I will not pick up what someone has not put down.
I will not hear words that are not spoken or read books that have not been written.
I will not pretend I understand how someone arrived where our paths cross.
I will not expect others to do any of these either.
I find that often my thoughts are brief. Not long enough to be considered a full blog post but too long to be a twitter and too something to fit on Facebook. I have decided that this is probably where they will land.
This morning I got out the easel and large pad of white paper I use when I was teaching classes around my dining room table. Across the top I listed the next five days. Under the days I listed things I wanted to get accomplished. Today’s list was the most ambitious. Fourteen items ranging from simple to more complex. It’s eleven o’clock and I have crossed off three.
I got a shower, went to the bank and cleaned the kitchen. I am halfway through organizing the top of my dresser. I mowed one and a half stripes across the front yard before running out of gas. And, while meaning to get to the other items, the day got away from me and they are unfinished.
When I realized it was 9 pm and too late for several of my items, I checked to see if there was anything worth watching on t.v. A friend had mentioned watching “The Bucket List” without a box of kleenex this week. I had never watched it at all. It was just beginning. Using the commercial breaks to keep working on my dresser re-org, I found myself passing my to do list each time I went back to watch the movie.
As I wished I had a box of kleenex, I began thinking about my own bucket list and realized nothing on my to do list would be on it and nothing on my to do list was worthy of my bucket list.
When I post this, I will be able to go back to my to do list and cross of “blog”. But not before adding “Make a Bucket List” to my list of things to do tomorrow.
Somehow I doubt when this brand was established the image was the same as the one in the headline news today. I doubt the Mr Abercrombie and Mr Fitch would have ever considered using half-naked men to sell clothes. But they are gone and someone else is responsible for their brand. Unfortunately, many people do not like or agree with the new target market for A & F. Some have become so indignant that they have taken time to create posters and spend part of their day standing in front of A & F stores telling other people to be offended, indignant and not to buy the clothes A & F sells. These indignant people complain that by selling only expensive clothes in very small sizes that only a limited demographic want to buy is somehow hurting their feelings or just not fair to them. Oh, well.
A & F isn’t obligated to sell clothes that fit everyone. They aren’t obligated to sell clothes that everyone can afford. They aren’t obligated to sell clothes that everyone likes. That’s part of the beauty of free enterprise and free market. No one is forced to buy these size 00 clothes. No one is forced to wander through the crowded paths of jeans and shirts and assorted physically fit young sales assistants.
The protesters make the claim that A& F sends the wrong message to young people. Well, what message are the protesters sending? 
If you shout loud enough that you don’t like how someone runs their business you can bully them into changing their merchandise? Is that really how it works? I hope not.
I have never bought anything from A & F. Not my style, not my size. But I will support their right to run their business their way. If A & F can be bullied who’s next, Chick-Fil-A?
For breakfast this morning I made a fruit something. I wouldn’t actually call it a smoothie but it did involve my blender. An apple, a half cup of frozen blueberries, a half cup of fresh kale, 3 slices of pineapple I cut myself this morning and a half cup of coconut water turn into a tasty slug just a little more fluid than wet cement. As I am typing this I am trying to finish it off before it sets. It is all natural. All fruit and very filling.
What it is not is satisfying. I am a eggs and potatoes kind of breakfast person. One sautéed onion, one shredded potato added and two eggs scrambled into the mix when the potato is browned topped with a nice dollop of Greek non-fat plain yogurt is just about as good as it gets. Only problem is it’s not good for me. Not a fruit or veggie in sight.
How much of life is very filling and how much is truly satisfying?
Today is another example of someone doing the work, chasing the dream and putting it out there.
Amy Dale has written a book. So many aspire to write. Many actually start but Amy has finished. She has had it edited and done the polish work. But instead of adding it to the piles of hopeful unpublished manuscripts submitted for the approval of a publisher, Amy took her art directly to the people. She put it on Kickstarter.
With just hours left today, Amy has already passed her goal by 5! Now 162 sales may not put her on the New York Times best sellers list but she has sold more books today than most aspiring authors ever will.
I am one of her backers. I’ve already read the digital version and as an avid reader I enjoyed it very much. I hope you read this in time to join the celebration and back Amy today.
Amy’s dream is coming true today. What’s your dream? What are you doing today to make it reality? What can I do to help?
Congratulations, Amy! Can’t wait to see where you next dream takes you.
This morning I saw this photo. I know there is a story behind it, a tradition, a leg-acy if you will. But unless the story is passed down all meaning, all context, all continuity is lost. A doll leg in a bottle may seem like a silly thing to value but it points to the bigger issues.
