Life After Web: the blog

I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately. There are several in particular that I read every day. It seems almost all of them have inspired some sort of “aha” moment for me in the last few weeks. You know those moments. You’re reading along and all of a sudden you lean back in your chair and think “ohhhh… it’s all coming together now” or “why didn’t I think of that before?” or whatever form your aha’s take.

I thought I’d take a few minutes to share here some of those posts that have spurred aha moments for me in the last few weeks.

Aha #1: Claim your inspiration
The lovely and artistic Brandi Reynolds (whose rebellious joyfulness has inspired me to make exquisite introductions like “the lovely and artistic Brandi Reynolds”) challenged her readers on Monday to think about expressing the self. She references a point Goddess Leonie bravely made that it’s hard sometimes to acknowledge that what we do matters when there are other people in the world who do the same thing (and maybe better).

Brandi’s overall attitude toward life has inspired me to embrace my own inner joy rebel (yes, that explains the “I am a Joy Rebel” badge over in the sidebar). I am a joy rebel. I have things that I enjoy doing. As it turns out what I do might even be useful to someone somewhere.

Aha #2: Just one thing
Havi Brooks, whom I deem a genius, wrote Tuesday about Doing Just One Thing which resonated with not only me, but at least the 28 other people that had commented as of when I wrote this. Havi inspired me to do a simple mind shift. Instead of telling myself “one thing at a time” to help get through overwhelming moments, I am now telling myself “just one thing.”

As Havi explains it can be overwhelming to face a day filled with a million things to do, especially when you look around and realize all of the chores waiting in your home. It’s not as daunting to pick one thing you want to do. For her it was taking the juice glasses to the kitchen. Easy enough, right? Then from there you may find just one thing you want to do there. Before you know it, you’ve accomplished a lot, reducing your stress.

Aha #3: Wisdom sometimes masquerades as trivial obviousness
Yesterday’s post by super-savvy Deb Owen on Mastering the Obvious made me realize a few things. First, what’s obvious to me isn’t necessarily obvious to others. Just because something seems simple to me, doesn’t mean it’s simple to someone else and vice versa. Deb knows tons about leadership and motivation. I learn a lot from her posts which to her may seem like common sense.

So drawing from that notion, we have to take the next step of acknowledging that what we know is valuable even if we don’t think it is. There is someone out there who needs that “obvious” piece of knowledge that you didn’t realize was actually wisdom.

So to sum up…
What is it that you know and find joy in doing? Recognize that someone else needs that, even if you consider it plainly obvious. Then do just one thing to free your mind from stress and start that connection.

See how nicely all of these amazing ladies’ posts tie together? I love when the universe aligns.