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Living Wild and Precious

~ Step into a better world.

Living Wild and Precious

Monthly Archives: August 2012

Trying to stay out of a hurricane’s business

28 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by Carla in managing worry

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Hurricane Isaac, hurricanes, mind your own business, stay in your business

Boarded up.

I’m going to try to sneak this post in before the power goes out.  I’m all up in the Universe’s business right now – trying hard not to be but finding myself tensing up as I hear the wind build up and make all kinds of eerie noises and push the trees and leaves and everything else outside.

We are “sheltering in place”, as the authorities call it, for Hurricane Isaac.  We are prepared for power outages, the house is boarded up, we’ve secured everything as best we can, and now we ride it out and do our best to stay safe.  I have a sleeping cat by my side – we finally brought her in off the front porch – she loves to watch a good wind storm. You can read my additional musings about waiting for Isaac on my New Orleans blog here.

Staying is less hassle than going, and because this is a Category 1 storm (at least as of right now) we aren’t required to evacuate.  But wind is wind and rain is rain, and it’s almost harder to be here and listen to the wind and watch the plants turning sideways than it is to come home and see the aftermath but miss the process.

Already while I’ve been writing this the power’s gone off for a few minutes.  I thought that was it, and oh well – I didn’t get to post.  But miraculously it’s come back on so I have a couple more minutes at least of reprieve where I can be attached to my electronics!

I’m doing my best to stay out of this hurricane’s business.  To not sit here tensed up trying to get the wind to die down using the power of my thoughts.  Because goodness knows, what the hurricane does is certainly not my business.

There’s a saying in coaching – there are three kinds of business:  The universe or God’s business, other people’s business, and our own business.  Often when we’re in the middle of a lot of pain and suffering, it’s because we’re up in someone else’s business – wishing something would be different.  Wishing someone would act differently, or wishing it would stop raining, or whatever.  Trying to control something we really have no control over.

So I’m taking a lesson from the hurricane here.  It’s going to blow, rain, cause power outages, knock down trees, whatever it’s going to do, and it’s going to do it whether I sit here tensely holding my breath or whether I relax and breathe freely and stay present.

We are inside, safe, warm, loved and lucky. And we will hopefully be that way in the morning!

Time to sign off before the power goes out, and if you’re having any trouble staying out of the business of the weather or another person, see how it feels to let it go.  Let it be.  Relax and breathe.  Ahhh.  Stay safe, everyone!

 

WIGS and WIGS!

24 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by Carla in celebration, goal setting

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

80s music, New Orleans, vision boarding, vision boards, wigs, WIGS and WIGS

What do you get when you mix a group of smart amazing women in fabulous wigs , a great venue with scores of wines to sample, a bunch of magazines at the ready for vision boarding, a limo and a club playing exclusively 80s music?  You get WIGS and WIGS night!

I’m not sure exactly when I dreamed up this night.  I imagined the whole thing in my head months ago. And then last week I manifested it in the flesh with a bunch of fantastic girlfriends.

In the land of coaching, WIGS are Wildly Improbable Goals – those ones you would love to achieve but they seem like almost too much to ask – like relocating to Italy, or hiking the Appalachian trail, or writing an Oscar-winning screenplay, or just whatever you want that you don’t have yet and it seems like it might be kind of complicated to do it or get it.

One way to articulate your WIGS is to create a vision board – a bunch of words and images that represent your goal and the feeling state you’ll have when you accomplish it.  And when I learned that these goals were called WIGS, I just imagined in my head a bunch of women in wigs working on vision boards of their WIGS and then going out 80s dancing – because part of the fun of making vision boards is to release attachment to the outcome, and what better way to do this than go out dancing to Madonna, Duran Duran, Talking Heads and Michael Jackson?  Oh, and did I mention the limo?

We started the evening at W.I.N.O – the Wine Institute of New Orleans.  I love this place because it’s self-serve wine tasting – you use a card to sample tastes of wine in specially climate-controlled dispensers – it’s like wine vending machines!

We chatted and ate and made our vision boards, then hopped in the limo, shared our goals, toasted with champagne and headed out to dance at One Eyed Jack’s, where they have an excellent DJ and dancers and they screen 80s movies and videos all night long. And oh my goodness, did we dance!  What is it about music from the 1980s?

We had such a fabulous time- and I’ll be doing WIGS and WIGS nights again, plus more cool, creative events to help us all live our wild and precious lives.  If you’re a woman living in the New Orleans area and want to make sure you don’t miss out on the fun, sign up here and I’ll put you on a special NOLA email list to keep you posted about upcoming exciting, relaxing, rejuvenating and fabulous events I dream up! (And of course I will not share your email or do anything spammy.)

I love living my wild and precious life by taking beautiful walks in nature, and I also love living it by dancing the night away! What have you been doing lately to live your wild and precious life?

Wordless Wednesdays – camouflaged frog

22 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by Carla in nature, wordlessness

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

frog, New Orleans, wordless walk, wordless wednesdays

I love how frogs are the color of the water.  Need some wordless time?  Come join me this Sunday at 8 a.m. just a bit south of  New Orleans, at Jean Lafitte National Park- Barataria, for a wordless walk.  We’ll meet at the Pecan Grove parking lot. Details here.

And if you live far away, send me your wordless photos and stories!

Fun inspiration five ways!

