Digging Deeper and Oprah's Couch

Today I get back to work on the book. There are parts that I need to dig deeper into, so I'm starting that process today. I'm simply writing short stories about my mom and I, my dad and I, and Reese and I. I thought I was done digging deep, but I'm learning that life is all about digging; deeper is where the goods are.

So with today comes a breath of fresh air, fresh life into the book. I don't know that everything I'll be working on in the next couple of weeks will even make it into the book, but I must start this process.

I had a dream I was on Oprah's yellow couch, listening to her talk about my book. Maybe that's because I (poorly, as you can see, but it gets the job done!) photoshopped myself onto her couch last week with my book in her hands. I believe in the law of attraction, and am certain that posting it on my vision board will help me get there. Of course, I know that just posting it won't get me there...and that's where the digging comes back into play.

So, off to dig I go...I wonder what I will find for you....

30 Minutes

I'm in the middle of so many things I can hardly keep myself sane. I'm updating my Twitter and Facebook accounts, and redesigning my coaching website. I'm creating a brand for myself and my coaching company, Authentic Realities Coaching (actually, I'm having someone else create it and I'm just approving it). I'm working on a coaching workshop on coming out for the LGBTQ community (and friends and families of). I'm building my coaching practice (2 clients and counting). And I'm working on the book with a deadline of July 31st to finish draft #6 and have it ready to be edited.

I've barely been able to find the time to relax, which has taken its toll on me in the form of sleepless nights. I've been waking up at 1AM, 3AM and around 5:30AM just about every morning. This week my coach is working with me on self care. Self. Care. How do I care for myself when I'm spending so much time caring for...not even for people, but all these things? And it's not like these things aren't things I want, but they're taking so much time out of my day, I don't have time to just sit and relax and be...or do I?

I've planned on taking 30 minutes every day that's just for me. Which is something I've had posted in my calendar for some time. It shows up as "Dian Time" and when the reminder pops up, I've been promptly dismissing it and getting back to whatever I'm doing. So it's time to start honoring that schedule. And how do I do that?

For me, it's about making clear exactly what I plan to do in my 30 minutes of Dian Time. So on Monday it was "plant cactus," which meant that I spent 30 minutes planting cacti I bought over the weekend to replace several plants that Jackson decided were planted for him as midday snacks. It took me about 15 minutes, so I then allowed myself to sit in the sun in the back yard and just relax. What a notion.

Yesterday my Dian time was "meditation." Now I didn't meditate for 30 minutes, but I did meditate for 10 minutes. And then went outside and soaked up the sun again. And enjoyed my newly planted cacti (after putting up a fancy wire blockade around the edges so a certain puppy wouldn't have easy access).

And today my plan is to walk on the beach. I have a meeting in Manhattan Beach at noon and immediately thereafter, I will be putting my toes in the sand and breathing in the ocean air and letting the energy of the earth rise through my body from the warm sand and rejuvenate my soul.

I figure with all this life going on around me, the least I can do is to take a few minutes each day to really enjoy it and not get so caught up in living the good life that I miss it as it passes me by.

Small Steps

This afternoon I finished my chapter on Acceptance from 7 Days and I feel great. It's crazy to me that writing about something that seemed so depressing while going through it is now so uplifting to me. I've learned so much from my father's death; so many really wonderful things in me have flourished as a result, and it's not that I'm happy about his death, it's that I've learned from it, I've grown, and I've become a better person through the process of it all. 

This past weekend I was in another coaching course with CTI and we focused on perspectives. I have more to post on that in a bit, but for now, I'm astounded at how little I've gotten done with my book in the past three years because I've looked at it as one giant step I have to take: write a book. It's not that I haven't done anything on the book, I have. I've even posted excerpts of some portions I thought might end up in the book here in this blog. But I never acknowledged myself for the small steps I was taking.

Every word I've written for this book has been a step that's gotten me to where I am now with it--whether it gets cut, fought for, or printed. It all leads me to whatever will get printed. So I'm celebrating this completion of this chapter by buying myself flowers for the flower box I put up today outside my writing space. I'm proud of myself, and I don't mind saying so. This is a small step. Which actually means it's a big step. Because in the end, any step is a step forward, no matter which direction it takes me. 

