A Tale of Growth and Grit

 Zinnias, Birds, and Jim Rohn's Wisdom: A Tale of Growth and Grit

I have been growing Zinnias for years. In late summer, (usually September or so), I pluck the deadheads, drying them in the basement during the winter season. In the spring, I pull the petals off the dried heads, separate the petals from the seeds and plant those seeds. Year after year, I have beautiful beds of Zinnias. 

But a few years ago, a strange thing occurred. I started noticing that the petals would be stripped bare before I could get to them. One day, after running errands in my van, I pulled in the driveway beside our house and more than a dozen Gold Finches dismounted from my Zinnia patch, taking flight into the air. "Guilty!!" – they seemed to chirp as they flew away. Later, standing by my window, spying on the flowers, I observed the birds pulling the petals off, one by one! I was horrified as I watched them yank the petals with their beaks. 

"Aha," I said to myself. "It's the Gold Finches who are stripping the flowers – before I can harvest them." (You must wait until they've dried completely before cutting them from the plant.)

We've had Zinnias and Finches for years and never had this problem. 

Each summer, we now have a competition: Frances Versus Gold Finches. If I can harvest the dried blooms before the Finches get them, score! If they get them... well, they rob me of next year's crop. 

Today, as I harvested more dried blooms (trying to beat the Finches), I thought about Jim Rohn and his teaching about sowing, reaping, and success, using the story of the birds and the seeds:

When the birds get your seeds, you have two options. 

1) Chase the birds. 

But when you chase the birds you leave the field which is going to distract from your future. 

2) You can just say, "Isn’t that interesting."

If you sow more, you can sow more than the birds can keep up with. 

The sower kept on sowing which was a secret to his success.

– Jim Rohn

How tempting it could be to leave the yard and go chase the birds. Instead, I just plant an abundance of seeds, ensuring that some will survive and be successful.

Ideas Are Your Friends

"There's nothing so powerful as an idea who's time has come." — Jim Rohn

Sometimes ideas can feel like little mosquitos who are pesky and want a place to land and suck your blood. At least, that’s how I feel some days. I can’t possibly carry out all of the ideas that pop into my mind or give them a place to live. BUT….in the end, ideas can be our friends. We just have to learn how to nurture, prioritize and categorize them. 

When you see Portraits of White, you'll be witnessing the power of an idea. 

A snowy day led to the idea for the title song, Portraits of White.

One single manger scene in a Christmas shop in 1999 sparked the idea for the song Take Another Look. 

That song took me down a path of "skipping Christmas" that year so I could pay attention to the holiday sadness I often felt in December. 

Skipping Christmas opened up space for me to start expressing my feelings through songwriting. 

Those seeds of songs started me thinking about doing a Christmas album.

The album provided more ideas - how about a show where we "hear" and "see" the music?

It came to pass in 2014 and it will again this year! Do you have your tickets to see this show yet? 

Here are 5 steps that Jim Rohn suggests for turning nothing into something:

1) Start with ideas and imagination - they aren't tangible, but they are almost real.

2) Believe that what you imagine is possible for you. 

Two types of testimonials can provide inspiration for us:

"If I can do it, you can do it." (Someone else's story)

"If I did it once, I can do it again." (Our own story)

3) Go to work and make it real - make it tangible.

4) It takes the disciplined activity to make it reality.

5) Appreciate the discipline it takes to follow through and see it happen.

Buy your tickets HERE.

 

"Shoestring Budgets" Offer BIG Bonuses

If you have a dream (or an idea) but you don't have a big budget, try getting creative with what you DO have! Along the way, you'll discover a few bonuses that prove to be very valuable. (And just so you know, I wrote this post long before the COVID-19 virus was in full force but I still feel like these thoughts are relevant—especially now.) 

Believe me, I've had to follow my own advice and wouldn't you know, I'm already re-experiencing these bonuses. 

Shoestring budget bonus # 1:

1) You cultivate creativity.

My first attempt at a public concert was over 20 years ago. I was operating on a very tiny budget. In fact, I'm not even sure I had a budget. I don't know that I had much of a dream either. I just happened to have some songs that seemed to resonate with people and an opportunity to record those songs. So I decided to put on a concert to help pay for the recording.

I picked a venue, date and name: "A Journey Through Seasons" since that seemed to correlate with the songs I was planning to share.

Since I'm a visual person, I wanted some "props" to go with my themed concert. When I found a cow skull along the road on my walk one day, I brought it home thinking it would be the perfect prop for the "desert scene" in my concert.

My husband was horrified that I was now collecting skulls from along the roadside.😂  I simply viewed it as getting creative.

You can see the skull in the picture on the right.
I borrowed the other props from the church venue.

I discovered that I really enjoyed planning a concert, so I kept cultivating creativity over the years and paying attention to the desires of my heart. After recording my Christmas album, I started wanting to step things up a notch...well, more like, quite a few notches.

Portraits of White 2018

The fourth year into my Portraits of White concerts my stage props were a bit of an upgrade from the cow skull days—I didn't find them alongside the road either. They were gorgeous white trees (made of shower curtains) and snowflakes (made of styrofoam) hand-crafted just for the Christmas concert. After the concerts, people wanted to buy those trees. I wonder why no one ever wanted to buy the cow skull?! LOL!

Yes, my stage props have changed but having to use my creativity and ingenuity has not. The need to limit what I spend always forces me to be creative and it's a BIG bonus, though sometimes a challenge too.

Now that I am facing the cancellation and postponement of concerts, I've had to get REALLY creative.

Thanks Facebook. Now I'm able to give a concert every afternoon if I want and I can still share my music with people. It's just a different format.

Shoestring budget bonus # 2:

2) You get motivated.

When I went into full-time songwriting and concert performance, I found it to be an incredible motivator to sharpen my skills and find new ways to share my music. Loss of income, whether planned or unplanned, can be a huge motivator.

I am still learning that there is a fine line between planning something that serves as motivation and being completely overtaken by something. Like my virtual mentor, Jim Rohn, once warned: you might start out in control of your dream, but your dream can start to control you. So be careful not to plan more than you can manage. Only you know where that line is and you'll find that it might change over time as your dream grows.

Flexibility comes in real handy as things change and motivation never seems to disappear from the list of tools needed when working away at your plans.

Last but not least: one of the biggest bonuses from a shoestring budget is one that kind of snuck up on me.

Shoestring budget bonus #3:

3) You learn to cultivate contentment.

At first, it seemed like achieving my goals didn't allow room for contentment. But that's probably because I thought contentment would come once I accomplished my dream. And there IS a sense of accomplishment, but contentment goes deeper than accomplishment. In fact, cultivating contentment is the most fulfilling thing I've done while working toward my goals and dreams.

I often feel a deep satisfaction because I have attempted to do what was in my heart. It still might not look exactly like what I envisioned, but as I learn to cultivate contentment I feel at peace. Now that's a bonus I can use every day!

Don't worry, I still have my days of emotional upheaval as it relates to my dreams and goals. But I've learned that while my concerts are over within a couple of hours, contentment can be a constant companion and I'm embracing it more as I get older—both in age and in experience.

Contentment starts with changing your thinking patterns and can be cultivated AS you walk toward your dream. I've come to realize that it's a posture of the heart and mind. Its dividends are priceless.

I wish you well as you cultivate creativity, get motivated and cultivate contentment, especially during this tough season we are all facing.

Stay connected with me on Facebook and watch for the "LIVE" concert events.