Update

“It is our choices that make us who we are, far more than our abilities.”

The great Albus Dumbledore said this, in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I think of it often, and remember that I can’t always control my abilities, but I can almost always determine my own choices. Those of us living in the first world are lucky that way.

It’s also a theme that we’ll be exploring more in depth at the next MOXY PROJECT retreat, March 19-20. We’ll be meeting in beautiful Santa Barbara, California, for a day and half session on “New Year’s Solutions.” We have a great location on the Santa Barbara Riviera, overlooking the city and coast, a wonderful catered lunch, and lots of great discoveries waiting for you this spring.

The next few blog posts will have little teasers in them of different things we’ll be doing at the workshop. For starters, we’ll be thinking about our choices and our abilities and how often we get them mixed up together just a bit. I’ve done that when I’ve thought that I shouldn’t try to do something if I’m not immediately going to be good at it, or when I think that just because I’m good at something means I should do it. What I like about this quote is how empowering it is: it’s almost like what we choose to do or not do matters more than whether we are actually able to do it or not.

And I don’t know about you, but I like to have a bit of help around me when I embark on something like that. I read somewhere that that’s why the majority of New Year’s “Resolutions” fail; because people don’t have a supportive community around them to help them face what they’re dealing with. So they feel known and not alone.

So together, in March, we’re going to be talking about what difference our choices (as opposed to our resolutions or abilities) make in our life. We are not passive victims who just wake up and go to work or school or to volunteer or to the gym and are given this experience; we are independent agents who can decide to change the culture if we want.

Maybe we don’t want to, and that’s fine too. But the point of this workshop is to help us look at the choices we’ve been making, evaluate them, and possibly choose to make some different ones. It’s meant to help us to see our life with new eyes, from a different perspective– which is somehow easier when we are at a different location.

I sure hope you can join us in March and make some powerful choices about your life.

Now to the Mix CD part.

I love Mix Cd’s. I love playlists. If it weren’t for playlists, I’d still be in the shape I was in 4 years ago, instead of training to run a relay leg of a marathon in June. (Oh crap, I just said that to the internet. It must be true.)

And, I make playlists off of recommendations from friends, colleagues, clients, students—pretty much anyone who likes anything besides rap. Sure, I have my favorites, but I’m always up for new stuff. For example, last month I got totally into Jack’s Mannequin after seeing them on the Daily Show. Love them now.

What does this have to do with you? Well, I’ve decided to have a bit of a contest. See, I purposefully keep the cost of the workshops pretty low (a mere $100) because I know it’s not cheap for people to get all the way here and stay here and eat here. Santa Barbara is not so much a budget-friendly place.

So the other day I was trying to come up with ways to help people get here for cheaper, and I thought of lots of cool stuff. Like, hotel deals and food coupons and carpooling. AND, when you sign up, we will tell you all about that, so hopefully that will help. But that stuff also made my head hurt, because who wants to come all the way to lovely Santa Barbara and then not be able to afford to buy a souvenir? No one I know.

So, I am having a contest.

The winners of the contest (yes, there will be two) will each win FREE spots in my workshop. FREE!!!

Here’s how it works:

There are two kinds of playlists that I like. One is the kind I can work out to—usually running, sometimes elliptical–that is fast, with quick transitions and songs that don’t have long intros. My two favorite songs from this morning’s trip to the gym: The Adventure, from Angels and Airwaves, and We Weren’t Born to Follow by Bon Jovi. Not much profanity, no rap, not so much club music. I’m an old fashioned girl and you can never go wrong with classic rock. Yes, I do I have whole playlists of only Journey songs.

The other kind of playlist that I like is more independent/alternative, a bit slower, good for writing or driving or walking on the beach. Songs for thinking. These songs don’t have to be ballads (please, no) but for sure can be meaningful and tell a story. Pretty much any Billy Joel song fits here. IMPORTANT NOTE for John Mayer fans: Please. No. We had a bad experience once and now I just can’t go there. It’s a fine line, really; Ray La Montagne and Brett Dennen = good, John Mayer and Bon Iver = bad. I can’t really explain it more than that.

I could talk about my musical taste for days, but the point. Is. That. The ONE person who makes me the workout mix CD that I like the most and the ONE person who makes me a more mellow/reflective mix CD that I like the most will win FREE attendance to the workshop. Yay for you!

This post is already like the longest post I’ve ever written, so I’ll stop now. Get started thinking about the perfect mix CD to send me, and note that album/cover art will NOT be factor in my selection. Unless you make a cover that is a picture of my head on Angelina Jolie’s body. Otherwise, we are all purely about the music, people.

Stay tuned for more details next week. For now, start thinking about the music……..and how two of you lucky ducks will WIN!!!