m-c's blog

Letting go

2008-05-01T07:59:57-05:00

I've been lately asking the universe for changes. Changes outside - more movement, excitement, aliveness - and changes inside me. I've been working on shining light on some of the beliefs which keep me away from the outside changes i wish to see, so i can transform these same beliefs and move on.

Since then, i can feel change is happening. Nothing that could be seen on the outside, but i feel i am slowly starting to learn to manage many things at the same time, something which have been sucking energy out of me for years.

I am getting to realize that what i want is to be Productive, and Wise at the same time. Take actions, but stay loose and confident that all will fall in place, even without me watching over every details.

I am learning that if i can trust the force - the one which i can see in action in nature, the one which is taking care of everything everyday without any human noticing - this trust will be one of my best investments in life. The Jedi knew it.

I now look at my agenda and can see that there's much going on (hence the slow posting lately), yet i dont feel like a headless running chick as i would usually do. I see i can do so much, but i'm learning to let go.

It is my wish not to waste my energy at trying to have everything in control - and believe me, this is the major shift i am going through - taking action towards what i want, and at some point just relax and let go because i can't have my hands on everything, i cant have control over other people's thoughts, and i cant match the clock's spinning.

I must rely that while i take my time to be fully into the fun parts of what i do, working or in the bathtub, the universe is taking care of the details, watching over me, preparing the road so i can move on. The good news is, it can do the same for you.

About this entry:
This entry was previously posted on my blog at: http://mcturgeon.com/blog
I am m-c, an artist, consultant and communicator. I am interested in people, life, technology, and the creative potential of web publishing tools. I run meïdia, a creative studio, Creacamp, a gathering about arts, craft and technology for girls, and i wrote a book.

My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

The thing one needs most

2008-04-14T18:23:07-05:00

“I was a producer of materiality and I am ashamed of this fact. Everything I designed was unnecessary.

I will definitely give up in two years’ time. I want to do something else, but I don’t know what yet. I want to find a new way of expressing myself …design is a dreadful form of expression….

In future there will be no more designers. The designers of the future will be the personal coach, the gym trainer, the diet consultant.”

Starck said the only objects that he still felt attached to were “a pillow perhaps and a good mattress.” But the thing one needs most, he added, was the “ability to love”.

Philippe Starck, march 2008. Via.

My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

Monday collage inspiration

2008-04-14T18:20:27-05:00

New collages from our 6x6 project.

My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

Be Brave

2008-04-14T18:18:31-05:00

Image by David Horvitz.

About this entry
This entry was previously posted on my blog at: http://mcturgeon.com/blog

I am m-c, an artist, consultant and communicator. I am interested in people, life, technology, and the creative potential of web publishing tools. I run meïdia, a creative studio, Creacamp, a gathering about arts, craft and technology for girls, and i wrote a book.

My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

Master of your time

2008-04-08T09:54:47-05:00

"Change doesn't happen because of how we invest our money. Change happens because of how we invest our human energy, and it always has since we came down from the trees.

Everyone's got a margin of discretionary energy -- ten percent, twenty percent -- that isn't used up making their way in the world. That's the energy that's available for social change."

Daniel Taylor of Future Generation. Via.

How do you use your energy, and how much do you have left to help us move on to a next, more sustaining level?

Managing energy is one of the most important thing in our current times - we must each day, more and more, consciously choose to whom and how we'll share this precious resource, our energy, which was for years sucked out without us noticing.

Managing energy means to carefully select our activities, manage our time, our health, our creativity. As a freelance or full time worker, it is a question we're all facing: how much money are worth your hours? How much money is worth your energy? Your health and well being? Are all these hours worked really worth? Is there not a more creative and healthy way to spend your time and energy?

Among the most common time and energy sucking activities are an employer needing you more than 35 hours per week, friends or family meetings leaving you empty, shopping in a quest to find something that will fill the emptiness, over cleaning the house every week inside and outside, and tv watching.

All this precious time could be used in a creative way, to make small and big changes.

As i wrote some days ago, our present culture does not emphasize free and quiet time. Instead, we are pushed to fill the agenda until there is not a minute left to be alone in silence, or to have some time to think and take new actions, on a personal or community level, towards a brighter future. Having a lot of free time might be seen as not usual, wrong, as if someone would be out of a system, not worthy, slacking and even depressed.

You must ask yourself, who is ruling your life?

