On stillness, work, and insights...

Bit by bit I'm getting increasingly clear insights on the projects and products I'd like to create this year to continue the work transition I started in 2011*. I'm not sure they'll all come to fruition, but I certainly can't deny their presence.

* For all posts related to my work transition journey, click here.

Words, titles, and images are asking to be acknowledged.

tea and candlelight: tools for creative biz planning

One morning journalling session produced an outline for an entire online course or program; another revealed an idea for a new booklet. An evening dedicated to business planning saw me complete the sentence "2013 will be the year that..." with "... I create and submit a book proposal."

WTF?

I also keep coming back to a series of mantras, or tenets, to guide my creative biz work this year. These are short phrases I can't seem to shake, so for now I'm choosing to go with them. (Stay tuned for another post, specifically on these tenets.)

The moral of this story, you ask? Two things jump out at me:

Insights, guidance and even more prodding questions come when we take time to be still, ask the questions, listen for the answers, and acknowledge them.

Some insights call for swift movement and adrenalin-filled action; others may ask for a more gentle approach, with more value gained by letting them percolate, or taking small, next right actions to see what unfolds.

Either way, we move forward.

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What practices do you have in place to receive insight and guidance?

Are any of your ideas or projects calling for quick completion? On the flip side, are any of them calling for a more gentle approach?

The Puttering Spirit

hanging clean laundry on the clothesline to dry

is the epitome of puttering for me

"You've given me the puttering spirit", he said. "I think I'm going to cut the lawn."

I'm not sure if my husband realized just how much I loved those words, puttering spirit.

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I often struggle with reconciling intention and planned action with intuitive action and letting things unfold.

Sometimes I'm all about goals and to-do lists, working in fast and furious bursts of energy. This gives me momentum and confidence in my ability to set a goal and do what needs to be done to meet it. Knowing I can do it is extremely empowering for me.

Other times I try something different: I putter.

I slow down, ask my Higher Power "What's next?" and I do it. This usually leads to stuff like doing the dishes, folding the laundry, weeding the garden... but it might also lead to writing a blog post, drafting a service description or filing receipts. No matter where it leads it's gentle and spacious and this too is extremely empowering - not to mention often very productive.

It's a dance I'm learning. Sometimes I push, sometimes I let the puttering spirit take over.

The puttering spirit. I love that, don't you? Thank you D.

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Might you allow yourself to putter a little bit today? What would that look like? How would it feel?