever it took to get myself an education, and break the cycle of addiction and codependency that has held my family captive for generations.

This first Vow was for myself and my as yet uncreated family. My second Vow is for myself and my global family. My work with the Bali Institute of Global Renewal has given me a glimpse of how I might be able to use my gifts to change the world in a way I would never have been able to imagine for myself when I was that little girl of 10, deciding to take on the challenge of breaking the cycle of addiction in my family.

I made this new Vow last July when I was at a workshop presented by two dear friends of mine, Donny and Kirk. In four days they created a place where people could heal on a deep level. The energy and the vision they created for this temporary family was so magnificent, it inspired me to make a decision.

I committed to doing whatever it takes, spending whatever it takes, to create a first class team for my world-class business, a business that is committed to helping people get in touch with the deepest, wisest, juiciest, most courageous part of themselves, so they can go out into the world in the most magnificent way possible.

The result of making this Vow was the creation of my new business: Outrageous Visions: See Who You Are Meant to Be. My work takes me all over the world, providing workshops to help people sing, speak, write, and live without fear. In April I’m inaugurating my new club: Vicki’s Outrageously Alive Club. With my travel, and speaking, and retreats, I will have a limited time left over to work with private clients.

So these private clients need to be Special. And by Special I mean people who are feeling a deep call to work with me, and have a willingness and readiness to do the work and the play necessary to free themselves from their limiting beliefs and bad habits. When we are free, we can stride deeper and deeper into the world, determined to become who we are meant to become. (That is a paraphrase of a Mary Oliver poem.)

If you know enough now to know that you want to apply to be one of my few private clients, click here to fill out the application. You are not making a commitment; you are following the deep truth that is within you. Fill out the application, and then we will chat. If you feel we are a good fit and this is the right time and this is what you are called to do, then I will ask you to make a three-month commitment to coach with me. Quite honestly, I don’t want to mess around with people. And it takes time to make big, deep changes.

Here’s what I offer my clients:

• The best of me, including all my experience, my courage, my intelligence, my creativity, my compassion, my enthusiasm, and my intrepidness.

• My wicked sense of humor. I can almost always find a funny way of dealing with an old, sticky problem that has you discouraged and defeated. Here is a Visionary Voice Message I created after a particularly bad day dealing with technology. And let me just say, I love my Macintosh computer, and technology is what keeps me connected to the world. But on this particular day technology was no fun.

Technology Tried To Kill Me
• Because I am a little psychic, let’s just get it out there, I am able to envision for my clients a future that is more magnificent than they are able to do. I’m not forcing any agenda on people. It’s more like I hold back the branches on the path, so you can see more clearly where it is you need to go, in order to get to the beautiful meadow that’s been waiting for you all along.

• Because of my experience as a high school teacher, an elementary school counselor, a performer, a drug and alcohol counselor, a grief counselor, an employee assistance counselor, a parent educator, I am able to help you untangle an area of specific problems in your life.

• Because of the obstacles and challenges I’ve had to deal with in my life, I know how to take on anything that gets in your way, and transform it into Joy Fuel.

• I know how to inject fun into almost any situation. And fun is not a four letter word. When we are having fun, we are full of more energy, we have an ability to solve problems better, we increase our immune system, and we attract happy people.

I want you to check in with yourself right now. Are you feeling a resonance with what I’m saying? If so, click here now to apply to be a private client of mine. If you are hearing a resonance and you say no to the resonance, then you’re not a good client for me right now. I want to work with people who are willing to listen to the truth that is in them, and willing to take the next step, and the next step, and the next step. I want to work with people who want a Coach for Life, someone who knows them, knows the terrain of their lives, and always holds the best and highest vision for their lives.

So if you want to work with me, if you have an inkling or nudge that you want to apply to be one of my few private clients, fill out an application and then we’ll set up a time to talk. It is important that we are a good fit. It is important that you make at least a three month commitment to work with me. I charge $497 a month paid in advance. This may seem like a lot of money to some, and hardly enough money to others. So be it.

Here’s the thing I have learned about money: when you set an intention, when you decide to do something, and I mean really decide to do it, the money will come. Money is magic that way. If you are hearing a clear call inside you, you may even be a little teary as you read this, then you need to commit to manifesting the glory that is within you. And part of that commitment is feeling that you are worth it. You deserve to have great coaching, and I am a fantastic coach.

Don’t think about it. If you are feeling a resonance with what I’ve written, apply now. Your applying is not a commitment. Filling out the application form is just the next step in finding out if this is truly a good fit for you. If it is, great, if it isn’t, the application form is going to give you more information about yourself. There’s no way to lose.

