Hypnosis at My House on Friday

This is a plug for the wonders of my magical husband. A clinical psychologist, Bob teaches self-hypnosis in an all-day seminar at our house about every three months. This quarter's "all-day," as we call it, is this Friday at our log cabin beside a pond in the woods.

Participants learn to use self-hypnosis for whatever purpose they choose: enhancing creativity, managing pain, improving focus, dealing with emotions, or who-knows-what else. I've been to a couple of these one-day classes myself; the day after the first one, I started Revelation, my first published novel.

If you're going to be anywhere near the Chapel Hill/Jordan Lake area of North Carolina and are interested, call Bob Dick at 919 215-4703 for info. It's a bold step toward your goal.


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The Key to Creativity

Handled horizontally, this is the new key to my office, freshly adorned with moon and stars.

Vertically and pointing up, it's now a key for opening my imagination.

Pointing down, it goes to my unconscious.

What a handy tool to have close by at all times! Maybe I'll be more careful now not to misplace my keys.





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Take One Small Action

It's easy to doubt the effectiveness of one more small action toward a goal. Here's a light-hearted reminder that setting one thing in motion can make a difference. Thanks to Michael Lindsay of Inform Creative Services for sending this cheerful burst of creativity.


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Stephen King and Colonel Sanders

Reminders to persist toward your bold goals:

"Colonel Sanders was in his 60s before he founded Kentucky Fried Chicken.
...Stephen King wrote many novels before he had his first one published.
Dolly Parton was told that she sang like a billy goat and had no chance of making it in show business."

Please note the source of this encouragement: SZ Magazine, a publication on dealing with schizophrenia, created and edited by Bill MacPhee, who was diagnosed with this ailment at the age of 24.

"Over the years of publishing SZ Magazine," he writes, "I've noticed one common denominator: The people who deal well with their illness have persistence. that seems to be the difference between people who succeed and people who do not. People who keep trying...succeed despite their failures."

This is also true of people who don't carry the burden of schizophrenia.


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Focus on the Goal

Spiders aren't a particular fear of mine, but I don't love them. This one, discovered at night our semi-outdoor sink, was different from anything I'd seen before, its body like a small avocado.

It was so unusual I decided to take a picture and wound up getting closer to it than I otherwise would have.

Which reminded me: fear diminishes when there's a job to focus on. I found in my early news reporting days that I felt pretty comfortable asking anyone anything if it was for a story I was working on. A task focus is a calming, emboldening strategy that can be used in a lot of situations.

Have you found this to be true in your life?


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Bold Color Combination

I think they're wonderful together. My husband thinks they're wonderful separate. What do you think?

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The Necessity of Feeling Bad Sometimes

"The dear old human experience is a singular, difficult, shadowed, brilliant experience that does not resolve into being comfortable in the world. The valley of the shadow is part of that, and you are depriving yourself if you do not experience what humankind has experienced, including doubt and sorrow. We experience pain and difficulty as failure instead of saying, I will pass through this, everyone I have ever admired has passed through this, music has come out of it, literature has come out of it. We should think of our humanity as a privilege."

--from the wondrously fine writer Marilynne Robinson, in an interview in The Paris Review, as reported in an essay by Meghan O'Rourke in a column for The Week.


And I thought I was the only one who feels I failed if I'm unhappy. Apparently, everybody and their sister feels the same way. The logic for this faulty conclusion is clear: if I'm not happy, then I've been unable to arrange things the way I want them. Which makes me feel like a schlump. But what mortal can arrange everything the way she wants?

I like Robinson's approach much better. It's a lot less arrogant. And it could be a huge relief -- if I ever entirely convince myself.



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Bold Soldiers

Wherever each of us is on the hawk to dove continuum, I think we have to admit that soldiers are bold. They act on their convictions and risk their lives in that action. They also risk coming home with brain damage and/or missing limbs.

So, here's to the bold soldiers of all stripes!

Happy Memorial Day to you and the warriors closest to your heart.


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Theoretically Bold

I'm going to visit my mom this weekend which means I'm also going to the beach (Wrightsville Beach, NC). I was right on the point of scheduling a surfing lesson, the first in my life, when I suddenly remembered that I have tennis elbow in my right arm.

Probably I should wait until I can use both arms.

Frustrating? Or off the hook? Or both?

I do mean to do this thing -- and this summer. I'm not waiting another year. But probably not this weekend.



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Hazel Soares Soars

Bold and persistent, 94 year-old Hazel Soares got her degree in art history from Mills College this past week.

