Successful Blog

Listening

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Still Yourself and Hear the World

Yesterday morning, when I got to my computer, I could hear the rain outside.
I stopped to listen. I could hear the white noise around the air moving.
The sound was soothing, clear, and refreshing.
Outside and below, cars were rushing toward the city.
It was a whooshing sound of tires on the pavement. I didn’t have to look to know it.

In the kitchen, the coffeemaker began telling me that it was working.
I listened, then, to the quiet hummmmmm of the air conditioning.

I settled back in my desk chair just to listen.

Quiet, silence filled with sounds I don’t usually hear.
Raindrops sliding down a window, my heart beating, my eye blinking as I look at the harbor.

RainyMorning_by_Liz_Strauss

And last night a fabulous thunderstorm returned me to that peaceful, listening feeling.

What if we listened to each other like we listen to the rain?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Do Something!

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Don’t Leave a Great Idea Sitting Here!

Steps-up_by_Liz_Strauss

A friend from my days in publishing has thousands of ideas to every one of mine. Being with her is both exciting and frustrating, because she imagines potential futures, but can’t see whether they’ll play out usefully.

On the Internet, it seems that everyone has thousands of ideas . . . even me. With so much information and conversation around us, each day brings a passel of potential futures to discuss and dream.

We learn about how to build things. We talk about what we could do and be. We imagine repurposing what already is. We innovate, create, and ideate, almost without thinking.

The problem is that too often we don’t DO anything.

If the idea is as great as we think it is, why don’t we build it, create it, execute, and deliver it?

Some ideas can’t stand up the stress of such things. They start unraveling.

Other ideas could be wonderful futures but no one cares enough to produce what they describe. Doing something is where the real work begins. We have to show up, step up, and invest ourselves to build a reality.

What will you DO with your ideas today?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Stopping Time

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No Crowds of People, No Streams of Words

Glasses-in-the-tree_by_Liz_Strauss

Early in the morning on Twitter yesterday, I wished I could stop time for an hour. Marc Pitman asked if I did, how I would know the hour was done. We didn’t explore the conversation much further. Networking with social media takes time.

Two hours later, I met up with Melissa Pierce and her camera woman, Sarah. We walked over to Belmont Harbor together. We were out to do an interview for Melissa’s movie, “Life in Perpetual Beta.” The walk to the scouted location took longer than we’d projected. We were still 100 yards away, when already we were discussing the time would need to leave.

I stood by a tree and talked to Melissa while Sarah worked on setting up the camera in the right spot. I took off my glasses and placed then in a nook that seemed carved out of the tree just for that. Unfortunately the sun hadn’t waited our delay in arriving. We decided that the location had to be rethought. We ended up some 30 yards closer to the water, facing the opposite direction to meet the sunlight at that time of day.

The delays and the extra time might have compressed our dispositions as they might have compressed our time line. But out by the harbor we were drowning in a luxury of space — beautiful views of trees, city, and sky . . . and so much green, green grass with no crowds of people and no relentless streams of words.

As I look back it seemed we had all of the time in the world.

Walking back from the location, a guy on a bike turned a corner and almost hurt himself and us . . . He wasn’t really nice.

I guess we knew then that time wasn’t stopped any longer.
But it sure had been fine when it was.

This weekend, I’m going to stop time again.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

When Is Less More?

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How Much Do We Need?

On a nearby street, tall landmark homes provide shelter to single families. It’s hard not to notice the elegance and stature.

Orange-lilies-by-the-tree_by_Liz_Strauss

Freshly painted iron fences and swept brick driveways speak to the care that is taken.

Landscapers tend to lawns and flowers. Not a blade of grass on the block is taller than the rest. Not a unwanted shade of green shows anywhere. House after house stands picture perfect.

The Japanese garden four houses down makes me stop to stare.

Out by the street near where the cars park is a tiny patch of flowers. Orange lilies grow under an old oak tree. They don’t get the same care. They don’t seem to need it.

Do you think less is more?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Social Promotion and a Japanese Maple

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When We’re Fully Expressed . . .

relationships button

The hardest part of any event used to be meeting many new people in a short time. Setting a great first impression in seconds was more than I could get my social skills around. I’d either get too big or too small. I’d never be just right.

Part of my problem was that I put too much value on social promotion. I could never quite meet strangers as simply who I am.

A wise, highly successful friend never seemed to have a problem like mine. So I took to watching him instead. Almost immediately I realized the difference was in the way he looked at himself and what he does.

My friend thinks of what he’s accomplished simply as things he has done and things he does. To him, his work is nothing more than that. As a result, no matter who asks him about it, his answers sounds as if he’s explaining his a day to a curious friend. He doesn’t weigh how what he’s saying might reflect upon another person’s idea of him.

Japanese_maple_by_Liz_Strauss

When we fully accept what we’re good at, we don’t mind talking about what we do. We’re not waiting for others to value it. We don’t get shy standing in the light.

Does that make sense to you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Take a Break or Make a Break for It

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Break Out!

Mid-week, I took a break from routine, took a walk, broke my rhythm. I’d caught the break of day with my camera. It was time to break away and feel the heat. I was in a great mood, making my way to the local coffee shop.

Lily-jailbreak-by-Liz-Strauss

I truly was thinking of taking breaks
making breaks
“You deserve a break today.”
breaking away
breaking with tradition

bad breaks, lucky breaks
breaking the ice
putting on the breaks
breaking down walls, breaking habits,
breakfasts and coffee breaks

Weird word games while walk aren’t exactly breaking news.
“That’s the breaks.”

The coffee and conversation with my friend were delicious. I headed home in the sunshine with thoughts of that meeting in my head . . . the earlier word games had been put away.

Then I passed three lilies — no fence could hold them/ They were making a break for it.
(As far as I know, not a blade of grass was injured in the lily-jailbreak.)

This weekend I’m planning to take a . . . nap.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
image: liz strauss
Work with Liz!!