Become your own authority, be more aware of where and how you want to spend your energy, your health, and your time. We'll all have to make choices, what will yours be?

** About this entry **
This entry was previously posted on my blog at: http://mcturgeon.com/blog
I am m-c, an artist, consultant and communicator. I am interested in people, life, technology, and the creative potential of web publishing tools. I run meïdia, a creative studio, Creacamp, a gathering about arts, craft and technology for girls, and i wrote a book.

My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

Green and inspiring

2008-04-08T09:51:34-05:00

I've been writing some weeks ago about my researches to find the best of green clothing for kids. Here are some newly found items among the cutest and most inspiring ones, some i wish could also be wore by adults!

The items which can be bought on Etsy are created with love and care by 2 obviously talented stay-at-home-moms :

Damestarbaby are created by two stay-at-home moms who miraculously find time to sew and knit and dream up ever more stylish kid's clothes. Our shirts feature original paintings and appliques. The printing was done with earth-loving inks in a solar-powered facility where the workers carpool in a veggie-oil van. The applique-ing is all done by hand using vintage and recycled fabrics. All of our designs were created with the sensibility of two mothers, so they're not only cute and conscientious, but comfortable and durable and easy for little hands to put on and take off.

My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

Creative Fire

2008-04-07T21:00:36-05:00

My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

New of my artwork for sale in my Etsy shop

2008-04-07T20:58:49-05:00

I've got 10 sets of illustration magnets for sale in my Etsy shop. Each set has 10 1" magnets made from my original hand-drawn illustrations. Buy them directly on Etsy, or email me :)

My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

The luxury of rest

2008-04-07T20:56:05-05:00

To Slow Down is a must, and if i omit, my body does remember me.

I'll be slow blogging for the next days, as i must rest from yet another sinus cold. I know i could buy cheap-but-strong medicine, this way i could continue to run and run, ignoring my body's urge to rest, my soul's need for calm, but i'd rather choose to just stop and rest. I know this is luxury, since resting and relaxing are really expensive medicine these days, one that just a few can afford.

To learn to relax - through meditation, yoga, sports, traveling - will be a much needed activity in the coming years, as stress is becoming the number 1 disease in our culture. On this, i wish you all to be able to Slow Down a little, 'till i get back on my feet.

My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

Shaking China

2008-04-07T20:53:25-05:00

The support for Tibet is growing, awareness for the real picture is trying to reach masses.

“One World, One Dream” is China's Olympic slogan. But the reality of China's occupation of Tibet is a nightmare. Right now thousands of Tibetans are being arbitrarily detained, beaten and killed for speaking out for freedom.

On March 24th, China launched its Olympic Torch Relay. In the next two months, the torch will travel to cities around the world in a blatant attempt by the Chinese government to gain international acceptance and to divert attention away from its illegal occupation and current military crackdown inside Tibet.

I am always confused in these situations, because of the sudden wake up of people, but at the same time, as many others, i wonder if posting on the web is enough.

In a way it brings many people away from the ignorance of what the events are, but can we really call an activist someone who just copy-paste a banner code here and there, this as a mention of our contribution to change things? Is this really enough?

I think its not. But i cant go to China and try to shake things - i'd rather stay here and try to take conscious actions, such as boycotting all products made in China. Anything else i could do?

Links:
- Lose the propaganda, share the thruth;
- Beijing 2008 Torch Relay Truth! Banner, to share on facebook, blogs
- A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy
- Un an sans "made in China"? Mission impossible

My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

Conscious traveling

2008-03-31T17:31:39-05:00

If you are about to plan your next holidays in Central and South America, it's a must to have a look at Whole Travel, who's mission is:

To provide the best travel opportunities to unique and authentic destinations that preserve the environment, support local cultures and promote sustainable lifestyles.

This sounds promising - take a look at their sustainable tour search engine.

Via CITIZENShift.

** About this entry **
This entry was previously posted on my blog at: http://mcturgeon.com/blog/2008/03/31/conscious-travelling/
I am m-c, an artist, consultant and communicator. I am interested in people, life, technology, and the creative potential of web publishing tools. I run meïdia, a creative studio, Creacamp, a gathering about arts, craft and technology for girls, and i wrote a book.

My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

Power women

2008-03-31T17:25:30-05:00

"... women in low- and middle-income nations were found to be more than twice as likely to be involved in early-stage business start-ups as those in high-income nations"

Why this? Are these women better than us at leaving their comfort zone, at handling risk and insecurity?

