Three years ago, I rescued him  from the suffocating depths
of a giant bin, at the friperie Renaissance, here in Verdun.

I will never abandon him…
We share a common quest for liberty.

Notice to Mizz Law of Attraction:
I’m making room for abundance.

Even if I didn’t publish my “Notch #3 — BABY STEPS / Week of March 1 to 7″ post, I stuck to The 12-Notch Plan and to my goals for the month of March. Photo proof: here’s what I’ve eliminated from my storage facilities.

This pile represents approximately a quarter of the stuff that needs to disappear. Tomorrow, I’ll bring some of the items to the local friperie (our version of Goodwill). Tuesday night, I’ll put the rest — i.e. garbage — out on the sidewalk.

MODIFICATION TO THE PLAN

It was getting redundant, all these posts — at the start of each week — about what baby steps I would be taking, and then the following posts — at the end of each week — where I’d give my update about said baby steps.

And I didn’t find it interesting or esthetically pleasing to see all these titles — identical words, series of dates — listed in the sidebar under “Recent Posts.”

So I’ve decided to drop that method; from now on, I don’t need a leash to hold myself accountable. I will continue to take my baby steps and promise to report back to you through informal posts with fun titles.

DAMN FEAR

Last Tuesday, as I was about to press the “publish” button and announce to the world my firm intention to move, I was struck with the Big Shit Scare.

Oh yeah.

Having not had the time to publish my post before leaving for my son’s cottage in beautiful Boucherville (school break = fun with the grandkids), I found myself later that night sitting in my son’s basement, feverish and fatigued, staring at the computer screen, my hand resting on the mouse, my index unable to budge.

What was I thinking?!!! How could I possibly move out of my housing co-op when I don’t even have the financial means to pay for anything other than the flat I’m living in at the moment and whose rent, thank my lucky stars, is calculated based on my yearly income?!!!

Deap breath…

And then I got a flash. I saw the progress I had made since the beginning of the year. I thought of my report on poverty. And I immediately understood that I simply had to take the leap of faith: click!

Now I’m even more determined.
IT’S GOING TO WORK!

I’M ATTRACTING MY IDEAL HOME

REFERENCES: The 12-Notch Plan — Notch #3 – GOALS for March

2010 equals change.
MAJOR change.

So I’ve decided to get ready to move out of
this place I’ve been living in since 1982.

Yes indeed, even though I have no idea where I want to go or how I’ll find the means to get there, I firmly believe that on or before July 1, 2011, I will move out of this housing co-op and into a beautiful, loft-like / open space home. And since I have no intention of dragging along a bunch of old stuff, I will be eliminating as much of it as I can over the months to come.

Thus, Ladies and Gents, March is all about cleaning out
the two storage facilities on my back balcony.

STORAGE 1

STORAGE 2

I will be posting the “zen look” pictures at the end of the month.

ATTRACT THE NEW!

March is also about using the tools at my disposal
for ATTRACTING my perfect home.

I need to revisit my Law of Attraction books, improve my meditation and visualization techniques, and make sure to focus my thoughts and actions in the right direction.

I’M MOVING INTO MY DREAM HOME

Do YOU have any plans or goals for March?

REFERENCES: The 12-Notch Plan — UPDATE / Week of February 22 to 28 AND Notch #2 Trophy — The Big Purge — Official Paper Purge Launch

It got me to experience the Law of Attraction in all its glory: after what seemed like a never-ending period of doubt and soul-searching — and thanks to my perseverance, my pursuit of non-stop action, and my unwavering focus on creating a better life for myself — I was able to flush a two-thousand-year-old bad karma. Alleluia!

Purged of all negative emotions anchored in the past,
I draw inspiration from the Source and get my fill of creativity.
I AM RICH.

Guided by a very dear friend (a medium who wishes to remain anonymous), I discovered why it was that, over the years, I had slowly sunk myself into poverty.

