Category Archives: passion&play

Nudging: Bake cookies

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Backstory: This nudge came from some brainstorming I did as I thought about what to include on The List. I devoted some time to recall “Things I loved doing when I was a kid.” I loved baking! I loved being creative in the kitchen! In elementary school, my best pal (Hi, Krista!) and I did a lot of experimenting and even had our own sort of “signature” chocolate chip cookie recipe.

So this is my nudge to get back to doing things that feed my soul. The “uncomfortable” part? Well, I don’t really like eating most baked goods. (I know, crazy.) I’ll give them a taste, then I’ll give the rest away in care packages. Feels like a win-win!

As always, you can do this week’s nudge with me or pick something that speaks to you. What did you love doing when you were eight years old? Here’s your excuse to do it again.

Nudged: Explore 3 new-to-me blogs + comment

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Backstory: I’m always looking to expand my horizons, learn something new, challenge myself. This nudge is designed to encourage me to set time aside to actually do it.

Will I discover a new hobby or a company I’d like to work for? Feed a curiosity? Be inspired by someone I admire? All possible.

The uncomfortable part is the commenting. But like with other activities, I’m sure I’ll get more out of the experience if I actually engage.

What Happened: Well….

1) An author’s blog. I’d signed up for this person’s newsletter a while back, but have never received anything beyond the welcome message. This week I explored her website in search of the promised blog (no luck) and checked out her Instagram, but it appears to be mostly personal/family photos. Bust.

2) A specialty soap company. Was hoping for some interesting info, but it was mostly notices about new products and sales promotions. Nonetheless, I am intrigued by their lovely offerings, and I got some ideas for gifts for upcoming holidays and birthdays–including a possible splurge for my own birthday. Pretty much another bust.

3) A prosecco club. I love bubbly wines and am currently on a quest to learn more about how champagne and prosecco are made and how I might pair them with food. Did a quick search to find related blogs and found one that looked promising. A post on travel packages mentioned a hotel that offers a bath in a tub filled with prosecco(!)…starting at 9,000 euros. (Not in this lifetime!) Other posts featured cocktail recipes, but I soon noticed some of the pictured ingredients were missing and instructions were inaccurate. (Meanwhile, it made me thirsty to try some new things, like pairing prosecco with fish ‘n’ chips–yum!) I gave up, however, when I noticed that the last post was over two years old and there was no place to add new comments. Semi-bust.

Another completed nudge–cheers! (Bubbly image by vbosica from Pixabay)

The Ah-Hahs: This nudge was disappointing. I’d hoped to find something that tickled and intrigued me and inspired me to learn more. Didn’t quite come together. Still, I’m glad I tried. And I haven’t given up. There’s a worldwide web of information out there, and I will explore some more another day.

I am curious: Did you find anything that intrigued or inspired you? Did you comment, and did you hear back from the host? Please share.

Nudging: Explore 3 new-to-me blogs + comment

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Backstory: I’m always looking to expand my horizons, learn something new, challenge myself. This nudge is designed to encourage me to set time aside to actually do it.

Will I discover a new hobby or a company I’d like to work for? Feed a curiosity? Be inspired by someone I admire? All possible.

The uncomfortable part is the commenting. But like with other activities, I’m sure I’ll get more out of the experience if I actually engage.

 

Nudged: Get to know one great female artist

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Backstory: I don’t recall what originally inspired this nudge. Maybe it had to do with wanting to look outside my comfort zone for creative inspiration. Now that I think about it, I recently encouraged a client, who was experiencing some burnout, to take a break from writing writing writing! He had fallen into a rut of forcing himself to churn out pages or a set word count, so I suggested he go to a museum and take in some visual art for a change. Or just get outside and take in some natural beauty. He reported back that he returned to his desk with renewed energy and ideas for his work. Huzzah!

So maybe this week I’ll wander a local museum and stop whenever I’m attracted to something. Or maybe I’ll check out some books about an artist or school of artists from the library.

