Ive-been-thinking Archives - Page 21 of 37

Creating Chemistry

October 17, 2007 by Liz

chemistry?

I think six degrees of separation really should be many paths of connection.

Every person connects to the next one. Every person I meet connects to you and to me. Each person brings a path to what we all have in common. Those paths connect us in network of humanity. Every path goes to who we’ve been and who we might be.

I look for high roads we’ve strayed from and backyards where we chase clouds and stars. I see weight of crowds with heavy loads that need setting down. It’s hard not to respond to one person’s journey. Every journey is about how alike we all are.

Humanity is brains and hearts seeking each other out. One human thought, one human feeling jumps a synapse of air to bridge the gap between two human beings. We call that chemistry.

I can’t help but wonder . . . if we valued our paths more, could we create more positive chemistry?

The Million-Dollar Imagination

October 16, 2007 by Liz

a million dollars.

I’ve been imagining that I have a cool million in the bank — well, intelligently invested. It’s out there somewhere doing whatever a million does when it’s working it’s numbers off. It’s somewhere to the right of me, taken care of.

I’ve been watching how a secret million-dollar investment might change me.

em>How would I approach this situation, if I had a cool million I could count on?

Here’s what I see.

My answer is more confident, less needy. I know where I stand. Somehow that million takes away the “I need to . . . ” and turns into “The best choice is . . . ”

It’s relaxing. It’s also attractive. People have been responding. I have too.

My imagined investment brought a greater return on reality than I had imagined.

I like that that thought, that sentence, that beautiful oxymoron.

Imagine a cool million. How might your re-imagine change your reality?

Blog Action Day: Personal Environmental Action

October 15, 2007 by Liz

Blog Action Day, October 15, 2007

Environment
Notes: 1. environment emerged linked with nature, implying ‘natural’ (not human, not cultural) surroundings; ecology emerged as a scientific effort to connect organisms (such as the human) to their environments
2. environment is the area in which something exists or lives; habitat is a the place or type of place where a person or thing is most likely to be found

Source: Roget’s New Millenniumâ„¢ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1) Copyright Â© 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Please don’t misunderstand. I love the sky and stars, the flowers, the animals and the ocean, the fire that lights and warms, and the rainbow colors that stole my heart when my eyes first opened. They steal my breath. I’m stunned to silence whenever I reflect on life without them.

Yet I wonder whether environmental change has a chance when we focus on their protection. Imagine nurturing what we can. . . . The question tugs at me do have a hope of healing the planet when we’re so woeful at healing ourselves, our missteps, and our own hurt feelings.

What if we healed our personal environment first? What if we brought our whole selves to make a whole Earth? Would doing the first part make the second part happen faster?

Personal Environmental Action

Did you ever love playing in the dirt?

What if we start with us? What if we heal ourselves first?

Inside our heads.
Inside our hearts.
Inside our thoughts and feelings.
About ourselves.
About others.
What if we put away the drama?

Do we love the words that hide inside our heads,
the words that say we don’t deserve
the breath-taking world set before us?
Let’s live self-respect and deserve what we have.

It doesn’t have to hurt.

Do we love the people, who
have taken trust and broken it,
violated and defiled something good?
Let’s shine our hearts on caretakers and caregivers instead.

Did you ever wish upon a star?

Do we love the events in the past,
that strapped the world — its fights and
its hurts — on ou rbacks and shoulders?
Let’s leave yesterday’s battlefield to reach the gold of tomorrow.

We get to pick who we are.

Self-respect and a shining vision on so many hearts,
just might be the gentle rain we need to heal the world
. . . without a word, a law, a cause.

There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer . . . — Emmett Fox

It starts with us . . . and how we love.

Did you ever love playing in the dirt?

———————————————-
Do you suppose if we thought more of ourselves, we would take better care of the planet? Or do you think that the problem is rooted in thinking about ourselves too much already?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Food, Clothing, Shelter, and . . .

October 13, 2007 by Liz

One More Thing

A turtle needs food. I carries its shelter. Guess you could say clothing isn’t part of the equation. Turtles seem easy to please.

People have more needs than turtles.
In school, we learn that
people need food, clothing, and shelter.
A while later, we realize that
one more thing is missing from that list.

. . . food, clothing, shelter and . . .

something to look forward to.

If you see someone cranky, maybe he, maybe she, needs something to look forward to. You or I could be that one thing. How cool is that?!!

Do You Forget to Be Brilliant?

October 12, 2007 by Liz

about how brilliant you are.

Do you do forget that you’re brilliant?
Do you forget to be a star? People and stars are the same stuff

Sometimes it’s not forgetting. Sometimes it’s letting.

Do you stand back in the dark, letting other folks talk, thinking your thoughts?

Where do those bright ideas go? Do you only let your great ones out at night when you are sleeping?

Do you forget to be brilliant?

The humble star still shines.

Changing Assets

October 10, 2007 by Liz

changes and environment?

Autumn and Spring, times of change, are happening all over the world. My experience is that when the environment changes, I experience changes myself.

It’s also a time that I notice other people seem to be changing too.

People seem to get misaligned with their environment. People who don’t like rules seem a little more independent. People who like order draw bolder black lines around things. Maybe it’s the change of seasons. Maybe it’s the approaching end of year. Maybe it’s all only me.

Last night, Ann Michael wrote about character traits, context, and their alignment.

When weâ€™re aligned with our environment our character traits are assets. When weâ€™re not aligned, theyâ€™re liabilities. –Ann Michael, Manage to Change

What a truth that is. I wonder whether she has the same experience of people changing that I do?

We change in response to our surroundings. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t still be a species. For most of the world, those changes are subtle and relational. We’re more likely to be left out than to find ourselves in dire need.

In corporations people are writing budgets. In home businesses people are seeing the fourth quarter slow down. Everyone is starting to realize the end of the year isn’t far away.

Are you changing? Are you noticing changes around you? How would describe the changes you see?