The Occupational Adventure (tm)

Reel Life Wisdom

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I've been enjoying a blog I discovered recently called Reel Life Wisdom. It's written by Doug Manning, author of a book by the same name.

The whole thing uses movie quotes as a point of departure for thoughts on various aspects of life. Manning breaks it down into three main categories:

SELF: Define Your Character - Reel Life movie quote reviews about proactive personal development.

LIFE: Build Your Story - Reel Life movie quote reviews about choosing a  meaningful life.

LOVE: Connect to Your Supporting Cast - Reel Life movie quote reviews about developing meaningful relationships.

I like Manning's fresh approach. And if you're a movie buff, it's even better.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun

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Want a snapshot look at some ideas that could turn your life on its head (in a very positive way)? Then watch The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun. It's short, and absolutely nails some important points. In a nutshell, they are...

1. Stop hiding who you really are

2. Start being intensely selfish

3. Stop following the rules

4. Start scaring yourself

5. Stop taking it all so seriously

6. Start getting rid of the crap

7. Stop being busy

8. Start something

After you watch it, do an inventory of your own life. How does it stack up in each of areas? What can you build on? What could you do differently?

[via 360 Degree Success]

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Stay fresh through exploration

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Part of the secret to creating a career that lights you up is staying energized and fresh for the long haul. It's too easy to fall into a rut that starts to slowly leech the energy out of you until one day you realize that your journey just doesn't have the same oomph it once had.

A great way to stay fresh and interested is taking an exploratory approach to the world around you. If we stop seeing the wonder in the world, it's not because that wonder has disappeared, but because we've forgotten to keep looking for it.

Stacy over at Virtualosophy points to a great set of tips on the Wish Jar Journal blog for how to be an explorer of the world.

I'll let you hop on over there to read the full set, but a couple of my favorites are:

• Always be looking (notice the ground beneath your feet.)
• Everything is interesting. Look closer.
• Notice patterns. Make connections.
• Observe movement.

All the ideas are simple and immediately applicable. It all boils down to stopping and paying attention, and applying a liberal dose of curiosity to your life today - and then doing it again tomorrow.

So what are you waiting for? Don't you have some exploring to do?!

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Your favorite positive movies & positive books?

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Over on my HappyRant blog I have a post where I'm encouraging people to add their picks for positive, inspiring movies and books. I would love to have you add your favorites to the list.

Your favorite positive movies

Your favorite positive books

Thanks!

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Celebrate the inchstones

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When you're stepping into the realm of the unknown and doing something completely new and foreign to you, it can sometimes seem like you're making little or no progress. I realized yesterday that sometimes we need to forget about celebrating milestones along the way, and celebrate the inchstones instead.

Last night I went to a fundraiser for a fabulous organization, Room to Read. Room to Read funds schools and libraries in impoverished areas around the world, with the belief that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty.

One of the things the organization does to help kids learn is publish bi-lingual children's books - in the regional language and in English. At the event they had a table with a variety of the books laid out. I immediately recognized some of them as being in Khmer (which as I've mentioned, I'm studying).

As I was leafing through one of them, I started talking with a couple other people about the language. Looking at the Khmer text of the book, one person made the comment that all the letters look the same to her. Another said she felt more like she could play what was written there on her flute than read it.

That shined a light on the progress I've made in Khmer. I started teaching myself the language about a month ago. At the time it all looked like a bunch of meaningless squiggles to me as well. But last night as I looked at it, I saw a bunch of text written in a familiar alphabet. I could point to the letters and say what they were.

Other than the occasional random word that I recognized, I still had no idea what it was talking about, but the contrast with the perspectives of those who had never looked at the language before made me realize that I really was making progress. Maybe it wasn't leaps and bounds, but it was inching forward. And that was something to celebrate.

It occurred to me that sometimes our perceived lack of progress is all a matter of perspective. The picture we're looking at is too big to be realistic. Sometimes we need to get down and celebrate the inchstones and trust that, step by step, they will eventually turn into milestones.

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Find a daily dose of inspiration

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How often do you have conversations about things that move or inspire you? How often do you stop and look for things to talk about that are really positive, or that describe the world as you'd like to see it, not as you see it in the evening news?

I started a new blog yesterday called HappyRant. In the introductory post, I invited people to join me in focusing on the positive. "Start a blog with a positive spin. Start a "positive perspectives" category in your existing blog. Or just commit to having one conversation a day about something that moves or inspires you."

