“Are you kidding?” she asked, aghast. “I can’t believe you’ve forgotten how to have fun. Come on, what’s your favorite thing to do?”

“Well, I love going to fine art museums.”

Her brows furrowed in concern and…pity.

“No, seriously. Hear me out. There’s more to it than that.”

The truth is, I love―looooooove―nothing more than gazing at priceless works of art…especially when I have a good buzz on.

My very favorite place to―um―practice this activity is The Museum of Fine Arts Houston. I like going on Thursdays best because that’s free admission day. Free admission means I can afford an extra glass of wine during happy hour. And since they’re pretty swanky over there at MFAH, they serve it in a little carafe, which makes me feel like I’m getting a glass and a half―fantastic.

I typically begin my forays into art appreciation with two chardonnays. To me, there’s something exquisite and delicious about standing close enough to kiss a Rembrandt and knowing that the person staring back at me from the painting―if they were still alive and breathing―could smell my boozy breath. And they would like it.

"The Yellow Scale" by Frantisek Kupka

I always make it a point to hang out with this guy for a while. It’s Frantisek Kupka, staring out from his own self portrait. I imagine he’s saying, “Well, hellllooooo, Rena. Nipping the chardonnay again, are we? And you forgot to bring some for me again. Such an inconsiderate girl, you. [Sigh.]”

I also enjoy observing my fellow museum visitors. Along with the typical assortment of tourists and schoolkids, there’s always some guy trying to impress a captive audience with his “extensive knowledge” of art history. As he blathers on and on, making up parts he knows nothing about, his guests roll their eyes and look like they’d throw themselves on their swords, if they had any. I think they’d be much happier joining me on my slightly inebriated art walk.

The last time this happened, our “wannabe docent” was spewing inaccuracies about the use and reasons for grisaille. Appalled by his butchered explanation of this lovely and practical time-honored technique, I sidled up to his posse, ready to impart my own factual and fascinating data.

What came out instead was a resounding hiccup that echoed off the 30-foot walls.

(Obviously it was time to head downstairs and find the Sargent.)

Hmmmmm…you know what? I’ve got some chardonnay in the fridge and several coffee table books in the living room. Maybe I don’t have to go to Houston to appreciate a Sargent after all.

****************
Do you have any ways to tap the feelings a favorite activity or vacation invokes? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!

“If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” ~Toni Morrison

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” ~Sylvia Plath

I have a book in me. I just know it. I can feel it. I feel its energy, its message, and its powerful urge to be birthed into the world.

Or maybe what I’m really feeling is just my own desire to…read it.

I want the wisdom contained within its pages. I want to learn how to “rightsize” my life. I want to experience the freedom and creativity and authenticity it offers.

And I know other people want these things, too.

So what am I waiting for?

Perhaps a visit from the muse. Or maybe a “power surge” of motivation. How about “when Mercury goes direct” or the “perfect day” according to the Mayan calendar?

I have a fantasy that writing should be easy and natural and fun. Also in my fantasy, *real* writers sit down at their keyboards and the words just magically come to them. And although—admittedly—it is a fantasy, I really do wish to become a real writer, writing real books, helping real people.

My dad, Garth, and my father-in-law, Jack, (both genuine Oklahoma Okies) had a very—ahem—”colorful” expression about the significance of wishes: “Wish in one hand and spit in the other, and see which one fills up first.” Actually, it was another 4-letter word for a different bodily function that rhymes with “spit,” but the point is the same: Wishing, in and of itself, accomplishes nothing. Only honest-to-goodness, real-world productivity will ever yield tangible results.

I desperately want to produce tangible results: Books, videos and groovy programs that make a difference and change peoples’ lives.

The problem is—as Sylvia Plath so aptly put it—I constantly suffer from self-doubt.

And I do mean suffer. It’s excruciating to have a calling, a message to get out to the world, yet having to fight the demon of doubt every single time I set out to find and put down the *right* words. The thought of letting my readers down, failing to help or inspire them—you—is agonizing. And it kills me that, unless I can successfully free the writer within, I will also be failing both myself and my late mother, too.

