Thursday, December 31, 2009

USTREAM Show called Open to Inspiration

Last night, I created my first USTREAM show. It is an idea that has been bubbling inside of me since August. I watched Jordin Sparks, the Jonas Brothers, Honor Society, Jason Mraz and Ashton Kutcher's Football Fantasy on USTREAM over the last few months. The shows were broadcast in living rooms, kitchens, hotel rooms and basements. I was intrigued by the ability to present an idea and interact with people all over the world through Twitter.

I began to feel a "nudge" to have a USTREAM show, but what and why? Other things were happening in my life. The last two months of finishing the sale of my house, my daughter Mary's wedding in NYC, looking for a home for my cats, moving into my friend Kate's house for the holidays and preparing for moving out to California.

Over the holidays, Kate, Molly (her daughter), Hannah and I have been creating vision/dream journals. Looking through magazines and daydreaming about the next steps in our lives.

A clear idea came to me this week. Create a USTREAM show called Open to Inspiration and share the 8-step process that came to me during the summer of 2008 while I traveled and blogged.

Let me back up a minute in case you are new to this blog. In the last two years, I have traveled to 70 Jonas Brothers concerts with my teenage daughter, Hannah. It was something we started doing together, two years after her father died. During the summer of 2008, we drove to 15 concerts and had our first summer of blogging. (2009 was 45 concerts)

Last spring, I turned my blogs into a book roughdraft. As I wrote and reflected on that summer, I saw that there was a natural process that emerged. A process I call Open to Inspiration.

Several times a month, I am going to share one of the steps with some tools and ideas of how to practice that step. I have one show posted. The technology and sound will improve as I go along. Here is the link: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/3583808

Within a few days of each show, I will post a blog with the ideas listed and links. Eight months. Eight steps.

Step 1: Listen to your heart

Saturday, December 5, 2009

A New Journey begins

A new journey is beginning.

My daughter, Hannah and I are leaving Baltimore in 11 days. Our car will be loaded with clothes, books, and music. All of our furniture has been sold. The cats will have found a new home. Everything we own is in a small storage unit.

We are leaving the community that has been my home since 1981. Our intention is to live on the road for a year. We will explore the world by living in hostels and with friends. First destination is Scottsdale, Arizona and celebrating the holidays with my daughter,Liz, her boyfriend, Ari and their two dogs.

My intention is to continue to write about all of the things that happen and to share this through video blogging, Ustream TV and on this blog. I have changed the name of this blog to Daydreaming with God. I am co-creating this journey with Hannah and with inspired action from within.

I moved to Baltimore in Oct 1981, after marrying my college sweetheart. Getting married seemed like the next logical step in our relationship. We had been dating for four years. My love of Bill and the dreams of creating a life together brought us here to Baltimore. We created two beautiful girls together but our marriage and all of our dreams together came to an end in 1987.

My true community in Baltimore, the one that held me, nurtured me and gave me a space to develop my voice began at an Insight Seminar in March 1989. I met a few friends, Susan, Kater, Terry and Hurley (my future husband). They became the cornerstone of my life. My community has grown to hundreds of people in the last 20 years. With them all, I discovered myself. They were mirrors of love, understanding and acceptance.

I have lived a full life here with a 2nd marriage, the birth and death of my son, the birth of Hannah, a life threatening illness, community based learning (home schooling), peace ceremonies, book groups about spirituality and creativity and the death of my husband.

In the last 20 years, we laughed and cried together. We loved and fought with each other. We sang and danced and celebrated our lives.

The people in my community were the witnesses of my life.

In 11 days, I am leaving the safety and comfort of my home and community to go out into the world and explore life in a new way. I am Daydreaming with God, Opening to Inspiration, and Living a Life Worth Celebrating.

Come along for the ride...