Following a message she had received for me concerning a past life,  my friend gave me the following homework: to write a report about what I had gathered from poverty. The subject haunted me for three days and three nights. The day of our meeting, I wrote twenty pages — handwritten — where I spoke of shame, sorrow, guilt, anger, deception, isolation, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, sadness, boredom, worry, humiliation… but also of understanding, humility, compassion, gratitude.

Once I was done doing this exercise, and after twelve hours of a captivating conversation mixed with King Cole tea, vegetarian spaghetti, and decadent chocolate cake, I felt liberated from the feeling of lack which had afflicted me ever since birth. Not only the lack of financial means, but also the lack of LOVE.

This said, I still have a heck of a lot of work to do in order to pull myself out of the hole I’m in. But I’m confident everything will work out fine… one baby step at a time.

TROPHY
for Notch #2

I only deserve HALF!

I had two goals for February… I only reached one.

My first goal was to create a decent “about me” page on both my English and French sites = failure.

All I did was put up an audio message saying that I would be adding information on a regular basis… to please check in often.

Not so!

Consequently, as soon as I accomplish this mission, I will receive the other half of the trophy.

My second goal was to create a new habit: S-T-R-E-T-C-H for 20 minutes every day following my morning walk = SUCCESS!

I’m back to my flexible self again and it feels great. Not only do I stretch after my morning walk, but I also do it whenever I need a break from working at the computer or from any other task that requires hours of concentration. Excellent!

CONCLUSION: February was all about introspection and the elimination of old thought patterns. Now that I’ve made peace with poverty, bring on abundance!

I am
RICH RICH RICH

REFERENCES: The 12-Notch Plan — Notch #2 – GOALS for February — Notch #2 – BABY STEPS / Week of February 22 to 28

TO TRUST…
and let it drip!

I know — I’m late for my BABY STEP post. I’ve been experiencing a major soulquake, and it has disrupted my routine.

I spent the last five days wondering if I’m going forward or backwards. I feel like I’ve been trying and trying and trying all my life… without ever getting anywhere. Could it be that I’m trying too hard? That the problem with me is in the “trying,” in the wanting to “control” everything?

I even started to question my 12-Notch Plan. Because after all, the whole point of the plan is for me to become more creative, more productive. So am I being too organized? Too structured? Not letting myself go with the flow? Going with what flow? And where exactly is it that I want to go?

Sheesh!

After writing about this in my Morning Pages (and in my afternoon pages, and my evening pages, and my night pages… ), I decided to thumb through The Artist’s Way in the hope that I would find an answer.

Well aha! I found it. And I’m glad to say that I can stick to my 12-Notch Plan. But I must understand that when it comes to creativity, I need to stop trying so hard and start trusting the process.

That I’m not the boss…
I’m the bucket!

Here’s the excerpt from The Artist’s Way that gave me the permission to not feel guilty about my moments of inaction:

Creativity — like human life itself — begins in darkness. We need to acknowledge this. All too often, we think only in terms of light: “And then the lightbulb went on and I got it!” It is true that insights may come to us as flashes. It is true that some of these flashes may be blinding. It is, however, also true that such bright ideas are preceded by a gestation period that is interior, murky, and completely necessary.

We speak often about ideas as brainchildren. What we do not realize is that brainchildren, like all babies, should not be dragged from the creative womb prematurely. Ideas, like stalactites and stalagmites, form in the dark inner cave of consciousness. They form in drips and drops, not by squared-off building blocks. We must learn to wait for an idea to hatch. Or, to use a gardening image, we must learn to not pull our ideas up by the roots to see if they are growing.

Mulling on the page is an artless art form. It is fooling around. It is doodling. It is the way that ideas slowly take shape and form until they are ready to help us see the light. All too often, we try to push, pull, outline, and control our ideas instead of letting them grow organically. The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.

Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise. All too often, when we say we want to be creative, we mean that we want to be able to be productive. Now, to be creative is to be productive — but by cooperating with the creative process, not forcing it.

