Soup, Anyone?

Boy, my dreamstate is working overtime. Had another one of those lesson dreams the other night. In this one, woohoo, I opened a restaurant. This is great; I love to eat.

In my dream, there were long tables with dozens of medium-sized containers of soup, all waiting to be heated up and served to an unsuspecting public. The space was ready for customers, I had all my ducks (er, soups) in a row, so I opened the doors, and in they came.

We had different kinds of soup. People placed their orders. Then they had to wait. And wait. and WAIT. Oh my, I didn't have anyone to help me - how could I heat up the soup (which was still frozen, oh NOOOO!), take their payment, and keep them happy until they were served?

In the dream, it was all too much, too soon. Too many choices, too much waiting, not enough preparation. I realized I would have to regroup. I decided to simplify and offer a soup and sandwich combo of the day. People would come in, pay, get their soup/sandwich, and sit down to enjoy it. They would bus their table when done. Very smooth, very easy. There are lots of customers out there; the ones who wanted what I had to offer on that particular day would come to my store. The rest would go elsewhere, and there was plenty for everybody.

What I learned: Be prepared. Know your audience. Be flexible, and keep it simple. Also, there's an abundance of everything!

Amazingly, I still like soup.

Resistance is Futile

How to explain without making this a novel?

Let me sum up: At my day job, I got an email I didn't want to deal with, 'cos it would mean work for me if I did. Other people were addressed on the email; let them help!

I let it sit.

Then I deleted it.

I did some other stuff.

I couldn't stand how I felt - I was avoiding helping this person out 'cos it would cause ME work? And work I wasn't really sure how to do, which was the bite factor. How lame.

I dug the email out of the trash and responded to it, asking a couple of questions and deciding that if the work came to me, I'd figure it out and then next time I'd know how to do it. What a concept!

Then, a miracle happened. Because I let go of my attitude and was wiling to serve, I got let off the hook! The problem was solved before it even became a problem. Everybody happy.

I am especially happy because I decided to take responsibility and be vulnerable in my not knowing. I still don't know how to solve this particular problem, but the next time one came in that I wasn't sure about, I jumped on it.

Old dogs CAN learn new tricks.

Oprah and Houses

What the heck is Oprah doing in my dreams? I've been experiencing some bizarre nighttime adventures, and I don't think they have anything to do with having a bowl of yogurt and blueberries before heading off to slumberland.

Oprah only starred in one of my two recent dreams, but it was a doozy. She was working for the same major corporation as I, in a leadership role that affected me. She told me I lived too far away from the company, and I should sell my property and move closer to Seattle, and my job. She was nice about it, but I got the feeling that if I didn't comply, my job could become....no longer my job.

The other dream also had to do with changing residences, again moving out of the country and closer to the city. Since living in "the city" would be a 24-hour nightmare for me, and since I rarely remember my dreams, I interpreted the fact that these two back-to-back mind ramblings really stuck with me as a sign that I needed to consider what I'm trying to tell myself.

I remember musing in the Oprah dream about what moving closer to "the job" would mean. It would mean giving up everything I have right now that will support me in my new career - acreage, horses, a barn, an arena, a round pen, and the room to grow. It didn't feel good, I remember that so clearly. I was conflicted. Notice that I wasn't really concerned about losing my current job, just that I would have to give up the things I love that will be a part of my new career.

When I finally woke up, my mind was racing. The commute to my current job (with a major corporation in downtown Seattle) is long, two hours one way, and involves cars, trains and shuttles. It's a big chunk out of the day. However, it's worth it to live where we are, on this little piece of heaven on earth, where as I type this I'm watching deer eat grass right outside my office window.

I don't think the dream was about the commute, though. I've been doing that for 10 years. I think it was about CHANGE. Not just about moving down the path to a new future and the fear that engenders in me. It had to do with how it's going to get done. If this had been a year ago, two years ago, I think I might have jumped at the idea of doing the safe thing. But now, I can see that the future I'm envisioning for myself is a real possibility, and the only one who can screw it up is me. Big, scary stuff.

What hit me, though, is that I'm not in this by myself. I can see that the support and guidance and the community we're building is what is going to keep me going. I'm not used to the concept of a village. I came from a Midwest family who always went it alone. The path I'm on now requires that I keep moving out of my comfort zone of MeMyselfAndI and trust, trust, trust that all will be well, and my support team will actually SUPPORT me. ME. Wow. And I get to support them, too. Double WoW.

What better messenger than that rags-to-riches queen of community, Oprah, to bring this to my attention? Thanks, sister. I needed that.

It's all about the Business Plan

BIIIG project happening - writing my business plan! Ulp. Guess I'd better figure out just what it is this business is about. Will definitely be a LLC.

I will say this, though - the modules we studied about business planning and the business plan itself were the most clear I've ever encountered. There is a form to follow, too, based on the class content. My understanding is clearer than ever.

The training was super understandable - but is it because I'm finally ready to hear the words?

Everything happens in the perfect order and at the perfect time - business plan, here I come!

My very own Space

The other day I published my website, www.harmonysheartfarm.com. What a feeling! There's hardly anything there, and I still have to work with GoDaddy to make it an "official" rather than 'free" website, but it's up. I can put it on a business card. I've got a logo, a beautiful design done by my graphic artist friend, Karen Wegehenkel (www.wegehenkel.com). It's one more step on the road to my new career.

I'm going to have so much fun building out the website!

Growth Happens, even on Vacation

So of course, you know the rest of the story....

Here I am, on the beach! And let me get the name of said beach correct: It is Pololu, with apologies to my Hawaiian friends.

The Universe provided me with another wonderful analogy. The distance to the beach from where all my rumination took place was (drum roll, please) - about five minutes. I was almost there when I almost quit. All I had to do was get around one more corner. Then, just around that corner, the trail leveled out and before I knew it, I was at my destination. Sound familiar? I haven't got enough fingers for the number of times quitting wasn't "almost".

WooHOOOO, lesson learned, and what a blessing to learn it in such a gorgeous place.

Oh yeah - the trip back up? Piece 'o' CAKE.

Stop Pushing My Buttons! I'm on VACATION!

I'm on vacation. This is supposed to be fun; I'm not supposed to be sitting on a rock looking down on Popu'u Beach, warring with myself.

So, here's what happened. We went for a drive to check out the Popu'u Valley overlook. Right at the end of the overlook, there's a trail, so we decided to go for a "little walk".

I'm wearing a skirt. Shoes made for posture, not necessarily for walking down a steep, stony trail. Carrying my PURSE, which is the size of Montana. No water. And I have to pee. Were we prepared for a hike, or what?

We're about halfway down the trail to the beach, maybe more. It's steep, it's windy, and very rocky. There's a sheer dropoff - of COURSE there's a sheer dropoff; this is the side of a mountain.

So, what am I warring about? Part of me wants to go all the way down to the beach just to prove I can do it. The other part of me, the part that is wearing a skirt, has no water and has to pee, knows it will take us three times as long to get back to the top as it did to get where we are right now, and it's already 2:30. It's sunny and hot. Did I mention I'm wearing the wrong shoes?


Then I started looking at this in terms of running a business. There it is, the "finish line", as it were. I can see it and feel it. However, if I go there right now, unprepared for the really tough part, getting back to the summit, will I prevail? Yes, I probably would, and I would also be exhausted, possibly sick, and seriously disinclined to try for the summit again.

What to do? Regroup, research, and be prepared for the (known) tough stuff? Or shoulder on regardless? I'm sure there will be times when despite all my best efforts to be prepared, I won't be. And then what?

Man, I hate it when I get all introspective on the side of a mountain....