The Art of Taking Ity Bites

All That is Random # 4 - Just a little link crazy

It's Friday and a fine one it is. The birds are in rare form this morning I'm sitting here listening to a symphony of bird song with the coo of turtle doves as the base notes.

So I'll swoop right into All That is Random.

"It would seem as we get clear on what we want, the hows, whats and whos show up in our faces, right where they've been all along." Rhonda LaShae

I'll warn you before you get too involved, this is one of those posts that links to a bunch of stuff.

In my google reader yesterday, there was a blog post from sufi healer, heart centered business founder, father of twins Mark Silver. (clicking his name will take you to his about page.)

I'm not certain how or why it showed up. For those who know what google reader does, you're going, that's totally expected, it's supposed to show up, so what? Or you could even be thinking well, she obviously doesn't know how the google reader technology works but that's not what I'm talking about.

I read the blog post. I re-read the blog post. I clicked the link to comment on the blog post. Nothing. 404 Error Page. Huh. Now I'm confuzzled. The post was exactly what I needed, right when I needed it. And I wanted to thank Mark for writing it. So the part that makes no sense is that the blog post is nowhere on his blog or his archives or even his newsletter. Which means I can't link to it to share it with you.

(EDIT: The post didn't show up until June 16, 2009. How do I know that? Because now there is a link http://www.heartofbusiness.com/avoiding-www/ dated June 16, 2009. Weird, but not really weird.)

Completely makes me sad and curious. I love getting curious. So I started digging through his archives and man on man, it's a vein of gold. Gold I tell ya. Okay I already knew this but still something from 2006 or 2007 is relevant today. I mean really it's over two years old how could it be relevant, now. (Uh that was sarcasm.)

This vein of archival gold is deep. Check them out. I would link to everything I found, but you would need a few weeks and plus that's not an ItyBite is it? Just head to his blog http://www.heartofbusiness.com/blog/ . Look for the search box in the upper right hand corner and type in a word or a phrase. You'll find something helpful. Seriously. Even if it has nothing to do with business.

So far I've typed in 'help', 'resonance', 'getting started' and a few other terms and lets just say my weekend will be full of reading, then doing.

I especially liked this post I found for getting started http://www.heartofbusiness.com/visualizing-your-way-to-success-uh-no/

Okay, hmm what else. Oh yes, this video, for this book by author Katherine Center had me crying (literally and metaphorically) in a plurk last night.

Katherine's book and message reminds me of a poem my mom wrote about a question I aksed her when I was young. "Momma am I pretty?"

You can read the plurk and watch the video right there in the plurk. It's one of the many reasons I love plurking. I'll be honest, I have yet to purchase the book but it's going on my wishlist and will most likely end up being a stocking stuffer for the women and young girls in my life.

Let's see random notes found this week

blogging, paypal, ar, twitter, plurk, article marketing
5 people 1 help
natural limits vs ?
business vs avocation - both
15 to 16 years to pay off all debts and that's only so long as no new debts are introduced (this one has me shaking my head. I don't like it. Not. one. little. bit - that's just too long for debt repayment)

So that's it for me.

What random events have shown up in your life, that aren't really random at all?

--

Are You Getting Good Help From the Beginning?

I heard a shrill whistle and what sounded like hundreds of balls bouncing not quite in unison. The noise died down a little and that's when I heard the laughter.

They couldn't be laughing at me yet, as I hadn't made my way through the door. I felt sorry for whoever it was though. (Turns out Coach was a real comedian.)

My hand was shaking and my heart was racing as I grasped the metal door clasp and slowly, cautiously pulled the door towards me.

The humidity outside pressed me through the door and into a small atrium. I wasn't sure I wanted to do what I was about to do, but just before I turned to flee, I heard a voice from my right say,

"Are you here for try-outs? What grade are you in?"

I stammered, "uh. . . 8th, but I . . ."

My eyes adjusted to the dim light inside and I saw someone loom over me and felt her grab my hand.

I heard her yell, "Coach we've got one more for 8th grade."

She dragged me across the gym and to the bleachers where a crowd of girls I recognized but didn't know very well, were sitting.

I sat down on the end of the bleacher and looked around me. It looked like they all knew what they were doing. They all looked the part. They had on the school colors and high top sneakers and sports bras under their tank top jerseys.

