I love that my husband Les is not daunted by a wife who asks for $10.00 while yard sailing (because she always forgets her purse on Saturdays) and then smiles knowingly when I come back with something that most likely won’t fit in our vehicle that moment,  yet expects it to. I love that when I sit for dinner in our home, or lounge with our family that love is made visible throughout my home by the items Les has loved back to life…including me.

It matters.

The gift of shared vision is not one that came naturally to Les. I suspect ten years ago he had never refinished anything in his life. His idea of fixing something involved a purchase and a receipt. His love for my vision to do and have for others awakened in him a joy in making things happen as I have…and what a joy ride its been to see it in our home, as well as in peoples’ lives.

Chairs that are purchased for $2.50 each may not have any value to you. Sometimes the folks you pass by on the daily journey don’t either…they, like my chairs, may be so covered in grime, scars, and dirt that you simply don’t see the beauty they are….the unique creation they exist as.  It’s not always about refinishing either…often its simply about encouraging them to share their story…which unfolds in such a way you are no longer captured by their trappings but by their heart, experience and story.

What are you seeing where you are today? What is the vision you use? Is it purpose driven? Do Driven? Or are you open to allow that which is there show up in your picture in a more meaningful way.  Each moment we exist there is so much lost in our own directed living…perhaps that is the joy I love about Saturday morning yard sailing with Les…its unpredictable…its unordered…you cannot predict what God will drop into your world that day…whether its the heart that needs to be heard as they empty mom or dad’s home…or the struggle of a young couple trying to “do better” for their children and selves as they fight for their familyhood…

What do you allow in your life?

Who do you allow in your heart?

The memories are touchable in my home….as a visual tactile learner that isn’t surprising…but I know things are simply with me until someone else needs them more, then they, like they came, are hauled away often in a too small car to a new home to be loved by someone else’s family….and I walk back to the door with a smile on my heart and know that soon I’ll ask Les if I can borrow his wallet again…

and He smiles…and knows we’re starting all over again…

I love this man named Les and how he’s taught me to love past what I can initially see…

What are you not plugging in? What resources do you have right in front of you ready to work if you simply plugged in?  When will you take time to return to the basics of what’s not working in your life? Basics matter….our lives do not work as well if we do not seek God’s plan for our lives…even when His plans don’t make sense…ask me how I know…

Part of my “owning my life” stuff is realizing that I am too often trying to run my life without plugging into God first that day.  My intention is to always seek God first, but darn it I regularly find myself taking management liberties with His plan for my life.  Can you relate?  Then when I am weary, frustrated, and knowing something is just not right….I realize that I’ve neglected to plug in for God’s resources into my life….peace, joy, wisdom, direction, and love.  God is God and the short of it is I am not.

Ouch.

What areas of your life are you unplugged? How are you seeking to “own your life”? Are you walking in integrity with yourself?  I wasn’t.  I would say “I’d like to lose weight” and while my friends would suggest that it wasn’t how much I ate, but perhaps what I ate….that maybe, just maybe wheat and other things were part of the problem. Nonsense I said, I’ve eaten it for ages…then a month came up that I was willing to go without wheat for 30 days…31 pounds later and a WHOLE lotta better health. Because I am a Thomas, I did eat wheat again and when I did,  I could immediately sense “danger Will Robinson…I was swelling.”  Who knew? Wheat sensitive?  When we get so used to what it is our experience, we forget that our experience may be in no way shape or form what THE experience that was intended can be….ever tried blow drying your hair without electricity….waving your hands back and forth in no way makes the same effect happen as a plugged in blow dryer.  So is our life…without God it simply isn’t the same…

Are you unplugged?

Stephen Covey says the 5 emotional cancers are: criticizing, complaining, comparing, competing, and a spirit of contention present in your daily life. I so agree.  We all seem to have drank the kool-aid that more is more…and as Allyson Lewis so eloquently put it in her book, The 7 Minute Solution, she came to a place where she wanted MORE, not more…MORE meaning MORE service, MORE family MORE joy, MORE of a life she actually wanted to live.

Amen.

As I have traveled on the road the last few weeks with clients on book tours, conferences, and launches, it has been an unusual time of busy reflection.  I speak to strangers, to folks I work with, and to anyone who remotely captures my heart and/or interest all.the.time.  I love people.  What has captured my attention is the overwhelming repeating story that no matter where I am, what role I am being that moment, people are seeking peace and acceptance. People want peace in their lives again, purpose, and a sense that their lives have value past their daily existence.  Individuals are looking for a better life. That life isn’t defined in wealth, but in meaningful experiences and the peace and joy that has left their buildings, neighborhoods, and hearts.

One of the joys of my journeys lately has been to witness the power of human interaction with divine empowerment.  God showing up in the perfect moments looking alot like ordinary humans being obedient.  Mothers praying for their children, folks with illness ministering to those who have no physical illness, but emotionally are much weaker than the physically ill one in front of them. In a prayer room in Dallas yesterday I heard a wise woman tell the person who had sought prayer that she needed to rest in God and allow laughter back in her life.  Seemingly simply…yet oh so powerful…God doesn’t tell us to work all of the time, focus on toil and troubles, nor that we are not enough…no..God tells us to rest in Him, to let Him carry our burdens of anger, resentment, pain, and shame…to allow Him to be responsible for our worries, to release them to Him …for He will meet our needs, not us…if we simply trust Him and are obedient to the life he has for us….

