now i ain't sayin' she's a goalsetter . . .

I'm a dreamer.

Which means, for most of us dreamers, that I think the word goalsetting is a synonym for words like plague, allergic reaction and death. Ok . . . possibly I have a flair for the dramatic, as well, but I can wholeheartedly confirm that I certainly avoid sitting down with pen and paper to make a list of goals. It just doesn't seem right. Why not dream and follow the dreams as they come? Be present to the now, you know!

But part of loving well is to see the dreams that have been given to me (for myself and for the world) actually come to fruition. Or at least to focus enough on a few of them at a time, so that all my dreams don't become too whelming at once.

Enter a book for right-brainiacs. After a conversation with my friend where I expressed some of my frustrations with my scattered dreams, I found the book Organizing for the Creative Person and hoped I could check it out from the library. Much to my chagrin, the library didn't have it, but out of nowhere it appeared one day thanks to my dear friend . . .

And here are the fruits of chapter one:





There is no list involved in this goal-setting venture. There are no checked boxes or firm dates. It's just these colorful strips of paper holding my wild dreams, dropped into bright bags I will sit on my shelf as a daily reminder of dreams I love. I can move the papers from bag-to-bag if, for example, life alters the timeline of one of my "maybe" dreams to become a "now" dream or if I uncover more dreams behind a moonbeam that I decide to drop into "someday."

I love it! And it felt good to write all of my dreams down, see them and know they now have a home. And the best part is that the book didn't tell me exactly HOW I had to do my goalsetting. I just came up with the strips of paper and bag idea on my own. Indeed, the authors shape a helpful task that a creative person can be . . . well, creative in accomplishing.

So happy to be loving my dreams well . . . And I believe my future will be even brighter than these super cute dream bags.

love well.

C

Thirty and Thriving! ;)

I turned 30 yesterday, and it feels good! My friend Beth asked me last night (after my roller skating party, which was uber funtabulous!) what goals I have for the new year. I have several: organizing my room (which is not my forté, as you've read in previous entries), really nailing down a good eating plan (which I think will be easier once we move into the new house, and I can start gardening; more on the new house later) and working on poetry collections more. Specifically, I want to submit more poems to magazines and maybe submit a manuscript, too. This past year has been a slow poetry year for me with co-creating Pray With Africa and writing the book, so I'm itching to focus more on the poetry aspect of my craft this year.



But the biggest goal of the year will be promoting Like Breath and Water: Praying With Africa. It's gone to the presses, and we should get a proof back soon. I'm very excited about it and can't wait to share the stories with everyone. I hope they will be well received and will honor the lives of the people who so graciously shared their stories with me. And I want to really get the book out there. I mean, we're talking Oprah, friends! :) Any ideas you have for promoting it, please send them my way . . . it's all so new to me.

We received two endorsements that will be printed on the book. I'll leave you today with those:

"Like Breath and Water is an inspiring look at the reality of the African
continent, in both its beauty and tragedy.
This story is not only a challenge of our conceptions and apathy; but even
more so, it is a testament to the unbounded power of prayer."

-Jason Russell, Co-founder Invisible Children

"This book dances. It lets us taste the salt in the tears of Africa,
and lets us hear the children giggle. But it goes even deeper.
Like Breath and Water invites us to see these faces across the globe as our
own family. The reality of that should fill us with hope, for we have
much to learn from them. And it should keep us up at night, for we
are still a very dysfunctional Family."

-Shane Claiborne, author, activist, recovering sinner
www.thesimpleway.org


Thanks to my friends for loving me through this book process! I appreciate you so much! And hugs to everyone who has blessed my life with their presence, their encouragement, their beauty and their love to me since 1979! 30 is a good year . . .

Procrastination

Dear old SARK recommended this book in one of her books: Procrastination : Why You Do it, What to Do about it. As a bit of a procrastinator, I thought I'd give it a read. As a freelance writer, I thought I should read it for free.

So instead of heading to Borders, I checked our online library catalog and saw that it was currently loaned to someone but was due the next day. I decided to put it on hold to make sure some other procrastinator didn't get to it before I did (and because I knew if I put it off until the next day, it could be two weeks before I made it to the library).

I put it on hold a month ago, and it still hasn't been returned. Classic. Either the reader is prolonging actually reading the book or has read it and is procrastinating in returning it. If it's the return, well, I'm not so sure about this book anymore.

Addition to My Confession

So I'm attracted to the Target itso office and storage. It's flexible and cute. But what do I need to do BEFORE I start buying MORE things to organize my life?

Confession: This Cluttered Mess

My name is Ciona, and I am unorganized.

I have enormous amounts of clutter in my room. I'm too embarrassed to take a picture and show it to you. I desire to not be late for everything, but I don't have a strong allegiance to being on time. Does that make sense? Confession is step one.

Somehow I manage. I always have, but I don't think managing somehow is an ideal way to get through life. I buy every bin for better organization in my office, hoping that this will be the purchase that puts my life back together. I read about getting organized. I've even practiced the whole open mail when it arrives and put it away thing. I've practiced folding my clothes each time I take them off--even if I'm putting them in the hamper. I've even tried using my hamper. I set alarms sometimes to be on time, and I still arrive late. I purchased calendars from Covey. I'm not a cluttered mess, but I live in a cluttered mess. And I live in this mess not because I haven't tried so many little steps.

I suppose I confess here as a prayer request. I would be an unhappy person if I lived entirely by lists, calendars and watches and a quest for perfection. But I'm not entirely happy or well functioning living like this.

These are my confessions.