Preview of the Fun to Come (this Sunday Jan 20th)

Hmmm, chocolate. And raspberries. This treat awaited last year's February Visionaries during the closing ceremonies, each artisanal truffle, handmade by French Broad Chocolate Lounge, was a favorite individually requested by participants.

"Every time I took your vision board playshop, everything on my board came true!" - Jennifer MacDonald

We had a ball in January and February 2012, with the theme of the second Chocolate Passion-Powered playshop firing everyone up to complete their boards in time for a deliciously delightful intention ceremony involving the aforementioned chocolate. That's all I'll say, because the rest is a secret.

"These playshops are so much fun. I highly recommend them to my Asheville friends." – Melissa Baker, Two-Time Visionary Participant

We held two Vision Board Playshops in January and February in a beautiful room, surrounded by giant windows with a view of the Swannanoa River only a few steps away at Common Light Meetinghouse in Black Mountain. Since then, they've added a garden area leading down to the water and invited us back to enjoy it for this coming Sunday afternoon's playshop on January 20th.

Lots of miracles jumped off of last year's vision boards into reality. One Visionary announced her intention to have a baby – and she's coming back to this year's playshop pregnant. Another participant, on a whim, posted some exotic animal photos. She didn't know why at the time, but she ended up going on a safari last spring, a vacation that was totally undreamed of before she dreamed up her vision board.


"I thought the playshop was a huge success, and I'm so excited about my new board and it's awesome power!" – Carolyn Cramer

"I had so much fun...Thank you again for the experience. I love my board and will continue to create them! You are awesome!!" - Sarah Hope Bender

This year's theme is Luck, and there will be surprises in store for the participants to ignite a year of good fortune, synchronicity and serendipity. And, yes, there will be yummy snacks. After all, who can create on an empty stomach?

Fun with Archetypes: or Un(b)lock Your Destiny

Prostitute

I've been intrigued by archetypes since joining a Jungian dream group in 2007. Jung identified archetypes as individual forces in our personalities and souls that help shape our personal destiny. (I'm simplifying here for the sake of brevity.)

Then a little over a decade ago, famous medical intuitive and author, Caroline Myss created her own program to help individuals identify their archetypes and gain more clarity and insight into their 'divine potential'. She distilled this into the book, Sacred Contracts, which sat on my shelf collecting dust until about a month ago, when I was suddenly drawn to it during my yearly review and preparation for New Year's visioning:

Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential

Turns out Ms. Myss has archived a giant library online of all her archetypal research and you can go to town sussing out what primary archetypes are elbowing each other for room in your soul.

The Sacred Contracts Library

She believes that "each of us is guided by a Sacred Contract that our soul made before we were born." The Contract holds other agreements regarding what lessons we're supposed to learn in life, who from, when and where.

Crazy stuff, huh? There are literally hundreds of these archetypes, which fall into categories like Artist, Leader, Mystic, Caretaker, etc. (Trade secrets: we use these in advertising and screenwriting to define brand personality or make characters distinct from other characters.) If you're a Downton Abbey fan, you might get a kick out of this breakdown of a few of the characters into archetypes:
Downton Abbey Archetypes

Recently, Caroline Myss got hip to the contemporary evolution of archetypes and wrote a new book bringing the whole thing into this millenium, Archetypes: who are you?

This one looks like a whole lot more fun. I mean wouldn't you rather be a "Fashionista" than a "Prostitute"? And while researching archetypes, I stumbled on a new beta social media site which turns out to be driven by this new work: ArchetypeMe.com
Their tagline: Discover the real you.

I gotta tell you, this baby will suck you in, first with the quiz that helps you figure out your primary archetypes (mine were Creative (32%), Spiritual (26%) and Visionary (22%); pretty right on). And then second, you can create your own archetypal dream board of current examples of music, fashion, pop culture, political, architectural, design and other elements that you can pull images from and 'type'. Not that you have that much time to spare, but you can at least take the quiz which is quite enlightening.

What's the point? To be on purpose and on course, of course. Figure out your destiny – and your allies and your enemies on the way to getting there. After all, you wouldn't want to miss your boat or any lessons you're meant to learn – or you might have to come back for a do-over.

The Million Dollar Question (with a little spice on the side)

Happy New Year! They're shooting off fireworks here in Asheville on this beautiful, chilly night. I love the first day of the year. It feels like new vistas are opening up and we're all given a fresh chance to start over.