God says in Him everything is possible…

My marriage and family is proof of God’s restoration. In a family who hadn’t experienced ANYONE’s marriage crumbling in the close relatives there I was twice divorced, unhappy, and I did not even get into the motherhood business until I was thirty….yet God restored my broken heart. In the most unusual way of showing up, Les Berry was and is the answer to many nights lament that God would heal my broken heart and allow a do over… happy marriage…and four children and step teens and adults call me Mom..and over twenty more have known me as Mom for a season of their lives…God is good….and he is truthful in what He will do when we choose to trust His word…

For those who know me you can say an “amen” (now let’s not shout too loudly)  but somethings you have to experience to understand.  I.am.a.high.energy.hot.mess.  I love creating, and supporting creative projects that empower people.  The joy of working on projects that reach, teach, and touch people’s lives have created a vertical learning curve for many years for me….whether it was publishing, filming, social media, or strategy….I simply love to learn skills that support living your personal and professional purpose in life..  It has been one of the surprizes of my life that God had a plan for that too….well after all, He is God…but can he really handle a hot mess like me? (perhaps proof again, that He IS God)  Winning to me means running my own race, to live a life of obedience to whatever it is that God brings into my life. To work through the training of mind, body, and spirit until His will is done in my life….

a tough race to be sure….but the joy of this journey is peace….not ease…peace that means even on the hardest emotionally punched day, that God is present.  That when flesh rips and emotions rage because of something fleshy, God is there…if I will allow Him to be.  Winning the race daily means coming to God first…then laying HIS plans straight, not your own…such an easy concept, such a hard course for most of us to lay down our control….

What are you ready to win? Fame? Fortune? Finesse? Or are you seeking to win the favor of God in all that you do? Win the abundance of God in every moment of your life? Win the power and strength of God in your every day existence?  It’s real…and its promised to us if we simply do the seemingly impossible….surrender the race to Him….and let Him redesign the course you are running until like Eric Liddell, you feel God’s pleasure when you run…..

God has set my race….and I can tell you…I don’t know the course, I’m not sure of the distance, I feel inadequate to even line up….but his race I am running….and though I may stumble ….the race is God’s….for I am ready to win peace, joy, abundance, provision, purpose, and the wealth of a life spent using God’s gifts for others…working through the “stuff” that I so need to shed, allowing His love to complete the work He began in me….tough stuff…real stuff…but worthwhile because in the long run, running God’s race for my life is all that truly matters…His approval the only one that counts…

and I’m finally ready to give up whatever it takes….and the list so far has been long, hard, and my fingers are tired from trying to hold on to silly things in my life I was never intended to hold….but God is God and I am not….and so the race begins…..two by four thwack lessons included for my hard head….for it seems I don’t learn by simple reminders….it takes a thwack regularly to get my attention…and it turns out that I’m not very into those 2×4 thwacks…so I will listen more intently, accept more readily, and learn more completely that which God has set before me to do….

Anyone ready to join me for THAT race?

One of the songs talked about letting go of what is in your hand and that when you can let go of holding it tightly…God blesses it and multiples that release to empower whatever is before you to be enough….a Biblical message…jars become filled…shouts become enough to crumble walls…and fish multiply, more than once whether in baskets or in water….

The song stayed in my head for years…I probably still could not sing it line per line, but its teach, the meat of what the message said has forever changed my heart. Alvin’s voice and imagery has repeated in my head now for some 16 years….daily.

When we release what little or much we have to God…it.is.enough.

He’s simply waiting for our all.

Have you thought about giving your all lately? Most of us think a portion is tough enough, but God seeks our all.  He created us imperfect without Him, he told us from the beginning he wanted to lavish us with his love.  He created Eden…yet it wasn’t enough….as mankind, we wanted more…we wanted control…

Look where it got us.

What is in your hand today? What are you trying to hold on to? What areas of your life do you think you must control? How is that working for you?  I can tell you that in my life, the fingers kept getting pried off my areas with a crow bar and when I can let go long enough to go…it.is.simply amazing….before I even realize the fall I so feared would ensue, but simply lifts me to a different level and proves to me that He is trustworthy…

even when I fail. make poor choices, trust blindly in people not God, or live my usual messy life…not to mention kitchen or laundry realities….

What’s in your hand? What are you holding onto that God wants?

It’s your choice….hold onto it, or release it to the one who created you and the world you live in…

What’s in YOUR hand you’ve been hesitant to let go of control?

• Skills were yours to engage, the burden and years preparing were not for naught
• Moments to remember came like gang busters or waves of perpetual tides
• Joy was present in every moment of the reason you were engaging

Then you realized, it wasn’t the opportunity that was present and changed your vision, it was that you changed your opportunity.

We choose our lives.  We follow our hearts and inner callings of the Holy Spirit, or we choose to blindly lead ourselves to a place that we rarely should go.