The Summer Day

This is a poem by Mary Oliver, and can be found here. 

The Summer Day

Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?


from New and Selected Poems, 1992
Beacon Press, Boston, MA

Copyright 1992 by Mary Oliver

This poem was passed to me by a Coaching colleague, and inspired me to ask of you...what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

What Is It That I Really Want?

I've read two books in the last two days, and hope to finish a third by tonight. The first was The Dip, which I've already given my thoughts on. The second was The Old Man and the Sea. This book was sent to me with a note attached: "word economy = nobel prize"... after reading, I can attest that this is true. And the third book of the week is An Exact Replica Of A Figment Of My Imagination. This one was also sent with a note: "how to turn journalizing into a Bestseller."  This is what I hope my book to be; not in content, but in concept.

In my Coaches Training this past weekend I received a lot of 10-minute coaching sessions. While the coaching was practiced by novices, it was led by experts. And as a result, I received some amazing coaching, as the essence of coaching is to allow the client (me) to answer his/her (my) own questions and draw his/her (my) own conclusions as to necessary action (if any) in his/her (my) life. In one of these sessions I focused on what I want people to get out of my writing; essentially: why am I writing? There were as many moments of silence as can occur in ten minutes during that session. In my memory, at least.

I tasked myself with trying to put into words what I want people to get out of my writing. I agreed to make a list of no less than ten things I wanted people to understand. I came up with things like: connect with emotions, relate experiences, embody change, and find yourself through my emotions. It all made sense at the time I wrote it down, but still I couldn't capture what I really wanted to say. And then I started reading this book. An Exact Replica...

The book is about the experience of the author's first child being stillborn and moving forward in life to have a second child that people will always see as her first. I'm only half way through it, and already I can relate to her. Not because I've endured a stillborn child; I've never even been pregnant. But the author has these emotions, these feelings, these thoughts, these rants that are so much in the moment of how she feels, how can I possibly not relate? As a writer, I've always been encouraged to show, not tell. So let me show you what I mean.

I have this idea that we are all humans and we all experience the same core emotions humans are capable of experiencing. Anger. Happiness. Sadness. Fear. And the varying fractions and multiples of each that lead us to frustration and despair and hysteria and joy and jumping up and down for such things and crying happy tears and tears of pain and regret and sorrow and faith and raising a fist to God and demanding to know why, why, for the love of God, why? The circumstances that lead us to these emotions and these actions are always different, as we are all unique. But the emotions themselves are what we all feel, what we can all relate to. 

This is what I wish to capture in my writing. 

The Dip

I started reading The Dip yesterday afternoon. Between a few pages then, a few pages last night, and a few pages this morning, I finished the 80-page book before I got out of bed. As I read through the pages I started to think about the areas in my own life where I've quit before or during the Dip, as well as the times I've pushed on, all the way to the end of the Cul De Sac, or even carried myself right over the Cliff. 

The Dip is is the place where it gets hard, but if you're good at what you do and really lean into it, you can push yourself through and come out successful because you've been able to be "the best in the world" at what you do (page 6). The Cul De Sac is the dead end that leads you nowhere but to the end of the street because that's just all there is (page 19). And the Cliff is the act of committing and then completely falling off the edge due to your commitment--as in dying of emphysema due to 20 years of smoking or buying a gym membership and then never going to the gym (page 20).

I've realized that much of my time in my former company was spent in the Cul De Sac. I was never going to become Executive Management, but I kept pushing upward, just the same. At some point, the opportunity for growth ceased to exist, and I failed to realize it. As a result, I became bored with my job, abandoned something I was really good at (helping people grow), and accepted multiple positions that exhausted me because I started from scratch and lead myself down a path I really didn't want to go down (the corporate life). I didn't realize it at the time, but quitting that job was the best thing I could have done for myself; it was the only way to keep from circling the Cul De Sac (aka Drain). 

As I've embarked on my writing career, I've come to learn that writing a book--being a writer--has a huge Dip. For all the writers that are out there and successful, there are ten times as many unsuccessful and failed writers. Writing a book is hard. You have to write. Every day. Even when you don't want to, even when you don't think it's good. There was the initial excitement of quitting my job and being a writer, but the honeymoon wore off pretty quickly. When there was no income. When there was no structure. When there are no words. The honeymoon is over, and it's just me. And my head. And the Dip. 