I suddenly felt the need to disappear, quickly.

Coach had to teach me everything because I knew absolutely nothing about basketball.

http://theory-and-practice.com

He told us how hard it was going to be. Everything he expected from us. He gave us a list of items we would need to buy and he gave us the practice schedule.

The Coach stood in front of us and smiled as he said, "I don't decide on the cuts to make for the team. I've told you everything you'll need to do. Those of you who do it, make the team. You'll make the cut for yourself or you won't. It's up to you. I'm here to help you learn basketball, teamwork and dedication. I've brought the Varsity Team in to help me. If you show up, watch and practice, I promise you'll improve. That's all I promise. The rest is up to you."

Everyone who made the team grew to appreciate what Coach taught us.

I've carried it with me and it's the same attitude I bring to using the interwebs to help people share the things they love and make money doing it.

Show up, watch, do it (practice) and improve.

The first step is showing up.

http://theory-and-practice.com

David Perdew happens to be the coach and founder for the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop. I met David in 2006 and his attitude reminds me of my middle school basketball coach.

David said at the beginning of 2007, "If you (or anyone else) are serious, willing to do the work and can stash any of the "Yes, but..." attitude that kills all our ambitions -- you'll learn how..."

He's doing it. And he wants to help others do it. He's even starting from where ever you happen to be starting in your online journey.

Show up, watch, do it and you'll succeed. Plus, you'll have a Varsity team of Internet Marketing Veterans to take you by the hand, lead you through the drills and work with you on your shots.

It's happening, in Atlanta, GA from August 14-17, 2009 and you can find out more details when you click the link below:

When you show up, you'll find a workshop unlike any other you've seen or been involved in.

http://theory-and-practice.com

For three days in the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop, Veteran marketers Willie Crawford, Mark Hendricks, Chris Lockwood, Kathleeen Gage, Lynn Terry, Alan R. Bechtold, David Preston, Jeff Herring, Cathy Perkins, Cindi Dawson, Rob Anderson, Joe Marsh and coach David Perdew will teach nuts and bolts results - not theory! This is a workshop with drills on the spot.

Each presentation is followed by 2 to 2 1/2 hours of real small group hands-on implementation. (I'll be there along with 9 others to help you do what needs to be done and answer those questions you think might be dumb questions because everyone else already seems to know the answer.)

No matter what your experience level is, this workshop is created specifically to help build your business.

Coach Perdew's goal is to have 100 percent of the students make money during the weekend event in their chosen niche.

Bring your computer and be ready to take your shot.

Hope to see you there:
http://theory-and-practice.com

All That Seems Random #3

This week has been full of downs, then ups and news, lots and lots of news, good news only I can't share it yet. And I'm busting to share it, really seriously busting.

I can tell you the first ItyBites journey is picking up speed and there will be a case study ready to be shared with you in just a few weeks. It's such a wonderful story too.

This week has been a confirmation that congruent thoughts and inspired actions, even when they look small, create some amazingly deep and wide ripples.

Plus, because this is the "All That Seems Random" post, it feels apropo that Totally Unique Thoughts from The Universe put this in my email inbox this morning.

The baby steps in the beginning of a journey, LaShae, always seem inadequate compared to the brilliance of the dream that inspired them. This is natural. If the dream wasn't so far "out there" and dazzling, it wouldn't be worth dreaming! Just don't be led to think that the physical ground you cover with your baby steps is all that they accomplish. Because for every mortal step you take, another cog in a giant wheel behind the curtains of time and space advances, and with it, 10,000 new possibilities.

Better than Star Trek,
The Universe

So very true and this week has been a complete confirmation that there is a cog behind a curtain and I'm boy do I believe in the nonrandomness that is.

Also the other random tidbits found after clearing my desk this week

Refrigerated pudding = Kozy Shack (Yeah because even though I'm training for a 1/2 marathon, I gotta get my sweet on.)
Behave your way back into it
Develop, Plan, Coordinate, Implement
Admit you made a mistake. Go on admit it. It's only hard if you don't admit it.

Finally, there is one more thing and it deserves it's own post, it's that important. It has to do with some serious hand holding and I've never been involved in anything like it, until now. I'll share on Monday. Promise!