There is a season for each part of our lives….and in my best life, there is respect, diligence, rigor, loyalty, steadfastness, good stewardship, boundaries,  love, and joy in each of them.

In reflecting the last three months, I learned many experiential lessons:

1. Without adequate advance preparation and peaceful engagement of working together, there is little to gain in pushing forward with new territories, projects, or people….you can have the right skills, but without a thorough understanding of the needs, priorities will not happen.
2. Relationships take time, trust is not always returned even when given….not every friendly person is friendly, not every harsh one is harsh
3. Strategy comes in many forms…but the ones I prefer to focus on is always a win/win/win scenario for all- no exceptions.
4. It is God’s love through our hands that makes the difference, all humans are imperfect, but His love matters.
5. Regardless of their  passion, purpose, and precedence….trust is established slowly…be cautious in whom you blindly trust
6. Success will be just as difficult as starvation if you do not identify what it looks like and how to handle it
7. It’s more important to be who you are, even if they don’t get who you are…help is help if it isn’t asked for…remember your gifts may not be welcome.
8. When others don’t choose to share your vision, methods, or excitement…it doesn’t affirm its correctness or wrongness, but only their/your experience
9. God puts amazing people directly in front of you if you’ll simply allow Him to be in charge
10. Preparation is respected in God’s order…but the order of God first matters more than any preparation you believed mattered.

This quarter, the last one of 2011, has been a meaningful time. 2011 was a year filled with amazing experiences both personally and professionally. I am thankful to have lived through and engaged the life it taught me.  God is God and in short…I am not…but I see his Glory through the work of others and its an amazing view…and every now and then…for a brief moment..I get to be a part of His plan and become aware of how amazing the intricate details were that laced us all together.

What a joy!!!!

What have you learned this year?

Click here to read part 1 First

The last two years I have witnessed the joy of work by Deborah Mersino (@DeborahMersino),  Allan Branch and Steven Bristol (@LessEverything), the founder of the leadership group #LeadfromWithin, the amazing Lolly Daskal (@LollyDaskal),  Steven W Anderson, @web20classroom, @MamaBritt, and the ever kind @David_Carpenter and so many many others who as Creatives or Leaders hear daily “how do I keep up with it all, how do I keep first things first?”They live transparently seeking tools and sharing lessons as they go.   I have watched their efforts, interacted with their chats and I know that this methodology of thinking through and acting on life in 7 minute increments is powerful stuff.  Busy people are busy people whether workers, leaders, parents or children yet to have the level of engagement we seek in life, priorities MUST be decided upon. It won’t matter if its my traumatic brain injured clients, the parents of autistic children and adults, the entrepreneurs, or the instructional leadership teams for leadership. This book will matter. This book does matter, This book has mattered already in my family’s life.  It systematically takes you through dialogues to more pragmatically support the evidences of “Why’s” in your core values. It takes a purpose driven concept through the bases to a home run on values driven engagement in life home run.

Does your daily life set up a plan each day to align your values to the blueprints for your goals that day? Owning my life and making it mine has meant for me that yes, Margaret, values matter in my daily existence and need to show up as using the gifts I was given for others daily in my life.  You see, that country girl, raised not 70 miles from my own rural home, has captured it….the essence…of why and how folks can fuel their desire to live a passionate purpose life based on their values driven blueprint. I cannot imagine a better gift for our marriage, my children’s lives, and the young people’s world I am often engaged in. That is why you see me tweeting so much about #Just7, for truly in just 7 minutes at a time I have had the following results the last 24 days after reading this book:

• I have lost 24 lbs because I have given myself permission to simply BE who I am built to be….a Creative who LOVES to see Art alive in people’s lives as I cultivate projects to empower people. It is as Eric Liddell said “I feel God’s pleasure” when I create strategy blueprints for speakers and projects that allow them to fly and improve people’s lives.
• The artistic side of my heart has been set free after many years of trying to assimilate into a more analytic world of  non-creatives who only seek profit financially not profiting people’s life existence.
• My children have noticed (now they are teens and adults…let’s all stop and think on that miracle) and spoke of the joy they are seeing in my life
• My husband Les has simply said I smile more and more often…which is hard to believe, for I am a happy person in general
• Laughter has returned to our marriage and home…I have traditionally been the reserved one, trying to conform and work in a systematic method of analytical conformity when I am the girl who would splash the mud puddle on purpose and make mosaics out of the splashes naturally
• Connected to two new friends whom I was a bit intimidated to engage, but have in three weeks understood they were a God gift waiting on ME.
• Les and I have completely re-charted the next ten years of our life based on shared renewed purpose of our Basics Matter and A Joyful Place Called Home experiences
• The dogs (we have 5) want to know what is up with Mom wanting to walk at 4:00 instead of 9, because everything is on track to get 5 done before 11 am and then play the rest of the day.
• Professionally, I have released some toxic connections that simply needed to be with someone who would “get” their methodology of business, but as for our home, if its not cultivating projects to empower people, we simply do.not.work together. Money comes with doing things well, but nothing is worth the price of working with greedy or folks not living in integrity with their intended business results.
• We, as a family have simply been more joyful, and joyful in a blended family at the holidays, is a GREAT way to be.

