balance

good morning everyone! gilli moon here with some motivational tips i like to send out from time to time.

i just got back from an empowering 2 weeks on the east coast where i swam with dolphins in virginia beach, felt the zing and elecricity of new york city and rallied with a community of artistic souls in philadelphia. nothing better than a does of invigoration to set sail throughout september.

here's a lovely little motivational message from the Daily Guru that talks about balance:

---- What's your best routine? "For all my good intentions, there are days when things go wrong or I fall into old habits. When things are not going well, when I'm grumpy or mad, I'll realize that I've not been paying attention to my soul and I've not been following my best routine." -- Robert Fulghum

How do you need to bring more balance to your life? Robert Fulghum has shared, "The older I get, the more I realize the importance of exercising the various dimensions of my body, soul, mind and heart. Taken together, these aspects give me a sense of wholeness. I want to be a whole human being rather than one who limps on one leg because I don't know how to use all of my parts. Intellectual, emotional, and physical activity are not separate entities. Rather, they are dimensions of the same human being."

"There is an Indian Belief that everyone is in a house of four rooms: A physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room everyday, even if only to keep it aired, we are not complete." -- Rumer Godden -----

and now... a chapter exerpt from gilli moon's "I AM A Professional Artist" - available for purchase at http://www.warriorgirlmusic.com/store with details at http://www.gillimoon.com/thebook

Topic: Passion, balance and time -

The ultimate ingredient of an Artist, and a professional Artist.. is Passion. This is your fire and you should never deny it because your passion is the way to self realization. You also need to balance your personal life, your art, your day to day and your passion. Life is a balance and in order for all of your desires and needs to be fulfilled, balance is the key. This means that many aspects of you need to be focused on. There's no need to be a total work-aholic without also nurturing private, relaxation time. Your various creative urges should be balanced so that you don't put all your eggs in one basket. You can even juggle your day so that all your passions get taken care of. Balance tasks with others, balance business and pleasure, balance working and time-out. I have a friend who compartmentalizes his day based on which creative projects he wants and needs to work on. Morning is for writing, and some phone calls and email. Midday he's ready to paint. By mid-afternoon he's playing the piano and also taking care of some business. Night time he's often performing with a local jazz band.

Apart from balance, you need time. You need to give yourself time to develop your professional career. Don't expect it to come overnight. There is truth in the term "paying your dues" and also truth in a friend of mine's term "becoming an overnight sensation takes ten years." Some people are too impatient. They want it all at once and now. We think that all these superstars are overnight sensations and that if our career takes five years, no ten, then we are complete failures. How fickle we are! A great career in the Arts business takes time. Firstly, don't think you have to win over who's already out there "making it." It's not a contest. It's about you finding value in what you alone can determine. This might take a life time. In fact, as I will talk about later, being a professional Artist is a life long journey. If you were to "make it" right now, what would you do then? Give up. Die? Sit back and enjoy the ride because the process is the best part. Take the time to discover who you want to be. Heed the sign "when the time's right, it will come." Life is about timing and sometimes we want to try and push that with our will. Patience is a virtue, and time is of the essence. You've heard it all before, and its all true. Take your time, develop, study, expand your business, nurture your talent, focus on your choice, and allow the universe to deliver in good time.

We often mismanage our time. Ernie Zelinski writes in his book, "The Lazy Person's Guide To Success", that time devoted to just hard work (being busy, thinking we are accomplishing something but instead spinning our wheels), is generally a poor use of time. Whereas, if we spend time on creativity and imagination (plus thought, which I will go into detail later), then this is more effective. "The wise use of the assets you have - time, energy, creativity, motivation, money, patience, and courage - is what will bring you success and happiness over the long term." Spend your time doing what you LOVE. Minimize the time you spend on things that you don't like and that are not important. There is no shortage of time. It's how we use it that's important. You CAN find the balance between work, and free time too... ultimately if you can combine creativity in all of it, you have found the key. Also, spend time with positive, organized people and it will rub off. When I was eighteen and busting to be an actor, my father gave me this one little piece of advice: "Don't hang around down and out, unemployed actors." While the statement is a little stereotypical I think you'll get the gist of it. Being around negative thinking people only drags you down. You start thinking like them, especially when most Artists are rather sensitive. Surround yourself with negativity and Opportunity goes right out the window. I find that if I choose my friends carefully, keep a strict, disciplined day of work, pleasure, creativity, mediation and exercise, coupled with an understanding that this is a life-long journey with plenty of time to achieve what i want - then I am balanced, achieving highly, creating great art, financially stable and loved by those around me. It's a long way... to the top... if you wanna rock-n roll!

by gilli moon (from her book "I AM A Professional Artist" http://www.gillimoon.com/thebook)

"It is not enough to be busy.... The question is: what are we busy about?" - Henry David Thoreau