Kat Eye Studio

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And the Birds Sing

Today is a day for pretty flowers and happy music! Sometimes you just need a smile in your day. So here are a few things to put a smile on your face…

1. A lovely wildflower scene from Glacier National Park.

2. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, a new book from Brené Brown is released today. I love the message of her previous books, The Gifts of Imperfection and I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t), so I have high hopes for this new one too. She is doing an 8-week online read-along from 26 September through 14 November on her blog. Want to join me in reading it?

3. Remember the Jumpstart Creativity Tour? I hosted Jess here in Corvallis in July. The tour is still going strong! If you can’t make an event, Jess has created an e-course to inspire your creativity. It’s a 13-week pay-what-you-can e-course. Check it out here. You just might see a little something from me in the course, too!

4. Some happy music! I’ve been listening to Tyrone Wells and I love this catchy tune, And The Birds Sing. Watch out, you might find yourself singing along!

Sing, smile and enjoy your Tuesday.

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The Beauty of Possibility

An open road. A blank canvas. A budding flower. All have one important thing in common – they are full of possibility.

Possibility is fun and open. Possibility is free and exciting. The delicious feeling of “possibility” happens whenever you stand on the precipice of something new and exciting. Something you don’t quite know the outcome, but you have hopes and dreams for what it may be. The hopes and dreams shape the possibilities that lay before you.

I used to be very goal-oriented. One of my favorite quotes was “A goal without a deadline is just a dream.” As if dreams were bad things. As if the only dreams that mattered were the ones accomplished.

Now I know better. Dreams are necessary. Dreams provide us with possibility, so that as our journey unfolds before us, we have a chance to see the branches and explore the options. We have the chance to say, “what if” and feel the possible outcomes.

A goal with a deadline is like marching down a path and not looking either way, at the branches and possibilities that become available. That’s not to say deadlines are bad things. I use them all the time to get things done. If you could see me working furiously behind the scenes to get ready for my trip to England in a few weeks, you would know I definitely use deadlines. But the whole trip started with a hope and a dream. Those dreams led to exploring possibilities. It’s not until you settle on one possibility that things can coalesce into a plan. A goal, if you wish.

We need possibility in our lives. It creates openness and space for new things to form. It keeps us fluid and adaptable, able to respond to what comes along. It allows us to see our dreams come true, because we didn’t decide the details on exactly how it might happen.

So dream. Hope. Allow the possibilities to unfold around you as you take a step into the unknown. Sooner or later, you might turn some of the dreams into goals. But for today, allow the dream and see the beauty of possibility.

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Warning Signs

Imagine you are walking down a path and you see this warning sign:

What do you do? Do you turn around and head home? Do you continue on, taking every precaution? Or do you wing it, figuring that you’ll be ok? We encountered this sign on one of our hikes in Glacier National Park. There were several options available to us, to avoid bears:
1. Don’t hike, because then you are sure to avoid bears.
2. Get a bell and make lots of noise, to warn the bears of your coming and scare them away.
3. Purchase the bear repellent spray for $49.95, to spray a bear if it comes near you.

Since we weren’t doing any serious back country hiking, just short hikes popular with the tourists, we opted to purchase a bear bell and continue. We already have our own noisemaker with us, in the form of an 11-year-old boy, so we figured we would be ok.

Bear Precautions: An 11-year-old boy and a bell

We were fine. No bears sighted on our hikes! Some beautiful things sighted along the path though, like gorgeous wildflowers and light dancing on the leaves. Experiences we would have never had, if we stayed in the developed areas bears avoid.

Fireweed

We could have been warned away by the sign. We could have avoided any chance of meeting bears by not going down the path. Hiking in bear country is a good analogy for living your life. Do you avoid any chance of danger, by not going down the path at all? Or do you weigh the options and risks, and move forward down the path with some precautions?

I especially love the phrase on the sign: “There is no guarantee of your safety when hiking or camping in bear country.” Really, there is no guarantee of your safety anywhere.

There is one absolute guarantee though, if you decide to avoid the path, you will miss some wonderful views.

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