At the beginning of every year when I prepare my vision board playshops, I send out a list of questions to help participants frame their vision. When my own purpose or focus eludes me, I turn to the Million Dollar Question:

If money were no object, if the opinions of friends and family didn't matter and if you were free to do anything in the world you wanted – what would you do? (Another way to ask this is: if you had a million dollars, what would you do?) 

Now, answer the Million Dollar Question and watch yourself fighting the little objections that arise. See if you can push them down and let the truth of what you really want rise to the surface.

Seriously, what's your heart's burning desire? What have you dreamed about doing ever since you were a kid?  What are your five top passions, the pursuits, things or experiences that you enjoy so much you couldn't live without them? 

Creating a vision or sensing our true purpose leads us forward toward something larger than ourselves. It helps us set goals and define how we want to live our lives, the actions we take moment to moment, and the people we take with us.

“If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else.” –Yogi Berra

Our vision acts as an attractor beam pulling us toward it, while we're simultaneously drawing it to us.  It keeps us on track, rather than wandering aimlessly through our days.

Here are some other questions to explore that might help you define or color your vision – and bring it into reality.

1. Who do I most admire or envy and why? 

2. What are they doing that I'd love to do?

3. How would I most like to be of service? 

4. Who would really appreciate my talents and gifts?

5. Who do I need to be or become to really go after my dream?

6. How will I feel when I'm actually living my purpose?

7. If I could choose any profession or service other than what I'm doing now, what would it be?

Tonight (New Year's Eve), I made collard greens and black-eyed peas, the traditional southern New Year's Day meal to share with friends on New Year's Day for good luck and money. Because let's face it, we all need a little more luck and some extra cha-ching doesn't hurt either. I love sending folks off toward their vision quests on a full stomach – a spicy feast to launch a spicy new year.

Here's wishing everyone out there more joy, more love, more presence, and a more fulfilled life in 2013. And add a little spice while you're at it.

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” – Henry Miller

Seven Questions/Actions to Help You Review 2012:

Summer Berries in my Back Yard, July '12

Leading up to the New Year and our first Lucky '13 Vision Board Playshop on January 20th, here is a list of questions and processes to guide your review of 2012. As we prepare to enter a new calendar year, we're offered the perfect moment to integrate our experiences of the last 365 days, the time it takes for our planet to make one revolution around the sun. This year marker may seem arbitrary, but it does give us a long enough chunk of time to create a vision in the future and achieve the incremental goals that allow us to reach it.

      "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." Einstein

Enjoy answering the questions:

1.      Create your Letting Go List. What do you want to leave behind from 2012? It could be an experience, an emotion, an attachment, a relationship, a habit, behavior or addiction, a way of looking at the world. (You might think about burning this on New Year’s Eve or burying it, some kind of letting go ritual.)

2.      What and who in your life do you want to bring into 2013?

3.      Make a list of all your high points, successes and accomplishments.

4.      Review actions you’re learned from. Is there anything you might have done differently?

5.      What people or experiences served to inspire, teach or mentor you in 2012?

6.      Who did you nurture, inspire, teach or mentor this past year?

7.      Who do you need to forgive? Take some time over the next few days to create your own forgiveness process for those people. And, of course, include yourself. You might also think of forgiving G-d or whatever spiritual force you believe in.

Announcing the 1st Playshop of 2013

Just click the flyer to expand. Thirteen lucky visionaries will join me on January 20th.

More info coming soon. In case of inclement weather, the snow backup date will be February 2nd.

Time to do what you love

Coming soon...The Lucky '13 Vision Board Playshop, January 20, 2013. And a second playshop, February 2nd. Stay tuned for more details. Till then, I love this manifesto:

The Chocolate Heart Passion-Powered Playshop

Introducing the last vision board playshop for Winter 2012. This time we're bringing in some Sweet Inspiration with artisanal chocolate from local favorite, French Broad Chocolate Lounge – in honor of Valentine's month. Of course, this playshop, like all others, promises some mysterious and magical processes to unleash personal insights about our individual goals and dreams. We've got a very interesting crowd lined up so please come join us if you're in the Asheville area. And, of course, the chocolate itself will be unveiled in a special love-powered ritual to be revealed on Feb 4th.

Everyone's an artist in this playshop. Guaranteed fun as you create a blueprint for success.

We had a wonderful magic-inspired playshop yesterday in Black Mountain, in a creatively-inviting room with glass doors so we could see the Swannanoa River flowing by us. Here are a few photos below.