So how about you, what random events are happening in your life, that aren't really random at all?

All That Seems Random Friday #2

Uhm, wow it's Friday, again. And it seems way to fast to be here, again.

So let's just dive right in.

Random notes found on my desk this week include:

Aim to get good first. Then aim to get results. (I no longer agree with this statement. I think results are more important because they offer the necessary feedback and help create the momentum necessary to get good.) Still it is written as I found it on my desk.)
It's inevitable when small shifts begin happening within us regarding money, emotions, health and spirit, these shifts eventually come to affect our relationships.
Feet of clay. Does anyone have a clue about this and it's mention in the bible?
You don't want to change what you're doing or how you're doing it, yet you want different results. Crazy!

I'm learning and practicing The Art of Taking ItyBites and I over ate on Thursday. In fact it was the perfect, 'don't do this at home if you want to take ItyBites' moment and it all seemed so random. As if that is possible.

I'm running again, well more like a slow jog that the dogs think is great because now they don't run out of leash as quickly as when I was just walking.

What does that have to do All That Seems Random, you ask?

Weeellll - it's a little weird, even for me. A little back story. I knew of Louise Hay but I avoided her books. I ended up with one a few weeks ago and started reading it, "You Can Heal Your Life" and I was drawn to her List near the end of the book. I read the List. I nodded my head a few times. Okay a whole lot and thought hmm this makes sense. I wonder how true it is?

Now I know.

The idea that ankles and feet have to do with movement and direction. So the fact that I immediately found the breathing process I need to use to run longer and further distances, had me doing what my body wasn't yet trained or prepared to do. Coupled with the fact that I wasn't listening to my body tell me this and also wasn't paying attention to where I was placing my foot because I was so in awe of the fact that I had almost run a half mile non-stop, a rock from the left side of the road crept onto the pavement from it's gravel bed along the edge of the road and slipped itself under my right foot in exactly the right way to cause a level 1 sprain of my right ankle and cause me to limp the remainder of the way home.

Now it seems as though some part of me doesn't want to easily move forward. That could be with the running or 'the thing I've yet to share with you'. It also seems I'm questioning all my movement and my current direction. Plus, I feel as though I'm moving way too fast and I'm not moving fast enough.

How's that for All That Is Random?

What about you? What random events are happening in your life, that aren't really random at all?

All That Seems Random Friday #1

I'm thinking this is the start of a new series for Fridays. Things are slowly looking up as far as finding the right sized bite to take AND last nights unofficial success team Idea Party gave my mom some really great ideas for her poem books and she wants to move on them.

So, lots happening, things changing, plus a suggestion about affirmations from Steve Pavlina looks to be a promising addition to the tools.

I encourage you to watch the whole video. The specific part I'm referring to starts around 5:10 into the video. What he says about the process reaching into the subconscious seems to be working for me, as it's slowly bringing about consciously congruent actions. Mine haven't been up a full week yet, but I like the progress thus far.

The other thing I'm finding is all the little random snippets of things written on random pieces of paper that wind up cluttering my desk by the end of the week. Things like:

don't let your lizard brain know you want to start a business
when feeling vulnerable the brain stops working
the clearest, strongest energy always prevails
respect doesn't mean I do what you say, it means I listen and hear where you're coming from
so when the time comes you are fully nourished before you ever set foot in the place
I have not yet provided the value I wish to receive

I'm sure I'll be talking more about some of these as time goes on.

Finally, Simple*ology is still helping me break my goals down into manageable ItyBites and get the work done and it's helping me get exactingly clear on my goals.

I'll be honest, I do the experiment in Lesson 2 pretty regularly. It makes me laugh out loud every time. If you want to find out what I'm talking about, sign up for your own Simple*ology account and see. Or if you're like me and signed up a long, long, long, long, long time ago, but haven't actually done it yet, sign in again and DO IT.

Let's see is there anything else?

Yes!, yes there is. If you like discovering and rating music, I just got turned onto The Sixty One today by Steven Mitchell, whom I met through Plurk, where I haven't been since . . . I'm not even going to embarass myself by telling you.

Okay, that's it for the quiet primere of All That Seems Random Friday #1.

Keep taking those ItyBites.