"In Russia, women were involved in 39.9 percent of all early-stage entrepreneurial activity, while in the Philippines they were involved in 22.5 percent, the study found. That compares to just 2.3 percent in Sweden and 1 percent in Belgium.

Overall, about a third of the world's entrepreneurial activity is driven by women, the study found."

Women in Poorer Nations Twice as Likely to Become Entrepreneurs via Girl at Play.

** About this entry **
This entry was previously posted on my blog at: http://mcturgeon.com/blog/2008/03/31/power-womens/
I am m-c, an artist, consultant and communicator. I am interested in people, life, technology, and the creative potential of web publishing tools. I run meïdia, a creative studio, Creacamp, a gathering about arts, craft and technology for girls, and i wrote a book.

My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

The right amount of creativity and focus

2008-03-25T13:16:41-05:00

Things just happen, sometimes i believe we are guided to hear or see what we need to in order to trigger something inside us, to shine a light so we can move a little further into clarity.

Just as i was about to leave for lunch, i found this quote by David Allen:

"A single focus is infinitely more productive than a split one."

As it often happens, i am now writing this post in the middle of doing 3 other things - half sited on my seat, excited about what i want to share with you, keeping in mind that i am starving and need to do this quickly.

Since a week i am into reflecting about the many projects i want to bring to life, readjusting my personal objectives and goals for each of these projects, trying to see where is it that i get confused and disoriented.

Having many projects on the table simultaneously is not an easy task, some people can, others cannot, and i am into trying to find the right balance in having just enough of what i need to make each project grow while feeling stimulated and excited, and at the same time finding my way to keep a crystal-clear focus, so to avoid to feel overwhelmed by all the tasks needed to make each project grow.

How?

This i think will be a great topic to discuss with other creatives, now on this blog, and also around a table at the next Creacamp. How can we, as creative people, find the right balance in our many endeavors, this to keep a healthy body and mind?

** About this entry **
This entry was previously posted on my blog at: http://mcturgeon.com/blog/2008/03/25/the-right-amount-of-creativity-and-...
I am m-c, an artist, consultant and communicator. I am interested in people, life, technology, and the creative potential of web publishing tools. I run meïdia, a creative studio, Creacamp, a gathering about arts, craft and technology for girls, and i wrote a book. My twitter: http://twitter.com/emcee

Magic Etsy Alchemy!

2008-03-24T14:34:06-05:00

This video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBZC5MZapXo) shows what is Etsy's Alchemy: a way for crafters to create custom items on request, and for buyers to ask for exactly what they want!

Found on Millea's blog!

** About this entry **
This entry was previously posted on my blog at:
http://mcturgeon.com/blog/2008/03/20/etsys-alchemy
I am m-c, an artist, consultant and communicator. I am interested in people, life, technology, and the creative potential of web publishing tools. I run meïdia, a creative studio, Creacamp, a gathering about arts, craft and technology for girls, and i wrote a book.

My Starbucks Idea - business 2.0

2008-03-24T14:30:33-05:00

"Name tags on employees. I like to be able to start a conversation with a name. I see the same folks all the time and enjoy speaking with them, but i don't always remember their names."

"Not all employees are as friendly as they should. I think you should reemphasize customer service since that is one of the reasons I go to Starbucks."

"Hire more mature people who have a more developed idea of what customer service is."

"have a separate line "express" for drip coffee only."

"Starbucks needs to make ALL stores have free Wi-Fi. In Seattle I go to Tully's, because of the free Wi-Fi, not superior service."

"More of the comfortable-type chairs (cushion) - fewer tables and hard chairs. Offer the bar-type seating in more stores."

All the above quotes are taken from Starbucks's new venture, MyStarbucksIdea.com, a true web2.0 jewell, both for Starbucks, and their customers.

Raw, yet friendly and simple : hand your customers a mic so that they can let you know what they want. Show them that you listen with both ears, and they'll tell you exactly what you need to do to make your business better.

** About this entry **
This entry was previously posted on my blog at: http://mcturgeon.com/blog/2008/03/20/mystarbucksideacom-business-20
I am m-c, an artist, consultant and communicator. I am interested in people, life, technology, and the creative potential of web publishing tools. I run meïdia, a creative studio, Creacamp, a gathering about arts, craft and technology for girls, and i wrote a book.