I do need to acknowledge this nudge is not about revisiting my favorites (Monet, pretty much all the Impressionists) and focusing on female artists. As I think on this, I’m leaning toward getting to know a new-to-me visual artist, but for you it could be a musician, actor, or other entertainer. Or a poet, essayist, or novelist.

Have fun with this!

What Happened: I started by jotting a list of great female artists off the top of my head–Mary Cassatt, Georgia O’Keefe, Frida Kahlo, Annie Leibovitz, Berthe Morisot, Judy Chicago–the usual suspects. I added one I know personally, Anna Mita, whose gorgeous paintings blow my mind, then added Mother Nature because, well, why not? But I am already familiar with their works, so it was time to expand my horizons.

An online search led me to “10 great female artists you need to know”, and that’s how I found Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653). I thought the name sounded familiar, and as I read her story, I realized we’ve heard a lot about her in the past few years in connection with #MeToo. As a teenager, Artemisia was raped by her teacher, then she was tortured during his sensational trial with thumbscrews, a method employed to verify her testimony. Good heavens! He was found guilty, though he didn’t suffer much in consequence. She was called a “noble survivor”.

Then, exhibiting remarkable resilience, she channeled her energy and experiences into her work. Many of her paintings are described as “bold” and “dramatic” and feature heroines. She was once described as having “the spirit of Caesar in the soul of a woman”, and she is the model for some of her paintings, including this:

“Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting” by Artemisia Gentileschi. Now in the British Royal Collection.

Artemisia was successful during her lifetime. In fact, she was the first female member of the Academia di Arte del Disegno in Florence. You can learn more about her work in this video.

The Ah-Hahs: I suppose I could say I’m inspired by Artemisia’s resilience. She could have given up on her ambitions after her early trauma, lived a quiet life as a wife and mother; certainly that would have been the norm in her time. But honestly, this nudge was just a pleasant diversion. Sometimes I don’t need to learn more or embolden myself or gain some life-altering insight. Sometimes all I need to nudge myself to do is notice and appreciate the abundance of beauty in my world.

Nudging: Get to know one great female artist

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Backstory: I don’t recall what originally inspired this nudge. Maybe it had to do with wanting to look outside my comfort zone for creative inspiration. Now that I think about it, I recently encouraged a client, who was experiencing some burnout, to take a break from writing writing writing! He had fallen into a rut of forcing himself to churn out pages or a set word count, so I suggested he go to a museum and take in some visual art for a change. Or just get outside and take in some natural beauty. He reported back that he returned to his desk with renewed energy and ideas for his work. Huzzah!

So maybe this week I’ll wander a local museum and stop whenever I’m attracted to something. Or maybe I’ll check out some books about an artist or school of artists from the library.

I do need to acknowledge this nudge is not about revisiting my favorites (Monet, pretty much all the Impressionists) and focusing on female artists. As I think on this, I’m leaning toward getting to know a new-to-me visual artist, but for you it could be a musician, actor, or other entertainer. Or a poet, essayist, or novelist.

Have fun with this!

Nudged: Memorize a poem

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Backstory: I almost used one of my passes on this one. Just not feelin’ it. Then I reminded myself that one of the goals of this 52Nudges program is to push myself a bit when I feel uncomfortable.

When I did this nudge in round one, I memorized my favorite Shakespearean sonnet, #29:

“When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes….”

It was actually pretty fun to re-stretch my memorization and presentation muscles. So here we go again.

Meanwhile, this is a good opportunity to remind everyone that you don’t have to do exactly what I do. Make your own list of nudges and draw one at random each week to do in tandem with me. Or just read along, be impressed when I slay a big nudge (or laugh with me when I “fail”),  and take in inspiration whenever it strikes.

What Happened: My first instinct was to memorize a poem in French. HA! An online review of the most famous French poems quickly put that idea to bed. Waaaaaay too ambitious and beyond my linguistic skills (for now)!

Then I remembered one of the other inspirations I had for this nudge. Last year, on a whim, I checked out Where the Sidewalk Ends from the local library. This collection of truly whimsical poems by Shel Silverstein delighted me as a child, and I was eager to revisit it.

It did not disappoint.

