1. What is the question that you are currently living?
The question I live every morning is the one that started me on my current journey: What would I be doing today if I only had 37 days to live? It’s a question—and a time frame—that provides immediate perspective to my life. And it’s a tough question some days, because we are filled with “have to’s” and “should’s”. We learn those patterns at such a young age… I’m learning to really understand at a deep level that I am always, ALWAYS, in choice. I may not choose my circumstance, but I certainly choose how I am in that circumstance. That single-handedly eliminates my abdication of personal responsibility—and that, frankly, sucks some days when I’d rather blame things on others.

In this brave new 37days world, “have to” is changed to “choose to,” and “should” is changed to “will.” In this world, “I’ll try to” becomes “I will” or “I won’t” and “I can’t” becomes “I choose not to.”

Living as if you are dying provides immediate, sudden, potent clarity.

2. What makes something poetic?

Everything, EVERYTHING is poetry. Everything is poetic. If you’re alive, you’re a poet. If you’re alive, you’re an artist. Life itself is a creative act. I see poetry everywhere—in the way a waiter hands me my vegan enchilada, in the way the train doors close at the Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, in the reflected smile of a cab driver in his rear view mirror when I ask about his children whose pictures are so proudly displayed, in the pain we feel when we encounter deep, vast soul-numbing loss.

There’s a wonderful quote from Osho: “When I say be creative, I don’t mean you should all go and become great painters and great poets. I simply mean let your life be a painting, let your life be a poem.”

What makes something poetic is our belief in poetry, of a meaning far beyond the surface of the thing itself, of metaphor, of the dance we dance daily between content and form.

3. What split intentions have you unified?

Oh, honey. How much time do you have?

I’ll start with just one.

As my business partner, David Robinson, taught me from his work as a theater director teaching young actors: “You can’t play two intentions at the same time on stage.” So you can either warn Hamlet or work to get the audience to love you, but you can’t do both at the same time.

My greatest learning about this came in the form of my most recent book. It wasn’t written for publication. I didn’t try to tailor a query to fit what an editor was looking for. I didn’t engage an agent to sell the idea of it. I simply sat down and wrote for my two daughters, completely disengaged from the market, the product. It was the process that mattered: a writer writes.

My single, solitary intention was to leave behind my stories for my two daughters so that when I die—whenever that is—I will be leaving behind an important part of myself for them, something more important than a collection of grapefruit spoons. I felt great urgency about that, because we never know when we will die. I could be on Day 10 of my last 37 right now—and I would never know that.

The greatest gifts of my life emerged from that single intention—in the form of relationships—with my family, with readers around the globe. That work, more than anything else I’ve ever done, speaks to the power of a single intention. I was writing, head down. And I try every single day to get back to that.

4. What piece of advice have you been given that you apply the most frequently?

When our oldest daughter was little, a good friend suggested that we get down on our knees and actually “walk” around the house that way to see it from her eye level. It was an eye-opening journey. In my work as a social justice activist, and also as a writer and speaker, I get on my knees and walk around in someone else’s reality a lot. It’s important to try as much as possible to see what others are seeing, particularly if they are disagreeing with you, particularly if they are belittling or negating you. What drives them? What do they see in the world? What is their vantage point? Their access point? Getting people to where you are is a hell of a lot easier if you give them directions from where they are, and not from where you stand, all sure of yourself.

5. What book(s) are you always telling people to read?

The Time of Our Singing by Richard Powers. The man is, hands-down, a genius. His writing is brilliant, each sentence (each one) a combination of words so beautiful that it makes every writer jealous. He is a gracious, amazing man and this is the best book about race in the U.S. I’ve ever read.

6. I’m going to give you a word. Tell me what the first thing that comes to mind when you read it… Ready? The word is: DIGNITY.

Our dignity as human beings isn’t something defined by who we are in the world as individuals, but it’s defined only in community, by the quality of the engagement between us, by the quality of the space between us, by our ability to navigate those liminal spaces. Until we are ready and able to grant the same level of specificity to others as we grant ourselves, there is no dignity. Until we know that the homeless person in Pack Square and the hungry Haitian displaced from his home, and the refugee from Rwanda, and the white male CEO, and the shamed golf star are as fully complex and human as we are, there is no dignity, there is only privilege and judgment.

7. What do you know to be true, unquestionably beyond doubt, certain with every cell of your being, completely, passionately, righteously certain?

I know that when I am on my deathbed, I will be surrounded not by legions of people all over the world who may have come in contact with me or my work, but by a very small group of what I call my “human survival units.” Knowing who those people are is vital. Knowing that we are made up not of atoms, but of love and stories, is also vital. When we die, what’s left is love in the form of stories. I know that death ends a life, but not a relationship.

