Want a Leafy Car with Jelly-Bean Extension Cord? Get in Line in Vancouver in 2010

I first heard this sweeping vision at TED Palm Springs in February.  Shai Agassi’s talk of electric-car-charging stations – to replace gas stations – around the world was invigorating, but there were a lot of naysayers at dinner later.

Could the giant iceberg of existing infrastructure be stopped, and momentum gained in the other direction? Instead of plugging my nose when gassing up, could I get used to swapping the batteries in my car in a little electric car drive through? Where would Shai’s vision first break ground and when? Or would it?

Here is the TED.com video in question so you can see for yourself. Remember TED talks are all 20 minutes at most, and speakers are requested to give the ‘talk of their lives.’ Prepare to enjoy.

Cut to what, 8 months later? Today.

Via Nissan.

Nissan, along with the Canadian province of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver, and BC Hydro, have announced that British Columbians will have a chance to get their hands on Nissan’s LEAF electric car sooner than the rest of the world. Global distribution is planned for 2012, but Canada’s Westernmost province will see it come in 2011.

Electric Cars in Vancouver
Gregor Robertson, the mayor of Vancouver (host of the 2010 winter olympics) said:

“Moving towards a zero-emission mobility program gets Vancouver closer to our goal of becoming the world’s greenest city.

We’ve moved very aggressively to bring in electric vehicle charging infrastructure regulations for Vancouver that is a first for North America.

The City will need electric vehicles to charge on that new infrastructure.

We are very pleased to be the first Canadian municipal partner of Nissan, a global leader in electric-vehicle technologies.”

So now it’s ‘we have the infrastructure planned for and coming, and we need some cars.’ Nice!

New legislation in Vancouver requires developers of new condominiums and apartments to make electric outlets available in a minimum of 20% of parking spots. Can downstream items like slick extension cords in jelly bean colors be far behind? Shai, what have you started?

I’m happy for Vancouver, in its lovely vision, along with the new Leaf, or should that be Leaves, soon to fill its streets. And, well, I like the color of the model. Did they steal it from Flik, the main ant character in A Bug’s Life, do you think?

Read more about the Leaf here. If you’d like a report on the test drive, as soon as I can get one, stay tuned.

The Dilemma of the Alpha Female, Or, The Inadvertent Slow Cowing Of the Modern Male

Long-time readers may recall that about 2 years ago, I became very interested in this particular idea set. I retreated for 10 days. I wrote. I gathered evidence in color-coded folders; I even pitched it to editors and secured real interest. And spoke publicly – personally! vulnerably! – on a call focused on thought leadership, citing it as THE project in my life that was scaring the bejeezus out of me. (Is that how you spell bejeezus??)

At various times, the work was called ‘The Dilemma of the Alpha Female’ and ‘Your Husband Wants His Pants Back’ but probably my favorite non-contender was ‘Stop Stepping On His Balls.’ Oh, the look on the face of the book consultant as I threw around cover art concepts of stiletto heels and artfully placed diamonds the size of golf balls.

Of course, what happened next was a perfect illustration of the concepts themselves.

(1) I grew confident and excited.

(2) I talked with my husband Mike about it, and though he was very supportive, started feeling concern that this might not be the greatest thing for our relationship.

(3) I grew confused. Into this confusion, clarity about other more mundane projects shone like light in a dark, messy tunnel. My file folder on ‘the Pants book’  followed the laws of gravity to the bottom of the project pile.

The dilemma was, is - and armed with data from a career coaching strong, successful women, close observer to even more – the same, and stumping oh so many of us:

How do you play full out, riding that spiking arrow of testosterone high and to the right, glorying in all the alphaness of it, while balancing:

- Your own essential femaleness. Not everyone has an inner trembling flower, but you might be surprised how intricate it can be to switch from driver, visionary, producer to… receiver, observer, passenger.

- Testosterone, other than your own, that you want in your life. One look at the landscape tells much – how many women do you know who have difficulty finding a Man? Whether you have a friend in that category or someone you admire in that category, you know what I mean.

- The inevitable anger and self-hatred, likely largely unexpressed, at living this dilemma every day, every goddamned day, with not a clue what to do about it.

How does this dance between male and female energy – sometimes bubbling under the surface, sometimes spraying out, ugly and ferocious – play out? What does the music even sound like? How do we find a soundtrack we like, and play it, enchantingly, entrancingly, each day? This is the dilemma.