Quite the opposite. It engaged, delighted, tickled, amused, and delighted me some more. I got in the habit of reading a few poems at bedtime, which allowed me to briefly forget the cares of the day and fall asleep with a smile on my face.

So for this nudge, I chose one of my favorites:

Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child,

Listen to the DON’TS.

Listen to the SHOULDN’TS,

The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’TS.

Listen to the NEVER HAVES,

Then listen close to me–

Anything can happen, child,

ANYTHING can be.

The Ah-Hahs: As I practiced the poem every day this week, I found that it was becoming my new mantra. A reminder as I do creative work that it is my job, my purpose, my responsibility to think beyond the shoulds, musts, and nevers.

That, and I noticed I smiled a lot this week. 🙂

Nudging: Memorize a poem

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Backstory: I almost used one of my passes on this one. Just not feelin’ it. Then I reminded myself that one of the goals of this 52Nudges program is to push myself a bit when I feel uncomfortable.

When I did this nudge in round one, I memorized my favorite Shakespearean sonnet, #29:

“When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes….”

It was actually pretty fun to re-stretch my memorization and presentation muscles. So here we go again.

Meanwhile, this is a good opportunity to remind everyone that you don’t have to do exactly what I do. Make your own list of nudges and draw one at random each week to do in tandem with me. Or just read along, be impressed when I slay a big nudge (or laugh with me when I “fail”),  and take in inspiration whenever it strikes.

52+: “Putting on the Gloves” by Chris Green

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As soon as I heard Chris’s story about how she stepped out of (or into?) her comfort zone, I asked if I could share it with the 52Nudges community. Read on for some “powerful” inspiration. — Kathleen

I am not a risk-taker. Nope nope nope. I stay in my lane, do what I’m told (well, mostly), and am definitely not breaking any laws. But when I was laid-off last fall from my job of 28 years, I decided it was time to light up my inner badass and try some new things. After all, if I was going to have to find a new job, I’d better get used to things that were new, different, and scary.

So I signed up for boxing lessons.

Now, I am not a particularly aggressive person. As the only girl in a family of four boys, I spent much of my childhood watching my brothers pile on each other (thank you, Three Stooges) while I just kept to the side, trying not to get hurt. But as I found through years of playing softball, I realized that I enjoyed the physical feeling of power – throwing the ball in from the outfield, crushing that ball for an extra-base hit. Seeing my body able to do what my personality didn’t always allow gave me a special kind of confidence that I have missed as an adult.

My gym is not a boxing-only gym, where Burgess Meredith would be simultaneously smoking and yelling at me from the corner. Instead it is cozy, well lit, and smells pretty good as far as gyms go. And the class is mostly women! This was a huge relief for me, as I am self-conscious trying new things. Most of the time women welcome and support each other and, sure enough, gym rat Julie welcomed me and helped me feel comfortable and ready to hit.

Photo by walking photographer

The actual boxing is fun! While I work on my technique and footwork, I hit the heavy bag and imagine my frustrations and anxieties crumbling under my gloves – my fear of finding the right job (or, honestly, any job), that annoying thing my husband or kids said the night before, my inability to keep to my diet and lose some of that weight. As Coach Vince gently corrects my feet or my weight distribution, I remind myself that since I can do this, I can tackle other hard things too, and deliver a solid combination that can knock out those things I’m scared of.

It is one helluva workout, and I emerge sweaty, invigorated, and ready to charge into whatever the day puts in front of me.

Turns out that the power doesn’t come from the gloves, it comes from what I put behind it. That knockout punch comes from ME.

 

Nudged: Make a list of cities I want to visit, pick 1 to explore

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Backstory: Back in my single gal days, for years I dreamed about going to Italy. Every time the new Backroads‘ catalogue arrived in the mail, I ripped out the pages describing the walking tour of Tuscany and pinned it to my wall. One day I decided I had wasted too much time dreaming and was ready to do something to make it happen. Almost a full year in advance, I booked the tour and put down a sizeable deposit. Then every spare dollar went into a savings account so, by the time I boarded the plane, everything was covered.