Without even realizing it, I seem to have prepared for this Dip (albeit a little late in my process), by hiring a Life Coach to coach me through finishing the book. The first part of growth is becoming aware. I have finally acknowledged that this is going to be harder than I thought. I've reevaluated my priorities, and writing this book is still at the top of the list. My vision for what the book will be is now crystal clear, and it's a matter of pressing through. Through the days I don't want to write, through the days I think my writing is crap, through the days of starting new chapters and throwing out old ones, and finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. 

The whole point is to process through it, because if I don't then I'm just like all the unsuccessful writers before me who set out on a journey and turned around just before they hit their stride. I will hit my stride. I will lean into this Dip and hit my stride. And ride it all the way to the New York Times Best Seller List. I envision this every day. Not because it's easy, but because I want it that bad.

I don't think it's necessary to buy The Dip or even to read it in order to find out if you're close to the Dip, headed down the Cul De Sac or over the Cliff. I think asking yourself the question is the first step. And if you think you want the book, email me. I'll send it to you for free. First come, first serve. As long as you promise to pass it on when you're done. 

Outlines and Honor

I've never been much of an outliner. How do I know what I'm going to write before I write it? I write much better when I don't have any idea what I'm even going to write about when I sit down to write. That's my style. Half the time when I blog, I barely have a word in my head to run with when I start. Which may give the sense that I don't know what I'm talking about or where I'm going in the beginning, but I usually manage to bring it all around by the end. 

Writing with deadlines and minimum or exact word requirements haven't always worked well for me, either. I tend to leave it to the last minute and then throw something together. Sometimes it works out to be brilliant, and other times it's just a mess. I think my best work comes when I'm not thinking at all about what I'm writing, but merely getting lost in whatever it is. 

Which is why writing this book has been so challenging for me. I've written hundreds of pages and thousands of words, and while it all makes sense when I'm writing it, I seem to have no idea of how to put it all together when I'm done. This has come up in some of my life coach sessions, since part of the reason I have a coach is to be coached through finishing my book and ultimately getting it published. One of my coach's suggestions was to get an outline together. But I already said I don't really work well with outlines. Or maybe I do...

I've taken the hundreds of pages and put them in their respective chapters (although I still have no idea as to the order of these chapters), and have begun to see that the writing itself is not so great, but the process of having written has served me well. I'm now going through the chapters and creating an outline, based on the details within. It seems so simple, now, to create an outline, based on what I've already written. Paradigm shift.

And although I tend to work best without an agenda, I'm finding that all I need is a spark of inspiration to propel me into my vision. A quick look at the outline, and I can brainstorm about where I was and what I felt and my thoughts and plans and fears. Where before there were words on pages that somehow went together but I didn't know how, a structure emerges, and the pages begin to make sense. I'm beginning to really see the fruits of my efforts, and more importantly, I'm taking action and working towards the goal I'd set for myself: finish the book. 

I'm learning that by honoring myself in writing and believing in myself to do so, I'm also honoring my father. Which was the idea in beginning the book, in the first place. By tossing out what I previously believed (I don't work well with outlines), and trying a different approach, I've become better at being me. Which means I'm growing. And for me, that's the whole idea in living life. 

Visions of Inspiration, Update

This week I'll be posting some house updates (the physical inspection is today at noon), as well as an excerpt from 7 Days. In the meantime, I'm going to share with you my updated Vision Statement. This first month of 2009 has been a whirlwind of excitement, and I hope the rest of the year brings more. So to get myself in the mood, I've improved upon my last Vision Statement (I think) and hope it inspires you to create or update your own.

Enjoy!

If you don't see the video here, go here. 

More Risk, Comin' Right Up!

Risk #1 was making a decision to stay out of the corporate life and pursue a Life Coach Certification this year while continuing to work on my book. Risk #2 was to be a small risk, like going to a new hair stylist to get my hair cut (which I'm still resisting because I love where I get my hair cut, she's just so far away), talking to a neighbor I've never talked to (which I did, but it was only to tell him to shut the after-hours party down--twice), or play a game I've never played. 