As creative channels, we need to trust the darkness. We need to learn to gently mull instead of churning away like a little engine on a straight-ahead path. This mulling on the page can be very threatening. “I’ll never get any real ideas this way!” we fret.

Hatching an idea is a lot like baking bread. An idea needs to rise. If you poke at it too much at the beginning, if you keep checking on it, it will never rise. A loaf of bread or a cake, baking, must stay for a good long time in the darkness and safety of the oven. Open that oven too soon and the bread collapses — or the cake gets a hole in its middle because all the steam has rushed out of it. Creativity requires a respectful reticence.

The truth is that this is how to raise the best ideas. Let them grow in dark and mystery. Let them form on the roof of our consciousness. Let them hit the page in droplets. Trusting this slow and seemingly random drip, we will be startled one day by the flash of “Oh! That’s it!“

And you…
How’s your bucket?

REFERENCES: The 12-Notch Plan — Notch #2 – GOALS for February — Morning Pages

REFERENCES: The 12-Notch Plan — Notch #2 – GOALS for February — Notch #2 – BABY STEPS / Week of February 15 to 21 — Morning Pages

Ever since starting my Morning Walks, I stopped writing my Morning Pages. Every time I stop writing my Morning Pages, I lose contact with my Soul. And now is not the time to lose contact with my Soul — I’m on a quest for change!

The practice of writing Morning Pages — just like the practice of Morning Walks — is a form of meditation. Here’s what Julia Cameron has to say about this in The Artist’s Way:

We meditate to discover our own identity, our right place in the scheme of the universe. Through meditation, we acquire and eventually acknowledge our connection to an inner power source that has the ability to transform our outer world. In other words, meditation gives us not only the light of insight but also the power for expansive change.

Insight in and of itself is an intellectual comfort. Power in and of itself is a blind force that can destroy as easily as build. It is only when we consciously learn to link power and light that we begin to feel our rightful identities as creative beings. The morning pages allow us to forge this link. They provide us with a spiritual ham-radio set to contact the Creator Within. For this reason, the morning pages are a spiritual practice.

It is impossible to write morning pages for any extended period of time without coming into contact with an unexpected inner power. Although I used them for many years before I realized this, the pages are a pathway to a strong and clear sense of self. They are a trail that we follow into our own interior, where we meet both our own creativity and our creator.

Morning pages map our own interior. Without them, our dreams may remain terra incognita. Using them, the light of insight is coupled with the power for expansive change. It is very difficult to complain about a situation morning after morning, month after month, without being moved to constructive action. The pages lead us out of despair and into undreamed-of solutions.

So from now on, I will wake up at 6:00 in the morning instead of 7:00. I will write my Morning Pages, then take my Morning Walk, and do my Morning Stretches.

Amen!

REFERENCES: The 12-Notch Plan — Notch #2 – GOALS for February — UPDATE / Week of February 8 to 14 — Morning Pages

Before I explain what the illustration’s all about, here’s how it went with my BABY STEPS last week.

BALANCED DIET / PROTEIN INTAKE

I jotted down everything I ate to make sure I was getting the recommended 78 grams of protein each day… or close to it. Being vegetarian is quite a challenge when it comes to proteins — most days, I made it to 65-70 grams. I have to get used to eating more of everything: beans, nuts, tofu and other soy products.

CONCEPT/DESIGN FOR “ABOUT” PAGE

Had quite a few crazy ideas which — unfortunately — aren’t do-able. Maybe I’m expecting too much of this. Then again, I’d really like to come up with a fun way to introduce myself. Back to the drawing board!

AND NOW FOR THE BABY STEPS INTO THE SOUL

Time came to a halt last week. It’s as if one extremely long day went by. Or better yet, one never-ending night. Yeah… it was kind of dark for a while.

First, a friend of mine needed help. Without going into details, let’s just say that I put everything on hold in order to *be* with her. She’s better now — thank the Universe!

But somehow, it got me thinking about where I’m going with this blog, the whole internet thing, being stuck at a desk in front of a computer instead of being with actual flesh and blood people out there in the real world. This situation is getting weird. It’s not how I want to spend the rest of my life.

