Rolling With It…Or Not

I was out rollerblading with my cousin today, like we do every Thursday morning. It is a time for us to catch up, talk about what’s going on in our lives, get some exercise, and drink in the beautiful beachside heaven that we have here in Santa Monica.

The blades I had been wearing up until a few months ago were a pair I had bought in the early 90s back when I lived in Washington, DC. Yes, you remember, when blading was the hot trend. When I mentioned to a friend in Seattle recently that I go blading every week, she responded, “Blading? Do people still do that?” Well, I have for 15 years. But then I also love disco music and Wheaties.

One day this winter I was blading with my cousin — rolling on our wheels, exhilarating in the good fortune of living in such a magnificent place – and my blades suddenly CRACKED. Yes, that’s right. My trusty pair of blades split ride down the sides. No more support. In grand ceremonial style, I released these blades that had been with me for 15 years into the dumpster feeling like I was releasing something much bigger, but not quite able to name it.

It’s four months later and I have been through two new pair of rollerblades and neither of them have worked for me. The first pair dug into my ankles, gave me bruises and cuts. I tried band aids, moleskin, extra thick socks, you name it. I took them back. The store gave me a new pair that feel comfortable on my feet, but don’t have the proper ankle support and the wheels roll at a noticeably slower rate than my beloved 15-year snappy K2 pair. With arch supports slid inside, this latest pair were the ones I was wearing today.

I pulled over to a bench to see if tightening the laces, strap and buckle might help give me more support. As I was cinching down the buckle, I said out loud, “I wonder why my old blades were able to support me so well? I never had all of these problems!” As my cousin and I both speak the same language of Louise Hay and like to look at the deeper meaning underneath outer circumstances, she reminded me that feet represent moving forward. That reminder ignited me to announce, “How funny that my old blades, my old support system, cracked. And ever since then I have been experimenting with different brands of blades and fumbling around with trying to get support!”

It could have been a simple moment, but for me like with most everything else, it resonated with great meaning. I realized that there might be something more to this blade journey than going from A to B. But in thinking so deeply, was I just spinning my wheels?

It is true that I have indeed let go of old ways, old support systems and old beliefs and have been in a place of transition where I have not yet found my center or in blading terms, my stride. My collapsing ankles and slow rolling wheels were, in my mind, material evidence that transitions take time.

What about you — when you see a ladybug does it indicate luck on the way? How about a penny? Prosperity coming? In other words, do you find big meanings in small things?

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Tabby Biddle is a writer and editor specializing in helping women entrepreneurs and emerging authors get their message out. Additionally she is the founder of Lotus Blossom Style, a yoga lifestyle company created to support women in their personal transformation. She lives in Santa Monica, CA.

The Call of the Calling

In this blog I’ve discussed public issues and also personal ones. Today’s blog is a personal one. I have touched on this topic before, but I am finding I need to discuss it again as I’m curious about other people’s experience with it. Here goes…

I have been thinking a lot lately about callings, intuition and where creative ideas come from. Is intuition to be trusted? Can we rely on our gut alone?

As Thomas Edison once observed, creativity is two percent illumination and the rest love and discipline. Although I am a huge believer and user of my own intuition, I am beginning to see Mr. Edison’s point.

Before I started my business, I was a teacher. I had been working in a teaching job that didn’t feel quite right for some time. There was a voice inside of me saying that I needed to leave. It got to a point where I no longer could fight the inner voice. In June 2007 I left the job.

As most of us know it is no easy thing to give up the security of a paycheck, health insurance and a supportive community. On the other hand, it can be even more difficult to suffer with the truth of what you know inside and not act on it.

I felt pretty confident that I was doing the right thing as life had shown me before that if I took a leap of faith by responding to my inner guide I would end up in a good place. However, I was finding it difficult to explain to other people what in the world I was doing with my life. As those who have gone through this know, there is usually a window of time where there is a ton of unknown. Even though I am someone who is dedicated to personal growth and have gone through a lot of transitions, this mystery stage doesn’t seem get any easier to explain. Especially when I had NO idea of what was next.

And then comes that one day or one moment when the spirit moves through you and you have that incredible “aha” moment that you never could have imagined because your brain would have never put that possibility together on its own. Usually, at least in my experience, these callings are not very rational, and in many cases, seem out of left field.

The one that came to me on that July day qualified as out of left field. Start a clothing line? What? I hadn’t worked in retail since I was 17, never designed a stitch and never wrote “run a clothing business” on my goal list! But when a calling calls, I have always been one to listen and get right on it. As Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, said recently, “Creativity does not always function rationally and can feel downright paranormal.” I think this applies to creating a business too.

For me one of the biggest lessons this time around has been about coupling intuition with good old-fashioned hard work, consistency and follow-through just like Edison suggested.

I am curious to know how does intuition play a part in your life? And how is it for you explaining an intuitive choice to someone who may not think that way?

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Tabby Biddle is a writer and editor specializing in helping women entrepreneurs and emerging authors get their message out. Additionally she is the founder of Lotus Blossom Style, a yoga lifestyle company created to support women in their personal transformation. She lives in Santa Monica, CA.

Leap Before You Look

In our American culture it has been taught for a long time that the important things are outside of us … that we are meant to compete, achieve and bring home more goodies than our neighbor. This outlook on living has been going on for so long that it has actually become considered a bold and daring move to ask ourselves how we feel and what we truly need. With things unraveling as they are, it might be time to try something different.

Most of us waiver between the need for structure and the desire for our life to be exciting, unpredictable and exhilarating. In our culture it seems that most decisions are made from logic … I’m going to make more money at this job, so I will take it; I’m going to…, so I will… But what about decisions that are made based not on the head as director, but on hunches, feeling, and dare I say … intuition?

I have lived my adult life as an intuitive decision-maker. At age 26 I left the perfect job, boyfriend, friends, family and lifestyle to travel through Asia on a hunch. Coming from the background of being a super-planner, type A personality, competitive and Miss Calendar Girl who had her datebook filled to the gills with activities for the upcoming six months, I wanted to see what life would be like to live from my gut, live in the moment and make decisions based not on logic, but on intuition. Quite an experiment it was and continues to be!

It seems that as things are changing before us, the fiber of what we knew (or at least thought) American culture to be … there is a lot of questioning about our next steps. Should we try and rebuild what he had? Should we start fresh? Is there some hybrid of what was and what could be?

Battened down and frazzled with our To-Do lists, pushed and pulled by the “shoulds” and obsessively trying to be all things to all people, it seems that many of us have abandoned one of our greatest powers and resources … our very own inner-wisdom.

So as we move forward onto this new stage, how will you make decisions? What will guide you? Will you look before you leap or leap before you look?

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Tabby Biddle is a writer and editor specializing in helping women entrepreneurs and emerging authors get their message out. Additionally she is the founder of Lotus Blossom Style, a yoga lifestyle company created to support women in their personal transformation. She lives in Santa Monica, CA.

Women, Intuition and Business: The Fruits of My Labor

Many of us have been taught “do what you love and the money will follow.” But what if we’ve been doing what we love and the money hasn’t found its way to us yet – and isn’t even tagging along at a distance?

There are many of us who are blazing forward with our passion, with our vision of how we want the world to be. We are creating products and services that heal, nurture, connect, beautify, educate and empower. But there is a disconnect going on. Many of us have taken the big leap into the pool of faith and are doing what we love, but we are not realizing the financial splendor that was promised to us. For many this has not only been a crisis of finances, but also a crisis of faith.

The well-known film, ‘The Secret’, told us that if we think it, vision it and believe it, it will come. Most of us, however, by now have discovered that there were some important elements missing from that formula. I was determined to find out what these were.

I decided to participate in a free teleseminar led by Gina Ratliffe, success coach and motivational speaker, and David Neagle, an income acceleration coach for entrepreneurs. Gina’s story is about going from being completely broke to running a million dollar business. I wanted to find out what she knew that I didn’t.

What she discovered was that she was missing some key elements in her financial life — and these were adequate structures, systems and a sound marketing strategy.

To some the idea of setting these important systems and strategies to run a business might seem elementary, but to those of us who are follow-your-heart people and live by the more intuitive sense of things – those important elements never seem to rise to the top of the agenda.

So I wondered, was I wrong to start a business on intuition? I don’t think so. But my experience shows me that intuition alone won’t put tofu on the table…and I suspect that there are plenty of like-minded spiritual seekers out there who would be inclined to agree.

We as yogis are taught that the word yoga means union. So how about this union – Ms. Intuition meets Mr. Market Strategy?

It might be a fun first date, but how long will it last and what do you think the odds are that the union will bear fruit?

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Tabby Biddle is a writer and editor specializing in helping women entrepreneurs and emerging authors get their message out. Additionally she is the founder of Lotus Blossom Style, a yoga lifestyle company created to support women in their personal transformation. She lives in Santa Monica, CA.

Make Your Own Luck

“What are the odds that the next person you meet will change your day, your year, your life?” This is the opening line of an article I recently read in Oprah’s February issue of “O.” “Chance of a Lifetime” discusses whether or not we make our own DESTINY. Coincidentally (or maybe not), I was looking at that magazine in the offices of Oprah’s new network OWN, getting ready to pitch ideas to network executives.

I have always been a big believer in signs that the Universe provides to knock us onto our track or to assure us that we are indeed on the right track. For instance when I see a look-a-like of the dog I had as a child, I feel like the Universe is telling me that everything is okay…that I am on the right track. Then when I see TWO of these dogs at the same time, then I know things are REALLY good.

On the other hand, I have been a big believer in making things happen. For example, when I wanted to work for the National Geographic Society, I called every connection I had there, requested informational interviews, and did my NGS homework. I got the job.

I have vacillated between the theories and practices of making things happen and letting things happen throughout my life. Sometimes I am totally on side, sometimes on the other, and sometimes I embrace both. Lately I have been struggling with where I am now.

Colleen Seifert, PhD, who is featured in the O article and is a specialist in cognitive psychology (the science of why people think the way they do) shed some light on this battle of philosophies. “Chance favors the prepared mind,” Seifert says quoting Louis Pasteur. It sounds good to me, but what does this actually mean?

My interpretation of what Dr. Seifert says is that we are always exposed to randomness. By definition a chance encounter is a random event. Our actions however play a crucial role in the outcome. When you are mentally prepared for a chance encounter you give yourself the opportunity to change your behavior and take action. Life hasn’t changed. It is still random. But you may have. So maybe Louis Pasteur had a good point. The prepared mind has a better chance of getting what it wants, or as many call it, “getting lucky.”

Seifert isn’t alone in believing that if you prepare yourself to make the most of chance encounters, good things are waiting to happen. Apparently there is a real science to prove that while you can’t control the random events of life, you can indeed create your own luck. Take for example the research of Richard Wiseman, PhD.

Dr. Wiseman has spent more than a decade investigating why some people have more luck than others and argues that only 10 percent of life is truly random and that 90 percent is actually defined by the way we think, In his book, The Luck Factor, Wiseman says, “Luck is not a magical ability or a gift from the gods…instead, it is a way of thinking and behaving…Lucky people create, notice, and act upon the chance opportunities in their lives.” Another way to say this I think is that being in the right place at the right time is actually about being in the right state of mind.

As I sort all of this out, I think back to when I have had most success and what my strategy and state of mind was at the time. I have tended to think that chance encounters, fortunate circumstances and great successes have come from the friendly Universe. But maybe it is not chance after all. Maybe I really am making my own luck. I still feel gratitude to the Universe though when I see one of those dogs.

Do you think you can make your own luck?

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Tabby Biddle is a writer and editor specializing in helping women entrepreneurs and emerging authors get their message out. Additionally she is the founder of Lotus Blossom Style, a yoga lifestyle company created to support women in their personal transformation. She lives in Santa Monica, CA.