But instead of any of those things, we decided to buy a house. And when we make a decision, we don't mess around. Within 48 hours there was a pre-approval on a loan (and a limit set for what we can really afford versus what the loan tells us we can afford). Within 48 hours of that, we went house hunting and found a house we actually want to put an offer on. And as of this morning, we're waiting another 48 hours to find out if our offer gets accepted, rejected, or countered. 

Yesterday morning I talked with my life coach about getting out of your own way. I first heard this term a few years back and I've always liked the idea. The idea that no one but me holds me back from getting what I really want. 

Jerry & Esther Hicks write:

Everything that I think that I need to do is all only in order to propel me to some place that when I get there, I think I will be happier. So, everything that I am doing, no matter what it is, all of my lists of rights and wrongs… are all about me getting to a manifestation that I believe I will then be happier... So, why don’t I take a short cut and just go get happy?

It's easy to wait for someone or something to come along and "make me happy". But in the end, it's really all about what I choose. Happiness is all in the hands of whom they're attached. If all I concentrate on are the things I don't have, then this remains my focus and I have little energy left for the things I want. When I focus on the things I want, I can always figure out a way to get what I want. I just have to stop resisting myself. 

There are probably 1,000+ reasons not to buy a house right now. The market is still going down. I don't have an income. My investments took a dive in the end of 2008. We're not married. We just got a dog. I stubbed my toe this morning. We can afford our rent. We like this neighborhood. We can't afford our dream house. We've never bought a house before. It's a pain in the ass to move. My toe still hurts....

I've done focusing on those things...and those things still remain true as long as I do. The market is pretty close to the bottom and will be on the upswing in the next year or two. My investments are still working well for me, including the investment I've made in myself. We're pretty solid, even if we're not married yet, we'll get there. The dog needs a yard. I hadn't thought about the toe until I just brought it up. Rent doesn't get us equity in this apartment building. We have cars that will drive us back to this neighborhood should we move out of it. We can afford a starter house and work our way up to our dream house. First time buyer programs will eliminate us from being first time buyers. Moving still sucks, but that's what movers are for. And toes...toes heal.

So with that, risk#2 of 2009 was actually putting an offer in on a house. We asked the Universe for an opportunity in this market to purchase a home in a good neighborhood that we'll be happy in for at least a few years (and maybe a few more details I'll keep to myself). The Universe responded with some options and waited for us to take action. Our action may not end with putting the offer in...we may have to up the offer to get into this house (as there are multiple offers on it already), or we may get outbid entirely. And then we'll move on to the next house...pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start all over again. It's such a great process to learn. 

I had no idea this year was going to be so exciting. And we're not even through January yet!

So cheers to us for getting out of our own way...I encourage you to do the same!!

Inquiry: Taking Risks

I seldom take risks. I mean, I take them, but only after a great deal of thinking and convincing myself that the world isn't going to fall apart if I go ahead and _____. One of those risks was leaving the safety of my corporate job of nearly 8 years to pursue a dream of writing a book. The thing is, that may have been the last professional risk I've taken. And that was over 2 years ago.

Risk is defined as:

"exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or dangerous chance: It's not worth the risk."

But life is lived and things accomplished only when taking risks, some might say:

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.  ~Pablo Picasso

Progress always involves risks.  You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.  ~Frederick B. Wilcox

You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take.  ~Wayne Gretzky

A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are for.  ~John A. Shedd, Salt from My Attic

Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome.  ~Samuel Johnson, Rasselas, 1759

It's not enough to dream about the things I want to do, I must take action if I want any of those dreams to come true. Last week my life coach challenged me to take one risk. Now I must figure out a risk to take. Do I even have any risks lined up? Is there anything I've been holding off on for the fear of it?

Risk is not about doing things that doesn't make sense. It's not about doing something just because I'm scared. I'm not about to jump out of a plane just yet. To me, risk is doing something that moves me forward when the only thing holding me back is fear. With that in mind, I will...