Here’s a segment of the little ‘blurbey’ that got the attention of editors at the Maui Writer’s Conference that year:

Have you ever wondered why your husband rarely initiates a romantic encounter anymore? Or when he’ll start earning some ‘real’ money so you can stop buying your own anniversary gifts, and taking yourself out to dinner? Are you exhausted all the time being the man AND the woman in your relationship?

Where is the hunka-hunka burnin’ love you fell for in the first place?

Enough. It’s time to sort out how to give those pants back to their rightful owner.

After years of helping successful career women coax their husbands out of their hiding places, professional coach Andrea Lee blows the whistle on the emasculated state of too many modern marriages. Without meaning to, modern women have ‘come a long way, baby’ and then gone way too far.

In trying to be our best selves, we have undermined our husbands. Inadvertently, alright, but that’s not the point. They in turn, are mighty tired of walking on eggshells for this superwoman who insists on changing her own lightbulbs, along with everything else in her wake. With no defined role for our men to play, is it any wonder our lives of quiet desperation have started screaming at us to stop?

Your Husband Wants His Pants Back reveals:

- Exactly how to leave ‘The Witch’ behind, without turning into June Cleaver. (No offense, June.)
- Startling facts about your man, including when he’d LIKE to talk about his feelings.
- How to reclaim your life as a loving woman without wilting into overcompliancy.
- What only you AND your man, together, can create, other than or in addition to children, that no other couple could.
- The simple daily exercises you can use to achieve the above!

Here’s the deal: You can be pro-man without betraying the sisterhood. In fact, join the sisterhood generation that claims a new definition of happiness for modern women – and their men.

Interestingly, after letting the project find its own way in the wilderness awhile, another theme emerged. To continue the music analogy, you could call this a harmonic strain, or counterpoint to the tune I’d been singing. Into the mix emerged the topic of a ‘Husband University’ where Mike could put forward his arsenal of wisdom on ‘how to live and love an alpha female.’ It was like a juicy and empowering supercarrot, reward for his investment into what is now a fairly evolved yet untraditional male-female dynamic, or so our friends tell us. Maybe there was a(nother) reason he stuck through ‘all that.’

Like melodies and harmonies do, the two topics faded in and out, curling after one another with pauses for summer, lake-swimming, blackberry-picking, and the general enjoyment of each other and life.

Cue the fall of 2009. Okay it’s not quite September yet, but my inner calendar tends to run about 7 days ahead (I couldn’t find the warranty so I haven’t had it fixed.) Now…now…this topic wants to sing.

Of course, the question becomes, does anyone want to hear it?!

If a blog post is written in a forest, and no one comments, does the project have legs?

Here are the questions I like to ask, myself and clients, at this juncture in project creation:

In a noisy world, would this project represent tangible value to the world, my market/tribe/peeps, and me? How tangible? How helpful to others? How much good could it generate?

In a noisy world of many experts, is this something that only I can do, quite this way, again, valuably? What makes this the project I must do?

In a noisy world of so much information, does this work represent enough of an evolution, innovation, or departure from the crowded masses of clotted thought, to bother?

As a recovering alpha female with yet another dilemma, I’d love your help deciding. I know what I’d do, without consulting you. But, why would I not consult you?! If there’s enough interest, I’ll up the ante and post the Table of Contents for the book in its raw, uncut glory, the better for you to pick apart.

This is me doing my best impersonation of a modern alpha female, eager to receive and follow, your wise and soulful guidance. From the heart of one creator to another, thank you.

—–

Want to share this article with a fellow Alpha Female, and contribute to ahas of recognition and sighs of relief being heard around the world? The message needs your help! Here’s a great short link to just this post on this blog:

http://bit.ly/48cadB

And if you have other requests for reprints, I’m all ears. Email me at andrea at andreajlee dot com. Thanks, guys.

What Being Home Feels Like | ‘Fundamental Richness’

I’ve been home a day now, almost to the minute, and unfortunately at this hour, not sleepy. Was I ever, this afternoon, but alas, that demon jetlag has its grip on me! To fall to sleep, I’ve been counting, not sheep, but blessings. 