On Switch or Off Switch

I've been a member of Simple*ology 101 for too many years and counting. This year is the first year I've actually gone through and been doing the lessons. I've made it up to Day 30 as of today.

One of the things you begin doing around day 18 is the Daily Target Praxis which incorporates your three sources of power - Time, Energy & Money into the actions you take on a daily basis. They rotate through each one and today the Energy Praxis showed up.

One of the questions that comes up with the Energy Praxis is what is something you did recently that increased your energy? I thought 'writing' and as soon as I did, the light bulb in the hall blew out.

Now mind you I don't want to connect those two things and even if I did want to connect them, how would I? When I say how I mean in what ways might I connect them if I were going to connect them?

No that didn't actually create energy for you, it in fact made you lose energy. Writing is hard for you. (ooo is that a belief surfacing.)
Yes, it did create energy for you and this light bulb blowing out right at the moment of the thought means writing helped you create enough energy to impact your environment. (scoff if you will)
The light bulb blowing out is really just the fact that the fixture is rated for 75watt bulbs and you keep putting 100watt bulbs in it because that seems to be all you ever have available.
Hmmp, from the light fixtures point of view. Dammit I hate the fact that my twin light on the other end of the hallway has a freakin' energy saving florescent bulb and I keep getting these crappy too high a wattage incandescent light bulbs. Yeah I'm blowing this sucker riiigt aboout NOW.
From the light bulbs point of view, ouch hot too hot ouch too hot ouch too hot hot hot hot hot hot. Aretheyevergoingtoturnmeoff? Hot hot hot hot hot hot. They could turn me off in the daytime. Hot hot hot hot hot awe man I gunnna POP!

Yeah all that if I were actually going to make a connection between my thought about 'writing' and the light bulb blowing out.

Yet what I've realized is that in some ways writing is like a light going out for me. Each and every time I want to write, I find any excuse not to do it.

Ooo, really great thought, "I'll write about..." happens and as soon as it does, my body craves a nap, or some Häagen-Dazs® or any other distraction as far away from writing as possible becomes appealing. Because writing, getting the writing done and sharing the writing somewhere is going to make it hot hot hot ouch, that's too much wattage.

We most certainly don't want to shine a light on these thoughts and we don't want to think about the elephant in the room.

I told you not to think about the elephant.

So the blog is changing. There will still be Ity Bites but they will be my ItyBites, as I tackle this for me, which "light bulb moment", will help my mom and maybe help you too.

You can go to Simple*ology 101 and start your own Daily Target Praxis for free.

Perspective of An Elephant

It's not easy to admit when we have a dream.

It's downright frightening and scary and big and audacious, like an elephant that you've been told you have to eat, no matter what.

The dream never really goes away, although it may morph and bend becoming almost unrecognizable.

The dream might often nag Tap, tap, tap, hey remember me, I'm still here and waiting. Or it might sneak up on you boo and scare the heebie jeebies out of you.

I keep getting these little sparks of insight about my mom and her dream.

I'm feeling ambivalence, uncertainty and frustration. There is some fear mixed in and a whole heap of salty.

The salty is mine for sure. I keep asking myself what the heck I think I'm doing and who gave me the right to do it?

Boy that answer is a mixed bag.

I'm certain, I love a challenge. Big Hairy Audacious Elephant, bring it on.

I keep wondering though, what power do I have to help her make her dream come true?

How much work should I be doing for her dream? Am I in this for real, for the long haul? What is my why?

What is this resistance?

The first thing that comes up is money, definitely. That's my response to her resistance.

The budget is $0.

I keep thinking she doesn't want this badly enough to make it happen.

I keep thinking it's just too big and hairy and audacious.

I keep thinking.

Wait, what is she thinking?

Why not just ask her?

So I'll ask her:

What does 'being a published poem book author' look like to you mom?
What feelings do you have when you think about it?
What things do you see yourself doing as 'a published poem book author' that you don't see yourself doing right now?

This will give me a much better perception of what this looks like to her, because right now, I'm only seeing this from my perspective and our two perspectives are different. I'm not sure what she's looking at but I'm looking at a Publishing Empire, (muwhahaha)

Um wait did I say that out loud?

So this resistance from her is what?

I'm going to ask her, right now and see what she has to say.

Stay tuned. Stay Hungry.