Books and Other Things I Can't Stop Talking About

Archive for the ‘Books and Other Things I Can't Stop Talking About’ Category

We have winners! Yay!

July 16th, 2010

Mr. Aardvark, of Aardvark Essentials thank you very much,
Heidi Fischbach of Heidi's Table,
and Shannon Wilkinson, that would be me of right here, are

Delighted to announce the people- and potion-winners of our contest!

[*Drum roll please!* Picture Shannon and Heidi, in fanciest of fancy Potion-Oscar gowns... Shannon hands Heidi the envelope:]

The Grand Prize goes to:
Karencita

Great Prize One goes to:
Bridget (@intuitivebridge)

Great Prize Too goes to:
Elizabeth B

[When clapping dies down, Heidi hands Shannon another white envelope, this one with the Potion winners... Shannon is opening the envelope... Her eyes widen in surprise...]

“Oh. My! It’s a 3-way tie! And the winners are:”

Night Queen
(to develop your confident passion)

Losing It
(to calm the heck down in moments of overwhelm and fear)

Sassypants
(to help you live what’s true for you, without worrying about the world’s approval)

Wow! Yay! Cheers all around.

* * *

We had loads of fun reading all your votes, tweets and blog entries and send big kisses to everyone who participated and cheered us on.

Contest winners: We'll be contacting you shortly to get your mailing information. Your potions will be mailed out in the next week, and your audio downloads will be available on Wednesday, July 28. Congratulations!

Because we'd love everyone to win in some way, and because we're super excited to start selling these creations now, we are offering a Pre-Release Sale to anyone and everyone who would like to get in on the Audio+Potion Magics:

Order now, and get all 3 Potions &
accompanying Audios for the special price of:

$56 (plus shipping)
(after July 28th, the price will be $80)

Like contest winners, your potions will be mailed out within in the next week, and your audio downloads will be available on Wednesday, July 28.

What will I get?

1/2 oz. of 3 Aardvark Essentials Potions
(artfully blended essential oils in a silky handmade lotion)

3 MP3 Inspiration-igniting and fear-taming hypnosis-y meditation audios
(to invite the potion’s intention at the deepest unconscious level)

I’m hooking up with an Aardvark and you could win

July 6th, 2010

It’s true. I’ve been spending time with the Aardvark of Aardvark Essentials and his glorious business partner, Heidi.

See, it all started when I fell in love with their lotions and potions for mixed up emotions (best tagline ever). Who wouldn’t really, with names like Night Queen, Ease Please and Cha Cha Chai. They smell amazing, feel wonderful, and really do help shift your emotions.

While smoothing on their lotion-y goodness I wondered, how amazing would it be to have some audio goodness to accompany them? You know, really get the experience of ease, or inspiration or relief from overwhelm inside and out as you smooth on the potions, inhale the artfully blended scents and listen to words that reinforce it all at the deepest unconscious level. Yeah, pretty great right?

I conferred with Mr. Aardvark and Heidi. They thought so too. So we’re combining our superpowers. But, we had a dilemma.

Which potions to choose?

We couldn’t decide, so we’re letting you have the honors. Yep, that’s right, you get to vote for the potions you’d most like an audio companion full of meditation-y, hypnosis-y goodness.

Oh, and voting gets you entered into a contest to win all of the potions and all three audios. Head over to Heidi’s Table and read all about the contest and vote for your favorites. Hurry though, the contest ends at noon PT on Tuesday, July 13th.

Enter the contest now.

Who knows, you just might win.

Posted in Books and Other Things I Can't Stop Talking About, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

On explaining hypnosis

March 12th, 2010

There are lots of reasons it's hard to describe a hypnotic state. There are different levels of trance. People vary, as Paul Grilley says. (Sure he's talking about yoga, but it's still true.) And sometimes, there just aren't words for some experiences.

I keep trying to explain it, though, because I love it for myself and for my clients, and there are things about hypnosis that make some people nervous.