......

FIND PATTI

Why 37days?Video
37 Days site
Patti's site
on Twitter
on Facebook
Recent reading
Recent podcast

For info on Patti's free teleseminars, sign up for the Circle Project newsletter. I can attest, here teleseminar are truly excellent.

And check out her latest post: How to Write (a book). A Wee Rant. Brill.

Lora Sasiela is the founder of Financially Smitten. We did a Fire Starter Session last year and I was truly impressed with her knowledge (she's a psychotherapist by training and trade) and spirit (she's on a full tilt mission to help women make and manage real money.) When she launched her new site and workshop line up, my immediate reaction was, "yesss!" I smiled big and thought to myself, "She did it right, and she did it sassy." Read on for a dose of sage advice that you can take to the bank.

1. Cocktail line:
I'm on a mission to put the femme in finance. You know how so many women are scared about money and think that if they don't deal with it, it will just magically go away or somehow take care of itself? Well, I take them by the hand, and using a proven blend of financial therapy and money coaching am able to support them in creating a conscious and empowered relationship with money. Through this transformative work they are able to kiss their financial heartache goodbye and start rocking their money mojo.

2. Best lesson:
Be careful what you share with whom. I'm by nature a very open and generous person, and one of my life lessons continues to be around setting boundaries and realizing that others are not always coming from a place of integrity. I get so passionate when talking about my business vision and ideas for the future, and need to stay mindful at times to keep my cards closer to my chest....until the time is right for all to be revealed.

3. Smartest money spent:
My Fire Starter session with you. ;-) White, hot, truthfully, I'm all about getting the support I need to build my business and bring my goals to fruition, so investing in coaching, virtual assistants, training, etc. is always #1 on my list.

4. True strength: (makes you feels stronger, vital, alive.)
My deep and intuitive understanding of human behavior cultivated from many years of training and working as a psychotherapist. This way of viewing the world is priceless. To understand the motivations of oneself as well as others adds a type of efficiency to living in this world.

5. Who cares: (why does your tribe listen to your story or want what you've got?)
Been there, done that, came through the other side and can now show you the way. This work has been an outcome of my own financial meltdown. I am now so passionate about women not only banishing their fear of money, but also actually showing them how to put out that Welcome Mat, so more money can enter their lives.

6. Say no to: (what do you decline/limit in order to stay in your true strengths and focused on what you do best)
I am a fan of that axiom, "you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with," and really monitor my feeling state as I spend time with people. If I continue to leave interactions with someone without feeling enriched in some way, it's time to re-prioritize that connection. Life is too short!

9. Core feelings: (how do you feel when you're in your zone, doing what you want to do.)
Like I am completely tapped into another source of knowing. I joke at times that it feels like entering the Matrix. It’s like I'm a conduit, that the 'me' has disappeared somewhat and I'm sourcing something much greater than myself. Not to get all woo-woo or anything!

10. Biggest blessing or best advice:
My biggest blessing is to have really nailed down my life purpose, and in a way that allows me to value all that has come before as steps along the path, retrospectively.

11. 1 Year Dream: (intend to accomplish this year.)
To continue to grow the Financially Smitten community and develop more services and products to help as many women as possible create a relationship with money most only dream of.

12. Final words: (sales pitch, requests, offerings, words of wisdom...)
Come join the growing community at www.FinanciallySmitten.com by grabbing a free Money Makeover Kit on the site. You'll get some great tips and tools and be subscribed to my celebrated newsletter, The Flirting with Finance Diaries. Get ready to kiss you financial heartache goodbye!

....

How can the world find you?
Financially Smitten
Twitter
Facebook

My Fire Starter clients are...on fire, of course. From RealEstate, to design, to culture jammers, they've got the goods and they're here to share them.

1. Cocktail line:
I'm a real estate broker and attorney by training, but what I really do is create content that feeds the informational cravings of smart women who want to live prosperous lives, and know that being a smart property owner is one way to do that. My main media for consumers are books, webinars and live events. But I also use those same media to help our corporate clients deliver their marketing messages to women real estate consumers.

For example, I've created about 200 articles, tutorials and video webisodes for HGTV's listing website, FrontDoor.com.

Oh - and I also train real estate professionals who want to attract women homebuyers and -sellers into their businesses.

2. Best lesson: (jumbo mistake, repeated learning - the hard way.)
Gurus are everywhere. I honor the failed relationships - business and personal - in my life because of the lessons I've learned.

3. Smartest money spent:
My first home. Law school tuition. Losing a home to foreclosure (the lessons were oh-so-worth it.)

4. Money flushed:
Tara's definition of tuition: money you paid to learn a lesson. Over-leveraging a home + losing it to foreclosure, though it empowered me to speak to my tribe from a unique hybrid expert + 'been there, done that' perspective.

