Ever Changing Journal: June 2010

Years ago, my sister in law and I used to sprawl out on the beaches of Long Island near her home and talk about our lives. She was always an amazing cheerleader and encouraged me to continue writing NO MATTER WHAT. In HER mind, there already existed "The Book". A fiction/non-fiction memoir hybrid the size of the NYC phone book. Every time something very good, bad or note-worthy would occur, we'd look at each other and mouth the words: "The Book". as in : "that action is going right into the book....".

As time passed and I was blessed with the ground-shaking eruption of art in my life, I started to notice that my observational skills were being subtlety sharpened. It was as if someone had tweaked the camera lens and everything came into focus. Raising a child and running a business can be distracting, but these things were happening during that time. I started to vacuum up details, bits and pieces of the cultural landscape. Having brilliant and diverse friends helps a ton, lemme tell you.

Anyway, data was not necessarily for The Book exclusively anymore. It became the fuel of Creative Inspiration. Had enough of THAT phrase? okay, then lets call it : "Fascinating Crap-ola that leads you down one Rabbit Hole of Coolness to the next Level"

Not only do we love seeing what's new, old, head-turning, innovative, creepy and stunning, we see that most of it is somehow connected. Music? Art? Literature? Food? Textiles? Photography? on and on and on.

Getting a little too weird? Let's knock it back a rung or two and use my favorite tool, bullet points!

• Observing your environment from a Reporters Perspective allows you objectivity while making way for enthusiasm. You can take a good, close look and make a mental note. Use it or toss it.

• Your medium of choice makes no difference. You know within seconds when you are talking to a Fellow Observer. As Heidi K. would say: "...either you're IN or you're OUT....".

• Observational people tend to be very Open Minded. They are curious and have no desire to accidentally miss something. They tend to be less guarded and have fewer walls.

• I am a talker (BIG surprise) but I find myself blabbering less and asking more questions. Old dog, new trick?

• What better use for those 15 unused journals (you KNOW you have 'em) than converting them into a visual/written document of what you learned today? A traveling file cabinet-notebook.

The Book is still a work in progress in my head. Maybe I'll throw it into the podcast sometime... Lisa