I don't want to lose control.
I don't want to be told what to do (especially if it involves making animal sounds).
Can I even be hypnotized?

Twitter to the rescue

I was hanging out on Twitter the other day, reading and bantering, and came across a Re-tweet from my friend Eileen over at Soul Sleuthing. She was passing along a link for a blog post called, "On hypnotherapy and hot grocery store mamas" on a site called Cleavage. I fell all over myself to click on that title.

Boy, was I happy I did.

Kelly Diels tells a funny story, and follows it with a fantastic and completely unexpected description of what hypnosis feels like.

She describes it as lucid dreaming.

Yes. It is a lot like that. And it seems to give you exactly what you need in that moment. And you know how in dreams, all this weird stuff just sort of fits together? It's like that too.

How about you?

What intrigues you about hypnosis?

What scares you?

Posted in Books and Other Things I Can't Stop Talking About | 1 Comment »

I'm in Wikipedia! And other random tidbits.

October 28th, 2009

Tidbit #1 – I'm in Wikipedia.

And, by "in" Wikipedia I mean that I was part of the "group of climbers" that aided an injured climber in one of the listed accidents. It remains one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

Tidbit #2 – I'm writing a novel in November.

Don't you love that conviction? November means National Novel Writing Month. I first learned about NaNoWriMo in November 2004. My friend and Declutter Happy Hour co-teacher, Janine Adams told me about it and somehow convinced me to do it with her.

The conversations went something like this:

Janine: "It's National Novel Writing Month! It's too late to join the official one, but I want to do it in December."

Me: "Cool."

Janine: "You should do it too."

Me: "Okay."

I must have been weakened by all the arm twisting, because that was an insane idea.

I had no experience writing fiction, unless you count poorly researched college term papers and that play my friends and I wrote in six grade. (It was a modern re-telling of the Cinderella story. But instead of a gown and glass slippers Cyndi wore San Francisco Riding Gear and Sbiccas, and went to a disco and danced to music from Saturday Night Fever.)

Besides the extreme lack of fiction writing experience, I didn't have a story idea or even a character in mind for my novel in 2004. All things Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo claims to not be a problem. In fact, that's what he called his manifesto and novel writing guidebook, No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days.

He was right. At the end of December, I had a novel. Parts of it were barely readable, but some parts were actually kind of good. I was surprised that quantity over quality didn't entirely eliminate quality.

This year I'm starting with an idea. It came to me at the Taos Writers' Retreat. I also have at least one writing buddy, Janine's doing it again too (read her great post about it). And maybe most importantly, I fired that mean-ass inner critic and hired my dead uncle.

Tidbit #3 – November also means Thanksgiving

November isn't just National Novel Writing Month, it's also time for Thanksgiving, and the beginning of the holiday season. It's also the perfect time to get 28 days of tips, techniques and insightful inspiration to help you clear the clutter from your home. We're offering a $20 discount on Declutter Happy Hourthrough Thursday, 10/29.

Even if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving and just want a unique and inspired way to declutter your space, it's a great program. See for yourself what's possible. There's also a link for free help when you're having a clutter emergency.

Posted in Books and Other Things I Can't Stop Talking About, Discovering and Developing That Thing You Love, Hello Self, So This Is How You Work, Randomness and Funny Things, Shiny Things (that sometimes distract me) | 2 Comments »

Listen to this!

June 16th, 2009

Today on Twitter and Facebook I mentioned that my to dos for today include:

1. Finish newsletter. There's still time to sign up before this issue goes out.

2. Make granola. My favorite is based off of this recipe. But I've tweaked it a bit. Way more nuts (whole almonds, walnuts, pecans!), vanilla, cinnamon and salt (coarse ground sea salt!). I'd be happy to share specifics.

3. Put finishing touches on the Declutter Happy Hour e-course. The class goes live on Thursday, June 18th. Until then use the code HappyHour and get $40 bucks off. After that regular prices for the decluttering magic that is the Happy Hour.