After a whirlwind trip with mom to bury grandma, my day has been filled with conversations: 3 big-hearted and intelligent coaching clients, 2 internal meetings, an upset brother, and one business meeting with struck-with-dental-pain-but-grinning-and-bearing-it husband. I feel tremendously lucky.

Locals in the Comox Valley often ask ‘why’d you move here’ from Calgary, to which I like to reply, ‘what’s not to like?’ Tonight, picking wild plums (yellow and red, the yellow are sweeter), buying a plate of swollen figs from a Portuguese neighbour near the estuary, then laughing at Reka eating blackberries off the vine, I reaffirm – it’s sweet to be home. 

Flossing my teeth in my own bathroom tonight, Chapter 13 ‘Fundamental Richness’ from The Pocket Pema Chodron sang to me, so I share it here with you:

“Fundamental richness is available in each moment. The key is to relax: relax to a cloud in the sky; relax to a tiny bird with gray wings; relax to the sound of the telephone ringing.

We can see the simplicity in things as they are. We can smell things, taste things, feel emotions, and haev memories. When we are able to be there without saying, ‘I certainly agree with this,’ or ‘I definitely don’t agree with that,’ but just be here very directly, then we find fundamental richness everywhere.

It is not ours or theirs but is available always to everyone. In raindrops, in blood drops, in heartache and delight, this wealth is the nature of everything. It is like the sun in that it shines of everyone without discrimination.”

—-

How are you fundamentally rich in this moment? What does being home feel like to you? Does home feel like its where you are now, or elsewhere? If fundamental richness doesn’t feel accessible to you now, what DO you feel? To feel something different, it’s often helpful to feel what you feel right now first, fully…

Made In Taiwan | Retail Therapy

I’m safe! (Thank you for asking.) And relatively dry, if you don’t count the humidity, or my workout in said humidity earlier today.

And the funeral services for my Grandmother, taking place over 2 days, are now complete.  The trip is making for some terrific family time, with old, long-buried stories from both sides of my family coming to the surface.

For the first time as an adult, I’m experiencing Taiwan fully, including in my body, boundaries nicely in place…being very myself, come hell or high water, and, well, there was some high water here, courtesy of Typhoon Morokat. 

Still, at the risk of being flip, sometimes money and meaning intersect, and get expressed in very simple ways. In this case, it was through 3 pairs of gorgeous, inexpensive, comfortable shoes, made in Taiwan, and bought with much shared laughter for about $50 by a mother and her daughter. (Said mom will likely be surprised to find a photo of her shoes on her daughter’s blog, however. Hi, Mom!)

More glimpses from Taiwan - likely of a more thoughtful variety, but no guarantees – soon to come.

The Final Word… A Personal Note And A Poem From Hafiz

It’s been a tumultuous first six months of 2009 for me, in many ways, so I’ve decided to take June 1 as a reset button… a new start to 2009. What have I learned?

• Recognize karma when it is staring me in the face. (Dance with who persists in showing up in your life. There might be something in it.)
• Learning is what happens when I really, really, really don’t know what to do. (It might be interesting to stay with not knowing more often, instead of trying to get unstuck all the time.)
• A formerly nerdy, plays-piano, goes-to-Chinese-school-on-the-weekend, favorite hobby is ‘books’ Asian girl can become (joyfully) athletic. PR for squats = 100 pounds, for benchpress = 80. (Sorry, no photos. Maybe later this summer.)

I turn 39 today. Yes, it’s my birthday and as you read this I’m off, probably being spoiled by my hubby Mike. 40 is right around the corner, and maybe I’m feeling just a little grown up these days.

May I punctuate the end of this newsletter with a bit of poem with questions I’m asking myself, at the end? Perhaps there’s something here for you, too.

From ‘Then
Winks’ by Hafiz

 

Everything is clapping today,

Light,
Sound,
Motion,
All Movement.

A rabbit I pass pulls a cymbal
From a hidden pocket
Then winks.

This causes a few planets and I
To go nuts
And start grabbing each other.

Someone sees this,
Calls a
Shrink,

Tries to get me
Committed
For
Being too Happy.

Listen: this world is the lunatic’s sphere,

Don’t always agree it’s real…

Possible Questions…

What box am I playing in? What box would others have me play in? What
box do I choose to leave in order to construct what other box?

How can I dial down the ambient noise of sameness, all around? How
can I break free into a quiet pocket of space to hear myself think?