5. Who cares:
Smart women ready to experience ease, joy and prosperity and ready to execute holistic lifestyle design using real estate as one of several tools. Women who crave to understand before they make up their minds. Grown-up (or growing-up) women.

6. Say no to: (what do you decline/limit in order to stay in your true strengths and focused on what you do best)
Cheeseballish or informercial-esque, get-rich style real estate events and folk; anything/anyone that just doesn't seem right; anything/project outside of my core audiences and core messages.

7. Best advice:
Sh*t or get off the pot. (S)he who has the cash makes the rules. Be careful what you do or say in the press - you might want to run for President someday. (Thanks, Dad.)

8. 1 Year Dream:
* Turn my niche-y corner of the web/world into an active movement of women boldly executing prosperity practices (and taking names).
* Write 1 book (that'll be #3).
* Pull off 1 web event series, sponsored + 1 train the trainer live event.
* Sell a bunch of certifications.
* Productize, monetize, execute.

9. Final words: (sales pitch, requests, offerings, words of wisdom...)
Remember that rap song, "When I move, you move"? If God rapped, that would be His/Her/Its theme song. Except it would be in reverse: when YOU move, God moves, and then the whole universe moves to manifest what it is that you're meant to do on this planet. The trick is you don't know which of your moves will activate this cosmic domino effect. So, if you have the thought or inspiration to do something, especially to create something, DO IT. Creation is inherently worthwhile.

Looking for women bloggers/authors who teach in the realm of money, mindset, personal finance or women's business to facilitate sessions of the women + prosperity virtual unconference series, August-October 2010. Alternative or 'woo-woo' approaches are ideal. BTW - you can do it in your pajamas, and self-promotion is allowed advised (assuming you can offer something of true value to attendees). Email Tara at REThinkRealEstate.com for details.

How can the world find you?
Site: REThinkRealEstate.com (consumers) + Women's Real Estate & Lifestyle Design Advisor Certification (real estate professionals)
Twitter: @taranicholle
Facebook: Tara on Facebook

. . . . . . .

housekeeping note: I recently changed the system that manages White Hot Truth subscribers. Please open the "CONFIRM" email you receive from me, or simply go to the upper right of my home page and subscribe. It would break my heart to lose touch. (For RSS lovers, nothing's changing.) xo

I especially love Jennifer via video. When she talks about getting the "renewal I need for my soul..." I want it. When she talks about going from "the grind to the organic flow..." I'm nodding. I believe the twinkle in her eye. I start fantasizing about radical self-care and spa time, spirit-centered creative retreats, and meandering to the beat of my heart and I...feel comforted already.

1. What do you know to be true, unquestionably beyond doubt, certain with every cell of your being, completely, passionately, righteously certain?

That I love the bejuses out of my daughter. That befriending myself is better than kicking myself. That I am never alone. That little in life is fixed. That planning isn't the same as creating. That depletion is another name for hiding your genius. That creating stuff makes me happy. That it's not about me. That Bob loves me. That nature restores my faith. That my body is the way in. That yoga heals. That books are a miracle. That women will bring about the change we are hungry for. That life is a hoot. Oh, and expect the Spanish Inquisition and be pleasantly surprised when all goes well.

2. What did you decide to stop doing in order to be the real Jen, instead of the gotta-have-it-all, do-it-all Wonder Woman version so many of us are burning out for?

Anything to do with details - I'm a big idea person and very bad with the details. Tracking things. Spelling. House cleaning. Cooking. Sending birthday cards. Committees - never never ever. I'm trying to learn how to hire someone who can help me hold my business. There is an energetic plus detail letting go that is next for me.

3. What happens when women find their voice?

What doesn't happen? When I wrote my first book in 1992, The Woman's Comfort Book, that was my feminist manifesto. True self-care liberates self-trust and trust in something larger than yourself and that creates a chain reaction from "I will keep my paycheck husband thank you very much" to "I don't have to work at a job I hate. I can go back to school / start my own business."

Claiming our own lives and our own desires can start to feel hackneyed as in old hat, already done, so basic. When in fact, claiming our voice, our selves, will always be the essential act of growing up. Ignore it or belittle it at your own peril.

4. What was the dumbest thing that you used to believe in?

That if I just sold enough books, I would finally believe I was cool. That there was a "done" to arrive at.