My mom, DeAlma, was an awesome writer. She could type like a house on fire (90 words per minute with no errors on a clunky, old manual typewriter) and was the editor of both her college newspaper and yearbook. She went on to become executive secretary to the Base Commander of Norton Air Force Base and took great pride in the knowledge that the letters she drafted ultimately ended up in the hands of high-ranking military officers and government officials.

Mom’s love of the written word lasted literally to the very end. As she approached death, in a coma, I sensed she was actively listening and waiting for something specific she wanted to hear. So, I thanked her for giving me the gift of writing and promised I would use it to do good in the world. It was then she relaxed as if to say “my work here is done,” and took her last breaths, quietly passing away.

Now I’m left with the legacy of writing combined with my solemn promise to do so.

I also have a moral imperative to share “lifestyle rightsizing” as far and wide as I can. I know in my bones it’s the key we so desperately need to free ourselves up to really live. Freedom to change our homes, our “stuff,” our health, our bodies, relationships, careers, finances, activities and uses of our precious time and energy that aren’t the right “fit” for our present or our future. I know I’m the right person to deliver the essence and power of that message…if I can just get the *right* words out of my head and onto the page.

I wish (there’s that word again!) more than anything, that I could learn how to make the words flow easily. If there were a way, a process, to open the flood gates and let those words—the *right* words—flow, I would give it my all to master that method.

I have heard that such a method does exist. James Chartrand of Men With Pens has announced a brand-new breakthrough online writing course called Damn Fine Words. DFW is described as “a cross between a writing course and business course,” and promises to teach skills that would make me a better, more effective writer, such as:

• Writing techniques that cut down content-creation time
• Tactics to find my writing voice and get more results from my readers
• Strategies to boost self-confidence so I could write for my business with ease

Pretty spiffy, right? Sounds like a dream come true. Just what the doctor ordered. An answer to a prayer sent from heaven above.

There’s just one problem, though…and it’s a BIG one: Moolah.

Until Jeff and I can move into our new home, we’re caught between a rock and a hard place. We’re paying two separate rents plus a student loan, scrimping and saving and watching every penny we have until the loan on the house comes through.

Well, crap. Maybe I should just resign myself to temporary poverty and gracefully give up my wish to be in the course?

Two words: HELL. NO.

I am not a person to just roll over and give up, only to lament later that “I coulda been a contendah.” No way, José. I am a warrior. I get in the game and fight the good fight. I compete.

Which is exactly what I’m doing with this post: This is my official entry into the Damn Fine Words Contest to possibly (hopefully!) win full scholarship in the course. It would mean the world to me if I won, and I will absolutely, positively give it everything I’ve got if I do, indeed, win. I promise to use what I learn to prolifically create new, meaningful content here on the Lifestyle Resize blog, as well as write the book and launch the upcoming “Rightsize Revolution Telesummit.” (Yes, you heard it here first: There is a revolution in the making!)

My post will be judged by James Chartrand along with two other fine judges: Taylor Lindstrom of Too Good to Fail and Peter Shallard, The Shrink For Entrepreneurs. What they’re looking for is—purely and simply—someone who reeeeeeally wants to be in the Damn Fine Words writing course. (That, of course, would be me.)

And just to be 1,000% sure I’ve done everything humanly possible to win a spot in the DFW course, I am hereby shamelessly begging for your endorsement as a sincere and deserving recipient of the scholarship. I would really, really, REEEEALLY appreciate it if you’d be so kind as to put in a good word for me in the comment section below….

Vanna White inspired me to get back into cooking by starting simple and small.

I’m in a sort of “holding pattern” right now as my husband and I wait patiently (not!) for the purchase of our new home to close escrow. So, while Jeff is living and working in Las Vegas, Nevada, I’m living in Tehachapi, California, with our two Siberian Huskies, Trip & Ezri, and Robbie, our black-headed caique.

Life in a small mountain town is very different from the frenzied pace of Southern California, where I’ve spent my whole life.