So in short, I never did get that cup of coffee…but what that fellow Arkansan served that day, was a life changing experience…and for that I am thankful…

and I hope you’ll join me in welcoming the rollout of what I believe will be a life work progress as Seven Minutes, Inc fully launches their apps, supportive materials created specifically for individuals and the interactive tools.  The book is available for pre-order now and launches Tuesday, December 27th….and it will SO be worth the read. (and on the 27the you may stream/comment/follow us on @The7MinuteLife and comment on The7MinuteLife.com wall or on Amazon and let us know by commenting on the post at www.the7minutelife.com/launch and they’ll enter you in a drawing to win one of two Nook’s for the after Christmas fun!

So this Christmas Eve…I want to share with you what has been so meaningful to me…with as always…no strings attached…but please, if it speaks to you, do sign up for the free member tools at www.the7minutelife.com and get going on the planner now…it’s free to download with a bunch of other tools I know you’ll find of value.

Merry Christmas!

Sweetie

Some things we are simply not prepared for. We do our daily grinds, we work on being the best we know how to be, we take our lumps and try to learn from then. Sometimes in an instant life changes. My family lost my nephew after a congenital heart condition ended his life at school one day.  Life changed.  I married Les and added two children to my life in a way I could have never predicted. A joyful change, but adding a five year old, eight year old, eleven year old and seventeen year old to one new marriage….life changed.  Once upon a time in Fayetteville Arkansas a silly Honda civic did not have a lights on indicator leaving me stranded and asking a perfect stranger to hold my precious tiny babe so I could get help (her car was air conditioned, the outside air was 101. This was before cell phones. There is a 15 year old story now that bears telling, but that’s for another day….

The coffee date was planned for a phone conversation, but I was unprepared to know what was being served would forever change me. That Arkansas girl was author Allyson Lewis, whom I had never heard of. (authors kinda come my way a couple of dozen at a time some weeks…) and she wanted me to read her book that would be launching December 27th.  Alrighty, but I thought we were going to have coffee. (sounded very fun, grown up even, and after all she’s from HOME…Arkansas)  The book came via email that evening, I am an avid reader. By morning I had been through it twice and was now in  operation evaluation mode. I.could.not.put.it.down. You see I’m into learning to learn, and as a strategist with an educator’s background, this book was talking about memory, learning, living your values, priorities and something called the M O R E life.  The woman had it going on, and now it was me who wanted to have coffee with her.  The conversations continued and it seemed that my friend had been completely on target. I would love this woman.  I don’t know about you, but at forty-seven there are very few things I jump head first into and that particularly qualifies where turning strangers into friends occurs.  By 24 hours after reading this book the conversations were more about rapid fire excitement on both sides of the line than leisurely coffee chat.

You see, the book has a workbook that is so very the way I think that within 3 days of beginning its free downloads at The7MinuteLIfe.com , which are predated and ready to use from Member tools even before I had a hard copy of the book, was so closely arranged to the way I think, that I was lost without it by day 5.  The more exciting thing was that my… shall we say…. analytically driven husband Les (@morefromles) evaluated the planner and loved it as well, though he said it lacked the notating the hunting dates and a place to have me mark off laundry. (he would mention that again…it’s an old story, a standard Sweetie truth, I think clean socks come from WalMart or JC Penney, the washer just seems to eat them)

The next 24 days were filled with little sleep, much joy, and a serious oversight of coffee being made at our home. I have become the Excited Evangelist for The 7 Minute Solution because I so know that it will change lives.  In a world that never stops 24/7 , a community that is hungry for a MORE life….that is:

• MORE passion
• MORE joy
• MORE meaning
• MORE rest
• MORE laughter
• MORE responsibility
• MORE time on things we love
• MORE organization
• MORE travel
• MORE financial adeptness

I knew that the three principles: prioritize, organize, and simplify would in a word work to allow individuals to get back to the business of supporting their lives. I loved the visual simplicity, the online support systems and I knew that this.would.be.powerful in the lives of many. My life took on a new purpose in a heartbeat…to get this book into hands of those who could be use it, and in my opinion, that’s every.single.person.

Caffeine slows me down. An original wild child, everything seems to be backwards in my wiring. Those who know me well know that I can talk 180 mpg when I am truly excited or have “caught the vision” of a strategy that will work for learners and those seeking to help learners learn.   I have endless energy most of the time, a trait I share with two older brothers. We simply run like energizer bunnies. Technology available 24/7 has increased our ability to get to information and to use it but there was definitely MORE needed yet I find great joy in taking time my calligraphy, hand creating dinners, spending time with activities I am passionate about….and yet  permission for me to do that full time would have not been even considered before this book….or the reasons why it mattered explored past “well I just love doing it”  I hadn’t given myself permission to live as a Creative full out “Game On” with the analytical/tactical skills as the backup support in my business…this book project has changed that…and in 24 days the world of Sweetie changed forever.  I gave myself permission to be who I am and it.is.breathtakingly different to bloom this thing called my life..

and Allyson Lewis…you better not simply plan to meet me for coffee, you best plan to sit down and share the whole pot girl, I’ve got about a zillion things to share about how thankful I am for you and this book.  My “why and how” have been identified and now its simply about doing it! See you at the launch! (National Launch, Tuesday the 27th of December and debuting on #SmallBizChat on January 4th!)