This nudge is in part inspired by the success of that planning and adventuring. Today I can’t kid myself about swinging a big deposit (if you can–go for it!), but I can start visualizing my next trip and motivating myself to make it happen.

Once I’ve made my short list of cities, I might go to the library and pick up history and cook books. I might check out cultural music online. I might add a language app to my phone and start practicing the words and phrases I’ll need to be a respectful traveler (please…excuse me…thank you). Or maybe I’ll put together a list of movies set in that city and begin “seeing” myself there.

What I know for sure is I’ve been bitten by the travel bug and I’m starting to itch. I’m looking forward to exploring where I might go.

What Happened: I started by looking up the “best cities in Portugal to visit” and discovered Lisbon, called the “postcard-picture capital”. OMG, gorgeous! A “sea power”, Portugal is known for its temperate climate, beautiful beaches, fishing industry, and port and madeira wines. Sign me up!

But first I needed to look into Buenos Aires, Argentina. Friends who have visited describe it as the “Paris of South America”, featuring spectacular architecture, delicious foods, and world-class culture. I researched online and discovered it is home to a diverse immigrant population with a multitude of languages and has the largest Jewish population in Latin America. This “sexy” city hosts more than 300 plays every weekend and all sorts of cultural and music festivals (the International Jazz Festival that includes dance classes caught my eye). It also has so many libraries and bookstores (734 bookstores, “more per person than any other city in the world”), it is called the “City of Books”. Sounds like my kind of town!

Buenos Aires is also known for it’s beautiful gardens, including its Japanese Garden, which…wait…. Oh, wow….

The Ah-Hahs: For those of you who have been following 52Nudges for a while, you may recall my trip to Portland, Oregon, a little over a year ago. While there, at the recommendations of friends and family, my husband and I explored the fabulous Japanese Gardens. We were blown away by it. Then at one point we looked at each other and asked, “Don’t we have one of these at home?” Yes. Yes we do, just 15 minutes from our house. (Read the Nudged post here.)

I still have not been there.

So I kind of kicked myself as I worked through and processed this week’s nudge. Right here, right now, I have access to great architecture, world-class museums, food from just about every culture, language schools, cafés set up for sipping while people-watching, gardens and paths for walking, and just about everything else I’m hoping to find through travels beyond my own city’s borders. Why is it that I feel the need to search for things I already have here?

Postcard by RetroMail available on Zazzle.com

And then…and here’s where things get goosebumpy…

Why is it I feel the need to search for things outside of myself when maybe, just maybe, everything I need to feel fulfilled is already within me?

Why do I feel the need to do more, do differently, try, achieve? What if…what if for a while I am just still and allow myself to be fully me?

Like with every nudge, I never know where it’s going to take me. This one really surprised me, and I’m grateful for it. Maybe this was the ultimate nudge I’ve needed all along.

I’m still processing this, and don’t know how it will play out. I’m calm and excited at the same time.

Meanwhile, if this week’s nudge led you to plan the Trip of a Lifetime, I hope you’ll send me a postcard. 🙂

 

 

Nudging: Make a list of cities I want to visit, pick 1 to explore

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Backstory: Back in my single gal days, for years I dreamed about going to Italy. Every time the new Backroads‘ catalogue arrived in the mail, I ripped out the pages describing the walking tour of Tuscany and pinned it to my wall. One day I decided I had wasted too much time dreaming and was ready to do something to make it happen. Almost a full year in advance, I booked the tour and put down a sizeable deposit. Then every spare dollar went into a savings account so, by the time I boarded the plane, everything was covered.

This nudge is in part inspired by the success of that planning and adventuring. Today I can’t kid myself about swinging a big deposit (if you can, go for it!), but I can start visualizing my next trip and motivating myself to make it happen.

Once I’ve made my short list of cities, I might go to the library and pick up history and cook books. I might check out cultural music online. I might add a language app to my phone and start practicing the words and phrases I’ll need to be a respectful traveler (please…excuse me…thank you). Or maybe I’ll put together a list of movies set in that city and begin “seeing” myself there.

What I know for sure is I’ve been bitten by the travel bug and I’m starting to itch. I’m looking forward to exploring where I might go.