Last Wednesday night I attended a Meet-up group in Minneapolis to re-focus on an excellent tool for uncovering energy and passion, The Artist’s Way. This is a meet-up I helped launch over a year ago. I’m happy to see that Amy Egenberger of Spirit Out Coaching is keeping it going strong.

Over the course of the evening eight of us responded to creativity-focused questions. It became vibrantly clear to me that I’m more than ready to immerse myself in the twelve chapter program once again. This will be my 6^th time. What’s in it for me? It forces me to commit time and energy to Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan’s basic tools of writing morning pages every day – and reaping the benefits of this action. And, whether or not I’m able to follow through on each week’s artist’s date, at least I’ll seriously consider what will nurture me as I forge through the week.

It occurred to me, as we sat around the table sipping tea, while doodling my answers that instead of thinking of the artist’s date as an obligation, I could consider it an invitation to be wowed. I wrote: go on my artist’s dates with the intention to be inspired. One of Cameron’s basic tools is to take your self, alone, on an artist’s date each week. I tend to choose things that I do anyway, for instance walk the dog on the wooded nearby trail, or watch a movie. But Cameron urges the reader to do something different and daring. So, this time round I’m going to put ‘inspired time’ on my calendar and see more art in the Twin Cities all year long. And when I go – I’ll go with the intention to be inspired.

Each time I undertake the journey this book offers, my connection with my own inner artist deepens. It is a rich gift to be inspired.

Looking to be more creative in 2012? Join me for a 12 week teleclass on Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. Here’s an opportunity to put more joy and abundance into your life, as you discover and utilize your abundant resourcefulness as part of a group of inspired women and men.

You need not be an artist to benefit from the class.

Classes start Thursday evening, January 19, 2012!  Anyone is welcome!

For more information and to register, visit the link below:

http://www.revitalizecoaching.com/upcoming-classes/

What to read? Overwhelmed with options? If you’re looking for amazing
literature and quirky characters, the best novel I’ve read this year is
actually a pair of them by Kent Haruf: Plainsong and its sequel, Eventide.
Check them out for entertaining reading pleasure.

But if you want to learn some quick tips for sales, give Harvey Mackay’s
latest a turn.

(Cross Posted from GoodReads.com.  Click here to read all of my reviews.)

The core of this book, in addition to Mackay’s signature optimism, is its broad span of ideas from Hank Aaron, Houdini, Oprah to Zig Ziglar

Structured by 7 sections starting with You and ending with Excel. Some of the best ideas are those he gleans from others. As Malcolm Gladwell puts it, “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do
that makes you good.”

He also ends each chapter with Mackay’s Moral. Chapter 2 ends with “If you believe, you will achieve.”

The idea of the bucket list can be overdone. But Mackay outlines his notion of a powerful Bucket List with an inspired nod to the challenge of sales in the 21st century. “Imagine you’re endowing a major foundation.
What would its goals be? How would you channel the giving? Which one person
would you support in their work to better the world?” These are the kinds of energizing sparks sprinkled throughout the book.

If you’re interested in a book with easy to read snippets and short chapters to remind you of some age-old rules of engagement, this one, which runs a solid 325 pages, not including the index, is a treasure trove.