I love my job. I'm teaching music in Vermont and having a great time. I'm passionate about the subject and the work, and I think that students enjoy my classes...
BUT
The economy is in a certain amount of chaos, and I'm a music teacher. Past relevant history (can you believe that i'm quoting Dr Phil?) suggest that all may not be rosy for arts educators.
That's the Danger part, and I do not want to minimize it. M any people are suffering, and it's likely to get worse or a long time before it gets better.
The Opportunity part has me asking myself "what else could I do? about what else could I be passionate?"
One of the great coaching questions I've heard recently is "where, when and how does time disappear for you?"
The answer to that is a big neon arrow to your passions.
I'm dabbling in fiber arts, in food, in writing, thinking about what I might LOVE to try. These are all things that I will do if I continue teaching, but if I need to do something else, there are many other things that fascinate me.
So - where does time disappear for me?
It happened just the other day, when I was looking at a new book about Adirondack rustic style, with many beautiful pictures. I hd the afternoon off, and I just sat there leafing through it. When I looked up, HOURS had passed.
Picture books, especially home style, gardening, travel, big art books, children's picture book make time disappear for me.
Friday, February 6, 2009
inspiration!
When I was at the International Coach Federation's New England division conference last May in Massachusetts, I heard Coachville's Dave Buck speak about the "inspiration-based economy." You can read much more about it on his blog:
http://www.coachblog.com/?p=139
The central point is that he believes - as do I - that we are moving from the so-called "information economy" to something very different than we've ever seen, an economy based on people creating work about which they are passionate. It's already happening, quite obviously, in our food supply. The Slow Food organization and hundreds of cooperatives around the nation and the world are literally shifting the way we eat to a more sustainable local food economy.
For me, what I learn from these movements is that we can really achieve sustainable local economies, perhaps not despite the current economic recession, but beacuse of it. The Chinese character for "crisis" includes both danger and opportunity. I think that we are facing a tremendous opportunity to shift our economy to Schumaker's model of "Small is Beautiful."
http://www.coachblog.com/?p=139
The central point is that he believes - as do I - that we are moving from the so-called "information economy" to something very different than we've ever seen, an economy based on people creating work about which they are passionate. It's already happening, quite obviously, in our food supply. The Slow Food organization and hundreds of cooperatives around the nation and the world are literally shifting the way we eat to a more sustainable local food economy.
For me, what I learn from these movements is that we can really achieve sustainable local economies, perhaps not despite the current economic recession, but beacuse of it. The Chinese character for "crisis" includes both danger and opportunity. I think that we are facing a tremendous opportunity to shift our economy to Schumaker's model of "Small is Beautiful."
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Update from Our Shameless Plug Division:
Foxhollow Studio has added creativity and life coaching to my menu of services. Life coaching is a process of client and coach entering into a relationship specifically designed to help clients achieve their highest goals in every aspect of their lives by setting up strong, clear goals with specific action plans and targeted completion dates AND by following through with regular contact and encouragement. Creativity coaching, which is the core of my coaching practice, focuses on creative goals and dreams. My mission as a creativity coach is to help you make your creative dreams a reality NOW.
My work as a coach was jump-started by my career coaching work as a client with renowed coach and mentor, Lea Belair. Lea helped me achieve all of my stated career goals within three months’ time, and the process was clear and fun! For me, I had a lot of fairly vague creative goals, and was’t quite sure where to begin. With Lea’s assistance, I identified those goals which were most important for me and set up the plan to achieve them.
I am a member of the International Coach Federation, and am taking courses through that organization and through CoachVille to become a certified professional coach. As a coach, I bring my thirty-plus years’ experience as a musician, creative and teacher to the work. I’ve had a wonderful time living my creative process, and I see how the goals which seemed like distant dreams can become reality with an excellent plan, hard work and strong support provided by a coach. If you're interested in a free introductory coaching session, please leave a comment or use the contact info at my site.
If you haven't yet done so, please check out my website
http://foxhollowstudio.net/
Foxhollow Studio has added creativity and life coaching to my menu of services. Life coaching is a process of client and coach entering into a relationship specifically designed to help clients achieve their highest goals in every aspect of their lives by setting up strong, clear goals with specific action plans and targeted completion dates AND by following through with regular contact and encouragement. Creativity coaching, which is the core of my coaching practice, focuses on creative goals and dreams. My mission as a creativity coach is to help you make your creative dreams a reality NOW.
My work as a coach was jump-started by my career coaching work as a client with renowed coach and mentor, Lea Belair. Lea helped me achieve all of my stated career goals within three months’ time, and the process was clear and fun! For me, I had a lot of fairly vague creative goals, and was’t quite sure where to begin. With Lea’s assistance, I identified those goals which were most important for me and set up the plan to achieve them.
I am a member of the International Coach Federation, and am taking courses through that organization and through CoachVille to become a certified professional coach. As a coach, I bring my thirty-plus years’ experience as a musician, creative and teacher to the work. I’ve had a wonderful time living my creative process, and I see how the goals which seemed like distant dreams can become reality with an excellent plan, hard work and strong support provided by a coach. If you're interested in a free introductory coaching session, please leave a comment or use the contact info at my site.
This may be a somewhat different sort of blog. It is personal, but it is also an invitation to explore and talk about creative process and how it affects our entire life experience. It may be a good place to talk about quality of life issues, about choice, about how our choices affect us and the planet. It isn’t intended to be preachy in any way, it’s just a conversation (I hope).
I hope that it's a good place to muse about our choices, individually and as a culture. What am I doing out of habit that doesn't affect my quality of life at all, but which could have a negative impact on the planet and on my own well-being? Even if it's something as simple as switching light bulbs to CFLs, a whole community of individuals making those kinds of choices can tremendously change our world for the better.
It’s my experience that the more clearly we can understand what it is that we want, the more likely we are to have it in our lives. It’s not, I think, so much a question of “manifesting“ or “inviting“ as it is of simply paying attention, giving focus to what you want. Much has been written that makes this process sound mysterious, magical or manipulative - I think it’s a great deal simpler than that. It is hard to overemphasize the power of noticing, of attention, of mindfulness around choice.
I have found that, especially for women of my generation and the earlier generation, we simply have no foundation to look at what it is that we want in our lives. We weren’t raised – many of us – with the understading that we could think about what we want in our lives and take what steps we need to get it, honestly and without manipulation. It is far too easy, I’ve found, to blame others for our own inability to create the life we want. We need to get around that resentment and take responsibility for our own happiness. We need to be whole people.
I have found that, especially for women of my generation and the earlier generation, we simply have no foundation to look at what it is that we want in our lives. We weren’t raised – many of us – with the understading that we could think about what we want in our lives and take what steps we need to get it, honestly and without manipulation. It is far too easy, I’ve found, to blame others for our own inability to create the life we want. We need to get around that resentment and take responsibility for our own happiness. We need to be whole people.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
I spent the afternoon wandering around the Adirondacks. The Adirondack Museum was excellent, a truly fine museum and absolutely worth a trip. I thought the museum shop was less fascinating, but that was OK, since I didn't spend much. I'd like to find some classy Adirondack decor, but I suspect that the non-tacky stuff will be pricey.
Do I really need more stuff?
Then again, who ever saw a cottage on the lake, or for that matter, a diner, that wasn't crammed to the rafters with intriguing personal collections?
This could be a dangerous line of thought.
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