• Create daily. Something!
• Have someone else capture, polish, put together my big out pourings instead of me. Mornings are sacrosanct. I sleep late (6:45 or 7) in the winter, rise earlier as spring and then our long summers grace us.
• Meditation before anything or the day is shot. Email after that only when my baby is out of town and I need a love hit. Otherwise, wait for the real world - create first.
• Multi-tasking is dangerous and must be avoided during creative time.
• Tend my creative well often with new experiences, quiet time, being and listening.
• Take retreats!
• I read a lot.
• I have to take in new experiences and learning often or I dry up.
• I make art messes often.
• I pray to be inspired.
• I release my judgment of the first draft and dive in deeper.
• When I find myself comparing myself, I think, "Yeah for her/him!"

When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron
Faith by Sharon Salzberg
Art and Fear by Bayles and Orland
Poetry!

7. I’m going to give you a word. Tell me what the first thing that comes to mind when you read it… Ready? The word is: compassion.

Without compassion for myself, I become a brittle depleted self-absorbed bore who hides in fear.

. . . . . . .
FIND JEN
Twitter: @jenlouden
Facebook
JenniferLouden.com

CHECK OUT: JEN LOUDEN'S 2010 COMFORT RETREAT February 12 - 14

Seth Godin has one of the most highly respected and trafficked blogs on the world wide web; the most-viewed presentations on TED; the most charitable social and information systems in action, the best-selling series of books on marketing, culture, and idea-generation.

His new book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? goes on shelves and ships TODAY! It's a whole new kind of Seth fabulous that speaks to the heart (and primal encoding) of creativity in all pursuits. It is beautiful.

Seth's views on collaboration, endurance, and what it means to be an artist give me a deep sense of belonging and optimism. His definition of "art" contains three elements:

1. Art is made by a human being.
2. Art is created to have an impact, to change someone else.
3. Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording... but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art.

Art is what we're doing when we do our best work.

Ladies and gentleman, it is a true honour to bring you, The Integrity Artist, The Amplifier of other people's goodness, and one of my biggest intellectual crushes, Mr. Seth Godin.

BURNING QUESTIONS WITH SETH GODIN

1. What do you know to be true, unquestionably beyond doubt, certain with every cell of your being, completely, passionately, righteously certain?

Somewhere, someone is going to have a spectacular day tomorrow, the best day they ever had. Maybe even more than one person. Maybe you.

2. How do we rise above the grip of resistance-addicted lizard brain into unleashed, energized, full tilt mojo and artistic moxy?

The lizard is the prehistoric brain stem, the amygdala, the part of our brain responsible for anger, revenge, sex and safety. It's what a chicken has, all that a chicken has.

The lizard is mistaken.

The lizard successfully believed, for a really long time, that safety was good. Avoid saber-tooth tigers. Duck your head. Don't raise your hand. That = survival.

Now, of course, that equals burger-flipping and Wal-Mart greeting. Safety is a recipe for food stamps.

What the lizard ought to be doing is pushing you to do art, pushing you to stand out, pushing you to do work that matters and to make a difference.

So, you rise above by seducing and quieting the lizard, and then, when it's snoozing, do exactly the opposite of what it wants you to do.

3. What was the dumbest thing that you used to believe in?

Deserved.

That some people got what they deserved. That someone deserved to be taught a lesson at my expense. That bad luck hurts people who deserve better.

What's true: Stuff happens. We dance with it. The better and happier you dance, the better you do. And every minute you spend teaching people a lesson is a minute wasted forever.

4. I think we crave originality and individuation as much as we crave belonging and the beautiful symmetry of being in tribe. How do we steer clear of, as you call it in Linchpin, the "Faustian bargains in which we trade our genius and artistry for stability"? How do we access our own originality? (This, by the way, could be the best question I've ever asked anyone. Ever.)

Join a tribe of artists. Lead a tribe of people intent on making a difference.

1984 is a scary book because belonging to a tribe of cogs is the most frightening thing of all. Better to be Neo or Trinity than to live in the Matrix, I think.

5. Dante and "all who entered", had to abandon hope at the gates of the inferno. I have my own theory on that (I'm not a fan of h-o-p-e.) Is hope a requirement for Linchpins and change agents? Or trust?

Mostly faith.

Faith in your art. Faith in your ability to matter. Faith in the future and opportunities that will present themselves. The reality is you need low overhead and an ability to get through the Dip and the reality is you must put in the hours and push yourself harder than you can imagine. Then the faith pays off.

6. What question are you currently living?

Whatcha talking about Willis?

oh

how about, "How can I leverage this opportunity to spread an idea that people really need to hear... and not waste my chance."

7. What’s your super hero name? (You have one. To discover it, stand with hands on your hips, chest up, and eyes to the sky. It’ll come to you. FYI, Mine is Agent Now, which in French translates to L’Agent Maintenent. Adorable n'est pas?)

The Amplifier.

Indeed.

. . . . . . .

FIND SETH

SethGodin.com
The Squidoo Linchpin Interviews
Linhpin: Are You Indispensable?
TED Lectures