#TrueStory

#Les is exhausted (be thankful it is not you!

#I.am.thankful

#Just7

Have a Merry Christmas!

Sweetie

Follow @Allyson7Minutes on Twitter and the SevenMinutes, inc team at @The7Minutelife

Join their FB wall and tell them Sweetie sent you!  http://www.facebook.com/the7minutelife

Download the member tools here which will include the Daily Progress Report Planner template and many tools to share

Be prepared to have life as you know it change.

P.S. Allyson and the SevenMinutes, inc Team…..you have been the most welcome surprise of Christmas this year!

Not making a conscious choice is a choice too. God honors preparation, though its never been my experience that He actually lets you do YOUR plan….but never the less He honors the thought…. and then the show begins…it turns out we don’t have to be God in our lives…we just have to allow Him to be our lives to be filled with Him.

We sometimes picture the American family as one who gathers round the tree and sings carols. Of course the house is clean, of course the family is happy each moment.  Who would dream it any other way?  But teens have lives of their own, parents and friends face life issues that are often less than romantic. We so want to be who we are, but we simply paint the picture with such perfection that we cannot find our way through the mask of hiding.  What are you hiding from in your life? Is it personal appearance? The lack of connection in a marriage or with an extended family member?  Is it the best of the best of what you wish you could do but are afraid to do?

Different is doable…but you have to begin where you are.

The first step of any new space in my life has always been to define where it is that I am.  The last few years I have more or less been apprenticing new skills in media and instructional leadership development because I value the power of preparing speakers, teachers & speaking 1:1 thousands at a time via streaming internet and distance education.  As an educator, a teacher of teachers, it was thrilling to me when this technology arrived in Arkansas so many years ago. It was one of the most efficient ways to cultivate state-wide projects in education and to connect educators.  Twitter is now my preferred method, for in listening carefully I can find who is talking about the topics I am passionate about.  My friendships from the Twitter as my friend calls it, are real, have transitioned from virtual on Skype to 3D form at conferences at on trips.  It has allowed me to find my tribe, as Seth Godin would define it.  A group of people I get…”sawbu” as Lolly would say and they see me.  Breathtaking energy.

Right now, as I sit early on a Christmas eve’s eve, I am aware that life changed 23 days ago.  A time of preparation bore fruit and I recognized that every.single.goal we set for a project for a client came together when we realized the impossible was done but it was based in doing it differently in a doable way.  The traditional odds were against us, the clock was ticking, the joy of the experience gone. It was simply time to define the moment and to make the moment defined.  Different is doable.   You’ve seen me on Twitter most likely cheerleading a project I am so very excited about. Allyson’s Lewis, the author of The 7 Minute Solution.  The book has direct methodology to use tracking and goal setting to support your MORE life…more fun, more awareness, more inspiration, more faith, etc.  The seven areas of life are managed in a format that I truly “get” and it’s gotten into me.

In less than 3 days after reading the advanced copy of the book, my perspective shifted. Les and I are facing some serious changes in our world in his position and my own. It’s been a wildly successful year in a way that was unexpected.  I have had the privilege of seeing clients labors bear fruits and the tragedies of clients whom I believed in choose to find another path when success could have been theirs.

I work with entrepreneurs, start ups, speakers and authors, and one thing is common across the board. To engage in excellence, you have to begin where you are and make doable differences and work your way up.  It is disheartening to me when a speaker, author, or business self destructs and tears down those in their paths.  My nature is to educate, support, and empower people with anything I can do to engage them in success, but there is many things a strategist cannot do for a client. They cannot keep them from choosing a different path than one that leads to a healthy, balanced succees.

Different is doable, ask any successful athelete, underprivileged leader, broken and restored speaker, or someone coming back with a winning attitude.  It may not be easy, it may not be welcome, but different is doable. We most often sidetrack ourselves from success, its an old story: greed, hurt, pain, arrogance, or unkindness sets us on the sidelines…obedience, even when peppered with mistakes, God honors. After all, David was a man after God’s own heart. Abraham messed up too and spent time in silence while he figured it out. The Biblical stories all play the roles from a place of imperfection without Christ.

Heroes are every day people to me. They’ve managed to make a choice to be who they are. A.Choice. Over and over again they face the same life we do, but they do it with resolve to be who they intend to be.  Some of those heroes in my life are:

