Month: December 2012

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Day 23 – Write a Book the Wayne Dyer Way

Your Book Cover, an illustration by Mary Gow
Your Book Cover, an illustration by Mary Gow
If there’s anyone who motivates me AND makes sense, it’s Dr. Wayne Dyer.

He knows how to tell a story that can change your life.

“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood,” Dyer blogs about it today, December 5th, 2012.

That quote makes me smile.

If you’ve never heard of Wayne Dyer you can find out more about him by clicking here.

On Dyer’s “Wishes Fulfilled” on PBS, he talks about how he writes books.

First he comes up with the title. He says that is THE most important thing.

Second he has a cover drawn up.

Third he puts the finished cover somewhere he can look at it while writing the contents.

Fourth, he stays focused and guards his writing time, calling it “sacred time.”

Do you dream of writing a book?

If so, there’s never been more opportunities than now to share your words with the world!

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Day 22 – Look Up

Looking up at the San Francisco Opera, by Mary Gow
Looking up at the San Francisco Opera, photo by Mary Gow
What do you do when you can’t make up your mind?

Do you wait for an answer?

Do you feel your way through? Or decide by weighing pros and cons?

Or do you just know?

In the book
“Practical Intuition” author Laura Day offers a way to test a choice by acting as though you’re eating this decision. See how it feels as it goes through your system. Does it cause a tummy ache? Or does it feel good?

One advisor I consulted said something I never forget. When you feel like you can’t go forward, backward, or sideways, remember to look up!

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Day 21 – Resources for Diversitarians

Multi-Resourceful, by Mary Gow
“Multi-Resourceful,” illustration by Mary Gow
Have you noticed I don’t paint just “one” way? I like to create work that captures a sense of energy and aliveness whether it’s with watercolors, acrylics, a camera, a scanner, monotypes, or cameraless photography.

Do you thrive on variety and diverse systems?

In other words, are you a “diversitarian?”

I heard the term used by Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon, when Charlie Rose interviewed him recently when he asked Bezos how he would identify himself.

Bezos also said brainstorming is his favorite activity! And that he loves being at the white board working out ideas!

I resonated with those two things Bezos revealed about himself and his delight for ideas.

New York Times bestselling author Barbara Sher calls multi-resourceful folk “scanners,” in her highly useful book “Refuse to Choose! A Revolutionary Program for Doing Everything That You Love,” Rodale Books, 2006.

Along those same lines, I found Emilie Wapnick’s site that deals with modern-day Renaissance-types at Puttylike. Wapnick wrote Renaissance Business. She provides lifestyle design for what she terms “multipotentialities” and specializes in “how to smoosh your interests together and set yourself apart.”

Wapnick helps point the way for multipotentialites in a recent post: “Help! I Want to Combine My Interests Into One Business, Where Should I Start?.”

Happy smooshing!

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Day 20 – Keep the Channel Open

Vitality, by Mary Gow
“Vitality,” watercolor by Mary Gow
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others” – Martha Graham

My art is a visual expression of energy and this Martha Graham quote reminds me we’re all artists expressing our own unique style.

There’s no one to keep up with but yourself.