For inquiring minds: the tree we planted at our wedding

I finally found this lovely inquiry from Sandy from back in August. Thanks for the inquiring mind, Sandy.   See below for the wee answer…

From: Sandy
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 4:28 PM
Subject: Re: 2 timely invites, and more…

Andrea,

Thank your for sharing about your anniversary celebration. It took a few times looking back at your wedding photo to realize that the two of you are planting what looks like a tree together in a shiny silver pot. Can you share your story about that? It seems so lovely and wondering if you could share a little about that. Is it a Canadian tradition or just and ajl created thing?

Cheers,
Sandy

Well, your eyes have served you well, Sandy, you deduced right; we planted a tree sapling at our wedding, and actually had a small sapling as wedding gift for each guest.  They were small white pine trees which are our favorite trees ever.  With their soft, soft pine needles and arching glorious tallness when fully grown, white pines are the essence of Canada, or at least the province of Ontario, especially when lining a lake with the call of a loon to boot. 

It’s not a Canadian thing at all, as far as I know, just a little thing Mike and I did for fun.  We know of at least three of the saplings which are growing, two in Quebec and one in British Columbia. So I guess it’s our spin on that other touching idea for weddings: having the roses from the wedding grafted and planted so that at one’s 20th anniversary, the glorious rose bushes can be part of the celebration.

Kinda fun remembering how we made meaning in our day – I wonder what we’ll think up for our 15th, coming soon, maybe we’ll have to resurrect something tree-ish! Thanks for inquiring…

Coming to the ICF Conference? Let’s connect!

In this virtual world of coaching it’s always a treat to see a smiling face ‘live and in person’, hehe. If you will be in Montreal for the ICF Conference be sure to stop by The Harnisch Foundation Wine & Cheese Reception on Friday night and say hi… RSVP to Linda by the 7th to save your spot.

 

The Foundation of Coaching
The Coaching Commons
The Gift of Coaching

Please Join Us

Wine and Cheese Reception

Hosted by
The Harnisch Foundation

Friday, November 14, 2008
Hyatt Regency Montréal
Jeanne-Mance Room

5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Please R.S.V.P. by November 7, 2008
Linda@thehf.org

The Harnisch Foundation is a catalyst for sustainable social change, funding and implementing innovation in the fields of philanthropy, coaching and journalism.

Recommended Book for Meaningful Times

Leap Before you Look, 72 Shortcuts for Getting Out of your Mind and into the Moment
by Arjuna Ardagh

Now that I’m part of TEDglobal and accompanying book club, I’m getting all manner of interesting far-flung books. This one isn’t one of TED’s selections! But it is a goodie and has been a little companion of mine this summer.

If you read my above article on Planet Andrea, you’ll have noticed I’m inquiring lots into the mind and the body as gateways to personal growth. I’m asking questions like – could it be true there is no mind-body connection because the body is the mind and the mind is the body?

What about the notion that every cell in our bodies thinks and feels? Or that the body is a printout of the mind?

What if coaching breakthroughs could be facilitated through the body, much as body therapies currently do BUT in a manner that is even more integrated with the mind?

Leap Before You Look is a book that has helped tease out these questions and give them air. It has actual exercises in it titled ‘Explore Hunger’ ‘Cradle Negative Feelings Like a Baby’ ‘Make Love to Everything’ and ‘Make Yourself into Live Entertainment.’

In short, a book after my heart, and a top pick from the summer, for both clients and readers – yes that means you. Do check it out. I’m thinking it’ll make a great gift for clients in the coming silly season – a still pool of thoughtfulness. Enjoy.

Only read this if you’re oddly :-) curious about me…

If life is a journey, here are trip details for Planet Andrea at the moment

As a creative person, do you wonder what to do when you’re ready to move on from one set of ideas and go to the next?How will you take care of what you’ve created before? When will you decide to definitively leave something behind?

Will you lovingly tend to all your old ideas, patiently talking about them afresh, every time you’re asked? Or will you be like the renowned author and psychologist Daniel Goleman who, at a Q&A session soon after the launch of his new book, Social Intelligence, said “I’m not answering any questions about Emotional Intelligence. Ask me something else.”

If marketing gurus are people you listen to, they are the ones that say “The moment you are bored of the message you present is the very moment your market is starting to listen. Persist in milking the cow.” Ugh.

