I’m not talking about the fun kind of trance where you dance freely around a room with a bunch of other interesting and fun people to good music and let yourself go! I’m referring to the kind of trance when someone is talking about the state of politics (because I’m from the U.S., we’ll say American politics) or the media coverage of news and politics etc. or just how you may be out shopping one day and find yourself buying something that you don’t even really want, much less need.  That kind of trance.  The lemming trance.  

Going back to college to finish up a degree many years from when I was 18 has been a real eye-opening experience for me.  There is so much information to be had from what we learn in class to just being in the cluster of students living their lives like I did many years ago.  So much to process!  Did you know that violence is used by Hollywood so much because it “travels” well which means that no matter what country and what language(s) is being spoken, most people understand violence.  That doesn’t mean to say that all countries like and accept violence though.  In fact, in Europe they are much more strict about violence on the screen but a also a lot more lax about sex than the U.S. Wonder if reducing violent movies and television shows in the U.S. could be as simple as us making it not as easy to travel across our country? Hmmmm.

Re-learned a concept called “Euro-centrism” which means that it sanitizes Western history while patronizing and even demonizing the non-West it thinks of itself in terms of its noblest achievements-science, progress, humanism–but of the non-West in terms of its deficiencies, real or imagined.

I suspect most countries have their own form of centrism but I can sure see my own country’s Eurocentrism when traveling abroad to other countries.  So what does that mean about us and our perspectives?  Are we just nothing but chunks of protein for the dazzling soup recipe that our advertisers and talking heads want us to soak in? 

If you were to sit back where you live and take a few minutes to look around what would your surroundings say about you? Mine probably says a lot!  And I feel good about what I surround myself with because it is all items and furniture that I really, really enjoy (not because I’m being influenced to buy it)!   Would I love do some re-designing and refurbishing of my home? Oh sure. Always seem to find something that needs fixing or changing, but I’m not changing something because I’m in a trance about how it “should” look.  Nothing more startling to me than to walk into somebody’s home which looks like the inside of a department store showroom.  No personality. Who is home anyway? Stepfordization must just be around the corner?!?!

Being in country-sized trance is something I’ve been pondering about lately. Because after all, if we are all really “connected” then I sure don’t want to find myself pulled off a cliff with the crowd!  Enjoy your life and how you show up in it today and let yourself be who you really are!

Geeze Louise, I so didn’t want to end up being “one of those kind of people” who get complacent and in the groove of their comfort zone and don’t want to get out of it.  And not a healthy kind of comfort zone either, kind of like a rolling around in the caca comfort zone because it feels cool on my skin but putting up with all the grody stuff that comes along with it because I’d rather do that then, well, stick my neck out there.

And I can make rolling around in this stuff look really good too because there is so much that I’m willing to do in my complacency that others aren’t willing to do.

But I know what I’m doing (or not doing as it were).

Upon further reading in the book “Bounce” by Matthew Syed, I’ve learned that becoming a glorious expert at something is not about doing something for ten thousand hours but rather being very focused and putting concentrated effort into something for 10,000 hours. In fact, it’s about stretching way out of your comfort zone, such as if you are practicing your golf swing to hit the balls out of the sand and be willing to have sand flying in your face to really perfect your swing.

I have realized that I’ve been really grooving along in my coaching business for the past few years not really putting my neck out there like some of my successful coaching friends do by speaking in front of lot’s of groups or offering retreats or just inviting people to a free coaching session so that they experience coaching with me to see if it is for them or not.  So, now I’m putting myself out there.  I’ve been contacting all kinds of people and places to speak and empower as well as offering a “Writing Down Your Soul Retreat” for women, this July 20-22, 2012.

Are you in your comfort zone?  Is it working for you? If not, why not?  If you were to stretch and be willing to get a little bit uncomfortable…what would you do?

Uggh. Practice!  Until yesterday, I had a belief that I never really practiced at anything consistently on a daily basis, that is until I spoke with my Mom (thanks Mom!) and she reminded me about the writing I had been doing on a regular basis over past few years (until recently when I took a “writing hiatus”).  She was able to see improvement in my writing over time where I was unable to see my writing growth.

A couple of years ago, Malcolm Gladwell came out with the book, “Outliers” which is about….here is his definition:

What is an outlier?

“Outlier” is a scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience. In the summer, in Paris, we expect most days to be somewhere between warm and very hot. But imagine if you had a day in the middle of August where the temperature fell below freezing. That day would be outlier. And while we have a very good understanding of why summer days in Paris are warm or hot, we know a good deal less about why a summer day in Paris might be freezing cold. In this book I’m interested in people who are outliers—in men and women who, for one reason or another, are so accomplished and so extraordinary and so outside of ordinary experience that they are as puzzling to the rest of us as a cold day in August.

Fast forward a few years to Matthew Syed’s book, “Bounce” which further explores what makes exceptional people, well, exceptional which is hard work and lot’s and lot’s of practice.  These two books can help us with our perspective about excellent outliers the next time we see someone who is exceptional at something and instead of just “assuming” it is because they are lucky, that they were just born that way, and/or they were at the right place at the right time we will be able to consider that they probably have put lots of hard work and time into being able to do what they do so well.

Hmmmm. What have I created with the many hours of on-line solitaire that I’ve played?  More ruts in my brain?

I don’t know about you, but I would much rather have a curious and open mind about who someone is and how they are able to do what they do so well rather than to come from a “victim” mentality of believing that I am less than because I cannot do what they do or at least not as well.

We all have something inside of us that can be magnificent if we take the time to polish and shine it up with steadfast dedication.  Malcolm and Matthew say that to become excellent or an outlier with something the research shows that one spends about 10,000 hours of doing it, fine tuning it, reshaping it, paying attention to it, etc.  So if we spent just two hours a day working and practicing at something we’d really like to become an expert at then we will become an expert in a little over 13 years from now.

Let’s get started!! What are you going to be mindful about doing every day for 1-2 hours for the next decade or so?  Assuming we’ll all be alive, we’re going to be breathing, eating, sleeping and all that other good stuff that goes with life…so why not be intentional about some of what we’re doing?   What will you do?