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Getting in the Groove

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Beach Notes by Guest Writer Suzie Cheel

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Getting in the Groove

Walking on the beach yesterday I thought what will I write for Beach Notes this week. I then remembered I mentioned before I went to Vancouver that I was going to write about Getting In the Groove. This is probably very timely as since I went to Vancouver I have got out of the blogging groove.

I thought I would just whip up a post a day while I was away, I know I mentioned to Liz I would do photo posting.

I started well for first 3 days and then when I got into the course there was so much going on and to do, plus homework that blogging did not happen. When I returned my body, and my ego I think decided to slow me down. I did try to figure out what was going on and then succumbed to slowing down. It has been a time to integrate the knowledge I have acquired, work out my new business plan and develop a workable fun blogging plan.

The words from song Tub Thumping performed by Chumbawamba came to mind

I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down

(Note: the YouTube is audio plus photo only)


That was how I felt yesterday, it was time to get up and move forward. This is a good song to dance to. Dancing and singing raise my vibes and get the creative juices flowing as well as being one way I get into the groove.

Today I am planning out my blog posts for the week for both The Abundance Highway and my Art Blog. My plan is to spend the first 2 hours before I go beach walking blog posting, so I take the pressure off getting a daily post done. I want to start doing 2 posts a day to Abundance Highway and develop some rhythm to my blog. A bit like Liz has here.

What’s one thing do you do to get into the groove?

Three Dads, Three Social Networks, and Quality Time

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Three Dads I Admire

Dad

When I talk about my dad, people often assume that we must have been inseparable. Actually, we only got short bursts of time together. My dad had two families — one at home and the folks who came to his saloon.

When Jason Falls. talks about his barely two-month old daughter, I think, “Yeah, she’s going to look up to him like I look up to my dad.” Then my brain immediately connects to a photo of a young Brogan girl. I’m fairly certain she’s sure that the sun rises over her dad. I’m lucky to know two more guys who, like my dad, seem to have two families — one at home and one related to the computer screen.

Three dads, three daughters, three families at home, and three huge social / professional networks to tend.

Bet it’s not just their daughters who have felt the value of quality time.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Image: lizstrauss

It Only Seems that You Have to Walk on Water

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Look Out the Window

Ever wake up wondering why you bother? The goal you’re going for is way out there, and you’ve been here for a long time now.

Things, people, circumstances seem to be putting up barriers. That path that was once so clearly yours doesn’t quite so clear. You’re seeing clouds, not flowers. Your face-to-face with “what if” fears. Other folks win, not you.

Path to the Lake Michigan Sun

Why not you?

See a wall, climb it. Find a problem, solve it. Need a skill, learn it. That’s how other folks get there. Those barriers will move out of the way, if you make it clear that you’re coming through.

Look out the window.

The whole world is a reminder. Scan the horizon. Your personal goal is there where you imagined it a while ago.

It only seems that you have to walk on water.

Let the horizon be your focus. Take a step closer. Keep going until you can say “I made it. I’m here.” Then look out the window again.

Every great idea, every world changing event began with one person overcoming fear.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Get unstuck. Work with Liz!!
Check out Models and Masterminds too

Image: Liz Strauss photo

Social Networking: It's Not Who You Know — It's Whether You Know Yourself

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The Living Web

Networking, social networking, friending, and making connections, the time it takes to keep up with such things can be tremendous and exhausting. It’s hard to reply to every bit of conversation and get some work done. I’m also left wondering about Stever Robbins’ question “Social media confuses relationships and databases.” He draws a possible life scenario based on just such connections.

“I have over 1,000 Facebook friends!” one Twitterer proudly exclaimed.

Why is that a good thing? Well, when your car breaks down, you can call 1,000 people who you know nothing about and cry “Help! I’m stranded by the side of the road all alone.”

One of those 1,000 people is George. George “friended” you because you remind him so much of his first romance. The romance ended badly, but George is determined to recapture the love of his life. “I’ll be glad to pick you up,” e-mails George. “What kind of flowers are your favorite?”

1000 friends who don’t really know me, but I can say that I know them.

Is that worth something? Not usually.

We have to know each other for the “friend” part to work or network like it’s supposed to.

It’s not who knows our names or the bits we write in our profile. That’s not enough for someone to know what we need or how to refer us. It’s who knows us, who knows what unique and valuable things each one of us offers that no other one of us does. It’s who knows how something, everything, will be different — better — because we were a part of it.