In my opinion, these are the moments creative entrepreneurs like you and I feel most put upon. Would Alexander Graham Bell succumb to always (only) pontificate about the phone? If we are to create what really matters, we must find ways to clean the slate, secure a good retirement for our previous works, and continue to create and evolve.

It’s always fun when the answers aren’t clear. I mean, you can read one book and decide to sell an old business. You could read another and be admonished to just drop what you created last year and move on. What do you think is the answer, for you? Coaches have been around for long enough now to really need to talk about this…

Without much fanfare, here are details from Planet Andrea for your curiosity. Continue reading for more.

Read more

Find Andrea, Win a Prize – and – 20 years from now, what will you have done?

I don’t know about you, but I usually don’t plan very far ahead. I mean, I visualize and meditate on the very far-off future. But I don’t plan. Too much ‘life’ can happen between now and 20 years from now, right?

It’s interesting what a 20-year High School reunion did to change my perspective. For the first time, I’m able to look back at a chunk of time and say ‘that’s what 20 years is like’ and actually semi-understand it.
I guess it isn’t surprising that stepping out of High School, nobody asks “What Shall I Do With the Next 20 Years?” No one decides to live a rich and rewarding life so as to have good stories to tell at their reunion.

In the variety of life stories I did hear, I think that was evident. A couple of my classmates even said the words, “It’s amazing but I feel like I really haven’t done much in 20 years.” “How weird that it took me 20 years to do what I just told you in 2 minutes.” “I guess life can go by and you don’t realize it…”

Thankfully, stepping out of the High School Reunion, I felt quite different. All of a sudden I realized, “What Shall I Do With the Next 20 Years?” is just as good a question for now as before! If I missed asking it then, I don’t have to miss asking it now. The next time I see ANY of these lovely ladies, we’ll all be eligible for discounted senior citizen fares for the bus. What stories will we have to catch up on then? Nothing much exciting? Something extraordinary? If something in between, will we be done telling it in 2 minutes?

And wow, you know, we only really get 4 or maybe 5 units of 20 years, each –

I never used to believe people when they said time moves faster as you get older, but now I do. 20 years from now I’m planning to have some GREAT stories to tell.

What would you like to have done in the next 5, 10, 20 years? How much good will you do with your one life in just the next 12 months?

P.S. Yes, that’s my grad class photo. Can you find me? (Click the thumbnail photo to enlarge.) Even some of my non-High School closest friends couldn’t pick me out, they all thought I was Ferida Yang. Hint: After telling Suzanne Falter-Barns which one is me – she said…

“Wow Andrea, what IS that, a Chinese afro?”

For difficult days…because we all have them…

“Resistance is about believing you are vulnerable or susceptible to something not wanted

and holding a stance of protection

which only holds you in a place of not letting in the well-being
that would be there otherwise.

There is nothing big enough

to protect you

from unwanted things -

and there are no unwanted things big enough

to get into your experience.”

– Abraham-Hicks

When you get that palpable sensation of having one foot on the gas, and one foot on the brakes in your life, where do you turn, what do you do?

The Mainstream Publishing World via the Maui Writers Conference…

The Maui Writers Conference last week was…

Delightful – A full 10 days in an environment of bright and shiny, creative thinkers from hundreds of walks of life, not to mention sweetly-scented air and ocean all around, made for a multisensory feast of an exeperience. It was also extremely…

Fruitful - Two literary agents and one editor are interested in seeing two book proposals. Two other agents are willing for me to stay in touch on behalf of clients who have books coming up themselves. And one editor was tolerably encouraging of the idea that I might hang up a shingle as agent in the new year, and call him with a couple of pitches. “If you think you have an eye for recognizing talent, that’s a gift that separates regular agents from agents I want to work with.” Excellent!

For those of you who’d love to ‘piggyback’ on this immersion experience, I’d be delighted to share an infusion. If you’d like to know more about:

- the big picture of the publishing world as I’ve been learning it the last several months…
- the little picture of the players in that world (what do they wear, eat, read?) after ‘living’ with them for a week…
- what’s occuring with the ‘new media’ revolution and what it means…
- the distinctions between publishing and self-publishing, and…
- which projects I’ll put on the mainstream publishing track – which ones I’ll self-publish, and why…

Of course, post-conference life is terribly interrupted now, by design. And I’m grateful. Like a big trunk full of toys collected over the years, sometimes you have to dump all the pieces of your life on the ground in a mess in order to decide what to play with next.

