published in Achieving Your Dreams by Maryanne | March 19, 2009 | No Comment
Hallo! Sorry I have been remiss about not blogging on a regular basis…too much running and not enough writing 
This was an ‘expert column’ of mine that was recently published in Calgary’s Rising Women magazine:
Question: I’m struggling with how to make my dreams materialize. I know what I want to achieve but I don’t seem to be able to take the necessary steps to move forward.
There are five factors that must be in place for you to achieve your dreams. 1. Believe in yourself: if you don’t believe in your abilities, no one else will. 2. Trust your intuition: you may not know why you must fulfill a particular dream, only that it’s imperative you do so. Trust that – the answers will come.
3. Surround yourself with people who encourage you, not those who tell you why something can’t be done: the first is ideal; the second non-negotiable. 4. Show up and do the work: take at least one step every day, no matter how small, towards achieving your dream. 5. Enjoy the process: once you make a commitment to a dream and begin taking tangible steps towards achieving it, other forces will kick in and help move you closer to your goals. But you have to show up and do the work.
George Eliot (Maryann Evans) wrote, “It’s never too late to become what you might have been.” But know this: time IS passing – and how you spend your days is how you spend your life. Procrastination is the thief of time, so be aware that every moment you spend putting off until tomorrow what your soul is crying for you to do today takes you further from your dream.
Here are three tips to get you moving in the right direction again. 1. Spend time alone every day – and dream your dream! Even if it’s just five minutes, you need to visualize yourself achieving it…what does that feel like? 2. Break it down into manageable goals – and then break those down into bite-size tasks. 3. Prioritize: put one of these tasks, no matter how tiny, at the TOP of your daily to-do list.
Can’t be done? Then try this: close your eyes and picture yourself at the end of your life. You’re lying in your casket and they’re just about to close the lid. Now ask yourself if you’ve achieved what you needed to in this life. If the answer is no and you didn’t like how that felt, then yes – you CAN put your dream at the top of your list. Because if not now, when? If not you, who?
Take care,
Maryanne
published in Synchronicity by Maryanne | February 11, 2009 | 1 Comment
Syncronicity or Coincidence?
Aloha! Here’s a story for ya…I was in Hawaii last week visiting my friend, Nina, who lives on the big island of Hawaii. We were out on a catamaran, whale-watching, and we got chatting with a woman from Michigan who, for some reason, asked me if I’d been to Eastern Canada and specifically Prince Edward Island.
I said why yes, I had – in fact, Summerside PEI was THE reason I was on said catamaran in Hawaii whalewatching with a woman named Nina.
So I went on to tell Nina and the Michigan lady this story: my mom and I were traveling in Prince Edward Island about 4 years ago when my mom felt a bladder infection coming on. So I took her to the emergency in Summerside and while we were waiting for her to see a doctor, I picked up a Macleans magazine to read. And in that issue of Macleans happened to be an article about the Canadian-born silent screen star named Nell Shipman.
As I read the article, I thought to myself I HAVE to know more about this woman. Fast forward a few years and not only have I learned a great deal more about Nell Shipman, I am now also in the process of writing a screenplay about her. Which is how I met Nina: Nina is Nell’s granddaughter. We’d been in correspondence about the film project and rights etc. and we’d actually met in LA a year ago and hit it off. So she’d asked me to visit her in Hawaii – and I did!
I don’t think I’d shared with Nina the sordid details about my mother’s bladder infection being the original reason behind how I came to be interested in Nell Shipman. But thanks to the Michigan lady, now she knows!
At any rate, after the whale-watching excursion, Nina and I head back to the Hilo side of the island and on the way we stop at the National Park, Pu`uhonua o Honaunau (say that five times in a row), which is a former residence of the royal chiefs – and a very sacred place. So we get out of the car and Nina immediately heads towards the bathroom. Then we go on a tour of the park. Back in the car again, she tells me she’s pretty sure a bladder infection is coming on, so we head for home.
Then, back at her place again, I check my e-mail and low and behold there is a lone book order from Summerside, PEI. Summerside…what are the chances?
The next morning Nina tells me her bladder infection is gone.
Coincidence? Or are these wonky happenstances just friendly little reminders that when one is paying attention, perhaps the universe does let us know whether we’re headed in the right direction or not?
Maryanne
published in Achieving Your Dreams by Maryanne | January 28, 2009 | No Comment
January 28th, 2009
Passion…Are You Melted Gold or Coins?
You have the energy of the sun in you, but you keep knotting it up at the base of your spine. You’re some kind of weird gold that wants to stay melted in the furnace, so you won’t have to become coins. – Rumi
Why do we do this? Stifle or sabotage our dreams and passions by playing it safe? Why do we often choose to exist instead of living lives that explode with purpose and passion?
Could it be that perhaps we are often so busy getting all the items on our SHOULD to-do lists ticked off that we don’t even make time to write up our HAVE-TO-DO-BEFORE-I-DIE to-do list, let alone get anything ticked off it?
And if so, why is that?
Well, I’ll look to my own experience over the past month for clues. Just before Christmas, I was re-reading one of my favourite books, Something More by Sarah Ban Breathnach, and I found myself bawling like a baby…always a sure sign that something in my life needs tweaking. Again.
I came across this line: The only way you’ll be able to live authentically is to be true to your passions.
So I asked myself, what, exactly, am I passionate about? What makes my heart soar? Here is the list I came up with:
- Animals
- The environment
- Writing
- My dogs
- Falling in love again
- Workplace Safety
Then I looked at how I was actually spending the vast majority of my days.
The answer? E-mail.
E-mail? That’s not even ON my list! And yet how we spend our days is how we spend our lives.
So I looked a little deeper. Yes, e-mail was how I was spending my days – but I was often doing so because I was procrastinating on tackling what was really important to me.
So, after Christmas break, things changed…I changed. I began putting what was most important to me at the top of my list. And I am pleased to report that I recently spent two entire days working full-throttle on several of my environmental writing projects that deal with greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and tar sands development.
I care deeply about these issues and if I were to get to the end of my life and not have done my part to help contribute to the solutions, I wouldn’t forgive myself.
E-mail has its place in my life, yes – but I will no longer allow it to consume too many precious hours in my day. Frankly, I also finally just got tired of being crazily busy, yet never really accomplishing much.
And as far as my passions go, well I’m back on track again for creating coins…because staying as melted gold isn’t going to benefit anyone.
Gotta run…I’m off to Hawaii for a week for some R&R…and to partake in another of the activities I’m passionate about – walking on a beach
Maryanne