Wake Up and Dream Catalyst: Short inspirational thoughts for the day. Raising questions & hopefully opening a dialogue with people interested in learning how to turn their dreams into plans and start navigating their way towards them.
Thought for Today: It's Friday & time again for my fabulous finds. This week's finds are all gifts. The first brings the gift of heavenly sounds of music on the glass harp. My second find is of a giveaway offer of a children's book, Amazing Matilda, by Bette A. Stevens. Steven's book has synergy with my book & philosophy. It encourages children to overcome obstacles & reach for their dreams. Grab a free copy for children you wish to inspire! The third find tells the story of giving the gift of life to strangers via a facebook page. I hope you like these finds & share them with your friends & family.
Yesterday, I took part in the March for Change Rally in Hartford & plan to share some of the motivational stories & experiences next Monday, so be sure to come back for my Motivational Monday post. If you have ideas or suggestions for my What If Wednesday posts, please share them with me. All comments are welcome!
1) It has always been amazing to me that musicians can make such awesome sounds from glasses of water. Both pieces are favorites of mine. Leonard Cohen's Halleluyah makes me appreciate life every time I hear it. This version is performed by a street musician. Thanks to Erica Joy on Google + for posting this:
Erica's post led me to wesley chun's (On Google +) suggestion of Tchaikovsky's Dance Of the Sugar Plum Fairy (a piece I listened to & danced to over & over again as a child) is performed by The GlassDuo of Anna & Arkadiusz Szafraniec. They are the
only glass music group in Poland, one of few professional ensembles
worldwide.
2) My second fabulous find is a new children's book, Amazing Matilda, by a facebook author friend of mine, Bette A. Stevens. It reached #59 in Amazon's top 100 children's books & #4 in the top 100 butterfly books in the Kindle Store. Amazing Matilda does for children, what The Wake Up and Dream Challenge does for adults. It inspires kids to meet
challenges with patience & persistence.The heroine of the book, Matilda, becomes discouraged when she is unable to fly
during the early stages of her metamorphosis. But, Matilda never
gives up on her dream.
To see a lovely short video about the book click the video on the below.
Thought for the day: Last November, a new educational program called Udemy contacted me. They wanted to know if I would be interested in developing an online video course that students could download & complete on their own schedule. Udemy's goal is to: "help students make moves. Whether you want
to get promoted, break into a new industry, start a company, further a
passion, or just accelerate your life, Udemy helps you learn from the
amazing instructors in the world, so that you can get there and get there faster." They are making news in The Wall Street Journal, Business Times, & Forbes who see them on the cutting edge of education adding ipad & mobile phone apps.
Since I want to help people make moves & accomplish their dreams, I liked Udemy's approach & felt honored to join best selling authors & professors from around the world. It required recording lessons & developing downloadable assignments. I took a look at the courses they offer & decided that it would be possible to develop an abbreviated course based on techniques taught in my book. Since I had developed seminars for my tour last summer (Dreams On Wheels VI: Tired but Inspired, V: Report from Richmond, IV. On the Road, III: Olympic Dreams), developing the content & assignments for the course would not be a problem.
However, videotaping & editing the course would be challenging for me. I can do the simple videos for this What If Wednesday blog, but filming & editing down an hour's worth of short video clips (There are 18 2 - 5 minutes videotaped lessons in the course) was beyond my level of expertise. Therefore, I searched for a film intern. I was fortunate & found Emma Debany, who happened to be coming home for Christmas break in Connecticut. Emma did an amazing job on a very tight schedule & today I am announcing the launch of the course, How to Jumpstart Your Life in an Hour. Take a look at the one minute video above to hear more about it or check it out at https://www.udemy.com/jumpstartyourlifeinanhour/.
Thought for the Day: Whether you have a Valentine or not, many people struggle with Valentine's Day blues. Jon Stewart used this fact to poke fun when he said, "Happy Valentine's Day! And if this is news to you, my guess is you're
probably alone."
Today's post will offer some ways to avoid the depressive symptoms that may arise when things are not going the way you hoped for on Valentine's Day. As a psychologist, I have helped clients deal with all the challenges of relationships. Personally, after going through a divorce many years ago, I gave a lot of thought to the challenges of being single & meeting partners in a world filled with couples. Today, I am sharing some of the insights I learned over the years to keep from letting Valentine's Day get you down. As always, I'd like to hear your reactions, stories & comments. I'd especially love to hear about your worst & best Valentine's Day experiences.