Interrupting life this way means it will be impossible to put all the toys back the way they were before. What a perfect relief!

On a personal note, two things:

Snorkelling and swimming has freed me from residual body-fear. 10 weeks after my surgery and that’s a good thing. Yes, I am smiling!

Well actually make that grinning from ear to ear because my hubby Mike had an even more incredible time than I did at the conference. Of the 3 tracks at the event, Mike took part in the most intensive – Screenwriting with Director Michael Palmieri (Chico’s Angels, Michael P is on the right, my hubby at left), featuring Bobby Moresco (Crash), Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) and others. Among 29 attendees in the group, only two wrote in the romantic comedy genre – you know that genre where the movies are either fabulous (When Harry Met Sally, French Kiss) or really really horrible (names omitted to protect the innocent)?

Well, my Mike took the screenwriting track’s prize for best screenplay. Even better, his writing met with – in his words – “laughs basically right on cue, pages in a row” which had him the ultimate Cloud 9. Then, an agent asked if he had a manager and invited him to take next steps.

Let’s just say that with a free ticket to next year’s conference, $1000 in prize money, massive validation and a ton of new questions (Will we move to LA as hinted would be wise? Of all the new ideas, which screenplay will Mike tackle next? Is this really real, pinch me/us/him!)……. this is life – perfectly interrupted – for us at this moment.

With that…perhaps a little of this energy can be turned around to good use for you. That is after all, the point right? Will you join us for an energized fall? Why do I think you have a ruckus you’re itching to create, underneath your skin? Or maybe its something you’re spinning, silky and smooth?

I think of Fall as such a great non-new-year non-cliche time for refreshment and renewal…a counter-culture overachiever’s fantasy. So while no one else has noticed the January 1st that’s looming yet – what will you do with your life and business next? Will you solidify the road you are on? Will you try something new? What will feel good and feed you energy? What will you whittle away?

I’m looking forward to reading whatever’s useful to you to share, and hearing you on the Open House call, once again, registration details above. More Maui stories to come…

Use the player below to listen to the recording of this call or click the link below the player to download the mp3:

Personal: I’m back from surgery | Talk about your decluttering! (Reader Discretion Advised)

With bright lights on the ceiling and a mask over my face, I smiled my last conscious breath in. It would be the last thing I remembered for 3 hours – how happy and calm I felt in that suspended moment! I breathed through the plastic as I thought of people around the world, at home playing loud music, dancing like it was their last dance on earth, and thinking loving thoughts as my surgery began. That was June 27.

For all your energetic well-wishes, I thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart.

Cut to today. It’s six weeks later, and I’m back at my laptop, happily tapping away. Much like my inbox, engorged with 2800 emails earlier, now culled down to 250, I’m quite considerably de-cluttered as well! In the end, Dr. Scott removed nearly two pounds of fibroids from the fundal (bottom) side of my uterus. (I did say reader discretion, right?) Two pounds…that’s two big blocks of butter worth – a bit of a shock, even to my surgeon.

So what is the state of Planet Andrea, post surgery? While physically my recovery has gone heavenly well, emotionally there’s been some Sturm and Drang (cue the Wagner please.) But I’ve found some inner peace I think, at least enough that I can compile a coherent Top 3 Personal musings-for-the-moment, for what they are worth.

(1)”Yes to All” was a good decision.

You may recall I had difficulty deciding whether to have surgery or not – the coin kept landing on its edge. In the end I decided to say yes to everything that seemed like a step forward. I said yes to acupuncture and yes to surgery. I decided yes to continuing to try to conceive and yes to beginning adoption.

When Dr. Scott opened me up, they found more fibroids in me than detected by ultrasound, a lot more. The surgery took twice as long as planned and in recovery I was given both units of blood I’d donated previously for that purpose. As she described what she saw in the operating room, Dr. Scott was succinct “I can’t see how a pregnancy would have…it was good you had them (the fibroids) out first.”

My lesson affirmed? Sometimes the answer to ‘how’ really is ‘yes.’ Especially when you’re really stuck deciding on something, see if ‘yes to all’ is an answer that works.

(2) It’s never too late to make friends with mom.