1. Thom Whitby- Extraordinary Educator, who developed the PLN Professional Learning Network, a community of educators collaborating online. #PLN
2. Allyson Lewis-Time & Lifestyle Strategist, who developed The 7 Minute LIfe System and authored books that directly support my style of productivity #just7 (they are giving away a NOOK to online purchases through B&N on December 27th…wheee!)
3. Allan Branch- Who each month delights my heart though we are not close, because each time he writes, I learn,…regardless of the topic #lessconf LOVE his Less Accounting for my business!
4. Jesse Lamb- An amazing mind and heart who simply excels, and showed me that the right pond makes all the difference and was brave enough to face the change of ponds from attorney to creative. My personal tech hero…and friend.
5. Sarah L Cook- Author of Raising CEO Kids, so smart she squeaks if you take on organizational structure management….an amazing heart too #SWS Systems with Sarah!
6. Rachael Anne Ridge- HomeSanctuary.com, author and far away friend who helps others take small steps to find sanctuary at home each day
7. Melinda Emerson- Who dreamed it, did it, let me walk along side her and continues to grow in educating how to end Small Business failure…. amen! #SmallBizChat @SmallBizLady (I’m Lead Strategist on that team!)
8. Miss Bobbie Smith- Who faced all odds, including starting over in her 30′s, put herself through college, has become a speaker, leader, and creative as she graduates college  this spring, an amazing force of fireball energy and brains. @TheMissBobbie
9. Irene Bullock- a friend who not only lost her husband at a young age, but went on to raise her children and others in such a way that we are all amazed and blessed by her presence in our lives. She has given me the gift of hope and support throughout the journey to be who I am becoming
10. The TCK Team- Who are simply the BEST at supporting and engaging the needs of special needs kids and their parents and professionals. Truly an amazing group @TheCoffeeKlatch  #TCK
11. Heather Hetchler- Cafe Smom, who like myself, believes in a joyful place called home….even differently. Creating support structures and materials for mothers and stepmothers (S’moms) everywehre. ~Brilliant! @CafeSMom
12. Wayne McEvilly- Who simply makes my world a happier place for what he shares with audiences of all ages in conversation, voice in writing and in performing. What a tremendous joy to know of his existence.
13. Jason T Bedell- who loves his family and passion for technology in education in ways I have first hand experienced. His vision was simply to begin TeachMeet Nashville and it made a difference in my life.  #Thankyou @JasontBedell
14. Kate T Lewis- The Civilized Minute author, whom I have yet to hug her neck in person, but who in less than a year has captured my heart and joy in a way I cannot explain through her writing, Skypes and joyful country spirit.  @KateTLewis.
15. Sohan Singh  Who taught me how to laugh again. An amazing spirit who simply loves to learn and has given me perspective of why the right team matters, and how to fly without eyes even in the dark of the difficult there is light in laughter. @SohanWins
16. Cybraryman1  A lifelong educator and one whom I trust and cheer on from any court he appears….an educator whose passion is to share amazing resources for educators andparents. @Cybraryman1 Jerry Blumengarten (and his wife quilts!)
17. #LessChicks  The valiant technology ladies who are clucking Brilliance….I .love. these .women. #LessConfChicks  #LessConf
18. Gail Hyatt Who grows me every.time. I read her blog or hug her neck on the way by in Nashville. Real. Responsible. Intentional. Fun. Excellence in motherhood and personhood….I.simply.value.her. @GailHyatt
19. Kelby Carr who taught me a hole in one lesson at Type A Family Conf when she, in the middle of the wild, did what mattered, supported her family in a calm and amazing way as she led the amazing experience. Kelby is not someone I know well, but I sure intend to. @KelbyCarr
20. Sarah Mae Blogs- Creator of Relevant Conference, a blog conference for Christian bloggers….again, never have met in person, but oh so cheering her on from here. She.is.doing.it.  Changing lives, educating hearts, and sharing the journey. @SarahMaeBlogs
21. Allison Worthington who invited me into her home and heart (and has the most fab green toile loveseat) and who has taken up residence in mine even when we work and live in different worlds…I’m a full time fan and supporter of anyone who makes the world smile and aware in her smart sassy way. @AlliWorthington  #Blissdom
22. Rick Dean, who inspires me with his win/win/win scenarios in business and in arts…@DeanofMusic…he’s one to watch and has the happiest Christmas this year ever….your friendship to Les and I rocks!
23. David Bullock..who is a friend at many levels, always there in a storm. He literally talked me through the Alabama tornadoes when I was alone in the level 5 place with no one to tell me what was happening and no where to get to safety.  His presence is trustworthy in any storm and he shows me that storms simply help you define what’s important. @DavidBullock
24. David Cooper` who has for over 38 years mentored entrepreneurs, authors, and speakers and has the gifts and abilities to help them fly on all planes of success. He has given to my life so many gifts of encouragement and empowerment through educating me at the level I can play. He is loved like non other because the truth is, he isn’t selling soft sales, he’s softly selling truths. @AskDavidCooper
25. Thelma Wells @ThelmaW who is often known as MamaT….a wordsmith extraordinaire and one who has captured my heart for life. Her words feed my soul and her ever giving heart not only gives me the courage to do this, but her books are a continue read or listen to in my life…what a blessing she and Vikki are in my life.
26. The Chatty Momma Tonia Sanders, who has given me the gift of joy in every situation we’ve worked together whether over lunch or in person. Family comes first &Tonia rawks! @TheChattyMomma (one of my favorite people of all time, a forever friend who has the gift of connecting with hearts of all ages)
27. Lisa Leonard, again, from afar, but her inspiration for her business, her personal and professional growth are as beautiful as her spirit. AMAZING (just love cheering and praying Lisa on…if ever I could be a cheerleader and prayer warrior, this is one heart I invest with pompoms shaking high!)
28. Karen Rabbitt who forever changed my world with a book. Trading Fathers. She identified that which I could not. Her wisdom and work on forgiveness is amazing @KarenRabbitt www.tradingfathers.com
29. Lucy Ann Moll- @LucyAnnMoll, author, Christian counselor to hurting women and the women who lead them. Great friend, amazing spirit. Lucy is someone I truly am in awe of, her heart, her leadership and her transparency is beautiful.
30. Peldi @Peldi  Who in one speech, forever changed my life at Less Conference and I will forever thank him for that moment. Entrepreneur extraordinaire, his speech at Less Conference in 2009 simply changed my world forever…his continued kindness to me a gift as he inspired our daughter to be who she is…what a joy to witness his words blooming in her life.