Mills itself is pretty bold. From the website: "Over the decades, Mills “firsts” have been numerous: the first women's college west of the Rockies (chartered 1885); the first laboratory school west of the Mississippi for aspiring teachers (1926); the first women’s college to offer a computer science major (1974) and a 4+1 MBA degree (2001); the first business school in the West for women (2005); and the first MFA program in book art and creative writing in the nation (2009).

Always a leader in the arts, Mills was among the first liberal arts colleges to offer a modern dance degree (1941), and it became the national center for modern dance outside New York City. The Center for Contemporary Music, dedicated in 1967, is a preeminent center for electronic music."

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Do What You Can ...

...to save the world.


Taken at Swan Quarter, NC, near the ferry to Ocracoke

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What's Scary and What Isn't

Different things scare different folks. A bold move for one person is routine for another, and vice versa.

For example, if I tried to take the stand that this bird is so casually doing, I would be bold, indeed. On the other hand, I've done some things that this fellow would absolutely quail at.

My point, punnery aside, is that comparisons, in the case of courage, are not only odious, they simply don't work. Best to avoid comparing ourselves with others in any way.

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Hurrah for Helen!

Helen Mirren's wax likeness was unveiled at Mme. Tussaud's yesterday and the picture of her with the fake version was number one in gossip site Radaronline's Hot Photos.

I applaud the bold Dame Helen for the chutzpah to be totally hot at 65.


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Bold Teacher-Writers

Last week I taught my "Writing Powerful Stories" workshop on Ocracoke Island on the North Carolina Outer Banks.

The participants were public school teachers/guidance counselors/principals, etc. The sponsor was the NC Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

What's bold about this? For one, I, who am primarily a writer, was teaching teachers. And more striking, the courage and honesty of the teachers in writing their own powerful stories. They did good and brave work-- and weathered 30 instructional hours in just a few days.

We went on a couple of outings: one by boat to the long-abandoned town (with its restored one-room school) on nearby Portsmouth Island.

Here's some of the scenery: starting with the ferry taking me to my Ocracoke Island teaching assignment.










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A Week (Almost) on an Island

I'm getting ready to head off to Ocracoke on the NC Outer Banks to teach a writing class for five days for NCCAT. Very nice assignment, I know.

At the same time, teaching is the boldest thing I ever do. The most demanding of attentiveness. Writing is a piece of cake, by comparison. Public speaking is a walk in the park. (Pardon the cliches, please.) Teaching is serious stuff.

Ran across this comparison of writing and teaching from Parker J. Palmer, whom I've quoted here before:

"Writing is easy," someone once said. "You just sit down and open a vein." Teaching is an equally vulnerable act, performed, as it is, at the dangerous intersection of the public and the personal. To teach well, I must reveal things about which I care deeply-not the intimate details of my life, but subjects that I find crucial and compelling, that have helped shape who I am. The courage to teach is the courage to risk the judgment that comes when I expose my passions to public scrutiny."

So I'm getting my adrenaline cranked up--and packing my sunscreen. Will report back.

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Gandhi as Shy Guy

Gandhi, one of my often-mentioned heroes, is an encouraging example in part because of his rough start.

Prior to peacefully running the British out of India, he was a lawyer who was too cowed to speak up in court. He lost case after case. "He was a total failure," writes Paul Rogat Loeb in an AARP Bulletin piece adapted from his book Soul of a Citizen. Gandhi's Indian family "sent him off to South Africa, where he found his voice by challenging racial segregation."

It's a truism of public speaking that we lose any fear of it once what we have to say becomes more important than our personal performance.

"I love viewing Gandhi not as the master strategist of social change," Loeb writes, "but as someone who first was literally tongue-tied, shy and intimidated."

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Don't Forget to Look Up

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A Shocking Number

Just passed a thousand posts on Friday without even knowing it. That would be about three novels in length. Though, I must say my novels are more considered than my posts. Still, it does make me think. A thousand! Damn! Will have to cook up an appropriate celebration.

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Shear Boldness

Yesterday afternoon my writing group was called off, and instead of rushing back to my laptop, I went home and hit the garden.

Hit is the operative word. I did some serious pruning. For me, this is a bold move.

My general gardening philosophy is: if a thing wants to grow, I let it grow. This concept, put into practice, lends the place a certain straggly aura.

Yesterday, however, I got out the good clippers and restored all the edges, crisped up the paths. It looks great. The shrubs are looking perky and robust. And I'm very empowered.



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Yet Another Great Quote Sent in by Mamie

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor Satan
shudders and says, "Oh no, she's awake."
- unknown

(Mamie can be found at Can I Do It?)

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