Fresh Eyes

Springing forth in a California sort of way

Springing forth in a California sort of way, originally uploaded by jcgr.

Spring can't help but happen.

If it hasn't happened there yet, soon, it will.

Simple pleasures discovered once more

A few days ago I asked the following question of Women in Consulting's "Off-Topic" e-mail list:

Is there a "simple pleasure" you've rediscovered during these recessionary times?

The answers started to pour in. Here they are, compiled.

Enjoy, everyone, and enjoy every one.

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Absolutely!  Playing board games/card games with friends and family instead
of 'going out'!

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I made a sourdough starter and have been making fresh bread several times a week.

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Great question, Jan.  Two answers from me:  homemade soup and conversation with my husband over evening coffee.

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My husband and I are cooking at home much more often, and sharing the
experience.  We're enjoying the additional time grocery shopping, even
cleaning up, etc.  We find we're talking more.

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Walking places instead of using the car.

baking with friends instead of meeting for coffee.

giggling about silly stuff, playing charades

hot fudge sundaes with homemade hot fudge and roasted nuts (melt chocolate chips with a bit of milk and stir)

playing clue and trivial pursuits

I would love to see a compilation of what people send

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My simplest pleasure is to listen to the jazz station, KCSM 91.1.

No commercials, a variety of music, great DJs, and it always puts me a good mood.

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Monopoly!

Oh, and ice skating and x-country skiing on the lake.  I live in MN!

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Actually trying interesting recipes that come in my monthly issues of Food
and Wine magazine!

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TV!  :)

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This is not a rediscovery; it's a new discovery. I'm hand-appliquéing on cotton squares and making fabric art/quilts. Fun!

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soup

actually - I should clarify...homemade soup.

I thought of another idea - there's a free application for iphone that allows you to browse all local music events (called gigatron.)  I believe there is a similar function on SF Gate.  The gist of the "simple pleasure" idea is to go to local bars and see local talent.  Cheap and nothing beats live music and supporting your local establishments, arts, etc.  It's helped us to discover new music and new places to drop in to.

Thanks - and would love to see this compilation!

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Here are just a couple
·         Playing board games and doing puzzles
·         Going for walks in nature (by the creeks, etc.), looking for “treasures”
·         Watching old movies that we have on DVD
·         Reading

I’d love to see the list. Thanks Jan!

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Walking past really nice clothing stores and feeling virtuous about not going in.

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A family half day hiking, with our dog too, in regional parks. Doesn't cost
anything (other than maybe gas to go there), good exercise, and feels like
we had a good eventful weekend!

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Great question.

Yes, there is a simple pleasure I've rediscovered.  Being silly.  My SQ (Silliness Quotient) has always been quite high, but I found that I was getting so bolixed up by events going on in the world, it was making me ill, literally.  I finally got some perspective and began to realize the absurdity of attempting to control things that are beyond my control.  So...
I am spending time with my husband and my friends, taking walks, watching great old movies ("The Red Shoes" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Marty" come to mind), and most of all...I am finding things to laugh about.  Low-cost way to keep my sanity until the overall situation stabilizes.

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You mean besides the obvious - a good bottle of wine or other unhealthy
pleasures like Ben and Jerry's?  JK, actually, we know where those will lead
us.

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These are simple pleasures I enjoyed even before the recession: gardening, the cats, Scrabble, conversations with friends.

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The greatest "simple" pleasures I've found is in giving back, as in doing some volunteer work. I go into a classroom once a week and I've started to do some work for the Alzheimer's Association, my father passed away two years ago from complications due to this disease and I always said I'd like to give back to the fine folks that helped us out.

I also think you can find many things to do for FREE - visiting friends or family - take a walk or hike, go visit someone you've meant to visit for a long time - go to the library, just enjoy nature and step away from the computer and your job search - just my two cents!

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Finally, for now, here are two I'd add to the list:

1. Interviewing family members and other people who are important to you and recording or writing or photographing their stories. For more, listen to the KQED Forum program on Story Corps

2. Taking photowalks to discover new areas, or more fully discover "known" parts of your world, then posting the results to Flickr or other photo sharing sites.

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Are there ideas you would add, as well? I'd love to hear them - let me know!

Fresh growth

Opening of another season, originally uploaded by jcgr.

The vining, twining and serendipity of fresh growth begins again.

Where are you seeking - or finding - fresh growth in your world?

You're frustrated? And so?

