by Tara Joyce | Sep 7, 2009 | My Journey | What's On My Mind
I have just returned from New York City. It was a wonderful trip to experience the city with my husband and be in the home of a great friend. I met her in France when we both were on exchange there. We lived in the hilltop suburb of Rouen, Normandy, a beautiful city in the North of France. We studied business there but mostly we traveled everywhere together.
Together we discovered our individual love of improvising. Of adventure. Of exploring. But only now, five years later, am I starting to truly understand and embrace it.
There is just so much to see… I’ve realized that exploring really is my greatest passion. Whether it is in words, the world, or thought.
I thrive in the unknown, in the new, in the discovering. It feeds my freaky soul.
Coney Island, New York City
photo credit: moi!
by Tara Joyce | Sep 3, 2009 | Cultural Creativity
Why is it that ‘being realistic’ is synonymous with being pessimistic? Why is being negative being real? Who decided that life is actually cruel and unkind?
Who determined that being an optimist was the antithesis of being a realist? I know, I know, being an optimist means I’m in lala land. Get real, people. Your thoughts (both conscious and unconscious) dictate the reality of your life. Reality is what you make it. If you think your reality sucks, it will.
I guess the truth of the phrase ‘be realistic’ is that it means nothing unless you understand its source. After all, if I told you to ‘be realistic’, I wouldn’t be telling you to be pessimistic, I’d be saying that you need to shape your thoughts around the outcome you desire.
photo by: robbed
by Tara Joyce | Aug 31, 2009 | My Journey | What's On My Mind
I’ve updated the site. I made it a bit easier to use and more streamlined. Plus I like the smoke.
I’ve been posting three times a week as well. Monday, Thursday, Friday. I’m disciplining myself.
I’m learning about time right now and I’m realizing I need to quit making excuses for not doing things. I can make the time because I make time. Not making time to write is me limiting my Self.
I was Self sabotaging without even knowing it. If I love to write, I need to do it.
A few people have joined the innerpreneur forum. Yay! I encourage anyone who has a question or something to say to post it there. Start talking to each other. I really think knowing each other is of great benefit to us.
photo credit: Tiago on Vacations
by Tara Joyce | Aug 28, 2009 | My Journey | What's On My Mind
This is actually a quote from Seinfeld‘s Jerry in the episode, ‘The Mango’… obviously he wasn’t talking about me though, he was talking about Meryl Streep. But whatever, that’s not important.
We all feel like phony baloneys
I pontificate weekly about craft, community and connection… but, at times, it feels fake. The truth is, I’m not yet confident enough in my own craft to call myself a writer (if someone asks me what I do I say independent Web Consultant), I have a secret scorn for humanity and I often feel alone and disconnected from the world.
So what do I really know about craft, community or connection?
Putting limits on my Self
I’ve become aware that calling my Self a phony is my way of limiting my Self and my ability to enjoy all the love, joy and abundance I am capable of (and more importantly, deserving of) experiencing. It’s just that sometimes I can’t let go of the story that I am fundamentally flawed and ultimately not worthy.
Most of us tell our Self this story — we are all phony baloneys fooling the world into loving us.
Oh that Tara Joyce, she’s such a wizard
Being conscious of the story and the self-imposed limits it creates, I have now started to work positively with it. When I start in on my “you’re such a phony baloney” bit, I now see it for what it is, a story that I use to limit my Self, rather than a truth I need to get hip to. (Yes, I know the 60’s are calling and they want their lingo back;)
There is nothing wrong with me and the sooner I stop telling my Self there is, the sooner I can embrace my own genius and work fully in it.
I want to be the most wicked me I can be. I want to be a wizard. Like Einstein. And that’s no baloney.
photo by: Vaguely Artistic
by Tara Joyce | Aug 27, 2009 | Cultural Creativity
I often find that my choices are met with hostility from others.
The resistance is not a result of my choice affecting or hurting the other person, as the decision often has nothing to do with them… the hostility is more about how the decision makes them feel about their Self.
So what if I’m different from you?
To me, the difference between a person committed to a Cultural Creative, Modern or Traditional lifestyle is the values that they choose to actively pursue as goals. We are all seeking happiness and trying to avoid pain but the means through which we pursue these desires differs.
For me, my happiness comes from valuing my close relationships, enjoying and respecting the environment, being of service to others, expressing and embracing my own unique genius, living holistically… I could go on.
“Do, or do not. There is no try.” – Jedi Master Yoda
Others may also think these values are significant and important as well… but it’s not your intentions that matter, it’s your actions.
Our values are the goals we actively pursue. You may say the environment is important to you but, if you dump that paint can down the sink instead of taking the time to see that it be properly disposed of, your actions are exhibiting your true values, despite what you may tell your Self. Sure, you may value the environment, but you honestly value your time more.
It’s your problem, not mine.
This brings me back to the hostility, the threatened feeling I… and perhaps you, sometimes seem to bring forth in others. What do our actions have to with them? Why does it get their back up? Why do you care that I only buy organic meat? What’s it got to do with you?
I’d say that if you experience feelings of resistance towards the decisions of another, it’s probably a good time to take a look at your Self and the goals you’re actively pursuing. Because it’s not my action you have a problem with, it’s your inaction.
photo by: Pulpolux !!!