There are so many more people to list but the jest is, no one had perfect lives, they made different doable.  This moment in time is so poignant as I simply see that we can face anything if we begin where we are. Where are you? What is in your heart of hearts to do this moment of your life? What is step one?

You have to know who you are not to become who you are.  You see I’ve been hiding out. Staying away, denying self and choosing to ignore what can be a problematic existence.  It’s a problem our children face, my brothers faced and one that I see my client’s schools and families face.  Deborah Mersino knows this place and it continues to get past adequate steps for solving despite it being of great importance.  Life as a person who embraces their imperfections as well as their gifts. Engaging excellence is something  I love, not to compete, but to achieve, reach and be who I am…I appreciate excellence.

As a young child I knew I created differently than most. My stories were more vivid, drawings were of great importance to me. Music a  form of therapy of the heart.. There are many brighter, millions smarter, and no matter what else is true, so many more who use the gifts of their existence to give to others. Each of us possess gifts and they are for others.  The most able child and the child with the most abilities to teach us to love despite the need. Joy is in the giving and when intelligence is stripped away, often the heart teaches us that we over think life. period.  The dreaded “assimilation” had taken over my world again. Too much pleasing. Too much hoping to be enough. Too much trying to deny the areas of life where I am truly able.  Many parts of life simply have to be achieved to survive and for high creatives who are also high analytics…well without proper support (life would be SO much easier with a staff) it’s alot to dream, create, and launch without supportive environments.  My roles often mean I work with five development teams as the hybrid strategist that speaks the speaks of marketing and technical, product development and people ILT.  Then there’s the country girl part of me that simply loves to paint a barn.

Engaging to develop sequenced strategy for start ups and speakers, I am often called to do the work when its crunch time. Teams often have ruffled feathers when someone is brought in to align scope and sequence once and for all and deal with branding issues.  As a wordsmith I help direct the aesthetic design as well as the voice pieces of branding. The short version is the personnel often think I am a threat, but the truth is  I’m simply there because there is something I can do.  My work involves launching magnificent concepts into realities and yes, there are a good many messy parts of brilliance. They aren’t all big deals, in fact some of the most important things I do involve one to one interaction like teaching a child to swallow at 17 after 16 years of never having been able to swallow and solving the issue of his failure to grasp a cup by himself. It was a moment I’ll savor forever, to see his joy in knowing he could get a sip by himself, trapped in a body that no longer works.  A mouth that cannot talk, legs that won’t walk.  Being able to do 1 thing for yourself matters.  Intelligence comes in many flavors, the least of which is “easy  to manage”…we are given these dreams, abilities, and hearts to use them.  I spent the last 9 years trying to live someone who wasn’t me.  I love home, I love family, I love creating splendor too, but I.am.not one to be quiet, reserve, or not thinking and acting to create.  You see it’s hard to be different, its like having on a Dr. Suess hat when everyone else was in matching clothes.  You think differently, you see things differently and then you add the joy of additional issues to your life like a visual impairment. Well, I can’t speak for anyone else, but after two failed marriages and continued inexperience at living my existence on a public forum twenty years ago.  I. hid. out.  I’m alot to take on a good day, the exuberance and joy is real and I simply love life and working hard.  I don’t know why it works, it just does, and I know how to repeat processes. I tend to work with monster big issues because they get monster big results when you creatively resolve them. It’s time to admit it and just own it if I am to be who I am.

This week reminded me that I am a Creative. The kind that lives life in green clouds and purple moons. The kind that likes Math and sees it as its own art.  It’s a different perspective than many wear, but my truth is that its mine.  Music makes me come alive, the right color giddy.  I love working problem solves and I just prefer a good mud puddle than the route around it.  The music of my life returned this week in a most unexpected way…and I remembered…I am enough as I am…despite the imperfections.

Are you ready to start this season from a different place? Change happens in an instant says my friend Allyson Lewis (@Allyson7Minutes) and her take on the MORE life is worth a read. (tell them I sent you at @The7MinuteLife or on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/the7minutelife.  The 7 Minute Life has been a book that has changed mine in 7 days….and I don’t say that lightly.  She has reminded me who I am, she has shown me as Gail Hyatt and so many others have that it is our own paths that we must find.  I’ve found my path and I’m making it mine!  I am ever thankful for the friends and teachers in my life. My mentors have been so patient as they encouraged this part of my life to bloom.  You see, an educator’s heart means you can never stop learning how to lead, teach, facilitate, and learn. It’s what I am, it’s what I am made to be…and the lessons to learn are endless.