16 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by Carla in goodies, wordlessness

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

blog talk radio, coaching offers, life coaching, New Orleans, relaxing retreat, retreats, wordless walks, wordlessness

Happy Thursday, everyone! There are so many great things happening right now!  And something here might be just the dose of inspiration you need!

First, on Monday I was a guest on Stacey Shank’s Blog Talk Radio Show – she’s the mastermind behind the 30 Day Challenge that I participated in. We talked about how to realize our own overwhelm and ways to remedy that and live more calmly. And I do a cool sense drenching activity that’s super relaxing. If you have 30 minutes, give it a listen! – click the little play icon below.

Listen to internet radio with Stacey Shanks on Blog Talk Radio

 

Second, I’m so excited about my upcoming Clarity and Connection retreat – right on the Autumnal Equinox- September 21-23 – a perfect time to be quiet in nature so you can hear your soul. Waterfall hiking, an incredibly beautiful and relaxing setting, and the perfect mix of unstructured time and group time to share with other wise women. I still have spots available, so check your calendar and see if a personal getaway in September is just what you’re looking for! Read more details and sign up here.

Third, if you’re in the New Orleans area, I have two wordless walks coming up!  I’m hosting a morning walk on Sunday August 26 at 8 a.m. and then a moonlight wordless walk on Friday, August 31 – it’s a special blue moon!  You can read more about these events here. And if you’re not near New Orleans, have you signed up to get my free wordless cure for busyness?  It gives you great directions on how to take your own wordless walk, and how to incorporate more wordlessness into your daily life and dial back the busyness.  You can sign up on the side bar to the right, or if you’re reading this on a phone and don’t see a side bar, then click here.  Then you’ll be subscribed and get email updates from me and exciting offers and other fun wild and precious goodies!

Fourth, I am looking for people to share their experiences with wordlessness for my Wordless Wednesdays. I want to start a wordlessness revolution and I would love to feature you and your wordless video or photos.  Feel free to write about your wordless experience as well.  Send your wordless goodies to me: carla@livingwildandprecious.com – and if you include your snail mail address in your email, I’ll send you a treat!

Fifth and best of all, if you’re at all interested in seeing how coaching can make a difference in your life, this is a great time to find out. My coaching rates will be increasing in September, so now’s the time to jump in, invest in yourself and save some money at the same time.  Are you itching to live more wild and precious? Click to schedule a free call with me and learn more!

schedule free call here!

 

And this is just the beginning – I have some new Wild and Precious yumminess coming very soon, and I can’t wait to tell you about it!

Enough – why’s it so hard?

12 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by Carla in gratitude

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

enough. having enough, I have enough

This question dogs me on a regular basis.  How can we be so rich, have so much – so much! – and still feel like there’s not enough?  Is is because we see and read about others who have so much more? Certainly there are many others who have so much less.

I look around our (comparatively modest) home and it’s full of magical things – things most humans throughout history, no matter how rich, didn’t have.  A way to send photos and words – and voices and video! – around the world.  A way to find the answer to almost any question I have.  Hot running water.  Art supplies. Warm and cozy clothes.  Fun clothes.  Plenty of clothes.  Food.  Chocolate.  Wine.  Multiple kinds of fresh fruits and veggies.  More than enough delicious food. My home even has a fellow human who is my dearest friend, confidante and sweetheart, plus two unbelievably cute and cuddly cats.  When it’s cold outside, we can make the inside warm.  When it’s hot outside we can make the place cool.  We have grass and trees and flowers and a little deck.  We have things to read.  And streaming music and movies – any entertainment we could want at the click of a button!  We have meaningful work, and all kinds of ways to connect and celebrate and socialize with others.

I’ve been reading The Gift of Imperfection by Brené Brown, and she mentions in one part that many of us wake up and our first thought is about not enough.  We didn’t get enough sleep.  We don’t have enough time.  Something else about our situation is not good enough.  We are not good enough.

That’s a rough way to wake up – and believe me, I’ve done it plenty.

Recently though, as part of my newest 30 day challenge, I’m writing super-positively every morning.  And it’s surprisingly easy to do – there’s a lot to be positive about!  It’s amazing how great I feel after doing this.  It’s not about making stuff up.  There is so much to be positive about every day – every moment.  Today during my grass time I stared at the sky. (yep, I still do grass time – it’s something I look forward to every day!) It was so beautiful.  White puffy clouds drifting along a blue, blue backdrop.

True, I am usually a “glass half full” kinda girl.  But why not?  I enjoy celebrating that I have enough.  Of everything.  In fact I have more than enough.  I have an abundance!  Of beauty, of love, of delicious food, of pretty soaps in the bathroom.  I have enough time.  I can arrange my life so I have enough sleep.

And most importantly, no matter what I “get done” or don’t get done every day, I am enough.  That feels lovely and peaceful.

How do you remind yourself where you have enough, or an abundance, in your life?  How does it change your state of mind when you look for the places where you have enough or more than enough? How are you, just as you are, enough?

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Hi! I'm Carla and I'm so glad you've stopped by! Relax here a while and find out how to bring more wild and precious into your life. Pop over to the Blog tab to read what I've been up to lately, or check out the Happenings to see what's coming up on the calendar!
"Thank you for being my life coach. It has been an amazing and transformative experience for me. You are so gifted and our sessions brought me so much joy!"

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