Sixteen years ago, I could have had a bad case of Valentine's Blues. I had been single for about a year and a half. In addition to my psychology practice, single parenting, writing songs, & dancing as exercise & social networking, I ran a small business helping single dancers find partners. The dance business was a pre-internet based resource for dancers. Although I did not run dances, I decided to try to co-sponsor a dance in NYC on Valentine's Day. In 1977, it fell on the Friday before President's Day. When plans to meet a friend from Texas fell through due to a winter storm warning, I had no other plans for my Big Apple escape. Therefore, I had a long weekend ahead with just the Friday night event. I was staying at my brother & sister-in-law's in Soho, but they were leaving the city Saturday morning.
The dance Friday night was disappointing & I was beginning to feel a bit down on Saturday morning. However, I vowed to take advantage of a weekend in the city that never sleeps & not to slip into the Valentine blues. I searched the Village Voice & the New York Times for activities. I chose a number of things that I knew would make it an enjoyable weekend. I had a massage in Chinatown, lunch in Soho, & a matinee of the movie Shine (see video clip from the Oscar winning performance by Geoffrey Rush), at the Angelica Film Center. I picked up dinner at one of the grocers near Greene Street & ate at my brother's loft. For the evening, I chose a Beau Soleil concert at Tramps (which closed in 2001). Since the band plays Cajun dance music, (in 1986 they were featured in the movie, The Big Easy) I hoped I would be able to dance. Just in case, I did not get to dance, I chose a late ballroom dance event for after the concert.
My daytime activities were great. When the evening started, I was not sure I had picked well. I was seated at a small table with an unhappily married woman who confided that she was on a blind date. Her date's muscular tattooed body was a bit intimidating. However, I like Cajun music & even had a tape of a song I co-wrote called, The Zydeco Swing, in my purse. I was hoping I would find a way to get the tape to Michael Doucet, the leader of the band (They played backup for Mary Chapin Carpenter on the crossover country hit, Down at the Twist & Shout). My table mate asked me to join her on the dance floor since she was a bit uncomfortable with her escort! On the floor, we stood near a small group of friends, 2 men in wheel chairs with their girl friends & their friend, Jerry, who was there without a date. Jerry & I began talking & dancing. He was a NYC special education teacher & a good dancer (I later learned that he had never done Cajun dancing & simply picked up the 2-step naturally that night.). One of Jerry's friends, Mark, was a DJ for a small Long Island folk & blues radio program. Mark was lined up to interview Michael Doucet, during the band's break! Jerry asked him & Mark agreed to give my tape to the band leader! Jerry & I stayed for the 2nd set after his friends left. After the concert, Jerry walked me back to Soho where we had a 3 AM breakfast at Lucky Strike. Little did we know it was our lucky strike & we have been together ever since.
So, what are the lessons you can learn from my Valentine's Day experience. I was lucky, but the lessons apply whether you meet someone or not. If you are single, often you will meet someone when you least expect it. Here are some tips: 1) Make plans to do things you enjoy. Whatever happens, if you choose well, you will have a great time. You are also more likely to meet people with similar interests. 2) Speak with both men & women. Meeting new friends is always helpful. Having friends to go out to events with when you do not have a date, can be a huge asset. They may have, siblings, cousins or friends for you to meet. If you like them, you may like their friends as well.
3) Don't be afraid to go by yourself to events. Celebrate your freedom to do whatever you feel like doing without having to consider anyone else. You can meet someone anywhere & when you are alone, you are more likely to speak with & be open to meeting new people. Choose events where people might interact, museum talks, dances, or a class.
4) This year it's easy to find a dance. All week you can sign up for One Billion Rising to raise awareness & stop violence against women. Events are happening all over the world (see my #FF Friday's Fabulous Finds post for details). Women & men, who care about women, will be dancing all week!
5) Starbucks has offered a buy one get one free coupon till 2/14/2013. Get a coupon & offer to share it with someone at Starbucks. You never know who you might meet over a free cup of coffee!
Use this as an opportunity to repair things
If you are in a relationship, Valentine's Day holds different challenges. If you are getting along, the biggest danger lies in disappointments due to unspoken expectations. Take some time to talk about & plan your Valentine's Day. Do you hope for gifts or cards as part of your holiday? Do you want to be surprised or will you be disappointed if your partner's plans are less than you expect. No matter how long you have been together, your partner cannot read your mind. Take some time to discuss what you want your plans to include.
If your relationship has been rocky over the last few months, Valentine's Day can be even more challenging. However, it can also be an opportunity for a peace offering. Write a heartfelt letter expressing your wish to improve your relationship starting with Valentine's Day. Plan a getaway & surprise your partner. Visit the place you met or frequented when you were dating.
Now it's your turn please share your best &/or worst Valentine's Day stories. Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!
Thought for the Day: I love the internet. It exposes me to new things
every day. This week was no exception. My #FF Friday's Fabulous Finds
this week include: two videos about a Professor, I happen to know personally, from Tufts Medical School who uses Rap to teach students about stem cell research, a world wide Valentine's Day Dance with Jane Fonda
leading the way to stop violence against women, questions to facilitate communication with your children
& an article with questions a five year old might ask their
working mother about juggling work & motherhood.