For someone to know our unique value, we have to know that ourselves.

So you see, it’s not who know, but whether you know yourself.

What different and unique things do you bring to the table?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
The first eBook is coming . . .

Lasting Relationships and 15-Second Friends — Are You a Solo in a Social Media World?

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15 Days, 15 Seconds

relationships button

At dinner last Friday with Beth Kanter, the scholar of social media and tech for nonprofits, used the phrase “a solo in a social media world.” That phrase has stuck with me. I wonder whether social media is changing the relationships I have with my friends?

Beth’s statement came at about the same time that Maki sent me to a study that explains the nature of relationships.

Some friendships are short and fleeting, while others may last years. Although a wide variety of factors go into determining the strength of our relationships, the long-lasting ones seem to share a number of the same characteristics, according to a recent study of a cell phone network.

Lasting relationships have these things in common. The most important of these is reciprocity.

  • The more often we connect with friends in a 15-day period, the stronger our relationship will be.
  • Most strong ties between two people lasted for just one 15-day interval. Only 20% of relationships lasted longer than a year.
  • The strongest factor in lasting relationships is reciprocity — returning a phone call.

It’s a simple thing. When someone calls, writes, comments, links, or asks for help, do we respond or do we let it ride? Lasting relationships last because we are persistent in nurturing them.

By knowing the characteristics of persistence, the researchers could look at the features of the network for the first 15 days, and predict what the network would look like in the future.

Now we have access to a world of online and offline relationships, but we still only have so much time for reciprocity. Does social networking put us in danger of making vast communities of fast 15-day friends — folks we meet today and hardly know in a year? Is social networking causing us to neglect the reciprocity that made our relationships last?

Social networking offers us access to start and spark incredible new relationships. People connect, relate, and do business, who would otherwise never have met. Together we accomplish, build, create, innovate, solve, fix, and nurture. Some of us even fall in love and get married. Social media can have powerful, important, and lasting effects.

BUT, a 140 character touch within 15 seconds isn’t the same as a conversation within 15 days.

Friday, Rick Wolff said, “Someday, somebody’s REALLY going to plead for help on Twitter. . . . ”

Will that tweet be recognized?

Lasting Relationships in a Social Networking World — is that the new balance we have to find?

I don’t want to be a solo in a social media world.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Check out Models and Masterminds too

Do You Love Where You Live?

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Beach Notes by Guest Writer Suzie Cheel

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Why I Love Where I Live

Do you love where you live? I know I do and on my return from a week in Vancouver I have found myself feeling so much gratitude for and about where I live.

Vancouver often dubbed as one of the most livable cities in the world along with Melbourne. Yes both cities do have great transport systems, great food and other qualities that are used by Mercer each year to establish these ratings. I found the people in Vancouver  very friendly, the food superb, the public transport excellent and the shopping great. I got a glimpse of the cultural life: there seems to be a diverse range of art centers and galleries. One aspect that seems to have not been taken into account enough is the weather (ditto for Melbourne). Where I live it does rain, but the sun does shine.

I mentioned to Glenda I was bringing boots, "not in June" she replied. They were my most worn footwear.The summer temperature even today in Vancouver is lower than here on The Gold Coast in our winter and the sun is shining here. 

We all have different values about what is important about where we live. Blue skies, clean air, watching the sunrise and set, something I have done since my return. I feel very blessed each morning to walk barefoot on clean sand, enjoy the sun on my face, swimming in clear blue water, for me it is magic. We moved here 4 years ago from the big bustling city of Sydney and it is something I have never regretted. After my recent trip know  feel even more blessed to live in what I do call paradise. This afternoon we are going to a Gallery about 20 minutes drive from here that is set in the hinterland. We have access to such a variety of Nature’s beauty and at the same time, live 10 minutes from International airport and just over an hour’s drive to the city of Brisbane.

I went walking on the beach the afternoon I came home, to get grounded and saw a beautiful setting sun.

and wrote:

The magic and the beauty of the sea

The waves roll in

The rays of the sun touch my heart

I feel so blessed to be sitting here barefooted

My heart full of love and feeling so peaceful.

The mind slightly spaced out

So much new information to integrate

The gift has been given

Now it is time to pass it on.                                        June 11 2008

Sunset by S. Cheel

Do you love where you live? Share your why’s below.