Living On The Edge

It's 4:00 a.m. and my alarm goes off.  I don't usually need the alarm because for the past 3 years or so, I've been waking up naturally at this time and I have hated it.   But now I have embraced my body's time clock and I am putting it to use.

I find my way to the kitchen and make a pot of tea.  Some for my thermos and some for my mug which I will enjoy on the couch as I sit by my little Christmas tree and spend 10 or 15 minutes in quietness. After that, I pray, meditate on scriptures and do some journalling.  My cat, Missy, is always by my side.

Then, I get dressed in my athletic clothes and I leave the house at 5:15 a.m. and head to Harrisburg to the local ice skating rink where I skate from 6:00 to 7:45 or later, depending on what my day holds.  It's a 45 minute drive (if the traffic is good) and I use that time to pray.  I pray about needs I am aware of in people's lives and I pray over my dreams for a Christmas show and the music journey I have chosen and whatever else God leads me to pray for.

It's a brand new year.  I have a new CD, a new website and a new face to this blog to match my website.  With all that happening, I think it's a great time to express my vision for the new year and how I see this blog taking on a more defined personality.

After talking with a couple of readers and pondering this evolution, it is apparent to me that people have enjoyed the transparent sharing of this musical journey.  They too have felt inspired to tackle something big in their life one bite at a time.  I'm not going to keep up the Day # whatever theme of the elephant diet (my producer will be happy) but I am going to keep blogging (he'll be even happier).

After a year of blogging and not really knowing how it would go, I think I have started to find my voice.

The purpose of this blog, this year, will be to inspire.  I think that's what was happening last year, but I didn't realize it until people began to give me feedback.

I want to inspire you to reach for things you never thought possible.  You already know that you can do it one bite at a time.  Apply it to every area of your life.

Plans for a 2014 christmas show are already in the works, but there is something else evolving here that I want to share with you. But before I do, I have a question for you.  What is something you have always wanted to pursue but never have for a long list of reasons?  I'd love for you to leave a comment!

I have begun living on the edge in a whole new way.  For me, it is figure skating.

....and with that, I begin a new page to this blog.

Warmth that could melt the North Pole.

"Angel of Wishes" gift from Lisa and Ellen.

Today I was invited to have lunch at the home of a wonderful friend.

The temperatures outside were frigid but what took place at her table gave off enough warmth that I'm sure people at the North Pole could feel the effects.

A precious gift awaited me along with a beautiful poem to celebrate the release of the new CD.

I share it with you.

Bit by bite, blog by blog, day by day a masterpiece

Formed from something very small, but every day would increase

A beautiful thing did unfold, a wondrous sight to behold

But that's not all you had to share, a piece of wisdom was found there

Self-doubt, you said, and fear too, would be a certain enemy

Lack of confidence I'm sure tried to take your bravery

But none of these could set sail, this is what did prevail:

Confidence in what you do and clarity would see you through

What songs of joy! What miracles! In black and white it was told

The message in the heart of Christmas is worth more than precious gold

Concerts will be set in place, more journeys you will have to face

But overall its message true will work in hearts all thanks to you

By Ellen Diehl  

Lisa and Ellen will never know how meaningful it was to have someone pause in the middle of a cold January day and celebrate the completion of my elephant diet and the release of "Portraits of White".

All I can say is, thank you.

"What I've Learned From The Elephant Diet" Day # 155

Check out this episode!

"Performing Joy To The World at my first
Portraits of White concert."

It is time to retire the elephant diet blog.  The CDs have arrived and are selling.  I'm giving my 3rd Portraits Of White concert this coming Sunday and starting to think about the show next year.

To celebrate this completion, I decided to do a podcast episode that shares with you 5 things I've learned from this journey that I think will be good for you to know as you set out to accomplish goals and dreams that you have!  I'll highlight them here:

1.)  Doing one thing every day toward your goal goes a long way.  In fact, it causes you to reach your goal!  One e-mail, one phone call, one list of things you need to do - it all pays off!

2.)  There will be setbacks along the way!  Count on it.  (I share some of mine in the podcast).

3.)  You will have marathon days.  These are days you feel like you just can't keep going.  You've come too far to turn back and yet you are too tired to keep going.  Hang in there!

4.)  The transformation that takes place in your psyche is amazing and worth the journey.

Self-doubt
Fear
Joy
Confidence
Clarity
Lack of Confidence

These all shape you into a stronger person.

5.)  Others will be inspired by your perseverance.

When my new site is completed, it will be in a new blog format and will be much easier for interaction with my fans.  I'll let you know when it's finished and ready to go.

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 154 A Tasty Bite

The "Portraits Of White" CDs are scheduled to arrive today.  

Not sure which bite is the most tasty.  

The first one or the last one?

Just for nostalgia sake, I've copied and pasted the very first entry of my elephant diet blog 

from Dec. 7, 2012 below.

I've always heard that if you want to eat an elephant, it's best if you eat it one bite at a time.

There are two elephants I'd like to eat these days:

1) getting better and more consistent about blogging

2) producing a Christmas CD

I think the best way I can do both, is to combine the two. 

So here I go!

I am going to blog about the journey of what it's like to do a CD project and let you in on the process: the decisions and hard work that go into something of this magnitude.

This will be my 7th CD project. I've also recorded 2 singles and 1 professional music video. They are all big elephants, but I've eaten them all and without having to go into debt to do it.

Welcome to the journey of making a CD. Hopefully as you read this, you will get inspired to eat your own elephant - one bite at a time.

(I have no idea what the calorie count is when eating an elephant).

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 153 Learning Curve Or Cliff?

They speak of 'learning curves'.  I have many of them.  At least when you are on a 'curve' there is hope that things will straighten out eventually.

The thing about a 'learning cliff' is that you fall over the edge into nothingness.  You have no idea where you will land.

I feel like I've been on the edge of a cliff and yesterday I fell off.

I've been working furiously at finding snow scenes for my upcoming Christmas concerts.  The first one is on Dec. 15.  After trying about 11 different sources, I found a photographer with great snow scenes and she is letting me use them for free.  I'm putting together a media presentation that will go with the song "Portraits of White".  I want people to 'see' the portraits of white that I see in my mind (and sometimes in my country).

I decided to not give up.  But after much frustration, I realized that I must find someone who can help me figure out how to make sure my snow images are as beautiful on the big screen as they are on my computer.  That's another story and a very tricky process, I'm finding, when you're not a photographer or a geek.

I finally went over the edge yesterday and begged someone to help me.  I think I found someone.  They will come to my studio next Tuesday and help me go through the process.  Every time I try to export the movie to another file type, the photos get grainy or too big or .....well, you get the idea.

In the meantime, I'm excited to announce that the song "Miracles" has been selected by a website that I'm part of as a contestant in an indiesong contest.  If you don't mind, I'd love to have your 5 star vote for this new song.  It will help move it up the charts and give me more of a chance to win some fabulous prizes that would help my career.  Just click on the 'vote here' button and look for "Miracles".  Click on the stars to rate it once you are on the page.

Thank you!  Vote here.

P.S.  You can vote once a day and tell your friends many times a day.

"The Elephant Diet" Day # 152 De-railed brain

My brain can get off track so easily.  It's a full time job to keep myself focused on the task at hand.

Today was no different. But this time I had to chuckle to myself.  My oh my what a trip my brain tried to take.

I was rehearsing a piece on the piano that I've been rehearsing for a month from the new CD.  As my fingers went about their normal routine, my brain decided to jump tracks and go a different way and the result was a 'crash'.  "When will I ever learn" I say to myself as I shake my head and try to keep going.

Within two seconds of music my brain can wonder what's in the mail (especially since yesterday was a holiday and there will be extra mail today), think about the fact that next week my CDs should arrive and how much work I'll have to do when that happens because of all the orders I've been taking ahead of time (let's see, do I have everyone's information correct?).  And oh yes, that reminds me, I need to figure out why my printer isn't printing clearly before I print mailing labels.

From there it jumped to the books in the back of my van that will be taken to the library and donated to a good cause.  Which reminded me that I still have more cleaning up to do in the room I've targeted all week to be de-cluttered.  The books came from that room.  More to do!

Then there is the bag of clothes I bought from the consignment shop this morning when they had a 50% sale from 5-6 a.m. this morning.  I got up at 3:45 a.m. to go and participate in the thrill of black Friday (is it a thrill?)  Now I need to go through my old clothes in my closest, de-clutter and reorganize.  I can do that tomorrow (I think as I play through the next 2 seconds of the piece) and then I lose it.  Bad mistake on the piano.

I know better.  Even after all these years of practice, I CANNOT lose my focus or I lose my performance!  I often think if people knew what was going on in my head while I'm performing they would be amazed that I'm even 'there' at all.

This probably seems silly, and yet it carries over into so many areas of my life.  For instance, today at lunch, while I was eating my tuna salad sandwich, I realized that I could also be opening my mail and see if my new credit card came (because my old business card had fraudulent activity this week and a new one had to be issued and I can't get my new CDs unless they have my new number).  I started to get up from my seat to go get the mail, and then I made myself sit back down and only do one thing at a time.  EAT my sandwich for crying out loud!  Sit and enjoy lunch with my husband.  Really, brain???   Must we always be SO active and travel so many places in one sitting?

I am determined to keep my train on its track and not let it de-rail me.  No matter how many times around the track I have to go.  Sometimes the rehearsal is as much a mental focus exercise as it is musical.

Sometimes in life you set out to accomplish one thing and start thinking about other things and the next thing you know, you haven't accomplished what you've set out to do.

What is the most important thing you must do right now in this moment?  I challenge you to stick with it and see it through to the end.  I know you'll see an improvement in your performance.  It certainly works wonders for me.

Now what was I going to do after I blogged???

P.S.  I have a new website coming and we are switching to WordPress.  In case there is some kind of technological glitch in the process, please be patient with me as I embark on another learning curve.  I hope that I can continue this blog without interruption but I have no idea what I'm getting into.  Stay tuned.

"The Elephant Diet" Day 151 Thanksgiving Special

Hear two more tracks from the new CD "Portraits Of White".  A special Thanksgiving epsiode.  Short and sweet.

Check out this episode!