So you have fair warning…she’s out of the box of trying to be enough, she’s gotten the lesson that pleasing others is pleasant, but being  of yourself and obedient to the gifts God gave you to share with others matters more.  Thank you to Lolly Daskal, Wayne McEvilly, Sarah L Cook, David Cooper, Randy Elrod, Jenn Fowler, Melinda Emerson,  Kevin Lyons, Karen Rabbitt, Kate T Lewis,  David Bullock and so many more who have patiently played a part in helping me realize it is what it is. You might want to pray for my dear husband who lives in a hot pink kitchen and eats off polka dot plates….real men do you know…and Les is indeed a man among men.  It’s not as though the world is on fire, dinner still is my priority with family, but I know that I know that I know that I’ll never pretend it’s okay not to be me again. December 1st changed that forever.

I know I am blessed this day, and every day and I just can’t wait to unwrap this for living.

“A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.”
(Proverbs 17:8)

xoxo

Sweetie

Today’s front porch is real time media, and thinking folks like @MichaelHyatt @PWilson, @USAA, @LollyDaskal  @Allyson7Lewis, @LollyDaskal @Bill_Roddy, @Cybraryman1, @TomWhitby @Classroom2.0 @VistaPrint @SmallBizLady, @DeborahMersino @FSonnenberg @GailHyatt and so many many more are sharing important concepts and ideals. Others like @MackCollier, @KateTLewis and so many others share the skills they’ve learned in meaningful ways without expectation in the open forums except conversation.  They know learning to learn matters, and they share what they’ve learned.  They help bird-dog point us to things that need to be addressed as surely as my lab does, even if she has to bring the problem literally to my attention. I so value @AlliWorthington and her husband for that in their scoping what matters in legislation often.  I appreciate that. I bet you do too.  It helps to have leaders who identify important concepts, who empower us. Thank you. You don’t have to have a PR machine to speak what you know out into space, let’s use our voices to support integrity. Change is coming and “we need to be paying attention” as Mr. Bullock would say.  You don’t have to agree, we just have to agree that it matters to discuss the important choices we’re making for our resources in leadership. I am not into politics, I don’t want to debate who is who, but I do care greatly that quality people, products, and processes are rewarded with our business, attention, and support.

So if you hear me say someone is a Reliable Resource or tweet #RR, you can bet that I have personally experienced or vouch for my dealings with that person. It’s not a made for TV version for marketing either…Les and I have built our family and business on the premise that we want to cultivate projects that empower people.  I thank @JenniCatron for that reminder of my roots, her vision realized in CultivateHer. Jenni reminded me that cultivating ourselves means hard work, planting for a harvest in our own lives and our children’s. We are responsible to grow ourselves then each other in community.  It was a foundational launch of a great early morning meeting,  that reminded myself who I am and whose I am…a country girl from the rural South who believes in putting on her boots and working out the messy parts of brilliance. (by the way, I’m the mule pulling the plow, not the girl in the house watching the workers) Life is messy, but relationships in business, products, and services shouldn’t have to live there with intention.

<warning…Southern girl on her soapbox….lesson plan from the hard school of life>

Tune in! None of us has time, money, or life to waste, we only have one to live to the fullest of our intentions. If we all work on encouraging those who value integrity and start walking in integrity ourselves more consistently, we will support an environment for change.  People like @SarahLCook  and @RachelAnneRidge who have spent countless hours helping moms learn skills to support home. People like @LucyAnnMoll who minister to hurting, broken leaders of women…and the women they lead.  People like Thelma Wells @ThelmaW who gives me personally the courage to face anything I face through her excellent writing.   Folks like @TheCoffeeKlatch who help us find help. These folks matter. Supporting the protection of our youngsters hearts and heads, and engaging in excellence with even the smallest things that we do matters.

If we learn to give more than we receive, my guess is that like my rural neighbors, life will just be worth living.  Big is not always better, small is not always an advantage. Weak is often truly strong. Where integrity, hard work, clarity of purpose,  and pardon is asked for when mistakes are made, life can be engaging.   When we engage in a good dose of thoughtful  awareness of those around us, we can choose and support values that we’ll be glad to call our own. We’re not asking nor do we want ugly call outs, perfection, or painting difficult days to turn out swell, we’re simply asking for you to recognize #RR Reliable Resources when you know they have worked for you and let’s help make things happen for folks who work hard to do right things for right reasons. Produce exceptional products, or are have such rare gifts as artisans that one should recognize their value and quality.

My husband has served in many wars, he’s currently home for the first time for Christmas in many years. We.are.civilians.  He chooses to serve our Department of Defense. It matters.  There are places and people that need to be defended and there are reasons we need to stand our ground in the U.S. Despite the popular rhetoric, we still have an amazing country, and its time we took back our homes and our towns where values are concerned.  Our home has decided, we’re firmly committed. Basics matter, and it’s time we simply begin to do what we know to do to refocus where our homes and communities are going.

Will you join us?