That last bit struck a chord as I wrote it. It's so easy to get bogged down in all the negative. And it's so easy to get so wrapped up in the high speed pace of life that we don't give ourselves time to notice what inspires us.

What if you made a commitment to yourself to look for something every day to talk about that moves and inspires you. You could find something new each day and talk about it with multiple people. Or you could partner up with someone, each committing to finding something you find moving and inspiring, and then sharing it with each other.

Don't just say, "OK, here's this thing," like a 4th grade book report. Talk about what inspires you about it, and what impact it's having in the world, and anything it makes you want to do yourself. Jump in and wrap yourself up in it.

What would your world look like, if you committed to finding the positive? What if you committed to giving yourself a daily dose of inspiration?

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

PaintDancing outside my comfort zone

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A few months ago I made a commitment to myself to start stepping out of my comfort zone more. I had fallen into a too-well-worn groove that was sapping the energy out of me. So when I saw a notice for a PaintDancing event last Friday, it seemed like the ideal opportunity to put that commitment to work.

What, you might ask, is PaintDancing? Well, take a paint brush, some paint, a liberal dose of hip shakin' music and a bunch of people who just want to hang out and have fun with no pretensions, shake it all up, and presto! PaintDancing.

It's a fund-raising event started by a Seattle artist by the name of Matt Jones. All the proceeds from the event go towards his non-profit, MashedPotatoes.org. (More on Matt in my post on Motto's blog today.)

I love to dance, and I figured that I knew which end of the brush to dip into the paint (that's about the extent of my knowledge of painting), so even though it was outside my comfort zone, if worse came to worst I could fake my way through it. It was a do-able discomfort.

Even so, it was a challenge to overcome my couch's gravitational field. Before I left home there was this persistent voice in my head that went something like, "You don't have to go. Just hang out at home tonight. You're not an artist. You can go next time. This couch is awfully comfortable. You won't know anyone. Aren't you feeling a little tired?"

All of which, of course, was a long way of saying, "I don't know what to expect and I feel a bit scared of it. Let's not do it."

As it turned out, I had such a good time that I was positively flying by the time I went home. I wondered if I was going to be able to get to sleep. I can hardly wait until the next one. Only this time I won't be feeling the fear of the unknown - it will be the delight of anticipation.

..think there might be any lesson here?

It's amazing what there is to be had outside the comfort zone. How much fun, opportunity, learning, and growth. Before I went I was dragging my feet. The only reason I actually showed up was because I had signed up and committed to being there. Afterwards, I was incredibly energized.

What about you? Where can you step out of that comfort zone and discover something new and interesting? What have you been wanting to do, but it's just been too unfamiliar so you haven't?

Why not find a way to step outiside your zone this week? It could be goofy and fun, or it could be serious and challenging. Then post a comment here to let us know how it went.

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Who inspires you?

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I'm an inspirational documentary junkie. I love documentaries about people who are doing amazing things in the world (for example, Emanuel's Gift and Born into Brothels). So when I found the My Hero website, it was singin' my song. I especially like the "heroes in the news" feature.

There is good news out there, and I'm drawn to it like a moth to flame. I stopped watching TV years ago because I find it toxic. After years without watching TV news, the "if it bleeds it leads" spin literally makes me feel ill on those rare occasions when I watch it.

I love inspirational documentaries for two reasons. First, they often spotlight how people can succeed in spite of incredible adversity. And that inspires me and reminds me that whatever I want to create is not out of reach unless I decide it is.

Second, they often highlight people who are making the world a better place, and I love that. It's core to what I do and who I want to be in the world. And it makes me want to do more, more, more.

What inspires you? Who inspires you?

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

A daily dose of inspiring stories

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I wish I could say I am one of those people who have an immediately positive outlook on the world when I wake up in the morning, but I'm just not. If anything, I'm at my most curmudgeonly and negative first thing in the a.m. So I welcome anything that can help me start the day off with some positive energy.

For the last few weeks I've been incorporating a wonderful book, Stone Soup for the World, into my daily routine. It's a collection of short real life stories about people who have worked to make the world a better place.

Each morning I sit down with my cup of coffee and read a chapter or two. Inevitably the stories and the positive impact people have made on the world around them touch my heart and inspires my desire to do the same.

Some of the stories are about regular everyday people, while others are about people whose names everybody would recognize (personally, I've found the everyday people stories most moving).

Since each story is a few pages max, it makes it easy to incorporate into the day. I can read each one in ten minutes or less, get my change-the-world fix, and move into the rest of my day.

It's definitely worth adding to your library (or giving as a gift, for that matter).

Any other books you would recommend?

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Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM