Spirited Woman Blogger Team

Paws and Pals Tweet, Connect and Inspire Each Other

People are connecting more and more with each other through social media, creating a huge global village through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networking sites to attract new markets for their businesses, charity events, non-profit outreach, cultural activities, and big shift social changes...

One of the great side benefits is that inspiration and creativity are flowing freely on the web. People are connecting, sharing, experiencing, and learning about each other on a more personal basis. "Push marketing" your business is a thing of the past. Since, pets are near and dear to our hearts and an integral part of our lives it is no surprise that paws are tapping on keyboards and tweeting, sharing on Facebook, or staring in videos on YouTube.

James Bond The Dog is one such pup and he was a keynote speaker along with his human companion at Bark World Expo this past weekend. Just one of the many creative examples of people finding ways to reach out and connect with each other to share ideas and experiences over passions and interests.

Tradition and Fellowship Illuminates An Evening Out On Martha's Vineyard

Summer time and the living is easy... and living on Martha's Vineyard inspires me, lets me savor life, bask in the beautiful place I live and all the interesting things I get to experience.

This week is party time on the vineyard with lots of special events going on. I thought it would be fun to take you all along with me to a summer party that has been going on for over a century. Illumination night in Oak Bluffs lets people enjoy a sing a long, a band concert and the ginger bread cottages regaled in their summer splendor with Chinese and Japanese lanterns lighting up the night.

It's a big night with big crowds and parking is a chore.... But I live just up the hill from the campgrounds so its just a short walk to the festivities and no need for a car or the headache of parking. As I walk down the hill its fun to see all the kids excited about an evening with lanterns and band concerts. Couples walking hand in hand enjoying the warm evening air and the last rays of the sun flickering over Sunset Lake across the street from the harbor.

Traditionally the grand illumination night celebration marked the visit of the governor of Massachusetts. Visitors to the Island are all a buzz because this year's Illumination night (August 18) falls on the eve of President Obama's 10-day family vacation on Martha's Vineyard. So going to the 175th Anniversary Year of this National Historic Landmark party is a great way to kick off the last two weeks of "summer" on Martha's Vineyard and possibly get a glimpse of the first family enjoying their summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard, too!

A New Direction in Life Begins With Tuning Into What You Are Feeling

Are you thinking of taking a new direction with your professional life? Have you been feeling restless, feeling that your job, your career is just not satisfying you anymore?

Do you find yourself feeling, "life is okay, but I would love to feel inspired, excited, jazzed to get out of bed and get started with something really energizing today?"

Your inner voice is calling you to play a bigger game in life. To discover the meaning of life as it relates to YOU. Your passions, your purpose driven life, and new directions. How do you decide to take action from this place of wondering, searching, and restlessness? It can be difficult to identify what actions to take or to release the fear that may be welling up inside as you are considering taking action.

One thing you can know for sure is if you are having these thoughts of a new direction, if you are starting to think of new ideas and new possibilities for your life, you also have access to the answers to the questions bubbling up inside of you and the inspired actions to take to move you forward. We never ask a question we are not ready to hear the answer to and find the right steps to take to get us where we want to go.

So begin by tuning in and listening. What are you feeling in this moment about the direction of your life? What are you feeling about how you spend your time? Do you really even pay attention to how you spend your time and are you tuned into what you feel as you move through your day?

Are you feeling restless, edgy, uncertain, pinned down by what you are going through in life right now? The simplest, most powerful and effective way to shift those feelings... to discover the direction you want to explore is to begin. Start by listening to what you are thinking and feeling. I will write an upcoming post on inspired ways to ask and answer the questions that come up.

Write a comment about what you are feeling about the direction of your life at the moment.... or where you would like to move that direction....

BZ Riger www.artofallowingmindset.com, www.internetradiowithjuice.com
Click here for more of BZ's posts.

Creative Ways to Enjoy the Gift of Water Year Round

Being in tune with your surroundings and understanding the sense of rhythm that a special place holds gives you creative ways to have fun. On Martha's Vineyard, where I live, you can do that on the ocean, in the great ponds, the glacier created hills and vistas... Each has a different rhythm to it and I am always impressed by the inspiration that strikes people with different ways to enjoy the natural surroundings on our wonderful island.

We know that it's not just a beach in the heat of summer that provides the inspiration for fun. Year round with the changing rhythms of sand and tide, light and winds you can enjoy yourself with a variety of sports and activities like swimming, kite boarding, fly fishing, kayaking... Each part of the year and the different rhythms of the sea  provide creative outlets to be connected to this special place.

I think it is the same all around the country. The places and rhythms are different but when you tune into your surroundings and have a sense of place you tune into inspired ways to enjoy yourself and connect with your surroundings. Some times the activities can be a surprise. Like surfing in landlocked states. People enjoy the gift of water in all its forms near Jasper Wyoming and surfing is one of their creative ways of doing it. People drive from neighboring states to surf on the Snake River.

These Spirited Women - Dance, Perform - Glo With Their Community

Gone are the days big recording labels pick what people want to hear. With a huge selection of offerings - from entertainment blogs to YouTube -  people are choosing what interests them and their appetite for ways to interact with each other and what they want to experience in performances is broadening. And most exciting is the breadth of people being drawn into dance and other cultural performances.

Lauri Stallings, the "dancemaker" for gloALT has brought that passion of people choosing to experience new cultural performances to life with her group of spirited women dance performers. The troupe performs at various public locations - mostly free to attend. They incorporate dance, performance art, the buildings and surrounding where the performance takes place in a choreography of multimedia, live music, theater and community involvement all wrapped up in a collective experience.

The term "glo" is a Dutch phrase meaning a group of individuals who congregate to witness a unique event. With the dancers and the material they perform they honor the intent of glo and bridge the gap between artist and audience, ALT, letting people experience the performance all together. Enjoy the magical experience in this video!

Asking Yourself Questions Gives You a Tool to Find More Than Just an Answer

Questions show the mind's range, and answers its subtlety. ~ Joseph Joubert

Questioning ourselves weakens us, diminishes us, sabotages us.... But asking ourselves powerful inspired questions gives us a flash of insight and a powerful tool that rewards us with more than the answer. It opens us up to everything we want to be.

Try something new, carry a small pad and pen and every day. Listen to a question that wants to be heard and then let yourself experience life through the possibilities that question unfolds. As you play with listening to the questions that come up you will find that the answers are not an end but a new dimension to the views you can experience.

You may be surprised by all of the inspired questions that swirl into your mind. Here are a few questions you can use to help you get started if your habit of questioning yourself is more dominant than your ability to listen for the questions you know to ask yourself.

How can I be open to discover more?
What do I want? Is it something different than what I have?
What is it about where I am right now that I don't want, don't like?
Why do I want that, how will I feel when I get it?
What are my beliefs about being happy?
What do I think will happen if I am more playful with how I approach life?
I am I willing to think differently, feel differently?
What's good about this?
What's not perfect about it yet?
How can I do this and have fun doing it?

BZ Riger www.artofallowingmindset.com, www.internetradiowithjuice.com
Click here for more of BZ's posts.

No Time Left to Play Small - Women, It's Time to Shine

The speed with which the world is shifting, changing and the old crumbling and falling away has jumped into hyper space. Its been almost a year since the Dalai Lama made a proclamation that stunned the crowd at the Vancouver Peace Summit 2009: "The world will be saved by the western woman."

Today is a good time to remember the energy in his words. At this critical time in the transformation of ourselves and our planet we no longer have time for fears to hold us back any longer or for women to keep playing small.

On top of all the old fears women used to have there is a sense of new fears..... not working in ways that matter, not making a difference, not being relevant... Yet so many women keep playing small because they give into the old excuses of not being: worthy enough, smart, rich, savvy, young, creative... enough. And keep buying into old societal beliefs and let them over shadow new emerging beliefs and strong knowings.

We have moved beyond the cross roads to a time where each one of us is waking up. We feel it. We know it. On a deep level we understand it. Our intuition is growing more fine tuned and our spirited inner muse has picked up a bull horn. So it is getting harder and harder not to hear those inspired whispers of our rising consciousness. To feel the energetic tap of recognition as we feel more connected to each other and an understanding that something big is going on and each of us has a role to play on center stage.

Take off the cloak of fear that has been misting your mind and actions. Push back the veil that your expanded consciousness has been hidden behind. Pick up the mantel of the inner Spirited Woman innate within all of us. Take back your power from whom ever you let have it temporarily. Re calibrate the frequency of your life energy. Do a little tap shuffle as you dance up on center stage. Let the smile that wants to spring to your lips come forth. You can't suppress the light of your smile any longer by playing small. That illusion is over and the new play has begun.

BZ Riger www.artofallowingmindset.com, www.internetradiowithjuice.com
Click here for more of BZ's posts.

Spirited Women Helping to Build Community and Connection - One Veggie at a Time

It's exciting to see that people are changing their eating and food shopping habits. Gone are the days when people only wanted to consider the perfect square tomato when shopping in the produce isle because of convenience. Many people used to think that square tomatoes where a variety grown to give them a longer shelf life.

Do you really know why they are square looking? The big agri-business companies picked a variety that could harvest early and fit more easily into packing boxes and on produce shelves. I'm still not sure why any one could be conned into buying these tomatoes and passing them off on their family as food, but that's a whole other discussion.

With all the changes going on in our attitudes, people are awakening and learning how to savor life and what they are eating. Who they are eating it with and the connections they can make while reconnecting to where their food comes from. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA's) are springing up all over, in big cities and small towns. Helping people to awaken to the deliciousness of a patty pan squash or a real luscious "round" juicy tomato.

Charlotte Swansea, of Riverview Farms is a Spirited Woman inspired by her love of good food, friends, and conversation over a good meal. She provides fresh vegetables and new ways of connecting over a meal to 360 members of her CSA in the Atlanta area she serves with the produce from her farm.

Seeing Life

There is a new level of awareness going on in our country and the world about what is important to us. What we really want in our lives… and how to tune in and connect to ourselves and what makes us feel good in our lives. We can see that in many different things going on in our own personal lives, in business, in how the world interacts with each other.

People are wanting to find more meaning, more joy, more inner satisfaction in their lives. To find a way to step off the “tread mill” of endless rushing and stress and to rediscover what is really important to us personally. Tuning into our own inner guidance and connecting to our own inner wisdom. I think that is why the Spirited Woman blog and many other sites that focus on posts to help us connect and become more in tune with each other and our changing world resonates with so many people. Giving people an opportunity to look at life differently, to shift their ideas and to connect with others in an energetic way, around the world, to discover their thoughts on these ideas.

It is important to take time to really discover what is important to you. To tune into what would be a joyful and fulfilling way to create your life on purpose with intention. Asking yourself these questions will help you get off the feeling of that merry go round you may find yourself whizzing around on. You can do this on your own or in talking with others…

The trick is to start asking and start listening to the questions and answers that come from your spirited inner muse. To start to really "see" the people in your life and most importantly to "see" yourself. Go out today with the intention of seeing that which resonates with you, that gets your blood humming with excitement, your inspiration swimming with excitement. Your heart singing with happiness at savoring the moment.

What will you do today to get off the "tread mill" of life on auto pilot? What will you notice today when you begin to really "see" as you move through your day?

Leave a comment and let me know what you came across in your day.

BZ Riger www.artofallowingmindset.com, www.internetradiowithjuice.com
Click here for more of BZ's posts.

Let Yourself Be Happy

Are you letting yourself be happy? Or are you complicating each aspect of your life because doing things the simple way doesn't seem like it would get you very far?

Being happy is our natural state of being. In fact everything you think you want whether it is more money, a different job, a relationship...  everything that you want in life, that you are reaching for is because you think in the having of it you will feel good. We know innately that life is supposed to be good, we are supposed to feel good. And we feel off balance and completely out of alignment when we do not feel good. We have lost sight of our guidance system and paying attention to our emotions which help guide us to what we want in our lives.

How many times when you were growing up did you here you can't have everything you want, life isn't fair, you just have to get used to what you have and settle for what you have... Or some variations on those phrases? It's all wrong it is not how things really work. Science has proven that what we think creates the life we have, that happiness not only feels good but it changes the whole make up of the cells in our body.

If you find yourself thinking I want ______ know it is because you think it will make you feel good. Now think about feeling good right in this moment. Because it is something you choose to do. Control your own destiny, control what you create in your life- but this time do it on purpose. Because you have been creating your life every minute up until this one, and if you are not liking what you have it simply means you have not been understanding how powerful you are as the determining force in your life.

Make the decision, choose your forward path right now, today. What you think creates your life, the emotions you have conjure thoughts and you are off on your way. Understand it and start making the simple fact work for you. Let go of the complicated and do the hard work and just let things be simple. Be happy.

BZ Riger www.artofallowingmindset.com, www.internetradiowithjuice.com
Click here for more of BZ's posts.