Then I caught a cold and the trance-like fever amplified my feeling of isolation. I even managed to injure my foot and couldn’t get out of the house for my morning walks. I was in prison… in a trap. Arrrrrrgh!

Naturally, all that was left  for me was to think-think-think. I’m still thinking as I type,  How do I get out of this rut? I’ve been in this housing co-op for 28 years. Sure, it’s a nice flat, the rent is low, I’m near the metro. But deep down in my soul, I know that it’s time to go. But where?

I want the road, adventure, mountains, nature;
to walk along oceans and step deep into forests.

I want the unexpected, the out-of-the-ordinary,
the not-the-same-as-yesterday.

My cocoon period has come to an end.
I’m aching for change.
I’m ready for it.

And once I create that change, I’ll have something
more interesting to blog about!

CONCLUSION

I need a vision.
A map.
A plan.

How about you… do you need a change?

Here’s what I’m committing to this week:

BABY STEP
#1

*P* is for PROTEIN

For the past 2 days, I’ve been feeling more tired than usual; my bet is I’m not eating a balanced diet.

So I’m going to start jotting down / counting my food intake to make sure it’s all good, especially the protein intake as I’m vegetarian.

I checked on the internet and saw that I should be eating 1.5 grams of protein per kilo. I weigh 52 kilos (115 pounds), so my daily dose comes to 78 grams. Divided between 6 small meals, this means I need to eat 13 grams of protein every 3 hours.

Maybe I should go back to logging my daily food intake on DailyBurn. Not sure if I have enough time, though; for the moment, I’ll keep track offline and see if that’s enough commitment for success.

And yeah… I stopped my weight-lifting routine. That’s another thing I have to go back to — sheesh!

BABY STEP
#2

Come up with a concept/design for my “about me” page.

How about *YOU* — anything new?

I’m proud to say
that I’m well on my way
to making it a habit to

every day.
Olé!

Yes, my one and only BABY STEP this past week was to stretch for 20 minutes every day as soon as I got home from my morning walk.

Result:
I love it!

Of course, I was lucky to have the sun shining in my kitchen all week long; with a little imagination, I felt I was by the ocean, lying on a beach towel. What can I say, I’ve got a talent for make-believe — it’s one of the main ingredients in my recipe for happiness.

Music is also a big part of the mix. I now know exactly how many James Taylor songs it takes to accompany my 20-minute routine — I put his greatest hits on “play” and I stretch and relax and feel the pain from Something in The Way She Moves to the end of You’ve Got a Friend.

Conclusion:
I won’t say I’m hooked just yet. No. I’m going to wait another week or two. I want to see if I’ll be as enthused about the whole thing when there’s no sun around to give me a high.

Surprise:
On Saturday morning, I went skating for the first time in 24 years. It took me less than 5 minutes to realize that I could still stand on two blades and glide, Baby, glide. Another habit, maybe? — We’ll see!

Hey… how was your week?

my
BABY STEP
for this week

S-T-R-E-T-C-H-!

Every morning, after my walk,
I will do 20 minutes of stretching exercises.

Do I deserve *The Notch* for January?

If my decision is based on reaching my goals for January, which were to have the first two episodes of The Road Trip Show online along with a contest for the trippers in the Happy Bus AND to eat healthy and exercise, I would vote “no.” Because apart from eating healthy and exercising, I didn’t even get one episode of the show online (listen to yesterday’s update).

If my decision is based on the main goals that make up the core of The 12-Notch Plan which are:

I want CHANGE. I want ABUNDANCE.
I want 2010 to be my most creative
and productive year ever.

then yes, I should get *The Notch* for January.

Because over the past month, I have brought a major change to my lifestyle: my morning walks have become a habit. I get up at 6 or 7 each morning, eat a light breakfast, and zoom out of the house for my walk by the river.