4. Listen to finches singing. You can listen too with this short audio clip of the music outside my window. Singing Birds

Posted in Books and Other Things I Can't Stop Talking About, News and Announcements, Randomness and Funny Things | 2 Comments »

A veritable smorgasbord of fun things!

June 11th, 2009

Oh my goodness so much going on here at Chez Where Did Spring Go?

We have climbed mountains. Literally! I finally reached the summit of Mt. Hood. I've been trying to blog about it, but it was just such an amazing experience, it's hard to put it into words. So here are pictures!. At 1,000 words a pop X 18 pictures, that's practically a novella! I'm sure I'll come up with some actual words though.

To follow that up, we climbed Mt. Saint Helens again. Nothing like staring into the crater of a volcano to create a sense of awe!

Here's a little video to give you a taste:

I bought a new microphone! Which means fun times coming up making recordings. That is if my neighbor ever stops playing that one damn riff he learned on the electric guitar last summer. Seriously. It's not even a song. It's awful. And he, I assume it's a he, but that could be bad gender bias on my part, anyway the awful guitarist, plays this same riff over, and over, and over. For hours at a time. I have been known to exaggerate, but this is not an exaggeration. Yesterday from 1pm until 6pm.

And finally, my wonderful co-teacher Janine Adams and I turned Declutter Happy Hour into an e-course. I'm very excited about this, because it opens the doors for anyone to take it anytime. Take a look at the info page and let me know what you think. Also, if it's something you're interested in, remember to use the Pre-Launch discount code HappyHour to get your special price.

In case you're wondering what I'm doing helping people declutter, check out my guest post on IttyBiz if you missed it when Naomi first published it.

Posted in Books and Other Things I Can't Stop Talking About, News and Announcements, Shiny Things (that sometimes distract me) | 2 Comments »

Spring Hike and Early Bird Price

March 21st, 2009

I'm just headed out the door for the first hike of spring. The weather report says we have a 50/50 chance of staying dry.

Before I go, I wanted to remind you that today, March 21, is the last day to get the early bird discount on Declutter Happy Hour. I hope you'll join us!

Posted in Books and Other Things I Can't Stop Talking About, Shiny Things (that sometimes distract me) | No Comments »

Why Do I Care About Your Clutter?

March 19th, 2009

Since I introduced my new thing (If you haven't yet, check it out, I'm ridiculously excited about it!) I've gotten some questions about why I'd be focusing on clutter or organization. "It's not helping people create and do what they love," they'd say.

And, they'd be right. And, they'd be wrong. See, clutter, can block you from what you love in so many ways. It:

Takes up space in your home or office, so you don't have room to do what you love.
Uses money because you have to buy stuff because you can't find what you need, so you don't have money to spend on what you love.
Sucks up energy and brain power, beating yourself up over the clutter, so you don't have the energy to do what you love.

These are just a few of the way that clutter can block you. If you have issues with clutter, and many creative-types do, you probably have your own spin on these issues. And if clearing the clutter will help you dissolve the blocks that have been holding you back, then I'm in!

The other reason is that I know from first hand experience how much clutter can slow you down and keep you from what you love. Clutter has been an issue for me.

Warning confession ahead! That cluttered desk in the picture? I wish I could tell you it's a stock photo, but it's mine. It's how my desk looked this morning when I sat down to work. And you know what? I sat there for a moment, overwhelmed by all that stuff and I couldn't even put two thoughts together. I mean, creative thoughts about Declutter Happy Hour or writing a post or doing any of the other things that are on my to do list.

The only thoughts I had were of that voice in my head saying mean things. You know like, "What's wrong with you? Why do you always let things get like this?" Years ago this would have turned into a barrage of snark, leading to bad feelings that would have paralyzed me. But now I have techniques and professional organizer Janine Adams and the awesome ability to notice when I'm not really making things better by being mean to myself so I can take a step back, check in with myself, and find out what would really help.

Today, the answer wasn't surprising: Clear off my desk and then start work. Concerned that the piles would take up too much time (they were at least four inches high) I set the timer for 15 minutes and decided that whatever was left at that point would get set to the side, and I'd deal with it later.

