On Getting Unsquished and Seeing the Bigger Picture

April 2, 2012 | Coleen Patrick

Do you ever get so focused on your goals that you suddenly have no idea what you are looking at anymore?

You dream and hope and plan and then work hard, but sometimes you still end up careening right into your own viewfinder. Face squished up, focus distorted.

What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth, created by a frame, the arrangement of shapes on a flat surface. Perspective is necessary. Otherwise there are only two dimensions. Otherwise you live with your face squashed up against a wall, everything a huge foreground, of details, close-ups .

~Margaret Atwood

Squished up doesn’t leave much room for growth, or seeing our ideas through to completion–and I think it might even cause wrinkles.

But take a step back. Take a little time to discover the big picture once again.

Then breathe in deep.

Better keep yourself bright and clean. You are the window through which you must see the world.
~George Bernard Shaw

How do you get unsquished?

The Soothing Power of a Smile (and Cupcakes)

January 6, 2012 | Coleen Patrick

Happy Friday!

After a long week filled with lists, goals, resolutions and changes, I am in need of something a little soothing.

Because every now and then you just need something to calm you down, and maybe even make you smile.

So for that, I offer you the obviously underrated, power of a Q-tip.

Have a happy, relaxing weekend!

Dreams and the Depths of Fear

August 31, 2011 | Coleen Patrick

Not long ago I had a dream that really stuck with me. Usually my dreams slip away unnoticed, but not this one.

In it, I was standing on a beach with my son (a much younger version of him). It was nighttime and the waves were numerous and way too big to consider a dip. Well, that and I am scared of the ocean.

It’s more of a yin yang fear and fascination with the ocean (my mom blames Jaws). You see I am curious about it, I find it beautiful (especially those tropical oceans), but for the most part I view the ocean from a distance, or the shoreline. Pictures, TV, movies, books or if I’m lucky a beach towel or hammock are all acceptable vantage points. I will even go on a boat, and if the water is clear enough I may brave a toe dip, but for the most part I fear what lies beneath.

Still, in this dream, the water beckoned and so my son ran to the waves, and immediately they swallowed him up.

Now the water was dark and beyond scary, but when my son made a dive for the water, I had no choice. I didn’t even hesitate. In fact, my fear of the ocean was not even on my mind, not at all.

I followed him, pulled him out and then when he was safely in my arms I stepped back and that’s when I saw them . . .

Whales.

They were everywhere. The moonlight spotlighted them and I saw them breaching the waves, rolling on the water. It was a curious and beautiful sight, and the ocean no longer looked scary.

The dream moved me so much, that I felt compelled to research the significance of whales when I woke up. Captain Ahab aside, I found that whales symbolize motherhood, calmness, the depths of our conscience, and endurance.

Most of all they represent power and strength.

I know that a big part of my fear of the ocean is the unknown, but it’s interesting to think of these amazing creatures swimming beneath. It reminds me that we also hold strength, a power deep within ourselves that is ready when we are to breach our fears, to allow us to do what we want to do despite being afraid. Of course, in my dream, the only thing on my mind was my son’s safety, so it felt like a no-brainer.

But still, I believe that power is within us, swimming in our own depths. I think it’s a matter of making what you want a priority, making your goals a no-brainer in the face of fear.

FREE TO BE YOU AND ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA

August 5, 2011 | Coleen Patrick

This week I saw Maroon 5, Train and Gavin DeGraw in concert. It was an awesome show, especially because we had great seats (I was surprised, I must have read that online seating chart upside down). Being close to the stage, I could feel the music working its way up through my feet, plugging me into all that energy. Plus I love watching people do what they love to do, to see them in the middle of what they created.

It feels like a real connection.

I could see the sheen on Adam Levine

But one of Train’s lyrics kept tapping at me, “reminds me that there’s room to grow,” and I started thinking . . . about connections and Twitter and this blog and Facebook, um and writing and growth and fear and then Eleanor Roosevelt’s quotes on courage like this one: you must do the things you think you cannot do.

*deep breath*

Okay so maybe that wasn’t exactly what Train imagined when they wrote that line (although Twitter was mentioned plenty up on the stage), but social media can be a little scary. When I started on Twitter, it was one small tweet for Twitter, but one giant leap for me.

Mostly because it was a change.

Is there anyone out there, ’cause it’s getting harder and harder to breathe

It’s funny how easy it is to resist change, because give me a movie, magazine or talk show with a makeover to see and I am all over that. Then again I once resisted getting a cell phone, because I thought my handy dandy pager was oh so much better (yes I said pager). I was just used to it.

It was easier, or so i thought.

Now I’m not saying my cellphone led me to a feeling of Zen, peace and serenity, (although there might be an app for that), but it was one of those “leap” things.
Every time I tweet, blog, leave a comment on someone’s site, or a lurker’s comment on my husband’s Facebook (I’m still not on it–I know, 750 million people can’t be wrong, but baby steps people), I wonder:

Am I doing this right?

I don’t know. Maybe.

The thing is the Internet always comes across to me as so virtual, but it is real life, real people. So if that’s true, then how do I be me in this virtual but not virtual place?

I don’t want to be anything other than me

Because being online is different than say meeting someone at school or a party or work, or even what you get from being at a live concert, but whether you’re out in public or on the couch in your pajamas, it seems like we are all still showing up for the same reason:

Connection.

And that can be one of those important things that reminds us “there’s room to grow,” because we get to discover people living out their goals and dreams and vacations and children and books and music, and hopefully find a little inspiration for our own lives.

Then, what do you know, along comes change.