Jury duty Calls!

Having postponed jury duty in March, it was requested of me to be available the week of April 28 - May 2. So off I went yesterday to the new Federal Building in downtown Tucson. I was assigned a high number to wear on my left lapel- no names for privacy. The first 31 numbers were called to sit in the jury box and courtroom area and taken through the list of questions to determine viable reasons for being excused or not. Those of us remaining in the observer section were asked to quietly answer the questions. I was thinking -"well there are alot of people here and I'm sure glad I received a higher number". Slowly as one person was excused after another my number was gradually getting closer to be called. Yep- there I was walking up to the empty seat in the jury box left vacant by the previous excused number. Here I was at choice- do I say yes I'm in a hardship situation being self employed and not being paid by my work for the next 3 days or do my civic duty to stay and see if I'm selected to sit on the jury for this case or do I decide to leave the outcome to the Universe and see what unfolds. This is nanosecond or less processing. I decided to let things unfold having no other strong feelings about the case and after living overseas I wanted to participate in our judicial system; imperfect as it is, it is far more fair and just than many other countries.

So dear friends, I am on the jury for a criminal case in federal court with 12 others. There are 13 of us. I leave you today with a quote and some inquiries regarding choice.

"Grant yourself buoyant freedom from shoulds and have-tos, since nothing clouds inner knowing as thoroughly as inner hectoring." -from The Life Organizer

Inquiries:
How do I feel abouat the choices I've been making in the past few weeks and months?
Who am I becoming with these choices?
Are these choices moving me toward or away from what I most value?
Are they moving me away or toward a life that fits me?

To joyful choices,
Colleen

On the Joy Trail!

Saturday found me facilitating the fun How Much Joy Can You Stand? Workshop at the An Inspiration Station.
It was a great day of putting on the visibility shoes and taking the risk to Dare to be Heard/ Dare to Transform.

Introducing their core essence with the No Name Tag Home play drew oohs and aahs and strengthened both the inner and outer connection. Fears, yeah buts and the inner critic were all exposed and asked to step aside as each participant listened to the voice of their soul and embraced their creative spirit. Each participant found clarity in the Creativity Visualization. The Creativity Exercise opened up new avenues to explore and was a catalyst for a well spring of new and innovative ideas. The creative energy was so intense during the Creativity Exercise that the air conditioning has to be turned on for a few minutes. Everyone took home their ‘creations’ plus their personalized dream worksheet with 5 year, 1 year, 1 month and 1 week markers. The celebration was enhanced by the beautiful surround of unique stained glass windows in addition to lovely chocolate and strawberries.

Sharing of creative projects


Joy, Passion & Simplicity , Colleen

If you have a group that is interested in reviving their creative spark, I welcome a conversation on how I can support you and help with a 3 hour or full day Joy workshop. Contact: colleen@consciouslivingconnection.com

A new resource

While perusing the library shelves the other day, I came across a small book that I was compelled to check out. It's titled "A Complaint Free World" by Will Bowen with a 21 day challenge. As my norm with thought-provoking books, I often start near the end or in the middle. This time I started toward the end with the stories of the people who undertook the 21 day challenge.

I frequently feel that I am not a huge complainer and sometimes I'm impatient with "whiners" or winjjers( as my Aussie friends call them). Color me with the scarlet C. When faced with an obstacle, especially when tired, I sometimes find myself looking for someone or something to blame. Good heavens, it can't be me who is responsible. I was probably giving myself a score of 3 or4 on the complaint scale. I was not aware of my amount of complaining. There are certain people in my "circle of angels" with whom I can complain on a limited time basis-10 minutes of venting and that's it. Even giving credence to a complaint by being sucked into the unjustness of it's not fair or the what can you expect situations, puts one on the side of a complainer. To clarify what a complaint is versus an objective observation, here is an example: Say you are in a restaurant and the soup you ordered is cold ( and it's not a cool summer soup or gazpacho). A complaint would be " What's wrong with them that they dare serve me soup that's cold? An observation would be " The soup is cold." and you make the necessary polite request to heat it up.


As with all things worth doing, this creative habit is simple but not easy and eventually with enough application and practice does result in competence mastery and a new paradigm shift.
It makes sense as you live your dream and your extraordinary life with passion and joy that your energy goes toward solutions versus being sucked down into a negative energy vacuum.

I'm going for the challenge and my purple bracelet. If you're game check out the website at
http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.com/ . You'll be creating what matters.


Blessings,


Colleen Mary

Happy April

April in the desert has been nothing short of extraordinary. Our petite backyard has blossomed full out - the best since it was landscaped 2 years ago. With nurturing and time, the plants became grounded and are maturing. I feel like my secret garden at times in relation to my business. As I nurture it and allow for the passage of time( re: James Rohn), I become more clear as to who I serve and why I want to partner and work with them. The blog name states it fairly well. I want to help/partner with individuals who want to create what matters however form that takes for them.

That's exactly what occurred in working with the families during Kold's Dash to the Door segment.

Each of the families had an idea of what they wanted to create to achieve morning harmony and get the day off to better start. But they were stuck in the same scenario and needed some outside support to get them over the hump. With several strategic clarity planning sessions to share their vision and develop their serenity plan they were off and running. Further e-mail support personally and through the blog helped them be accountable while thousands watched their transformation. What both families learned was that to create what mattered to them they needed to hold their vision, commit to their action plan, de-clutter the things that were not serving their vision and garner support from family, friends and even work colleagues to achieve success. And just like in a garden, they found out what strategies worked best for their situation and weeded out those that weren't the best for their family.

“I’m trying to think of an answer for a very important question that Colleen asked me on Monday- What is one thing can I take off my plate for the week to give me more time? So far I have made an effort to have Anthony do his 20 min of reading and practice spelling tests at his after school program. That way I have an extra 20 min at home to let him unwind and I get a head start on my homework.” Sarah, single mother, full time employee and student.

"Good morning everyone! Okay, so this is really weird........I must have had an intuition as to what the tip of the day was going to be today, because last night I took, not only 10 minutes to rejuvenate, but almost 4 hours. After work I went tanning, took a stroll through Target (which was only suppose to be a quick stroll and it turned into an hour and a half because I literally ran into 11 old high school buddies, plus a teacher)and then I took myself out for dinner at Sushi Tran. By the time I got home, the house was peaceful with 5 sleeping kids and a exhausted husband snoring away on the couch. It was beautiful. Today, I feel great. I slept great last night and I am ready to dive into my day. Right now, in the background I hear Frankie brushing the boys teeth and Aerica in the kitchen diligently loading the dishwasher. Oh, and by the way, I was so excited to use the timer and do the 7 minute pick-up, but after discussing it with the kids, by the time I was ready to start the timer, the house was spotless!!! Thank you so much Colleen! " Andrea Cruz, counselor, student and mother of 5.

What is important to you? What would you like to create? Is there a book, a cake decorating business, art show, home sanctuary, soft ware program, or marathon waiting to be born from your soul? If there are yeah buts and other such stuff getting in the way, join me April 19 in Tucson for the "How Much Joy Can You Stand?" Workshop. Here's the invitation link http://www.consciouslivingconnection.com/muchjoy.htm

Joy, Passion & Simplicity,

Colleen