No need for that. I handled the entire mess in exactly 15 minutes. Then I could get creative with the teleclass, write this post, and you know, just think clearly with all that extra space on my desk and in my brain.

Oh, just in case you aren't on the list, tomorrow I'll post my last newsletter about clutter, complete with some steps to help you handle it easily.

Posted in Books and Other Things I Can't Stop Talking About, Discovering and Developing That Thing You Love | 4 Comments »

Coming Soon to a website near you! The one you're looking at in fact…

December 30th, 2008

In my most recent newsletter, (subscribe here) I shared with readers that I've been exploring how I can embrace a niche in my coaching practice. While it may seem like a good thing to have a market as big as, "I can help anyone who wants to make positive changes in their life," it really isn't unless you have the marketing budget of Coca Cola. I don't, so niche hunting I went.

Early in 2008 I honed in on working with people who felt pulled between their business and family lives. There is something really valuable to this, and I think there's a real need for it, but it wasn't quite right for me.

Recently I put it together. What really gets me excited is helping people do something they love, whether they need to discover it, nurture it, or develop it into a business. It all really fires me up. It uses so much more of my experience and skills. And how great to have more people spending time feeling good about doing something they love. Good for all of us.

After making this announcement, albeit to a pretty small audience, I started getting lots of support and encouragement and a few questions.

A couple people wanted to know how I went about discovering this. It was a multi-part process. First, there were the big things, classes and a retreat with Mark and Holly over at Heart of Business, and Ittybiz's Online Business School then there were the little things, like meditation and journaling that were supported and enhanced by two amazing things, Dance of Shiva and CDs from the Immrama Institute.

I've written about Dance of Shiva before. It's just one of the coolest things I've ever done to open up my mind (and nix the negative self-talk) and meditate and write and think and just generally be creative.

As for the CDs, they sound like rain when you listen to them. But they do something really cool to your brain. My summary of the official explanation is that they use binaural beat technology to shift your brainwaves into a deeper state of relaxation and create new neural pathways.

My experience? Listening to the Insight CD right after doing Dance of Shiva, and then listening to the Focus CD while writing, helped me really get in touch with what was important to me. Oh, and Immrama is having a little sale. Click on one of the links in this post, and use the coupon code IMM427 when you check out to get $10 off the Insight or Focus CDs. (The code is only good through December.)

As I mentioned in the newsletter, making this shift feels a teeny bit scary and a whole lot right. Probably should have my website rewritten already, but I don't and I want to start sharing this with people now!

I'll definitely let you know when the new changes are up.

Posted in Books and Other Things I Can't Stop Talking About, Discovering and Developing That Thing You Love, Hello Self, So This Is How You Work | No Comments »

Getting Out There

November 13th, 2008

You may remember a little conversation we had about this self-promotion for wimps class I was taking. I took on the challenge to take off the big giant Queen Elizabethesque "I'm a professional" hat and be myself.

I think that sharing conversations with my FPS and the itchiness of one's feet (even if it is figurative) count toward this goal. And now I'm getting ready to do something even bigger: Put together some products so that more of you can experience me and my coaching.

And, I'm doing it with help. The same fine ladies that taught the Self Promo class are doing other awesome things, all just to help me. Okay, maybe it's not really all about me. But anyway.

First, the Dance of Shiva stuff that Havi has is amazing. It's true, the "hot-buttered insights" are delicious! And I'm having all these fab product ideas that will translate into cool stuff for you.

Secondly, Online Business School from Naomi of Ittybiz fame. This home study course is helping me figure out how to really bring you more good stuff.

The combination of insights and know-how are helping me create new ways for us to hang out besides this blog and in one-on-one coaching sessions. so more of you can clear out the gunk and get to the good stuff.

Posted in Books and Other Things I Can't Stop Talking About, Discovering and Developing That Thing You Love | 1 Comment »

Your Life - Inspired