When the colonies wanted a better way of government they signed the Declaration of Independence.
When you enter the United States you are required to fill out a form asking if you have anything to declare.
Today I was challenged by Jeff Goins to make my own declaration. So here it is.
Declaration by some other writers
I, Lana Vaughan, do declare I am a writer.
I have been a writer for more than 45 years.
I have written a plethora post-it notes, tomes of to-do lists, miles of memos, an effusion of emails and the beginnings of 18 books.
I am a writer who sees life from a unique perspective through a unreproducible set of observations and experiences.
My voice is my own.
My choice of words is unlimited.
My thoughts and opinions have the flexibility to change and adapt as new information becomes part of my process.
I have everything I need to write.
This is my declaration.
What’s your’s?
This morning I took a short ladder out to the tree just outside my window. I climbed up the tree and gathered these beauties.
Now I could make a reference to “life is a bowl of cherries” but that wasn’t where my heart and mind went as I was balancing and reaching.
I read a lot. This week I picked up two new publications by writers/bloggers I respect. Michael Hyatt released Platform and Jeff Goins released You are a Writer. Both are on very similar subjects and even though I have not gotten all the way through either one, there is a huge point in both.
Write! Write! Write! The easiest and at the same time most difficult way to reach readers is through a blog. Since I have one, a very nice one, using it on a daily basis is just about as simple as can be.
I don’t have to go to St. Arbuck’s for internet. I have my choice of very nice computers right on my own desk in my own office in my own home attached to my own kitchen with my own coffee pot.
My blog is the truest form of low hanging fruit. But like the cherries on the tree I have to actually do the things necessary to harvest that fruit.
So what is your low hanging fruit? What would you like to do or change? Get out your ladder. Stop looking at the fruit through the window and go get it!
Fresh fruit in the morning is extra delicious if you’ve picked it yourself from your own tree.
(Wonder where the tall ladder is?)
You know this question. What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? It’s usually followed by the question, “why aren’t you doing it?” Or the well-meaning, “Then go do it”. But sometimes it’s just not that easy. There are a great number of things I could do without failing. But that doesn’t mean I’d be doing them right and it doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for me to be doing.
I have an incredibly wise friend who often reminded me that “just because you can doesn’t mean you should”. I think she was paraphrasing Paul but either way it’s good to consider.
Right now I have a long list of things I want to do. Most will not get done. Not because they aren’t good but because they aren’t the best use of my time or resources. Maybe they will just not excite me to act on them. Maybe they will. Everyday we make hundreds if not thousands of little decisions that add up quickly.
For the past month I have been working on a book project that in the beginning excited me. Now I just want to get it finished and to the printer. The only way for me to fail is to stop working. Failing isn’t an option. It’s not a pass/fail kind of thing. But finishing and finishing well….that’s a whole different matter. That’s a choice. A choice to see it through. No risk. No possibility of rejection. I’m self publishing this work. It’s a very limited subject matter and a very limited printing. But it’s an important work for those involved.
What are you working on that you already know you won’t fail? Have you grown tired or bored with the work? Is it worth seeing through to the finish or have you already quit?
There’s an old saying….”Winners never quit and quitters never win.”
I know it’s Monday morning. Many of my Facebook friends are bemoaning the start of another week. For many that includes having to be somewhere at a specific time to resume specific tasks with specific people for specific compensation.
I have to wonder this morning how much different the day would be if instead of dread and dragging the joy of “first day on the job” enthusiasm propelled them out of bed and into the shower. If they were looking at the people around them with anticipation of getting to know their co-workers and learning everything there was to be done at work, would the day seem like an adventure instead of a drudgery.
If the mindset was “I GET to go to work” instead of “I HAVE to go to work” would there be an unseen reward that motivates the effort to be better and the countenance to change?
Depending on where you get your numbers, anywhere from 155,000 to 300,000 people who woke up yesterday morning with Sunday ahead of them did not wake up this morning to face another Monday. For them the battle is over. The day is lost. But if you are reading this, you have today. Now the battle is for how you will spend it.
You can whine and complain and remind everyone it’s Monday. You can surrender and walk through what is the last day of someone’s life defeated and discouraged or….
You can claim the amazing gift you have of MONDAY and celebrate it. Today is someone’s birthday. Today is someone’s first day at work. Today, someone got married. Today someone walks out of the prison of fear and pain.
Today is Monday! Happy Monday!
I am very happily married to my favorite person in the whole wide world. I like the life we are building together. Our journey is full of adventure and delight. I asked God to send the right man to share my life with and He answered with Matt. More...