I’m going to paraphrase Marianne Williamson here. Say this aloud as you read it:

My deepest fear is not that I’m inadequate.
My deepest fear is that I’m powerful beyond measure.
I ask myself, “Who am I to be brilliant, talented, abundant, living a life I’d love, making a huge difference in the world, feeling happy for no reason?”
Actually, who am I not to be? I am a child of God.
My playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about my shrinking so that I don’t make other people feel insecure.
I was born to make manifest the glory of God that is within me.
And it’s not just in me, this glory is in every one I know, every one I’ll meet every day for the rest of my life.
As I let my light shine I unconsciously give permission to other people to do the same.
As I free myself from my fear my presence automatically frees others.

Click this here to get a recording of me saying this.

Please say it along with me every day. My job right now is to help you make a decision. Deciding to put off a decision, deciding not to even fill out my application now, is a :No.” Saying “No” is okay for sure if that is your truth, but don’t practice kidding yourself. You either learn to trust the deep wisdom inside of you and act on it, or you kid yourself. If you are kidding yourself and you want somebody to bust you for it, that would be Me!

Want to apply to be a private client? Click here.

Bless you on your journey,

Vicki

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Fun is Not A Four Letter Word

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Recently I received this mini-lecture from a new acquaintance: “Vicki, everything can’t be fun you know.””My response was: “Oh, yeah! Watch me!”

I wisely kept my response in my head. Did I really want to get into a fight about my belief in the power of fun? Not with someone as committed to not having fun as this person turned out to be. That discussion would be fruitless and no fun.

This isn’t exactly what happened, but it is close enough to exemplify one of the biggest roadblocks to knowing who we really are and who we are meant to be:  listening well to ourselves and others.

Taking a Stand for Fun is Serious Business

person turned out to be. That discussion would be fruitless and no fun. Taking a Stand for Fun is Serious Business I’m 58, legally blind, grew up in an alcoholic home, my daughter almost died when she was twenty, blah, blah, blah. Do I really need to prove I have suffered to prove that putting Fun in the center, in the heart and center, of everything I do is not only possible, it is essential? I guess I do.

Fun is for children, right? If only children still got to have fun. We are doing a pretty good job of extricating fun even from childhood these days. Recess has been abolished in many states because all that play outdoors is not learning time and we need to get those kids to buckle down and learn how to pass all those standardized tests. Meanwhile, the dropout rate is soaring, childhood obesity is increasing, as is diabetes, stress disorders, and blah, blah, blah.

What have we got against fun, anyway?

Research shows that we learn more when we are having fun. Couples who play for five minutes together report they love each other more. And I mean they played for five minutes before they took the questionnaire. Imagine if they played together every day?

I repeat: What have we got against fun? Research clearly shows people who are grateful, cheerful, and playful live longer, have more friends, and are more productive on the job, Fun isn’t for lightweights who do not understand that this world is full of suffering and problems that need to be solved. Fun is the missing ingredient in most of our problem-solving.

Serious-minded, logical, altruistic people need to commit to fun if they want to actually solve some problems instead of killing themselves with overwork, self-doubt, and self-righteousness. Yuck!

We are having a national epidemic of seriousness! I’m serious about this.

Look at Google! They have pool tables and chess boards and free massage chairs everywhere. The only food you have to pay for is a vending machine with junk food in it. The junk food is priced at how bad the food is for you. This is funny! This gets the point across! And Google fired China for being so committed to violating human rights. Google is a multinational corporation that has integrity and understands how important fun is to the bottom line. Do you think you are smarter than Google?

If Google believes in fun, don’t you think it is worth entertaining the idea that fun might make you smarter, healthier, and more creative? Just entertain the idea for thirty-seconds that putting fun in the CENTER of your life might be the most profound decision you ever make. Try this for thirty seconds. I dare you.

I guess this is my Sgt. Vicki voice. I’m kicking a little butt for fun. And I’m having fun doing it.

So here is what I say to the woman who lectured me about how I can’t have fun all the time. I can too! I had fun getting a screening colonoscopy. I had fun when my mother died. I had fun when I was in transition giving birth to my first child. I started a sort of funny song from my daughter’s bed in the hospital when she almost died. I’ve written funny songs about being blind, traveling for twenty-four hours on a train alone in India where no one spoke English, and I even wrote two funny songs within hours after a pickpocket stole four hundred dollars and my wallet in Prague.

So suck on eggs, Crabby Woman who says I can’t have fun all the time. I may stumble and fall, but I promise you I know how to pick myself up, get back in the game, and get smiling sooner than most people I know — without being afraid to do my grieving! Ha!

Put a little fun in your life, already!

Vicki

P.S. Want to sign up for a free Play Date with me? This is a limited time offer. When I stop having fun doing these, you know what I will do. Contact me at vicki@outrageousvisions.com to set up an appointment. .


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