I've been a blog-posting fiend the last few weeks!  Here are a few that may interest ye fellow Zaadz-minded souls:

• Changes of Heart ~ A really touching video, very much worth watching.
  
• Incredible Youngstown: Top Five ~ I've been talking about Youngstown's re-genesis quite a bit in the last few months -- and I plan to talk more (as if that's a shocker).  I'm really excited about it!
  
• Experiments in Religion ~ I am fascinated by the dude with the living biblically experiment, and Tim Ferriss (really nifty guy!) interviewed him. This is awesome.
• The Accidental Mind ~ I saw David Linden speak at BookPeople, he was really interesting to listen to!  I have a ton of thoughts on his subject material, and I haven't even read the book yet...
  
• For my Mom ~ Sunday was my Mom's birthday. :}
  
• Stage Direction ~ Inherit the Wind quote. Man, I love that movie.

Thank you for reading!  You know you're awesome, right? :}

Well, the second cycle of Usual Error workshops is all done!  I hear plans of a new thang, but for now I'm posting my (rather lengthy) notes for the last two workshops in the series. 

@ worldmegan.net: Conflict Resolution, Take Two!
@ worldmegan.net: Positivity and The Usual Error

When I have more delectable information, I will share.  Have an awesome night!

I realized that what I'd just written at worldmegan.net felt particularly pertinent to Zaadz... and then that I've had several posts of that sort over the last few days!  So I'm going to catch you up on my life, are you ready?

Yesterday there was a big scary Flickr episode.  We haven't worked it all out, but we're hopeful!  Then today I picked up my last HPV vaccination, which was way important to me (if somewhat frazzled in attempt).  And then I mentioned Lumosity, which is awesome!  From my post:

I’ve been using Lumosity games to exercise my brain this week. Has anyone else taken a look at this? I love it so far! It feels incredibly useful to my work day. All the testimonials that talk about increased focus and productivity are right on the money, as far as I’m concerned.

And finally -- the thing that sparked this whole li'l rundown -- Leveling Up.

A few minutes ago I began to make something like a life list (thanks, D!), expounding on my previous 101/1001 material and laying out goals by timeframe and year. I began with 2010, age 29, and started working my way forward, 2 years, 5 years, 7 years, 10 years, 15 years…

And as I added my respective ages, the numbers increasing, passing fleeting thoughts of goodness, I will be so much older then—I suddenly, inexplicably started to see the ages as levels. I’m pretty sure this happened because my dwarven hunter in World of Warcraft is level 33, getting closer and closer to 34. And 34 is the age I will become in January of 2015.

I stared at the page for awhile, realizing that thinking of aging as leveling up is an incredibly more positive way to think of aging. And I hadn’t even done it on purpose; it had just happened. All of a sudden I wasn’t dealing with a decline in youth… I was dealing with an incline, an increase, in experience and power and wisdom and vitality. All of a sudden, leveling up myself was the most coveted, most anticipated thing I could think to do.

I don’t know how anyone else will feel about it. But I’m still feeling like… wow.

And, regarding happyness:

Watching The Pursuit of Happyness with Marty, I thought, This is the kind of movie where he will win, in the end. He has to. And other movies, I know I have thought, The end is going to be bad. And I will just have to sit here and take it.

But this one, I stay with it. No matter how many rotten, demoralizing things happen to him, he’s in that kind of movie. It will get worse and worse but in the end, it will all come together. It will be worth it. He will be lifted up, and so will we.

It’s not what’s going on now. It’s not what you’re going through now. It’s what kind of movie you’re in. I know what kind of movie I’m in. What kind of movie do you want to be in?

I’m pretty sure… we get to pick.

From my worldmegan.net post -- all about me being silly! ;}

Greenling Delivery has not only bested my anxiety—my that time of the month anxiety, even—but it has picked my anxiety up, brushed it off, and given it cookies. (Or, in a more literal sense, gorgeous organic groceries.)

At twenty after five I was worrying like crazy, thinking that something had gone wrong. Maybe I’d missed the call from the gate, or my information was wrong in their system, or something else had happened. I didn’t know, so I left an admittedly rambling voicemail and then sent an equally rambling email. I began the email by writing “quick run-down”. It was not a quick run-down. It was a rambling hopeful-but-worried run-down. I felt a little silly for calling them two weeks in a row, but I felt that they should know if something had gone wrong.

I’m starting to realize that my anxiety, in regards to Greenling, is pretty solidly unfounded. They’ve been on the ball for both deliveries when I was a silly, worried mess. Maybe it’s because my delivery is on Friday, or maybe I’m used to dealing with companies who don’t take very good care of me. It doesn’t matter! Because Greenling is clearly not one of those companies.

And what do I know, after two orders? Maybe I’m wrong. But I don’t feel wrong, because even when traffic sucked, the guy who delivered the box was friendly and conversational and it was obvious that things had just run a little long today. He was SO reassuring. It was SO awesome. And then I had beautiful, unbelievable groceries!

So I’m done with this delivery anxiety thing. I have this feeling they’re actually going to do what they say they’re going to do. And… I feel kind of bad for overreacting. I guess if I keep getting food this perfect, I can safely assume they’ve forgiven me.

Ya’ll rock, dudes. Thank you for bringing me awesome groceries.

I recently finished posting my notes on the last Usual Error workshop, which was about turning conflict into communication, wonderful excellent positive stuff!  Here's an overview:

Conflict --> Communication (Part One):
HALT: Hungry, Angry, Loopy, Tired... We're all on the same team... Communication and terminology... What did you intend?

Conflict --> Communication (Part Two):
Meta-communication... Memory... We get to pick! and, Permission to disappoint, eek!

I hope you get something out of those!  The next workshop is Conflict Resolution and it's happening at the Human Potential Center on this Saturday May 26th, from 4pm to 6pm.  You don't even have to bring money!  (Although if you happen to want to bring money, I'm sure no one minds.)  You can read more about it on the Conflict Resolution Upcoming.org page, or at the Usual Error website.  It's awesome.  (So awesome, in fact, that I was sneaky and posted it in Zaadz Events.  Look!)

And if you're a Zaadzster, and you happen to be in Austin... we'd love to meet you.  Leave a message or just show up, we could all make new friends! :P

Whew, man! When I woke up this morning you can bet I was thinking, wow, I should write a three-part marathon about the Boundaries workshop I attended several weeks ago! Nuh uh!

Well, I did anyway.  When I get going, I really get going.  And here, for your browsing pleasure, are some excerpts. 

Part One, Musings:

There are boundaries inside the Boundaries. Like there are layers inside layers, meta on meta, communications inside other communications. Hell, the world is a complicated place. But this has been bugging me for awhile and I wanted to get it out there. Do we call both these things Boundaries? Do we clarify in some way?

Despite all of this, I have really felt that Boundaries is a rockin’ place to start, even though it’s not at the beginning. I don’t know why exactly that is, but it’s interesting. And I’m sure I’ve said it before; I’m biased, I started on Boundaries. So… that’s probably it.

Part Two, Meat:

In keeping healthy boundaries, it’s best to treat others as though their boundaries are healthy, too. I really like this concept and want to implement it, but it is often very challenging to get going. I have a feeling, though, that once you do it a few times… it gets easier. Because to be perfectly honest, as we also talked about at the workshop, unhealthy boundaries are manipulative. I’m making you take care of me, my stuff, or I’m taking control of you, your stuff, and taking away your opportunity to control it yourself, even to learn to control it yourself.  We want to trust others to take care of themselves… and trust ourselves to take care of ourselves.

Part Three, Wrapping Up:

Clearing this up does amazing things. Sera said, “Then you can listen to their story instead of trying to make them part of yours.” And I really liked that.

There’s a psychologically proven cognitive bias—say it with me, girls and boys, and make sure to breathe—that supports these ideas. It’s not really all that “self-centered”—it can’t be. It’s too basic an idea, and “self-centered” is a concept full of traditional, cultural associations. It goes right down to the grit of what a human being is.

The Usual Error, in case you're not already familiar, is a fabulous concept from the warm and wonderful brains of Pace, Kyeli, and Sera Smith (fellow Zaadzsters, even, delicious linkage).  They explain a lot about it on their website, and, uh, I write a lot about it too. :P

I've been posting about the Usual Error workshops at worldmegan.net for quite awhile now, but I haven't mentioned them here.  Well, I just got here!  But there's another great one coming up this Saturday in South Austin and I thought I'd get back on the ball.  Here's a Usual Error run-down from my personal blog:

Positivity (Preview)
Slaying Obligation
Positivity (Part One, Part Two, Part Three)
Usual Error Workshop Schedule (April - June 2007)
17 Hours and Counting
Usual Error Bits and Pieces

Slaying Obligation and Positivity are by far my favorites (as you can start to see, being that Positivity lasted for three posts, holy cow. Hee!

I'm getting ready to post more about Boundaries, and then Turning Conflict Into Communication -- right before jumping back into Conflict Resolution, which is Saturday's.  It comes so fast but I can't just let it go, the material's too good.

In the meantime, enjoy!!

From my entry at worldmegan.net:

"Quick, brief thoughts on my Friday delivery from Greenling Organic:

The apples were incredibly sweet and a little bit addictive; the pear I think was not quite ripe enough when I decided to cut it up.  The banana had a creamy inside texture, wow!  The lemon tea they brought is awesome; I haven't tried the butter, but they delivered it in a great coldpack with a frozen bottle of water (which we made use of).  I also haven't tried the celery, but am looking forward to its crunchy fabulousness in some nice tuna salad... and the avocado was perfect, simply divine.  Eating organic doesn't seem to have slighted me in the least so far, and the delivery man was pleasant, friendly, and on-time.

In short, I could get used to this."

I feel as if I'm catching up on this feeling that began before I discovered Zaadz at all.  It's become pervasive in my personal life, in my business, in everything I do. 

"It’s been hard to see my way through all of this, but I think I’m finally starting to get it. No matter what they tell you, it’s not about paying the bills. It’s not about having a job. You will hear it from everyone but it’s not true. You are the best you when you’re doing what you love, because you love it. You are the best you when you’re learning and growing and making and building. You’re the best you when you love life and move forward. That’s the point."

I've been working on this.  It's important.  The entire entry is here at Virtual Magpie.