1) My first Fabulous Find was a video, http://bcove.me/ip2g48yb, from The Boston Globe about Jonathan Garlick, A Tufts University professor who uses Rap music to teach students about stem cell research. I've met Jonathan socially several times while in Boston & never suspected his hidden talents. The 60 year old professor has earned a reputation with his students as the Stem Cell Rapper. I have included not only the Boston Globe article, but an earlier YouTube video (above) that went viral. He is an educator who is literally breaking down a difficult subject & communicating his message about the importance of stem cell research to young people in a way that they will remember.
2) My second Fabulous Find for the week brings together multiple areas of interest for me. I have been a fan of Jane Fonda for many years. Her acting skills, outspoken ability to speak her mind even when her beliefs are unpopular, candid sharing of her personal problems & support for feminine causes are some of my reasons for respecting her. I have heard her speak twice & spoke with her briefly each time. The first time, I learned about her early painful years in Connecticut. I had not known that Ms. Fonda spent years in therapy trying to make sense of her mother's suicide when Jane was just a toddler. I also heard how years after Jane had taken on the cause of helping women victimized by rape, that she learned that her mother had been raped. So I was hooked when I saw that Jane Fonda was sponsoring this massive event: V Day Until the Violence Stops, http://janefonda.com/one-billion-rising/#.URK3X2P3hF0.facebook. But my excitement did not stop there. The event involves another of my passions, dancing, to help promote the cause. They call it One Billion Rising / Strike / Dance / Rise! Events are happening around the world & anyone (including men who care about their mothers, daughters & wives) can join in the world wide flashmob experience. Take a look, find an event over Valentine's week near where you live & join the movement!
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3) I discovered my third find on Google+. This blog post by +Stefanie Mullen suggests 10 questions a week for Table Talk with your children: http://www.ooph.com/table-talk/table-talk-family-dinner-questions-week-37/#. This week's post is number 37, but you can check previous weeks. On the blog you will find great ideas for conversation starters with your kids like: 8. If I had to dance or sing in front of your friends, which would be less embarrassing for you? or 10. If I gave you one rule free day, which rule would you most be excited to be free of? It's never too early to start speaking with your kids about all kinds of topics so that they will feel comfortable speaking with you as they enter the tough teen years.
Thought for the Day: On Friday, the world lost former Mayor of NYC, Ed Koch. I was fortunate enough to see him at Lincoln Center at a screening of the new documentary, Koch, just two weeks ago (on the link to this event is a clip of the Q & A at the January 13th screening I attended). Although he was physically frail & came to the event in a wheelchair, he began lively informal discussions with the audience before the screening in the lobby. He proudly walked from the wheelchair onto the stage after the film screening for Q & A. His responses were lively & as entertaining as he was earlier in his life. The movie is a very well made film giving insight into both Koch's often controversial style of leadership & the history of NYC. As I prepared the short video (less than a minute) for my What If Wednesday series, I was struck by the question, What if all politicians followed Ed Koch's example & asked, "How am I doing?" & we all took the time to answer?
What do you think would happen? Would we have the same stalemates in Washington? Since psychologists have found that social action is related to feelings of an internal locus of control, would we feel more in control of what is happening in our country? Would we be more motivated to get involved in politics?
From the documentary, Koch, with the city he loved
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts & comments. Let me know, "How am I doing?" The best ideas & suggestions for future "What If Wednesday" posts will be shared in later posts. So please let me know what you think.
Thought for the Day: Since I only started this series last week with the post Manic Mondays, I decided to take one of my followers suggestions. Instead of Manic Mondays, Monday's posts will be either Motivational Mondays or Milestone Mondays. Motivational Mondays will offer tips to reduce stress & start the week on a positive start. Milestone Monday posts will discuss important events or holidays that happen on that week. I will post great photos that I find like the stunning one above by +Ken Ohsawa from G+ as well. You can check his profile out on Google+.
This week, I had planned on writing tips on stress management. However, when I opened my computer & saw the video above of Jennifer Hudson and children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School singing America the Beautiful at the opening of the Super Bowl yesterday, I changed my mind.
First, I have a confession to make. I did not watch the beginning of the Super Bowl. I am not an avid football fan, therefore, I was driving when the Super Bowl began. I watched later in the game, saw some amazing touch downs, Beyonce's extravaganza at half time, the black out & the rest of the game. While watching, I was working on the Motivational Mondays photo & began to organize my thoughts for today's post.
