Hey guys! The ads are terrific. Love them.

And thanks everyone for all the sweet, kind wishes for restfulness. Totally appreciated.

@Sonia – a cross between Oscar the Grouch and a grilled-cheese sandwich! Ohmygod, that is so completely how I feel right now.

A blurry, confused, foggy, greasy Oscar the Grouch grilled cheese sandwich. That is me. Brilliant!

@ilikered – *blows kiss*

@marie – good for you for knowing what you want! And no one is going to judge you for using the “coach”-word. It’s a useful word and people know it. No apologies necessary!

I wish you everything you need for your personal ad. I’m sure it will be awesome.

@Victoria – brave! Wow. I am impressed that you put this into words. Big stuff. Neat!

@Mona – your house! I can practically see it. Hope the clarity plants good seeds.

Hugs all around, you guys. Thanks for putting up with me when I’m in my own hard.

i haven’t been hanging around much the past few weeks… got lost in my own stuff I think. I have a lot of stuff all of a sudden. change is afoot and it is scary and making me question LOTS of things about myself and avoiding the pit of despair is becoming quite a task.

So, I am asking for courage and calm. Courage to listen to myself for real this time. No compromises. All the talk of sovereignty hit the nail on the head. So I am asking for courage and calm to seek it out. It can come to me by the mental clarity Shiva Nata brings, from supportive words from friends, through getting back to writing in a journal so conversations with myself are clearer. I will Shiva it up more than once a week, keep a notebook just for writing with me at all times and try to arrange for some good friend talking times. I will take evenings for myself to be alone and feel my way through the tough stuff.

*sigh*

It amazes me that other people cannot SEE when I am completely incapacitated by lack of sleep. Somehow I look to be a functioning human being, even though I am a cross between Oscar the Grouch and a grilled-cheese sandwich.
.-= Sonia Simone´s last blog ..What Makes Marketing Hard? =-.

I have something small to ask of the universe.

I’d like a title for my short horror story. I’ve had it finished for three weeks, and in the last rounds of editing for a week. Now it needs a title so I can send it off into the great unknown of the market.

How It Could Happen: – Someone could suggest something to me, and it would be just absolutely perfect.
- I could wake up and know what to do title it.
- I could catch a bit of a song and realize that’s the title for it.
- Anything, really.

My commitment: I will make this story the best I can make it and send it out to the markets before the end of the year, rather than sitting on it forever.

Here’s what I want: It’s a multi-parter, all having to do with my one person show and how I am being around it. First, I want butts in the seats. I want to sell out all three nights of my show. That’s 42 people per night, 126 people total.

Second, I want to have fun and a sense of both accomplishment and inner peace/grace in the journey to bringing the show to life for this version through the closing performance on October 3. This means that I stay in the moment and do the work in front of me, and not freak out about having too much to do or to memorize to get it ready. This means I stay grounded, ask for and receive help, and dig down to find faith that it will all come together, as I know it always does.

Third, I want to receive a sign that this show is worth doing, and that it’s making a difference. That my telling this story and doing this play matters.

How it Could Happen: The butts in seats will come from the PR and social connection work that I’ve done/am doing. It could also come from word of mouth out in the ether. The inner peace and grace and fun will come from my own inner wisdom, or it could come in the form of reminders from friends and loved ones who gently jolt me back into a positive perspective. The sign that the show is worth doing will come unexpectedly, magically, unbidden. I will just know it — it will likely only be recognizable to me.

My commitment: To just keep doing the work I need to do; hanging posters, sending out emails/tweets/messages, rehearsing, memorizing, reaching out to friends, being at the station when the train comes and then choosing to get on the train when it arrives.

Love and blessings and granted wishes to all.

I will trust that my efforts are enough, and that the people will show up and I will have full houses

I’m so sorry to read about the fog. I’m all too familiar with it… Thanks for the reminder that it’s not a permanent state – I needed it.

As for my ad – yes, I’m doing it for real this week! -, here goes:

Here’s what I want:
To know what my Shiva Nata practice needs me to do for it to bear fruits and deliver epiphanies, small and big, more than once in a blue moon.

Here’s how I want this to work:
I could have an epiphany through which I’d find out what I need to do differently for me to start having epiphanies. (don’t you just love the irony?!)
I could find a way to make it harder that would not make my brain disengage completely from what’s happening.
It could start working, just like that.
Any other way I haven’t thought of.

My commitment:
I will keep on enjoying my practice. I love it no matter what, so that won’t be hard!
I will explore what it means to “make it hard”, come up with new ways to mix things up, try new things that may make it just the right level of hard.
I will get back to journaling my practice.
I will keep on madly appreciating any and everything I get from it (which includes more than the epiphanies).
.-= Josiane´s last blog ..Retreating to write – and being treated to so much more =-.