Consequently — thanks to the energizing / mind-expanding walks — my creativity and productivity have gotten a tremendous boost. In January, I published 21 posts on this blog and 20 on my French blog. Excellent!

So it’s a definite YES — I get *The Notch* for January.
YAY ME!

Now we move on to Notch # 2
and my GOALS for February:

Create a decent “about me” page on both my English and French sites — urgent!

Create a new habit: S-T-R-E-T-C-H. I stretch my legs regularly, but I’ve neglected to stretch the rest of my body for months. I’m actually looking forward to spring and summer so I can do my stretching exercises by the river.

So that’s it. It may not seem like much, but I’ve got a lot of work to do this month — my housing co-op’s financial year ends on March 31 and I need to get all the paperwork ready.

How about you…

Any goals this month?

My one and only baby step this week
was to put the ROAD TRIP SHOW online…

Well, it didnt happen.

Listen to my update
and you’ll understand why.

Better luck next time!
(is what I wish myself)

Here’s what the trail looked like yesterday, around 8 a.m. — I was blown away by the different shades of blue.

Now that I’m in the habit of strolling along the river every morning, I get to notice the changes. For instance, this big crack wasn’t there the day before. You’ll be happy to know that even though I’m not comfortable with stepping onto the ice, I mustered up enough cojones to capture this picture… just for you.

Another fun thing about my new habit is that each morning I choose a different place to stop and sit and BE. This was yesterday’s *magical* spot — cool, huh?

Of course, I was already a big walker prior to engaging in this daily routine (a New Year’s resolution). Since I don’t have a car, I walk all the time, I walk all over the place. I also pride myself in walking super fast (beep! beep!) and for long distances — I get all pumped up and sweaty… it’s what keeps me fit.

What’s particular in this case is that my morning walks have turned into really nice dates with myself. YESSS! I’m starting to understand what Julia Cameron calls the artist date. I know, my dates aren’t exactly “artist dates” because I don’t go to different places to participate in different activities, but the end result is the same: I’m pulling myself out of the mothballs. I’m rediscovering who I truly am and asking myself what it is I want to live for the rest of my life. This makes me relax, and play; I’m being more creative, more happy.

Come to think of it, each morning walk is like a little road trip where I feel free and ALIVE. I’d love to just go on walking non-stop. I bet I could walk all around the world.

Only downside: When I miss my morning walk — like I did today, on account of the rain — I crave the river’s energy. The day just ain’t the same without it.

my ONE and ONLY
BABY STEP
for this week:

GET THE ROAD TRIP SHOW ONLINE

Make that we did it.

Yes, this week’s one and only BABY STEP was to update WordPress.  So on Thursday evening I got together with my friend Kcrystina — who lives in Prince Edward Island — in the hopes that this time the updates on both my English and French blogs would be a breeze.

Not so.

To begin with, the Skype connection was awful. Kcrystina could hear me talk, but all I heard was silence mixed with static.

When Kcrystina decided to call me on the phone, there was echo at her end and this made it too annoying for her to pursue a conversation. So we went back to the Skype call, with me talking and she texting. Charming.

Once the updates were done, both blogs presented certain malfunctions — fudge! Kcrystina knew right away that it was a plugin’s fault, but which one? So I deactivated all 39 (20 on the English side, 19 on the French) and proceeded to reactivate each one in order to discover the culprit. It turns out I had to delete 3 plugins on each blog… and then the job was done. All in all, it took us almost 4 hours. Sheesh!

And now…
The coast is clear for my Road Trip Show — I need to move my butt!

See you tomorrow for a brand new week of baby steps.

P.S.: Does anyone else have problems updating WordPress? Kcrystina thinks it could be my server’s fault — I’m with BlueHost. Also, I’d love to know what your favourite plugins are. Thanks!

I couldn’t believe my eyes…

Fiona Shrek!

My ONE and ONLY
BABY STEP
for this week:

Do not worry if you have built your castles
in the air. They are where they should be.
Now put the foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau

Because The Road Trip Show needs to rest
on an updated version of WordPress!