This morning when I saw this video, I realized that I missed the best part of the Super Bowl. It was inspiring to see the players moved by the song as they swayed, some with their hands over their hearts or on a child's shoulder & sang along. It was even more powerful to know how much having the Super Bowl in New Orleans was helping a city still overcoming the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Whether you missed this powerful rendition of America the Beautiful, which represents the resilience of a nation coming together & rebuilding, or if you saw it yesterday, it is worth watching again to motivate you this Monday morning. It was a major dose of positive psychology for a nation in need of recovery. I applaud the producers of the Super Bowl for making such an inspiring statement. Hopefully, it will help us to remain focused on the conversations that need to happen that will lead to reform & creative solutions to the problems that face our great nation (see my earlier posts: Dear Mr. President: Help Us Make Right Something So Wrong, Five Ways to Give Meaning to a Blue Christmas, & What If? Wednesday).
Last week I used the song Manic Monday by the Bangles to give you some suggestions
of ways to weave your dreams into your week staring on your 1st coffee
break. How did you do with that assignment? Did you discover a dream
that you want to start working toward? Spend some time on your coffee
break to revisit your dream & see whether you have been making room
for it over the last week. I'd love to hear how you are doing with the
assignment!
Thought for the Day: TGIF! It's time for my Friday's Fabulous Finds. I am loving the wide array of topics I can cover in one post on Fridays & hope you like my selections, too. Today, I bring you a wonderful post by a beautiful teenager who went out of her way to try to help all the students in her school; a working mother who shares her frustration with the bickering that arises at the end of her "professsional" work day and the beginning of her private work day with her children bickering on the way home; recognition and call for support of a great nonprofit organization that helps create jobs, and the film Les Miserables. Let me know your thoughts & have a great weekend!
1) This week's first #FF Friday's Fabulous Find was written by a sixteen year old, Ashley Monroe, from Massachussetts. Her post is featured in a blog on the Huffington Post Teen. Ashley was upset last year when she kept hearing her peers put themselves down & decided to do something about it. She "wrote out 1,986 sticky notes. Each said, "You're beautiful," and (she) stuck one to every locker in (her) entire school." I applaud Ashley for taking the time to help her peers feel better about themselves, in a world filled with stories of bullying and prejudice, this post is a breath of fresh air, a innovative positive psychology experiment by a teen! Take a look & see the reactions to her efforts.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ashley-monroe/my-message-to-everyone-at_b_2563941.html
2) The 2nd Fabulous find of the week is a post from a blog called Stickers, Stars & Smiles by Helen Neale who describes her job as "professional juggling - well sort of." She is the "mum of two minis who inspired her business, PT analyst helper, FT chaos avoider... (who) runs the printable reward charts and chore charts business from home in her *spare* time." This post describes the witching hour when tired working mothers leave work and pick up their kids who start to bicker. I commented that, "I love this post, since it is so brazenly honest." The trials &
tribulations of working parents trying to transition from “work” to
their second job, parenting, are also spelled out clear as day. I also like the way that the font, even on the comments has the look & feel of writing in a daily journal. If you are a working parent & want to feel understood & get some tips from parents in the same boat, take a look at Helen's blog. http://www.stickersstarsandsmiles.com/child-behaviour/its-all-bickering-and-no-chocolate-cake-sniff/#comment-855
3) My third Fabulous Find is about an issue that our nation needs all the help it can get: job creation. The news came to me an e-mail from Martha Rollins, founder of Boaz & Ruth, a nonprofit organizations featured in my book. (I have written about & posted a video (see above) of one of the graduates of their program in previous blog posts.) Martha told me that Boaz & Ruth, based in Richmond VA, has been noticed nationally and has been selected as a finalist in the JobRaising Challenge, "an innovative competition to help job-creating nonprofits raise money and publicity. The Skoll Foundation, The Huffington Post, and knowledge partner McKinsey & Company have selected the most innovative, feasible, and scalable candidates of the 210 applicants representing 31 states and 110 cities across America." Boaz & Ruth has been invited to share in a national 'harvest." The organization that raises the most will receive an additional $150,000. I hope you will read more & help Boaz & Ruth win that prize. http://www.crowdrise.com/boazandruth-jr/fundraiser/martharollins
4) I'm adding a fourth Fabulous Find today. Yesterday, I went to see Les Miserables. I had seen the musical years ago and although I love to see Broadway musicals, I often do not like the movie versions. I had heard good things about Anne Hathaway's performance & like to see films that have been nominated for the Oscars before the awards are doled out. If you have been reluctant to see this film, do not miss it. The first scene was the only one that did not work well for me, from then on in, it was amazing. I have a feeling that it will not only have a long run in theaters, but will become one of the greatest classic films ever made. The acting is superb and hard to believe given that the characters are singing, not speaking. I have not seen all the nominees, but I believe there will be several Oscars given to this film.