Folks up here never get in a rush, nor do they try to see how many errands and activities they can cram into each day. They take pleasure in simple things, like enjoying meals together and catching their favorite shows on TV.

The good people I’m staying with absolutely LOVE game shows. Maybe it’s the attraction of winning money and “fabulous prizes,” or maybe it’s the exhilaration of knowing the correct answer. Either way, they’re hooked and I do admit to finding a certain appeal to game shows myself.

But what surprised me even more than learning how excited I can get over beating the buzzer or solving a prize puzzle was hearing the sane, doable perspective I’ve been searching for regarding New Year’s Resolutions…and it came from the world’s most famous letter-turner, Vanna White!

Now, I’m sure many of you are probably thinking I have little in common with Miss White. After all, I’m more of a ponytailed, T-shirt/jeans and boot-wearing kinda gal rather than a neatly coiffed, ballgowned and stilettoed glamor queen. (Although, for the record, I have been told that I “clean up” well. But I digress.)

Anyway, during the first “Wheel of Fortune” show of the year, host Pat Sajak asked Vanna about her New Year’s Resolutions. Vanna flashed that dazzling smile of hers and said, very simply, that she only had one resolution this year: Cook one new dish per week. Not learn the cooking style of an exotic foreign culture. Not master a category, such as sauces or breads or desserts. Not even cook one new meal.

Cook one new dish. Per week. Period.

I like that.

How often do we set ourselves up for failure by setting our sights too high? Why do we expect great and grand things right off the bat when we lack a solid foundation or haven’t yet “built up any muscle?”

We’ve turned into a culture of over-achievers.

The problem with that is this: What we used to call “over” achieving has now become the norm. And once we start expecting more and MORE from ourselves and others, we quickly reach the point where it’s not just unrealistic, it’s UN-achievable.

We would never expect a toddler to run before she could stand up on her own power and not fall over, right? So what do you say we start applying the same understanding and kindness to ourselves?

I, for one, am ready to follow Vanna’s lead and start taking “baby steps” toward one small and doable goal. Something simple and delightful and good. Something like cooking one new dish per week. (Berry cobbler, anyone?)

What’s one new simple resolution you could make this year?

I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below!

I’ve had the good fortune to work with two BRILLIANT women this year who coached, nudged, supported and cheered me into not just discovering, but actually (gasp!) ACTING on my deepest, most authentic entrepreneurial dreams to bring them into reality.

Kathleen Burns Kingsbury of KBK Wealth Connection, my cherished “shrink/coach,” helped me move from feeling like an undeserving failure into realizing that I do, indeed, have wisdom and value to contribute, and that smart, systematic, focused action along with persistence and a wee bit o’ faith will lead to both personal and financial freedom.

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu, entrepreneur extraordinaire, provided invaluable modeling + instruction for creating an online business presence and community in her genius program, Your Business Breakthrough. What you see now, in this brand-spanking-new blog, is the fruition (well, the *beginning* of the fruition, anyway) of my participation in YBB.

Over the coming weeks, LifestyleResize.com will take shape as I introduce you to ideas, people and resources for streamlining your life/world so that it’s not too big and not too small, but just right…freeing you up to pursue the things that are most meaningful to you.

If you haven’t done so already, I’d be absolutely delighted if you’d enter your name and email in the signup box so I can send you my free guide “7 Simple Steps to Setting Up a Meditation Space” plus periodic tips on meditation, relaxation, creating joy and living healthy, wealthy and wise. (Note: It’s *possible* you might receive a duplicate “7 Simple Steps” as I’m new at this and there could be a few hiccups as I get the hang of it.) LOL

As my mentor Shelley always says: “The most important thing is to GET STARTED. Quit worrying about perfection and just START.” And so we have!

Here’s to launching, rightsizing and finding our bliss. May your 2012 be filled with an abundance of everything beautiful and good.

Wishing you a VERY Happy New Year!

Cheers,
~Rena

May everyone be happy.
May everyone be free from misery.
May no one ever be separated from their happiness.

Blessings to all, and to all a good night.