At the top of the list of gifts during my time off was this: In my second week of recovery, mom came to stay. Surprise, she didn’t force me to endure humiliating sponge baths and increasingly shrill “mother-who-was-a-nurse-and-sees-her-chance” lectures. Instead she made me laugh altogether too much having just had staples removed. She made congee and helped me remember Taiwanese things in the kitchen, and when she left, I was sad.

My general musing on this? Physically, things can get ‘stuck’ for a reason. What’s the real reason something (anything is happening) in your body?

“I wonder if there’s something I’m not hearing.” – Thomas Leonard, on the 4th day of an ear infection

Maybe, just maybe, the body really is a printout of the mind. Maybe my stuck spots with my mom were removed when my fibroids were removed. Or my fibroids were removed successfully because I’d decided to move from resistance to my mom to…acceptance (with boundaries.) It may even be that I’m ready to be a mom now, having found a new respect for mine. [Oh yes I do hear you nodding.]

(3) There’s more to doing ‘nothing’ than meets the eye.

I’ve discovered that six weeks off has a way of changing you permanently no matter what. My thoughts are flowing differently, my life-pace has a different rhythm. I’m clearer about what’s important to continue to do with my days and minutes, and more open to having no idea what’s supposed to happen long term.

Suggestion: When you next have a physical change-up in your life (big or small) try to see it as a milestone of some sort. Perhaps even a ritual. Allow it to create space in your life – that may be a big part of why the physical thing is in your life! [Will someone please tell a joke about how a headache after meeting with a particular person is a hint - not for you to take an aspirin, but to remove that person from your life? ]

For me, the experience of having surgery has definitely been a life decluttering on a massive scale. I’m grateful to everyone around me who’ve given the biggest gift ever: the space and freedom to not know, do nothing, experiment, and evolve. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So….more musings as they unfold, woven into less personal posts than this. One thing’s for sure – there’s lots of fun activity ahead. New self-published books. Very possibly a mainstream published book or three, with accompanying businesses to back those up. More conversation about what’s next, opening the box, breaking the box and telling the truth. Oh and intellectual property, things that may make you think and/or laugh – and much less now on nuts and bolts re: multiple streams.

I hope you’ll stick around, apply what’s useful, and join me in throwing out whatever’s not!!

[Photo: My dear husband Mike, mom and I on my 2-weeks-post-surgery celebration dinner at the Broken Plate in Calgary. Underneath the bright exterior, I'm celebrating my first scar, a 7-incher. Is this what it feels like to be a piggy bank? I have new empathy for stuffed toys with their tag's torn off...]

Make Real Estate Real | An Open House Call | Audio Recording

A quickie invitation for you today, to a useful open call about Real Estate with my very own Real Estate Coach!

If you’ve always ‘wondered’ what Real Estate could mean to you, your business and your life, here’s a chance to stop procrastinating and learn more in a no-pressure safe environment.

The call description is below with a registration link. Just remember it’s an Open House call so there is no charge. I hope you choose to join in – I could think of no better person to introduce to you for real estate wisdom than my personal investment coach. And no worries – you can be ready this very minute to begin investing OR you can be just curious. Everyone’s welcome.

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“Making Real Estate Real” Open House Call with Investment Coach Cassandra White
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sponsored by Andrea J. Lee of ‘Money, Meaning and Beyond’

If you had $25,000 or more to invest right now, would you know what to do? If you knew real estate was where you’d like to put your money, what would be your next step?

As conscious business owners, not all of your hard-earned money need be reinvested back into your business. At a certain point in your business life cycle, real estate investment makes real sense, and that’s just what Andrea and her husband Mike have been doing the last 4 years.

Now with four properties, some of which have appreciated over 50%, and looking at a fifth, Andrea credits her latest mindset shift to her investment coach Cassandra, who at the age of 33 now juggles joint ventures and investments for over 25 properties.

How does she do it and what does she advise? “Everyone with a little determination and creative thinking can do the same as me.” “You don’t have to start out with a ton of money.” The great thing is, there are real investment opportunities available today, for investors who are ready to make the leap.

Join this one hour Open House call to learn about specific opportunities to pursue real estate coaching with Cassandra if the time is right for you.