_________________________________________

I started writing about a project I want to work on and the words came out with too much effort. So I stepped away to gain some perspective. By stepped away I mean I sat right here in my chair. And by gain some perspective I mean I journaled for 30 minutes on why I'm feeling so much anxiety in my life right now. 

The money I'd set aside for the past 2 years is gone. I'm concerned about finding a job. I've been looking, but nothing has even remotely sparked my interest. But of course, that's not true. I've had thoughts for the last two years about becoming a life coach. I researched it in November 2006 after leaving my job the month prior. And I let that information sit, unreviewed for the last 25 months. Why?

Because if I enroll in a program to become a Certified Life Coach, then I will have finish that course. And then I'll have to be a Certified Life Coach. I will have to get clients. I will have to coach them. I will have to inspire them. I will have to impart words of wisdom they've never heard before and be the greatest person they ever met. I will have to be the person they owe everything to...but wait...that's just too much pressure. What if I didn't have to be all those things?

What if I just take the course? What if I pass the exams and get a Certificate? What if I end up at a party and someone asks what I do for a living and I tell them I'm a Life Coach? What if that intrigues them and we talk a bit more? What if they ask me to coach them based on that conversation? What if they accomplish some goals as a result of our sessions? What if they refer me to a friend? What if this becomes a pattern and I can make a living out of helping people accomplish their goals? 

With this in mind, I've decided that the best risk I can take to better myself and release the fears in doing so is to make an investment in myself. I've researched certification programs and chosen a program. This morning after my life coach session I enrolled with Coaches Training Institute, and my courses begin on Friday, February 20, 2009. Which means that by this time next year, I will be a Certified Life Coach, as recognized by the International Coach Federation. Good God, I feel liberated!!

I've also been tasked to keep this excitement alive by taking another risk this week. I've confirmed that a small risk is okay, given the huge risk I've just taken...so maybe I'll golf at night. Or play a game I've never played or know I'm not good at. Or talk to a neighbor I've never talked to. Whatever the risk, I want to make sure I'm expanding myself in some way that's in alignment not with who I am, but with who I want to be. 

After all, isn't growth the whole point of risk?

_________________________________________

And what risk will you take this week?

Visions of Inspiration, Update

I posted my Vision Statement a couple of months ago and have been watching this every so often to keep myself motivated to accomplish everything I want to. I started out watching every morning, but have since allowed myself to slip into watching once a week, if that. So I'm making a commitment to myself to watch every morning for the rest of the month. The goal is to create a habit of watching everyday so that it will no longer be something I think about doing, but will occur without thought, just as my morning cup of coffee does. 

I've decided to update the Vision every 6 months, for several reasons. 

• 6 months is just often enough to keep the visions in the forefront of my mind, should I fall to the wayside and watch sporadically versus daily.
  
• I can reevaluate my visions and make sure everything from 6 months ago is still a priority--I've given myself permission to add and delete as priorities tend to shift with the ongoing changes in life. 
  
• Once I've accomplished things, I can also move Visions from the "What I Want" list to the "What I've Done" list. It's a simple gratification system that allows me to acknowledge some of the things that I feel good about having done or accomplished.

I recently went through some photos to remind myself of some of the things I've been able to do and accomplish in my life. Time flies so quickly sometimes, whether in good or bad times, and it's easy to forget some of the great things I've been able to do in my short life. Maybe it's that way for you, too. The photos I put together range from being brought home from the hospital after being born to graduating to traveling Japan and Europe to sunsets and skylines and random happy moments along the way. Maybe it will inspire you to create your own!

I've set it to the music of Dave Matthews Band's "Lie In Our Graves", which seems to compliment and relay my sentiments quite well. Enjoy!

And here's a link, if you don't see the video above. 

The Human Soul Project

A little over a year ago I started a project with my best friend. We had the best of intentions, but a little dash of turmoil, a sprinkle of chaos, and a whole lot of "holy crap, what now" and voila: project on hiatus before it really got started. 

I just finished reading The Power of Focus by Jack Canfield, and am re-inspired to stop doing things that don't inspire me and start doing things that do. And with that, I'm revamping The Human Soul Project. Briefly, the Project is looking for coming out stories that inspire the soul. For details, visit http://humansoulproject.blogspot.com.

