It blew my mind when I read the article tonight, because this very subject is the one upon which I lulled myself to sleep last night. Seriously.

It occurred to me that I have always felt a vague sense of outsiderliness. It wasn’t that I screamed it out in any particular way. I just tend to not conform when I choose to not conform. Other times I do. No biggie either way.

My Mom and Dad adopted me. I understand that certain handbags I carry are super uncool, but I like them anyhow. I could go on and on, but, I swear, I won’t. Outsiderliness seems to fit in big and little things.

Here’s the lulling to sleep part: I’m not an outsider at all! I didn’t fall to sleep because I was bored. I fell to sleep because I was peaceful.

Take the heart for a ride to its inner place, and it goes outer to everything universal. There, not belonging does not exist. Any sort of bad vibes from the sense of being an outsider vanish.

Sometimes I call those bad vibes lonliness.

Hopefully, the next time I wish to comment it will appear in the right place. If not, maybe someone can put them where they belong. If not, I suppose they are outsiders; and I suppose they don’t mind a bit.

Thanks for the newsletter.

Melinda
Creative person in California

The Hard: In the aftermath of a cold and navigating a half-ass attempt to weed out possible food allergens, along with caffeine. Which has me realizing my own limitations (instead of “I can’t think of it all” it’s “I can’t do it all” (not even close) – and I don’t like facing (ok, meeting) that one bit.

The Good: The pinch-myself feeling that this week’s inuaguration inspires, that I’m getting better at self care & self-acceptance, the weather this week (squeal!), and encountering enthusiastic students.

Hugs!

Sociomaitris last blog post..Reminder to Self: I Can’t Do It All

So let me know if I can help. I’m all too eager to.

Johnny Truants last blog post..Unfortunately, pants

The other part of this that I wanted to say is that I think your response and ability to deal with the stress of it all while helping others has been phenomenal. I think you’re beating yourself up a bit much – the Table has literally changed people’s lives, as the comments attest.

So yes, Angel – go ahead and refuel. But smile, too.

And I’ll stop before I get the “stop telling me how to feel and what to do” finger-wag from you.

Charlies last blog post..Beyond Productivity: Living From the Inside Out (Episode 3)

And I’ve felt terrible for not anticipating the degree of success. I mean, I always believed that this would be a BIG deal – you remember all those times I had to remind you of that? – but I thought it would build a bit more slowly, not like some gigantic supernova of creative energy, positivity, and us all sharing our Stuff with each other.

I know, I know – we can only anticipate so much. And, truthfully, I’ve been kind of intimidated to talk about it, because the whole “success is sometimes harder than failure” thing is something I routinely work through with folks.

I make lemonade out of lemons. So my learning point is to include five categories now: utter failure, normal failure, par, normal success, and extreme success. It use to just be three: failure, par, and success.

So, thanks for walking through this one with me. And you already know how amazing you are, so I’ll not throw too many accolades.

But, I do want to say I told you so: I told you the Table would be a one of kind environment that would change how we see online communities. :p

Charlies last blog post..Beyond Productivity: Living From the Inside Out (Episode 3)

Hug @Annie …. I know it’s a lot, sweetie. Feel free to hide inside of the small groups or with a partner until you feel more settled …

@Lori – Wow, that’s quite a week. I want to take an etching class!

@Kelly – I know I already am crazy about you, but wow.

It’s too bad I don’t want to bring more people into the Kitchen Table right now … because “a gallon of concentrated chocolate bacon” would actually be the coolest/weirdest testimonial EVER.

I may stop writing copy for all my products and programs and just say “Concentrated chocolate bacon! By the gallon!” and see what happens.

We’ll get a bunch of nutjobs for sure, so that can only be a good thing.

This week’s challenges:
- The book is still kicking my ass. I’m still having a hard time finding my focus and the motivation to just sit down and finish the thing. I better find the motivation fast, because my deadline is next week.
- It’s been tough to not take things personally this week. I’ve worked hard at this for a number of years, but I seem to be regressing this week.

This week’s good:
- I had a great group of women for my etching class on Monday. They were a lot of fun and let me get my mind on art for a while and off of words.
- Wednesday’s class was cancelled for lack of signups, but it was a welcome relief to not have to be “on” again. I should know better than to schedule more than one class a week.
- When I do sit down and find my focus, I *am* making progress.

Stuff the hard:-
* Pain. Serious pain, like crying screaming (I don’t cry or scream – I’m a man, I grunt :p) oh-FSM-make-it-stop pain. It went away (ish), yay
* Being away from wifey while some government muppet processes her immigration paperwork
* Having to call pseudo-government call-center
* I have something else hard, but its only for sharing with the aforementioned wifey :D

Stuff the good:-
* Cat! Cats are cuddly, cute and total sluts. This is good.
* Chocolate
* Kitchen Table *blows kisses*
* Watching movies on the Internet
* No more Bush :p