Or, if you’re new to this topic, register at the link below to hear Andrea interview Cassandra about how to get started, and generally get her to demystify the whole real estate game. You’re right, you could pay thousands
of dollars to attend real estate training seminars to do the same thing.

But why not save those dollars and put them into the investment properties themselves instead?

There’s no charge for the call – it’s our way of opening up this conversation in the community. Just help us spread the word by forwarding this invitation, alright?

From Thursday June 14, 2007 | Audio Recording UPDATED WITH CORRECT AUDIO 6.22.07

Use the player below to listen to the audio recording from this call:

Love Long and Prosper | What Do You Love?

There were a lot of things we couldn’t do 40 years ago, and I don’t just mean call someone on a cell phone in the middle of a rainforest. 40 years ago today, I, a Taiwanese woman, would not have been able to marry Mike, my Irish/Scottish husband, at least in the US. To do so would have been illegal and real people served time in prison for this offense.

Of course, there are still certain types of marriages that are considered illegal.

It’s Loving Day today, the 40-year anniversary of the date the Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage in the United States.

Personally speaking, having been married in 1995 in Canada, Mike and I didn’t have to battle a legal system to express our love through marriage, though we did have to manage a little family disapproval. And we do face societal judgements on a daily basis. It’s not a huge dynamic in our lives and I’m not about to share any horrible racism stories. But it does get interesting from time to time when we discuss what school our multi-racial children might attend, in what neighbourhood.

In fact, I rather enjoy the fact that we’ve ‘loved against the odds.’ It’s gritty and sweetens our relationship in a special way that I think is true of all couples that have this ‘forbidden-esque’ element.

Call me biased, but I think it’s in the ‘mixing’ of anything that creates some of most of the interesting things in life. And where many great business ideas come from. Take….peanut butter cups as just one example. I for one can’t imagine life without interracial marriages, peanut butter cups and a whole host of other combinations! Call it my propensity for divergent thought.

New combinations force us to:

- look at things with fresh eyes – new lenses through which to see
- review our assumptions and throw out the ones that no longer hold
- make room in the box in our head that maintains the status quo
- adapt and expand the conversation as new possibilities show up

In business, new combinations give rise to demand for services that don’t yet exist. Then, the opportunity to supply that demand must be met. New Demand + No Supply = Huge Business Opportunity. Suffice to say – new combinations of existing things are elixir in the business world – markets love them, the majority of the time.

What’s something you as a business owner love, that you think has nothing to do with your business?

What’s a hobby or vocation that you dally in ‘outside’ of your business sphere?

What if you married those things in a new combination and in doing so give birth to a new demand in the marketplace?

It’s been done before:

- Love of skateboarding + Ski School = Snowboarding
- Love of dogs + Childcare = Doggy Daycare
- Love of horses + Executive Coaching = Equine Assisted Leadership Training

What about:

- Romance Novels + Self-Help Books = Motivational Reading that you get aroused to and thus anchor your growth
- Coaching + Video Games = Situational Coaching in Real-Time Environments Via Computer

- Your example here?

Exercise: Describe a project you’re working on, or your business as a whole, and then add the words ‘and a frog.’

Examples: I train virtual assistants and a frog. My target market is lawyers in the state of Virginia and a frog. I write flash fiction, edit grant applications, write a blog and a frog.

Adding ‘and a frog’ helps exercise your ‘that’s ridiculous’ muscle so that you start to see slightly ridiculous combinations in a different light. If you do this enough you can start to see ridiculous things as almost normal. Everything and a frog start to become regular – except that the people around you haven’t done the ‘and a frog’ exercise so you become the most creative person among all your friends.

The questions Loving Day make me ask go along these lines:

“Do I care about anything enough that I’d fight for the right to express it?”

“What do I love so much that I’d allow myself to be banished from my home for 25 years and go to court to fight for my right to love?”

Because that’s exactly what Mildred Jeter (black) and Richard Loving (white) did from 1958 to 1967 and that’s what Loving Day commemorates. Read the full story here.

Who knows what acknowledging and accepting new combinations of things is preparing us for…

Who knows what asserting ourselves for our deepest desires is creating in the world, really…

In a world where there’s very little new under the sun, I raise a glass to embracing new combinations of things.

Got a multiracial friend or inter-racially-married couple in your life? Send them to this resource page from the official Loving Day website. Ipride.org is especially cool.

Happy Loving Day everyone!

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