Iterations of Yes.

As many of you know, I said a very big “YES” about two months ago when I accepted a new position with my current employer. I’m happy to report that it is going extremely well and my happiness has increased twofold since I took on new responsibilities with a new team in a new place. [Shocking that this newness is translating into happiness for me, I know.] The demands in this new role are quite a bit more than in my previous role at this company, which is how I like it. However, in order to properly focus on learning the new, I’m going to take a bit of time away from writing about ‘yes’. I’m still going to practice ‘yes’ and I have a number of things I’d like to put down at a later date. I’m thinking my hiatus will be a month or so, but time will tell.

In the meantime, my beautiful, talented, amazing sister has started a blog that I’m sure you’ll enjoy. It’s called Pomelo Sunshine and it can be found here:

http://pomelosunshine.wordpress.com/

I’m back to the Rancho La Puerto talk from LOHAS 2010. Deborah, the founder of the ranch, kept encouraging us to USE our experiences. In fact, she told a story about how she requested downtime in her speaking and travel schedule for this very purpose. She would get some heat for it, but she never budged – at least twice a day, she had time alone to reflect on things that had happened.

I was discussing a recent lack of inspiration with one of my closest friends and she says this to me, “Sometimes it’s nice to have a lull in trying new things. Gives you time to reflect on the experiences you’ve had. Otherwise, you’re just going through the motions. It’s the combination of anticipating, doing and then reflecting.” How’d she get so wise in her short 27 years?

This comes back to what Deborah from Rancho La Puerto had to say – USE your experiences. Experiences mean nothing unless they are reflected upon and used to shape and guide future experiences, thoughts and ideas. Sometimes, you’ll see things you like in the reflection, other times you won’t. Sometimes, you’ll gain a better understanding of yourself or others or the world at large, other times you won’t. If you never take time to examine these things, that potential to grow and change goes down pretty significantly.

How have you used your time lately? Even more importantly, how have you used your experiences?

I haven’t written in a while because I’ve been so busy saying ‘yes’ to things. It’s been exhausting in that spent the whole day outside in the sun doing things and having fun kind of way.

So, a few weeks ago I went to an event called Karma Kitchen. Karma Kitchen is an organization that was founded in Berkley, CA and has expanded to most major cities in the US. The whole premise is to pay it forward. So, when you get the bill for your meal, it’s $0.00, your meal has been paid for by someone who dined before you. Then, they ask that you take that and choose a way to pay it forward yourself – either by paying for someone else or any other act of kindness you deem appropriate.

Karma Kitchen volunteers ask you to discuss a theme after you sit down. The theme when I went was ‘from isolation to community’. I recently re-read a book that touches on the same general principle (The Geography of Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler), so the discussion was very timely for me.

The whole experience was very inspiring – reminding me of a lot of things I already knew and bringing those concepts back to the top of my mind. This event will definitely become part of my monthly plans.

If you are interested in checking out Karma Kitchen or starting a chapter in your town, more information can be found here.

Another really awesomely fun dance class tonight.

It was a private lesson… no one else showed up. So, we spent some time goofing around, sharing music (hence the title of this entry – a Trent Reznor/Atticus Rose gem) and talking about life. And dancing, of course.

I will have bruises tomorrow. I could see this becoming a regular thing. I hope it catches on and gets bigger. Diana was talking about getting a group together to go out/hang out sometime. Would be fun.

I was pretty pumped to get an invitation to the Wu Tang concert from a friend I met a few weeks ago. He got me a comp ticket, which was super generous and unexpected. I was stoked to really do something I normally wouldn’t. And, I had such a great time at the Congress Theatre watching Pretty Lights the weekend before, I was pretty excited.

A friend from MI and his girlfriend drove down the evening of the concert. She was going to lay low while he and I went with my friends. After a delicious dinner at the local Mexican joint down my street, we stopped at my friend’s house to meet up with the group, grabbed a cab and headed over. About 1/4 mile away from our destination, we could see blue lights flashing and people swarming the vicinity. We tipped the driver, jumped out and got straight in line. There was some sort of ruckus going on near the entrance, but we stayed out of it and chatted about how cold we were. A woman from the theatre came around giving instructions saying “If you have a comp ticket, might as well get out of line!” WHAT!? I have a comp ticket! What does this mean!?

I trekked over to will call and asked the gentleman there what I needed to do to get into the show. “No dice,” he said. Another friend came in to pick up his ticket and we strategized on how to possibly get me in. Nothing really came to mind, so I called his girlfriend (also a friend of mine), who was patiently (and graciously) waiting for us back at my place, to come pick me up.

I ended up having a really nice evening catching up with an old friend and resting and relaxing. We had great conversation. And, I woke up the next morning refreshed and feeling like I had kicked my cold.

I was disappointed I didn’t make it into the concert, but I think I got exactly what I needed. Funny how that happens.