Rocks in the Middle of Your Way and the ABC’s of Process
Well, it has been three weeks since I wrote my last post here. I tell you, I am so thrilled that our community is much more crowded with members than it was three weeks ago. I have enjoyed watching it grow, like a duck in the water. Happy, fulfilled, content and satisfied. Welcome everybody. It’s such a pleasure opening the page and being able to see your faces, your photographs, your videos, your writing and above all your THOUGHTS. THANKS to all for joining, and thanks in advance to the ones that are to come.
It’s been a great process. As every process, carried its share of rocks on the way, ( Carol would say.) You know what happens with rocks in the middle of your way. You have to STOP, and sometimes stopping is not fun. Especially when moving the rock to take it out of the road to continue, means you have to read a manual of some technical stuff. That is a heavy rock. (Many of you know how bad I am at that stuff.) Anyway, what the heck, the rock is there and you have to take care of business. Check out this video. Central Station Frozen. Is pretty relevant. Sometimes stopping is not a bad thing.
It’s interesting how we allow external forces to interrupt our lives, invade it with foreign activities to live in a perennially interrupted mode and then when we have to stop and are given the opportunity to allow internal forces to interrupt us and be acknowledged, we resist.
It is so very frustrating though. But the frustration comes from the idea that you wanted to continue without interruption. Internet marketing is full of interruptions. Full of relevant and needed information. Like every process. But as I was saying, sometimes your horse hauling the carriage of tunnel vision race is ABRUPTLY STOPPED and you are prompted to change gears and pay attention to something else, “less important”. Most of the time pretty basic and primary. Simple and technical as a video of how to use auto-responders. Necessary too. That’s the part I would love to skip.
In other words, everything lasted longer than I expected. The process was unraveling at its own rhythm. It was my expectation what was really out of track.
I always hated transitions anyway. Eckhart Tolle, the author of “The new Earth” calls them means to an end. Any way I much less enjoy reading technical manuals. During the transition periods, staying in the moment was torture. It didn’t feel comfortable. I wanted to rush the process. Looking back it was my resistance to change. It was the frenzy to go from start to outcome. The ADD inhabitant in my body mandating speed.
The story of the process of painting the house in the woods comes to mind…I started talking about it using the alphabet, the handy metaphor that popped in my head at the moment. You know, A to Z. My two favorite letters were A and Z and I wanted my own comfortable short cut in the middle…well, make the rest of the letters somehow disappear. Instant gratification of the result. Little did I know that real gratification was to come from the letters in the middle.
It was 13 years ago. I figured I needed to get more acquainted with the rest of the letters of the alphabet. Learn the ABC’s of process. Learn to stay still and focused on every single step of the application. (Including the rocks on the way). When I wanted to rush the middle letters, I was missing things like the “C” for “courage” , “F” for “faith” and “S” for “self…”
The opportunity manifested itself once the command of the thought was conveyed. We lived in that magic house in the woods. Boys in the neighborhood had been swarming through the hall for years, leaving their prints on the wall. As a document of their bustle around. There were three different trails. The boys’ age difference and height. Their friends loved that house. They are the ones that call it the magic house when they reminisce today as young adults.
Something suddenly happened that forced my busy and distracted mother of three boys eyes to actually see the marks on the wall before my nose for a long time. I couldn’t believe how ostentatious they were and I had been completely oblivious to them. Well, you know, I had a lot of traffic and the veil of my absent mindedness was covering ”less important things.”
Overnight I went from oblivion to dedicated endeavor, a paint job was impending. Necessity is the mother of invention. I had never painted walls, but I figured that if I had painted canvas it would not be that difficult.
I went to the store and bought paint. This was the opportunity I was waiting for. My task. A to Z with no way out.
Remember? The Process lasted 5 weeks. I started painting in that funny outfit. I think it didn’t even find its way to the washing machine throughout the whole time. Sharon always reminds me of it and laughs at the memory. It was a cross of red leggings and green red spotted cotton sleepwear. Every day of the 5 weeks I would get up, go to wait tables at that restaurant in Chevy Chase, come back, put the outfit on and continue painting. Like a donkey on a mission. All I did with my free time was paint, paint, paint. The boys’ dad was so happy to realize the dirt map on the walls was at the verge of disappearing that he immediately took over. (I am sure he had noticed how bad the walls looked long before me.) Got himself automatically in charge of groceries, car rides, cooking dinner, baths, all the shores in the house. Even homework. It was a mute agreement. He even would feed me pieces of steak while I stood on the ladder, painting. I didn’t have to say a word.
My friends would come on week ends with a bottle of wine and lie on the floor while giving me conversation. I spoke my thoughts out loud of how difficult it was not to desert at “D.” How much I wanted to run away and throw in the trash the stupid “make sure you wash them after you finish” brushes and wished I had never started at “L.” They also knew. They didn’t offer help. Only company, support and an occasional bottle of wine to celebrate the route already covered and the shortening of the way to reach the end. The progress. To keep me going.
During this period of time, that I focused on building Soul Hang Out, I realized that learning Internet marketing required that skill of staying focused on the process. With the patience and attention for building a real business. Paying attention to all its parts. I don’t think I could have done it without the experience of that painting job 13 years ago. I taught myself the ABC’s of process. Some times when I think about it, I remember it with endearing gratitude. I did other painting jobs in other houses over the years. Those times, I asked for help or hired somebody. After learning to master the process, of stopping and being present inside every step of the way, like staying long enough in every letter of the alphabet, I was able to outsource. And could apply the experience to the rest of my life. Not to tell you that today it is a piece of cake. It requires some effort. But is doable and a lot easier. I understand much better the letters of the alphabet and rocks don’t bother me that much any more. They still frustrate me a little though. Then I remember how beautiful the house of the woods looked after that painting job. Then the rushing clock in my head calms down and remembers. Process has its own rhythm.
The last five weeks I have been very busy duplicating Soul Hang Out in Spanish. There were a lot of technical issues and of course took longer than I expected. Natalia in Lima did a fantastic job at translating the content. It’s been finally published a week ago. It’s being read as we speak in Spain and South America. Now I will have more time to write and market. I also have a webmaster, Joel Williams helping me with the technical stuff. I am grateful for that.
Again, thanks to all of you for subscribing… and keep the ball rolling. Invite your friends and the friends of your friends.
Luz
The Thought Provoking, Irreverent Pearl Necklace Grandmother of the 21st C. Paradigm Shifter, Poet, Storyteller, Marketer, Visionary, Blogger, Coach.
Founder Soul Hangout http://soulhangout.net/2171
Founder of Co-Creative Circles of Coherence, Soul Mastermind Groups. Consciously Connecting & Combining Intelligence with a touch of “Curry”. The 7 “C”‘s of the 7 Condiments of CooperationLuz
The Thought Provoking, Irreverent Pearl Necklace Grandmother of the 21st C. Paradigm Shifter, Poet, Storyteller, Marketer, Visionary, Blogger, Coach. Mrs. Fire
“50/50 The Magic of the Middle Line”, Experience Coaching”
Founder Soul Hangout & Co-Creative Circles of Coherence, Soul Mastermind Groups. Consciously Connecting & Combining Intelligence with a touch of “Curry”. The 7 “C”‘s of the 7 Condiments of Cooperation
Popularity: 37% [?]
No TweetBacks yet. (logged in to post a comment.
3/25/2012
Untitled
via soulhangout.net
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment