TammyVitale.com

One of my gifts is that I can easily see other folks’ boxes – you know, the story they are telling themselves about how life is and what they can and can’t do because (go ahead, pick a reason – I know you know what I’m talking about).  It’s why I made a great community-based organizer (because communities have stories too.  There isn’t a level of existence you can look at that does not have a story underpinning it.) and a great coach (because, like I said, I can see other folks’ stories – just as if they were written down in front of me!)

Want to be your own coach?

Find the story, grab a strand, “yank” it and see what moves.

Sometimes, though, it is really hard to see your own box (see any one of my blogs on the pond I swim in:  here and here and here, for starters).

So, here are a few steps to finding the sides of your box  in case you have any need for them:

1.  Write down what you usually do (i.e., how you define yourself.  Do you think of yourself as aggressive or shy?  When someone says:  ”Well, in this case, I usually do thus and so, ” and you respond:  ”Not me.  I’m [shy, assertive, too scared, not trusting, etc] – that would never work for me.”  *That* is your how – how you respond to any given situation.  So write down your usual response to the situation that you are currently contemplating).

2.  Brainstorm  some things that you don’t usually do because (fill in the blank):

• I don’t spend money on advertising because PR is better
• I never go into any debt at all because who knows what tomorrow will bring
• I only spend money on my art supplies because (well, who needs an excuse for art supplies?)
• I am not impatient, I am assertive, and I am not yelling

3.  Pick one of the things you listed in #2 above, and journal about how your life would look if you did that something you don’t usually do.  Be creative with how it would look. Which one of the things you journaled about made you the most uncomfortable?  You have just run up against the walls of your box.  Right about now all the voices about doing stupid exercises and trying to be something you clearly are not should be piping up in your head.

4.  Write down the walls of your box – that would be all the voices and what they’re saying.

5.  Light a candle, take a deep breath or two and burn the walls of your box (the paper on which you have written all the voices).  As you breathe out, bless the old ways that once helped you.  As you breathe in say a prayer of gratitude for this opportunity to think bigger.

6.  Pick one thing you could do that would move you closer to changing what you usually do.

7.  Do it.

8.  Repeat as necessary.

As promised :  here’s what the ‘possum learned:

from the cartoon “Non Sequitur” by Wiley, 12/1/96, Washington Post Sunday Comics

When you are tired, rest

You know you’re a solopreneur when you’re the one doing it all.  You’re the CEO and the CEO’s assistant, the tech person and the bookkeeper and the accountant, you’re the design team, the production team and the marketing department, you’re the office clean-up staff, and oh, because you’re working from home, surely you have time to do the grocery shopping, the laundry and the general house duties, not to mention taking the kids everywhere they need to go if you’re at that age. Oh Hell YES!!

1.       First and foremost:  get really (really REALLY) clear that as a solopreneur you are in business.  You may be working from your home but you are working; therefore, grocery shopping, the laundry, general house duties and the kids are not part of your job description.  Handle those things however you would handle them were your office not in your home.

2.     When you are feeling overwhelmed and ready to go back to the daily grind because you “just can’t take being a solopreneur anymore,” take a breath. Get your notebook and set the timer for 15 minutes. Write  “Why I want to be in business for myself” for 7 minutes (don’t lift your pen or gaze into space.  Just write everything that comes to mind, even if it seems to go off topic – keep writing).  Then for the next 7 minutes, list all the things you have accomplished in the past year or since you went into business for yourself  – if you’re having a hard time, start with: I got notepads and pens to write with; I have a phone of some sort; I’ve gotten out of bed and worked on this X mornings – and take it from there.  Read it over for the last minute.

3.     Light a candle or move to that big overstuffed executive suite chair that you love.  Close your eyes and honor the creative, courageous, amazing person you are.  Give her a pat on the back or a big hug (physically - go ahead, no one is watching except you).  Know that you can do anything you set your mind on, including being a solopreneur.

4.      Make a project list. Stick with the big view, not the tasks that go with the projects.

5.     Recognize that you do not have to do every one of these projects at the same time (no, you don’t.  At this very moment it may feel that way, but no, you don’t.)  Even if you weren’t a solopreneur and worked for someone other than yourself, you still wouldn’t have to do them all at the same time.  Think about these projects and put them in some kind of logical order, starting with what needs to be done before something else can be done.

6.     Choose 3 projects to start and/or complete this week.  Only 3.  No more than 3.  Three.  Yes you can pick just 3.  T-h-r-e-e. (And please don’t make each of them something like:  learn WordPress, set up my entire website and have 5 blogs in place by next Monday).

7.     Break your projects into tasks, and put the tasks on your calendar.  This will help you see what you can reasonably expect to accomplish in a balanced work day.  As your expectations enter the real world, overwhelm will exit.

8.     Every time you feel overwhelmed, look at your calendar and see what it is you are going to accomplish this week.  Set your timer and for the next 1/2 hour just work on one of your tasks. After the half hour you are allowed to worry again (but only for 5 minutes while you take a rest break because then you’re going to set the timer for another 1/2 hour).  Repeat this as often as necessary until quitting time (you do have a quitting time, right?  So quit at that time! Get on with the rest of your life!).

9.     Hire help for the last 3 things on your old todo list that have been the last 3 things for the last 6 months.  You aren’t going to do them.  If they need to be done, hire someone.  If they need to be done, you can’t afford not to hire someone, if only temporarily and for one time.  You’re still a solopreneur, but now you’re  a solopreneur who hires consultants.  Believe me, once you decide to hire someone, it will completely shift the way you see yourself – so much so that you will be working from an entirely different level.  That level would be the one where your business really starts taking off.  If you’re close to a community college post on their jobs bulletin board – you may be very surprised at the talent you find to help you with your business while they gain experience and a great reference!

10.     Invest in yourself. You are the most important part of your business. You are more important than the art supplies, or office supplies, or latest software or computer upgrade.  Take a class or four, make sure your clothes make you look and feel like the Goddess you are.  Hire a coach to help you see where you are limiting yourself and encourage you to expand you imaginings of exactly what is possible.  Here’s a mini course in thinking outside the box:

Brainstorm  some things that you don’t usually do because (fill in the blank): 

• I don’t spend money on advertising because PR is better
• I never go into any debt at all because who knows what tomorrow will bring
• I only spend money on my art supplies because (well, who needs an excuse for art supplies?)

Pick one of the above and journal about how your life would look if you did that something you don’t usually do.  Be creative with how it would look.  Give yourself a budget and go “spend” it and think about how it might shift your outlook.  A great way to “spend” your budget is to create a collage of the things that you are “spending” it on and put them where you’ll see them and begin to think about letting them become something you *do*,

11.     Make sure you have a regular schedule for renewal (I’m not saying a week’s vacation, although that would be good; I’m saying a day or 1/2 day or even one hour and 6 seconds that is just for you – at least go get a facial or massage).

12.     Find a supportive community - other solopreneurs who like you are ready to awaken their awesome and step into their Hell YES!!  Or several communities:  some on-line, some in-person; some really close-knit, some that are just for one aspect of support that you need (coffee once every two weeks or so allowing you to have a focused reason for getting our of the office and relaxing).

Yes you can!

Making your own myth, collage by Tammy Vitale

We need to challenge what we take for granted about our abilities and the abilities of other people.  This isn’t as easy as one might imagine.  Part of the problem with identifying the things we take for granted is that we don’t know what they are because we take them for granted in the first place.  They become basic assumptions that we don’t question , part of the fabric of our logic.  We don’t question them because we see them as fundamental, as an integral part of our lives.  like air.  or gravity.  or Oprah.  Ken Robinson

Last week’s no-cost retreat practice was so popular, I thought I’d share another with you this week!

Shifting Your Point of View

WikiAnswers.com says:

A point of view shift is when the narrator of the story changes positions or becomes non-existent. Consider a shift from first to third person. Instead of saying “I” the narrator will say “He.” Point of view is often consistent in novels, however, it is not very difficult or uncommon to change point of views. Sometimes the author will change the point of view when the character has a flash back. Sometimes the author will change the point of view in order to focus on an event that does not directly involve the main character(s). It can be a powerful literary tool.

It is also a powerful self-learning tool!

Write a short autobiography of your life using “I” – then distance yourself by using pronouns:  ”she” for yourself and any other major female players, “he” for major male players, “they” for community/peer influencers outside of you, and “we” for any group that you were a part of.  Does it change the way you see your story?  How?  Now, rewrite your story again using “I” and proper names.

Questions to Aid Your Shift

If you could change the story, what would you do?

Who wrote the story you are currently claiming as yours? Did you write the whole thing or are you using input from your parents/schooling/community/friends?

Do you know the story that is fashioning your life?

Do you believe that story that shapes your day?

How would your life be different if you decided to rewrite your story?

If you don’t do something perfectly, do you feel shame?  How would practicing imperfection change your view of the world?

Do you honor your own intuition, your own beliefs and your own longings?

Another word for “story”, here, might be paradigm.  A paradigm is actually a set of filers.  For instance, a scientist already “knows” from her received theory (what she has already learned) what there is to be seen in an experiment (this is a bias – we all have them).  The paradigm enables their perception of what is happening but hinders perception of what might be happening outside of their paradigm (the story that they live in or their beliefs which form that story) (from work by Theo Skolnik).  Our stories, our beliefs, are paradigms and can hinder our perceptions if we are not aware of them.

Why Might Shifting Your Point of View Change Your Story?

See my own thoughts on this here.

Recently I had a HUGE (for me) shift in understanding because I had not connected dots between stories to get a larger picture.

I have always had difficulty with the understanding of setting an intention and creating my intention in the world.  I could never get a good grasp on the “how” of it, so any time I set an intention the hamster-in-my-head would run around the wheel of “yeah, sure” (dripping sarcasm).  Hard to get beyond that….except….I do it all the time when I am in creating mode with my art.  I “KNOW” that if I have an idea and set out, that at a point the work will begin to take on its own life and if I surrender to that energy, the final work will always be better than my original idea.  That works the same for life!  How simple is that?  Set off in the direction of what you intend, and then let the energy flow take over and surrender to the direction that energy wants to move.

How do you know you aren’t surrendering?  Your head voices are having fights.  How do you get beyond that?  You practice surrendering until you have enough positive experiences to convince you that surrender is the best practice.  Is it scary?  Yes.  Is it worth it?  Yes, once you’ve arrived.  In between there are dark and storm nights and lots of questions about how and why during the day.  Persist.

The word that came to me in meditation last week (yes – the shift is that recent) was “relax.”  The words today were “joyful relaxation” and in between “we’ve got your back” – no, I don’t know who “we” is but “they” were very definite and I actually felt hands supporting my back!  Feels like “Hell YES!!” to me!

I would like to work all of this into some kind of concrete steps to share with others, so I would definitely appreciate your feedback on your reaction to my own recent shift:  can you follow the reasoning?  Does it make real sense to you (is is actionable in the world you live in)?  If not, what is missing.  And finally, what is it that *you* need to shift into *your* Hell YES!!?

Thanks!  Onward!

Vision Board: art, style, travel and backyard sanctuary

No – there’s no catch.

This retreat doesn’t cost you anything…..except time.  And that could  be a catch except that before you go on this retreat you have to decide that a retreat is what you really really really need and therefore the cost of time is something you’re willing to donate.

You’re going to give yourself time to think about what you want.

Not only are you going to give yourself time, this time, but you’re going to commit to giving yourself time once a week for 6 weeks.

Please do not sigh or roll your eyes.  I promise you that if you do this with the right attitude it will not become another TODO on your endless list.  It will become a respite that gives you something to look forward to.

If you really are serious, invite a girlfriend or two.  I’ll tell you why a little later (so keep reading).

Here’s what you do (along with a time schedule).  There really aren’t any rules (my favorite kind of game) so you can add/subtract/multiply/divide/change anything here so it works for you.  Why?  Because there is no one else like you and so you are in charge of taking ideas and deciding how to make them work for your specific needs.

materials needed (do not buy anything for this exercise):

1 candle and a match (please read #1 below)
a journal, or several pieces of paper or the back of a brown paper bag.
crayons or pens of different colors
magazines that you can cut up, scissors, glue or tape or stapler

1.  5 seconds.  Light candle.  Do not go to the store and buy a new candle and that cute holder over there and 4 pieces of sea aglass to put around the holder, and incense.  Use whatever you have around the house (incense is fine as long as you already have it.  So are the cute holder, sea glass and anything else you’d like to gather to make it pretty as long as it takes no longer than 5 minutes and is in your space somewhere.  This is not an excuse to like the idea.  It is a space to practice)

2. 10 minutes.  Use your journal (one you already have), or several pieces of paper (including the plain backs of discarded printed pages) or the back of a brown paper bag.

Vision board: outdoor sanctuary section

Write what it is that you want the most in your life.  Ten minutes may begin to feel like a long time for some of you.  Try this:  Write a page of “what I really want”; then write a 2nd page of “what I really want”; then write a 3rd page of what I really want and then a final page of “what I really really  really want.”  That should get you through.

3. 5 minutes.  Take some crayons (your choice of color) and go back and circle words and phrases that draw you to them.  Don’t think hard about it.  Just read through and see what feels like it might *really* be what you want. (green or blue for things that don’t really draw you when you go back, orange or red for things that pull you, purple for in between work well but it’s entirely up to you – the only rule is you must already have them in your house somewhere)

4.  15 minutes.  Flip through magazines and find words, phrases, colors, textures and pictures that remind you of the thing you wrote down that calls you the most.  Respond to everything that you like (even if you don’t understand how it fits).  Make a large pile.

5.  15 minutes.  Go back through your pile and pull out enough to fill up a page or double spread in your journal, or a piece of paper or a brown bag or a sheet of newspaper. Don’t think hard about this – make it as close to intuitive as you can (that depends on how much practice you’ve had up until now in following your gut – some will find it very easy, some may have to work a little harder at it).

6. 15 minutes.  Affix everything to whatever backing you have chosen to use.

7.  Hang it where you can see it until your next retreat.

8.  Look at it daily.

9.  See if anything shifts.

Let me know what you think.

Time:  1 hour and 5 seconds.  Tell me the truth – you spend that much time on-line, right?  So maybe it doesn’t actually cost you any more time than you’re already using.

What do you have to lose?

P.S.  Why invite someone else along?  Because if there is someone else, you add a #10:  present your vision to your retreat companion.  Because your retreat companion doesn’t have any of the blocks you have to realizing your dreams (conscious or unconscious), she can believe your vision into existence by simply believing you on face value.  There’s amazing power in saying what you want out loud and having at least one other person witness it for you.  Try it!  You’ll like it!

quote by Christina Baldwin

I don’t know about you, but when my inner child is pouting, anything creative grinds to a stop.

Why, you ask, would your inner child pout?

Mostly because I have not given her mud pies, some time to make believe and gotten out of the way so that the  magic happens.

Always when I am focused on goal, goal, goal – living in my left brain with it’s linear way of seeing the world.

Always when I have stopped believing in my self, my own power to make things happen and a purpose to the process that is my life.

Always when I have not taken the requisite time to fill back up – when I am depleted and haven’t paid attention to the fact that for some reason I am running on empty.

Which is to confess (horrors!) that at the moment my inner child is pouting.

I know that as someone whose stated purpose is to make a space for others to discover their Hell YES!! life, this could be business suicide.  But you know what?  If I don’t get lost in the swamp every now and then, how am I going to be able to empathize with those who are in the swamp or the woods or off the map?

So, believe it or not, I welcome this phase (the mushy, in the cocoon, somewhere between caterpillar and butterfly phase when all is green muck and not a lot makes any sense to the caterpillar) as a training ground.  It makes me a wounded healer – one who has experienced the pain and confusion – and finds a way out.  Then, I remember that I am not a butterfly - I am a snake, shedding it’s skin, again and again and again.

The way out is through to the shinney skin.

The way through is inside to the place where I remember that I have done this before.

Mud Pies

That’s where the mud pies come in.  If I can shoe horn myself into my studio (the place I love being the best and the place I avoid the most when things aren’t working), get

Yep – that’s my inner child when I *was* her – there on the left, with longest friend Linda – and crayons.

my hands into the mud (clay), healing happens.

Unfortunately it isn’t always that easy.  Inner Child can be VERY stubborn.

So I offer crayons, lined paper and a scribble to color in.

Or an afternoon in the garden (as long as it doesn’t feel like work).

Or design some earrings for a class – hey:  it’s work, I know.  But it also requires some creativity to make earrings that are simple, teach the necessary skills set, and look great.

Make Believe

If that doesn’t work (and it often doesn’t), then it’s time to make believe.  I step into the role that all is well and things are going swimmingly (and I do NOT mention that swimmingly means through swamp muck that is sucking at my ankles so that I can barely keep my head above water.  NO! ).  How am I doing?  GREAT!  What’s next?  ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES (including quick sand, but shush – we won’t talk about that).

Find some humor in it somewhere, because there is always humor – if you can get to the point where you can laugh at yourself, your inner child will perk up.  She loves laughter, and make believe, and, in my case, mud pies – the messier the better.

Before you know it, and I swear I never notice the change over, swimmingly is in a calm swimming pool, or a blue lake and I AM great and there ARE endless possibilities and mud pies and scribbles are again a daily practice.  That’s the magic – if I could explain it to you step by step, it wouldn’t be magic, now, would it?  But let me try anyways.

Possibilites tile by Tammy Vitale (6″x4″ clay wall tile)

Magic

• Stop.  Not one more nasty comment to yourself about how you have so much/should suck it up and do the work/don’t have what it takes.  When you talk to yourself you will say only nice things.  Pretend (make believe) that you are your best friend and she needs a little hand holding right now.  Hold her (your) hand.
• Be quiet.  Not one more To Do item and no productive procrastination (for me that looks like cleaning the refrigerator or scrubbing the floor – anything but what’s on my list). Send your mind hamster out to play. and be quiet – the easiest way to do this is to pay attention to your breathing:  breathe in deeply and breathe out long.
• Turn inside to see where you have denied yourself some needed nourishment:  journaling, coffee with a friend, a class, or not asked for help when you need(ed) it.
• Forgive yourself for your perfect imperfection.
• Accept that you may indeed be in the middle of shedding your skin and can’t see clearly.  Remind yourself that is okay.  Treat yourself to the idea of glistening new skin that you, too, will be able to see, once this is all over.
• Return to your daily practice – the one that has gotten left behind, or the one you have yet to develop.  It is your grounding.  Be grateful that you have it or are going to take time to develop it.  Now.
• Play with your version of mud pies and crayons.
• Choose your role and play it.
• See you on the other side!

What is your version of mud pies, crayons and make believe?  What magic have you experienced in the past?  What would you like to share to help others on their way?  Would love to hear from you!

One of my favorite networking groups is the Southern Maryland Business Women, started by Erin Ross, a State Farm Agent, to create a place for fabulous women to gather (her words – and I doubt she fails at anything she sets her mind to).

When we gather we have three shares over the course of our several hours together:

• our basic info (more often than not, an elevator speech practice)
• a brag – which seems to be the hardest for all of us to do.
• a dream big – where I’m getting comfortable saying I want to save the world, and the way the world is saved is by each and every woman stepping into her power (or, as I call it, her Hell YES!!)

I can never remember what I’ve accomplished in the previous month that I want to brag about because I haven’t been taking time to celebrate – something I go on and on and

Celebrating the BRAG

ON about in way more than one post in this blog.

So today, because I have been remiss, I am going to both brag and celebrate and invite you to join me and the traveling celebration crew (here on the right).

1.  I have, FINALLY, started my newsletter.  It went out this past Monday (and if it wasn’t in your inbox that’s because you have not subscribed.  You can remedy that by going to the “NEWSLETTER” box at the upper right of this page, under “Resources” on the browser bar, and subscribing).  This actually calls for way more than one candle since I’ve been puttering around with it for well over 2 years.  It is done.  My goal is to get it out twice monthly.  I want it to be a conversation – if you are subscribed and have something you’d like me to include, please let me know.

2.  I did a post with Dr. Carla Goddard of Shaman Medicine Woman called 7 Ways to Step Into Your Power (see the third bullet point above)

3.  I finished up a MasterMind session with client Tangerine Meg, who had this to say about the whole process:

I don’t know how you do it, Tammy, but I feel like a new me. Me, but better than before! 

When I enquired about working with Tammy, I had some mental and emotional blocks that were clouding my thought processes, even stopping me from doing things that I wanted to do. 

As I write this, it’s about 2 weeks after our second Mastermind session, and I am still being happily surprised every day at the shifts in so many areas that have quietly and thoroughly happened due to our work together; and I’ve only really scratched the surface of implementing Tammy’s suggestions! 

I feel like a happier more functional version of myself! Tammy you are wonderful. I am so grateful! I will not hesitate to call on you again when I need another road unblocked!

4.  Another MasterMind Group I brought together on a private FaceBook page had it’s first Skyped in phone meeting together and it went very nicely – I worried about being able to work with all of us on the phone (no video) but it worked out just fine.

5.  I am regularly using Skype:  Tangerine Meg is in Australia (where I also had to work out the time difference to work for both of us – that should probably be a separate brag given my lack of mathematical skills when it comes to figuring time zones.  And that includes switching to Daylight Savings Time here but not there for our 2nd session after I had the time all worked out), and the above MasterMind Group uses it too.

6.  I am working with two women that share both of my local networking groups – Southern Maryland Business Women and Women to Women with the Chamber of Commerce – and we are cooking up a 2014 Day Retreat for women with a full day of body/mind/spirit goodies.  I am SO loving this!

7.  I am working the my local Chamber of Commerce to put together a program for local non-profits to listen to their needs and see if we can get something moving there to help them.

8.  In amongst all this I am teaching folks how to let their creative sides out to play in the mud (clay) and with mosaics (which is amazingly popular!).

All in all good reasons to brag!

Who am I to play small?  

Who are any of us to play small?

The world needs us big and bold and beautiful and in all our glorious power – however we manifest that.

What are you celebrating today (do tell me in the comments below – I love to hear!  And if you want to share URLs or other ways for people to see more, please feel free!)

Dancing with My Shadow by Tammy Vitale

“In many shamanic societies, if you came to a shaman or medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions:

When did you stop Dancing?

When did you stop Singing?

When did you stop being enchanted by Stories?

When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of Silence?

Dancing, singing, storytelling, and silence are the four universal healing salves and where we have stopped them is where we have experienced the loss of soul.”

~ Gabrielle Roth

I’m a bit the forest right now – not seeing trees or forest – and longest friend Linda (Blood Sister and she who sent me Women Who Run With the Wolves and both changed and saved my mid-life transition in my mid-40s) asked a few weeks back what I would like for this momentous 65th birthday (well, it feels momentous.  It feels like I can truly claim the title Crone now).  I told her I would love books by Gabrielle Roth, of the above quote.  And of course I got them – Linda is, in addition to Blood Sister, also my Soul Sister.  She attends to the needs of my soul – and knows what they are, whether or not I tell her.

I have not been disappointed in reading this books and have  been off checking out her music too (most would term it trance – but it sounds just like she writes, so it is totally workable).

More from Gabrielle:

Working out should be like having a conversation with your body and spirit; it should be personal, intimate, and holy, not boring and painfully repetitive.  (I underlined that as I am having a hard time shoe-horning myself back into the daily gymn routine having missed a month from vertigo, terrible cold with lots of coughing and general ennui).

and,

A spiritual practice requires consciousness, both awareness of the whole and attention to the deatils.  As with everything else, the teaching you receive from it will be the result of the consciousness you bring to it.  A spiritual practice requires discipline, the willingness and commitment to show up not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.

A rather good guideline for when one is sort of drifting through trees or a forest or, who know given I am so unfocused right now, floating down the river in a pea green boat.

So I leave you with the wisdom of Gabrielle, and hope you find something helpful here today too.

What are some of your favorite books/authors for when you find yourself ungrounded and unfocused?  And tell us why, too!

P.S.  And while I’m getting good advice, I thought I’d throw in the Fortune Cookie Quote I drew today:

Like a tree that takes 3 years to really root and grow,
I must learn to put my roots down carefully
so they hold during storms. — Tammy Vitale

perhaps a bit of a reminder that I do have my moments of clarity!

P.P.S.    I stopped dancing somewhere in my 30s with a brief revisit in my 40s.  I miss it.  So I bought some of Gabrielle’s music and shall have a turn or two in the Dining Room with the IPod later on today.  When was the last time you danced?

Seek those who fan your flames.

you can sign up for it in the upper right corner of this page.

I am announcing this on my birthday because it is a gift to myself as well as to you – won’t you celebrate with me by signing up (upper right hand corner)?!

Why would you sign up?

Because:

• 1.  I will share Fortune Cookie Picture quotes with you in it (there are only 5 of them on the Fortune Cookie quotes page because they are hard, time consuming and have to be individually, html coded to get them to sit right on the page).  These quotes follow in the footsteps of Wylde Women’s Wisdom quotes.  Get the story behind Fortune Cookie quotes here.
• 2.  it will be published twice monthly (so not too much for your inbox), with inspiration for your life and your business, other folks you should know, and great articles passed along for your reading pleasure.  (You don’t have to do all that searching yourself).
• 3.  it will be a place for me to share what YOU’re up too – yes, I’m hoping to provide a platform for what my readers are up to – first come first serve and yes you have to be a subscriber if you want a mention!  Otherwise how will you share?!  So sign up and leave me a comment below with your website/way to get hold of you. (Ha – how’s that for enticement:  you get to promote your website here by invitation).

I have wanted to start a newsletter for the last few years to take the place of the daily Wylde Women’s Wisdom quotes that were so beloved by folks who followed them.

What I am Passionate About!

 I want to make sure you know how much your emails meant to me and how appreciative I am of the wonderful & wylde words of wisdom you’ve sent out every day.  I had a bit of a mini-“dark night of the soul” kind of year last year, and your e-mails really helped.  I will be sure to pay attention to your Facebook page!!  L.H. (email)

I’m writing to thank you with my whole heart for almost a year your inspirational wisdom. Your quotes guided, prodded, comforted, and inspired. Thank you so very much for such a generous gift.  L.K. (email)

Now, I am finally (finally) realizing that dream and am delighted to invite you to come along with me on this new adventure.  I can even see a private FB page for us all to

interact in the near future.  What do you think?

Because I want you and your work to be a part of this, the Newsletter will also be an exercise in collaboration and community!  I can’t do it without YOU!

Let’s see what we can create together!

Inaugural edition out the week of March 25!

P.S. Don’t leave without signing up – upper right hand corner of the page!  See you next week!

P.P.S.  Don’t forget to leave me your website so I can include you in a newsletter!

This post is set up especially for folks who get such a great Fortune Cookie Quote that they have to share.

It will also make me feel good to see the process of synchronicity at work – back when I was doing Wylde Women’s Wisdom quotes, I got great feedback about the quote being exactly right for that day (and everyone was getting different ones because it depended on when they started – so there was that chance for the perfect quote.  Just like the fact that the Fortune Cookie page is set to give you a new quote every refresh).  I think there is some magic at work here.

Looking forward to your shares in the comments below!

You can also share on Tammy Vitale’s Wylde Women’s Wisdom page on Facebook.  I have the Fortune Cookie quote page posted to the top there.