"We can't wallow in our frustrations. We have to act. He'll talk about where we need to go from here." That was David Axelrod, President Obama's senior advisor, talking before the president's speech to the nation last night.

His comments struck a note I've been thinking about for a few days.

"I'm frustrated!" I sometimes hear people say in business and home life, too. Usually, the words are uttered angrily, suggesting the person believes their frustration is some sort of ending.

It's as if they're saying, "I couldn't possibly act. Didn't you hear me? I'm FRUSTRATED."

But frustration is far from the end of the sentence, the game, the story.

It's a pivotal moment when you either get stuck, or find the reserves to work your way through.

When you want to break free from the barrier or burden of frustration, start by considering these things:

1. What's the problem - the real problem?

2. What's causing it?

3. How can you eliminate that cause or causes?

4. Can you get started, or do you need different skills, information or other resources before you do?

5. Having thought these things through, how and when can you start to give the causes of your frustration the boot?

Beginning well

Whether you're starting on a journey, facing a problem or chasing a star, there's always a beginning to the work that will take you there. And beginning it well can take you very, very far.

Here's the advice others have provided over the years about strong beginnings:

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth...not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
 Jim Rohn

The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.
Unknown

A hard beginning maketh a good ending.
John Heywood

On the other hand, there's this one:

There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so on.
Robert Byrne

Roast the goodness in

Roasted goodness, originally uploaded by jcgr.

Sometimes simple is best.

In this case, that includes great flavor, color, texture. And nutrition, as well: vitamins, for starters, and there's even more after that.

Roast the goodness in, whatever it is.

Sometimes all it takes is for natural goodness (and we're not just talking food here...goodness can be many, many things) to be enhanced a bit, forged by heat, over the course of enough time to let the best expand, blend, and be ready for whatever action is next.

Roast the goodness in.

Then enjoy it at its best.

If at first you don't succeed, take a step back

Success continually eludes your grasp?

Perhaps you're trying to rush ahead, too fast.

If at first you don't succeed, try something revolutionary. Take a step back.

You may need to stop, check and correct the fundamentals or the foundation you need to have in place before you can race ahead.

For example:

1. Do you - or your team, if you're leading a team - have the right skills already? If not, what do you need to add, improve, correct? What do you need to compensate for? How can you do that?

2. Are there resources that you'd ideally have, but do not? Is there a creative way you can adapt, such as by simplifying work processes? Can you combine some things to get more done with fewer resources? Can you rearrange work or resources to creatively get to the finish line in a new and different way than you have in the past?

3. Is your purpose clear, really clear? If not, fix that.

4. Is the path, the action plan, as clear as it can be - given that for many people and many companies now, the path ahead can't be completely defined. Some things you don't know and won't know how to address until you get farther down the path. But for those things you can define and plan, have you? Are they well-communicated so everyone who needs to know, knows what the plan is, and what part they play? If the plan isn't clear or isn't well-communicated, fix that.

It's right in front of you

It's right in front of you, originally uploaded by jcgr.

Sometimes what you seek is right in front of you, or underneath your feet.

In this case, a tiny rock near the car cast a perfect heart shadow that started a busy day with a smile.

Another time, a team I as on was trying to complete a particularly elaborate analysis. A book we'd overlooked...right there in front of us...provided the answer that had eluded us for days.

Other times, the answer to a question, a wish, a prayer can be a person whose path crosses your own in just the right way, at the right time, in the right place.

When was the last time the answer, for you, was right in front of you, or underneath your feet?

Now where is that horizon, exactly?

Now where is that horizon, exactly?, originally uploaded by jcgr.

Where are the boundaries to your field of competition or play?

Where is the beginning, the end? Where are the edges, the rims?

Here, sea and sky appear to create one big blue scene, reaching on endlessly.

Thinking, creativity, courage and action

Success is a matter of luck, of timing. But the "success process" includes much more than that.

It involves high quality information, thinking, creativity, flexibility, and the ability to apply all that good preparation to take right actions, in the right way to make things play out as well as they can.

Here are a few ideas from others about successfully traveling that path:

If we did all the things we're capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
Thomas Alva Edison

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and putting one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.
Charlie Parker

It is the function of the creative man to perceive and to connect the seemingly unconnected.
William Plommer 

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
Mark Twain

I waited for the idea to consolidate, for the grouping and composition of themes to settle themselves in my brain. When I felt I held enough cards I determined to pass to action, and did so.
Claude Monet

Sometimes the biggest act of courage is a small one.
Lauren Raffo