life curation

Let Inspiration Lead You

Happy Saturday, friends! I recently experienced a major positive shift in my energy, and I wanted to share what happened that turned things around a bit. Now, the positive shift doesn’t mean that things are completely perfect; in fact, nothing is truly perfect in my life right now. However, this shift was powerful enough to give me a significant “push” when I wasn’t feeling inspired to do anything at all.

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Letting inspiration guide you is as simple as letting go

Earlier this week, the word “lagniappe” crossed my mind. Lagniappe is a Creole term meaning “a little something extra”. It’s a little gift or token that may be given for anything or nothing. Usually, little shops in New Orleans (though this might also happen in other parts of Louisiana, I’m specifically referring to New Orleans because I’ve been there) will throw in a little extra gift when you purchase something, or even give you a little token just for stopping by and chatting with the staff for a bit.

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A common sight in many shops in New Orleans – masks with all sorts of fancy designs

I hadn’t thought of the word in years but here it was, on my mind. I just figured that meant it was time to plan another trip to New Orleans (which would be fabulous!) and let the thought pass. I went on with my day as normal and didn’t think any more of it.

Two days later, I went online and read some posts in one of my coaching groups. I saw a post from a member that was unclear on what she needed to do to resolve the issue that she was facing. I thought a writing technique that I first read in Write It Down, Make It Happen by Dr. Henriette Anne Klauser. I flipped through the book, located the technique I wanted to describe to her, and posted my response.

After writing the response, I flipped to the back of the book, right before the bibliography. Right there, in the middle of the page, was the word “lagniappe”. For clarity, Dr. Klauser is not Creole nor does she write about life in Louisiana or anything else related to that part of the world. Literally, the word was on the page, like a beacon, telling me that what I needed was sitting on my bookshelf all along.

I’ve been languishing a bit because my dreams need fine tuning. It’s funny: I actually have almost everything that I want. I’ve spent years getting clear on my desires and successfully co-creating everything that I’ve wanted. I’ve traveled to places that I couldn’t imagine that I’d ever see in person. I’m in my dream field: the one that took me NINE years to get into. My family is healthy and happy, and I earn enough to do everything that I want to do (with proper planning, of course). By all accounts, I’m happy with my life and everything is great.

But my daily passion is lacking. I knew that I needed to get clearer about my art career goals as well as a few other “bucket list” items. I didn’t realize how much being “comfortable” and uninspired could negatively affect me, but now I know. So the next few weeks will be all about getting clear and finding my passion again. Now, don’t get me wrong: I love my life and find a lot of joy in it daily. But my drive was gone because I’ve already gotten so many of the things that I wanted.

I mean, what do you do when you got everything you wanted?

It’s simple: you find new dreams. You get some new goals. You find a new passion because that passion is what keeps us going.

So I’m taking some time to get quiet and let inspiration lead me. I think I know where it’s going to take me: there’s a dream that I’ve been tossing around for a bit, but I needed a little extra clarity on how I’d like for it to look in my real life. So I’m going to reread Write It Down, Make It Happen, spend some time just doing what sounds like fun (because having fun is great for setting things in motion), and allowing my new dreams to reveal themselves to me.

Have you all had to “recalibrate” your dreams? I’d love to hear how you did it: feel free to comment below and let me know how you tapped back into your passion after a period of feeling uninspired.

Take care, and enjoy your Saturday!

life curation · Uncategorized

I Got a New Planner!

Happy Friday! Let’s just take a moment to smile and rejoice as we made it to the end of another week.

A few days ago, I knew I had to embark upon my annual exercise of selecting a new planner. I hate to wait until after January 1st to buy one, because the selection isn’t as good AND I have a slightly compulsive behavior where I must fill in the first day of my calendar/planner: filling a calendar retroactively just won’t suffice.

So I buy these sorts of things in December. Last year, I was gifted a 2017/2018 planner and it was absolutely perfect: seriously, it’s exactly what I would have purchased for myself. This year, I’m buying my own and I needed to find one that met my practical needs and aesthetic preferences.

My planner had to:

  • Be pretty
  • Have lined spaces for daily entries
  • Include a space for weekly/monthly goals
  • Have convenient at-a-glance calendars for this year and next year
  • Lots of space for notes at the back of the planner
  • Less than $30

I was delighted to find this beauty at Target for a little under $13. It’s perfect: pale pink with gold lettering, and generously sized.