I'm in the process of contacting Jack Canfield's office to see if this idea can be added to The Chicken Soup for the Soul series. A small note: the submission guidelines for stories suggest that Chicken Soup for the Soul(tm) stories are "NOT" about controversial issues. Coming out is for sure controversial, but the guidelines also specify that the story must "uplift and inspire." Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, is it not? In the meantime, the plan is to take submissions from readers and writers everywhere, and get it published ourselves.

What would inspire me to start such a project?

I remember the fear I had of coming out to my father in my mid-twenties. He had become a born again Christian by then, which was probably my main fear in telling him. I'd always known him to be a decent guy. Only once did I ever see him truly angry, and that was to come to my defense when he felt my grandfather was attacking me. I had no reason to believe that he would be angry with me, disown me, stop loving me, or think less of me in any way. But there it was. The fear that all these things would come true. I feared that his love of God would overrule his love for me, and that I would no longer be deserving of my father's love once I told him I was gay. It took me nearly 2 years to work up the courage after using excuse after excuse for not telling him. And when I finally did, my fears were unfounded.

My father and I dialogued, although not regularly, about what he viewed as my "choice" to act on feelings for the same sex. As I was just trying to figure it all out for myself, it was difficult to explain it to someone else. And it took me years to be comfortable with who I knew myself to be, regardless of what others thought. Most of my friends were straight. My coworkers. My family. I had done all this searching for myself, my soul, my self and was discouraged by the misunderstanding of who I was by nearly everyone I knew. Sure there were people I knew of who were gay, but they weren't me. They didn't know what I was going through. They couldn't possibly. 

If I could have read stories about others who had come out, others who put their fears on paper, their doubts, and then detailed how they overcame those fears, detailed how they triumphed, how they survived, I might have found the strength to be honest not only with myself, but with my father much sooner than I was. I might have added 2 years to of understanding to our relationship had I found the strength to come out sooner. 

So if just one of the stories we end up publishing helps someone find that strength, then this is all worth it. The whole point of life is to live it, love it, and help others do the same. We are all human. We all have emotions. We all feel good, we all feel bad. And we all go through slumps. We all need to be uplifted, to be inspired...we all need to feel connected. And that's what the Human Soul Project is all about.

This first Project is about coming out. The next project will be about...well now, I can't give everything away. Let's see how this project goes and then we'll get started on the next one. What I can tell you is that the vision and purpose of the Human Soul Project will remain the same: to create inspiration for the Human Soul everywhere. 

Long Beach Sunrise

Yesterday morning I set set out to see the sunrise. Well, if I'm being honest, it was scheduled for Monday, but Mama didn't get a good night sleep, so an early morning sunrise just wasn't in the cards. Tuesday would have to do.

The last time I saw a sunrise in Long Beach was in December of last year. I walked to the beach a few blocks from my apartment at the time and watched as the earth rolled itself downward and the sun appeared to rise just over Catalina Island. 

 

I expected more of the same yesterday morning, but found something slightly different. 

 

The sun doesn't always rise over Catalina Island. I could say I was disappointed, but...as you can see, there was no need. And the above doesn't even compare to the beauty, the aura, the energy of actually being there. 

I stood on the life guard tower and was rejuvenated by the morning sun's peace and sovereignty. I was abundant with...with gratitude. With inspiration. With a vitality for life and a motivation to just be, to just live that I haven't felt in weeks.

I remember feeling the same way all those months ago. Some things change, some things stay the same. The birds still pecked into the water, the foam, the sand. There was a fisherman in hip boots casting his line out from the shore. There were birds flying overhead, people walking by. I had no iPod, no music, nothing more than the sounds of the ocean, the morning, the beginning of the day breathing life into us all. 

Apparently the sun doesn't have to rise over Catalina to make that happen.

Visions of Inspiration

I'm in the process of creating goals and visions for myself as a means of getting motivated to accomplish it all. What I've come up with so far is this...

And then I decided that it would be great to document in one place all the things I've accomplished from that list, with my own experiences and photos. Twice a year I'm going to update this video with the new things I've done, places I've been, and people I've met:

I hope two things come of viewing these montages:

1) you enjoy them

2) you're inspired to create one or both of your own

Cheers!