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I am already enjoying it so much. The first few pages of the planner have spaces for fleshing out your vision for the year, as well as milestone goals that you want to accomplish in different areas of your life. Talk about comprehensive!

This planner is by Day Designer and I highly recommend it. It’s beautiful and meets all of my requirements. I love it!

life curation

Welcome December: Looking Forward, Looking Back

Can you all believe that we are here at the end of another year? This time of year always leaves me in awe: the dates are long but the years are short, as I’ve heard it described. I have written a post for every day this year, so you already know what my year was like. I haven’t been feeling my best over the past few weeks but overall, I’m feeling good about my year.

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The beauty of today, the first of December, is that there are still time to accomplish one (or more!) big goal(s) before the year’s end. Even if you haven’t taken action since before my Finish 2018 on a Strong Note post, there is still time to do something that you’ll be especially proud of. I will be reviewing my last Goal Update post and seeing what I can take care of before the end of the year. Feeling under the weather has slowed me down a bit but it hasn’t stopped me, and I’m determined to make this December count.

Going forward, there are a few things I’m mulling over for 2019. For one thing, I want to bring back my book reviews. I’m reviewing a book this month, and I’ll continue doing one per month until inspiration leads me to something else. I’m also going to be more diligent about creating content for my YouTube channel, since I like the thought of being able to communicate across different platforms.

This is going to be a fantastic month. I’m claiming it right now!

life curation

NaNoWriMo Updates: Tomorrow is the Last Day

Happy Thursday, y’all! This has been quite a November to remember. . . I’ve been working on a lot of projects, and as a result, my writing suffered this month.

Of all months for my writing to suffer, it happens during NaNoWriMo.

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I didn’t meet the 50k goal for NaNoWriMo 2018. I got to 20k, which is still impressive, but nowhere near what I intended for the month. So I’m frustrated with myself right now. I wish I could have rearranged my affairs so that I could pour more time into my writing, but the truth is, this just wasn’t a good month for it.

One of the things I’ve been actively working on is being gentle with myself. No one is more disappointed in my failings than I am, so if I am going to own my shortcomings, I also have to give myself room for grace. I’m at a point where I’m doing the best that I can with everything that I do but it doesn’t always turn out how I want it to.

And that’s okay.

On the upside, I haven’t given up on this story. I’m still going to reach my 50k words and when I do, I’m going to rejoice! Until then, I’ll keep plugging along.

Enjoy your day, loves! I’ll talk to you all tomorrow.

life curation

The Podcasts That I’m Loving Right Now

Happy Hump Day, friends! We’ve made it to the middle of the work week- let’s continue to push forward. We can do this!

I’ve been concentrating on my writing for the past few days, so I haven’t been consuming a bunch of media. However, I have been listening to podcasts, since that gives my creative mind a bit of a break. So, I am going to share a few of my podcasting favorites that I’m currently listening to.

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Afford Anything with host Paula Pant is such a treat. Pant’s investigative journalist style lends itself well to her interviews with different financial experts and people who have achieved the financial independence/retire early (FIRE) lifestyle. One of my personal favorites is her interview with Natalie Sisson, who has a successful business that she runs – while living abroad.

The Side Hustle Show with Nick Loper is a treasure trove of business ideas. Start with any of them: you won’t be disappointed. Since I’m interested in becoming a published author. I’ve found the self-publishing episodes particularly helpful.

Abiola Abrams has been in the public eye for many years, but over the past several years, she’s grown a loyal following. She teaches women how to create businesses that are lucrative, serve a higher good, and are aligned with the entrepreneur’s purpose and passion. Her Spiritpreneur (TM) series covers a wide variety of topics and are very insightful. These are worth checking out!

life curation

Take This Course Before 2019

I know we’re all excited to start 2019 on a strong note, and I’m all for finding (and sharing!) the tools and resources to make this our best year ever. So, I’m going to do a mini-series called the 2019 Toolkit. This is informal, but as I find things that I think will be useful to you all, I’ll share them here and tag them for your convenience.

I’ve come across this particular course multiple times over the past six or so years, and each time I see it, I’m impressed by the high student ratings and continued popularity. Learning How to Learn, a course available through Coursera, is a powerful tool for setting the tone for 2019 successes. The class is 12 hours of study, so 30 minutes a Day is more than enough time to complete the course by the new year.

life curation

Saturday Vibes

Happy Saturday, kids! I wish this was a leisurely day for me, since it’s the weekend and I could use some more sleep. Alas, today is a day for work LOL!

Today . . . I’m writing. I’m cleaning. I’m still “making space”. I’m getting all of the “stuff” done that I’ve been neglecting. It’s not my typical relaxing Saturday, but I’m not complaining.  I needed this day of activity so that I could really knock out some things on my to-do list.

I have some good – scratch that, great – blog posts coming but today is a day for work. I recently finished a book that was sent to me by the lovely folks over at TCK Publishing. Oooh, this book is a good one, so I am SO eager to finish up that review and post it! But today’s work comes first. I figure I can be done before 5 PM if I’m focused, so off I go! I’ll talk to you all tomorrow!

life curation

NaNoWriMo Week 3 Updates: When Your Writing Mojo Has Stopped

Happy Thursday, loves!

I’ve spent the past 7 days doing everything but writing. Yes, you heard me right: I’ve typed ZERO words this week. I feel a little nervous about hitting my goal of 50k words, but I’m respecting my creative cycles and remaining optimistic about reaching my goal before the end of the month.

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So what does that mean? I need to average at least 4500 words a day until November 30th. That’s a LOT of writing, but I’m up to the challenge. I’m determined to get to 50K!

Pray for me, y’all lol! Seriously though, if you can send some creative vibes my way, that would be great. I’ll do my part and type, type, type: even if I don’t have an idea where exactly I want the story to go. I’ll have made some major progress by my next update: I can feel it!

food · life curation

What Happens When You Take a Break From Intermittent Fasting

Hey friends! This is my post to tell you a bit about how my body reacted to a recent deviation from my intermittent fasting (IF) eating plan.

As you recall from my first post about my recent cruise, I couldn’t stick to IF for the entire trip. There was so many good food options! I wanted to try everything and I couldn’t do it in my 8 hour window without being parked all day at the different eateries. So I put IF to the side while I vacationed.

When I got back home, I noticed several differences in my appearance. Firstly, I put on 4 lbs. That wasn’t too surprising: I was eating anything that my heart desired, and I was eating my favorites whenever I wanted. However, I noticed that I was also bloated and just had a general icky feeling when I came back home. I wasn’t sleeping as well and I wasn’t as satisfied when I ate.

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I love food so much LOL!

Most of that yucky feeling resolved when I went back to IF. Now that I’m back on schedule, the bloat is pretty much gone and my energy levels are starting to return. I’m mentioning this because it’s important to note how your body reacts to dietary changes. For me, abruptly stopping IF really made me feel less healthy. So, if I ever decide to stop eating this way, I would probably choose to wean myself off of the plan and increase my eating window incrementally instead of going crazy and eating however I want (like I did on the cruise). The more you know, right?

That’s all for today. If you have any experiences with IF and changing your diet after doing IF for a period of time, let me know in the comments below. Talk to you all tomorrow!

 

 

life curation · reading list

2019 Planning – For The Sake of Writing

Today, I’m babysitting a few of my favorite munchkins, so today’s post will have to be a brief one. They’re keeping me busy today LOL!

I’m making my 2019 plans and I realized that I really want to do a writer’s workshop/retreat. I haven’t ever done anything like that before, so I’m eager to give it a whirl. I think my writing would benefit from a vacation/trip dedicated to it. I know that my writing is better when I am in a different environment, so a retreat seems like a natural choice.

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I did a quick search on Google and found this list of 37 (yes, 37!) writers retreats that occurred in 2018. I figure that these will be the same in 2019 as well; at very minimum, most of these retreats are probably recurring. I also found this list with 8 more retreats (I only saw one retreat that was a duplicate from the list of 37). The 40+ retreats on these lists have a lot of options at different price points, and all of them are centered around creating better writers.

If any of you’ve done one of the retreats listed, please tell me all about it in the comments below! Also, if you know of a different retreat that isn’t on either of the lists, PLEASE tell me all about it! I’m still deciding which one would be best for me, and I could use some input for anyone that knows more about them.

Enjoy your Sunday (I know that I am!) and I’ll talk to you all tomorrow!