Tama's Musings

Celebrate the Middle of Things

We live in a society where only "big success" is acknowledged. We don't care about the small steps. We don't hear about the stumbles. Yet it takes outrageous courage to be in the middle of your journey. The middle is where it's at, baby.

Maybe you're growing a new business, writing the book of your dreams, or healing from a necessary divorce. These are the times when alligators are nipping at your raw feet, the rain keeps beating down, the moon is fading, your mother is calling, and you wonder if you are going to age in poverty with hopes that never came true. Yep, these are the moments that need celebration.

These are the times we need applause and ribbons and massive hot fudge sundaes and witnesses to our magnificence. These are the times we must love ourselves through the hunger and exhaustion. These are the times when we must celebrate our courage, the power, belief, and stubborn pluck it demands to just keep lurching and wobbling forward.

Please give yourself the benefit of true perspective. Do not reject yourself for "not being there yet," wherever that great "there" is for you. You are on the path. You are on the path. You are on the path. The path begins wherever you are, when you embrace your life with honesty, patience, and compassion.

Don't join that dismal bandwagon of thieves, those silly addle-brained fools in the streets who only believe in the gods of People magazine, or the ones who believe that it's more successful to just tack things together than to be naked on the path of pursuing your truth. Don't accept the measurements of those who uphold flawed and obsolete standards. Do not borrow knowledge from the ones who do not dare. The ones who dare---absolutely know the pain of being in the middle of things. If you're life is unsettled, imperfect, unpredictable, wild at the core, stuck, or yet to "come together," congratulations. You're one of the awakening tribe. You're in the stream of being holy alive.

I spent 12 plus years writing This Time I Dance! Creating the Work You Love, without an agent, publisher, or writing mentor in sight. I spent years feeling bad because I wasn't done with it. I watched others whiz by in their perfect neat lives, crisp definitions, and big fat paychecks and I felt foolish, foolish because I was in the middle of things. I faced self-doubt every day, but I chose self-love in the end. I decided to stay true to myself even if that looked as though I would walk for years through the deep blue sea. I wanted to follow my own instincts, hold my own hand, and see where that led me in the end. It's led me here, a time in my life where I am so unbelievably grateful for all those essential "middle moments," all those experiences that shaped me, fed me, grew me, and made me what I am---and what I have always been meant to be. In This Time I Dance!, I said, "It takes a hero's journey to create a hero," and I'll say it again. Those middle moments are our ashrams, boot camps, graduate schools, and launch pads. They are anything but useless, empty, or ordinary.

The middle of things is where change takes place, where the great big barge of how things have always been turns around in the ocean and goes a new way. It's slower than a long red light, but it doesn't take place forever.

The real heroes are in the middle of things, sweating in the middle of the night alone, doubting the future, crying the tears of self-doubt, burning holes in the ground with their mad desire to flee. Celebrate these ones, the ones who are making choices right now that others will not see. Celebrate these ones who dare to make uncelebrated choices. Celebrate yourself, right now as though you are the biggest winner of all time, because you are dear one, you are. You are sticking with the wonderful and terrible confusion of creating an authentic life.

Bestselling author Pema Chodron, a beloved Buddhist nun, says, "To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man's-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again." And Deepak Chopra, tells us to look at times of process as "pure potentiality."¬Ý I think "pure potentiality" sounds like a destination spa resort, and so much zestier than a "big fat zero," or "swamp." I suggest you try on language like that that empowers you. Remember, those "pure potentiality" times are when we make our life's most significant choices. It's where we craft, envision, and realize our future.

This month I'd love you to truly celebrate the experience of being in the middle of things. Write yourself a letter of congratulations or buy yourself a small token of appreciation at this juncture, a totem of support. While you're at it, celebrate someone else who is in the middle of their evolving lives as well. We all know someone in the thick of a break up, a layoff, an illness, or someone who had their manuscript rejected or their contract cancelled, someone whose circumstances are pushing them to a new and uncomfortable edge of being.

Let's clap for all the winners, now, the winners who are on their way, the winners who are not yet recognized, the winners who are walking through the desert, the winners who are allowing themselves to win at last, and those who are even boldly allowing themselves to "lose," because they know they will never lose by staying true to their souls.

I want you to know that I celebrate you all in my heart. I am so moved by your dogged steps forward, your hungry self-inquiry, your shaky new belief in possibilities and your emerging commitment to your own inspired life. You are the brave ones, the alive ones, the ones who deserve medals right now.

Yours in the dance,

Tama

©Copyright 2007 Tama J. Kieves. All rights reserved.

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Retreat Spotlight: January 4-5, 2008: Living Your Best Year Yet A New Year's Retreat at the Hotel Santa Fe Join us in magical Santa Fe, in the "Land of Enchantment" and jumpstart your best year yet! Join an imtimate and intentional group of passionate individuals who are committed to stepping into their magnificence this year--and won't let anything stop them. At this special time of new beginnings, create the tone of your year with abundance and grace with the inspirational energy and mentoring of Tama Kieves. Through intention, support, visioning, and breakthrough exercises, blast past limitation and remember your true strength and desires, why you're here, and just how good your life is meant to be. Let's set the stage for an outrageously great new year! Then stay and play in Santa Fe!! Visit our Destination Vacations page for more information.

Behind the Scenes at Awakening Artistry

Happy Fall everyone! I have a lot to share so I'll get right to it. Tama led another powerful retreat filled with laughter, tears and real change, called "Unleashing Your Calling: Creating the Life and Work You Love" at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, MA last month. ¬ÝRetreats are Tama's favorite venue these days, since she can spend more time with participants. And lately every retreat has given birth to a great ongoing support group, keeping the energy and magic alive.

Jealous? No worries! Kick off your New Year with intention, fun, and magic at Tama's "Living Your Best Year Yet" retreat this January 4-5 in Santa Fe, NM, right in the heart of "The Land of Enchantment." This intimate retreat will be held at the Hotel Santa Fe, the only Native American owned hotel in Santa Fe, located in Santa Fe's world renowned historic district. There's a "Stay and Play" option afterward where participants can choose to do things like go gallery hopping on historical Canyon Road, soak at Ten Thousand Waves (a luxurious Japanese day spa) and more. Register for this retreat early! ¬ÝSee more details about this event in our Retreat Spotlight above.

Tama lead a joyful Wisdom of the Heart day retreat in Madison, WI last month followed by a day of inspiring students and faculty at the Madison Area Technical College. Tama felt privileged to have the opportunity to inspire young minds to choose their inspired path now. In fact, one young woman decided to honor her dream of going to medical school! Thanks to visionary career counselor April McHugh for bringing Tama into the college and making this fantastic experience possible.

Tama's put on some events closer to home, too. Recently she enjoyed speaking at the Women's Vision Foundation 10th Annual Success Forum, a conference on corporate women's leadership which had over 1200 fabulous women gathered at the Colorado Convention Center, and she spoke for her second time to the Denver Coach Federation. Tama returns to the road later this month through December with events in Chicago, Sacramento and Boston. Please join us in these cities or let your friends and family know about them. You can find details for these events listed below or on the Calendar Page of our website at www.AwakeningArtistry.com.

Meanwhile, Tama continues to get her message out in new and exciting ways. She has the leading article in the current October/November issue of Law Practice Magazine entitled Advice for the Restless Lawyer: Discovering Your Possibilities. You can read it now at http://www.abanet.org/lpm/magazine/articles/v33/is7/pg36.shtml. In November, you can listen to Tama on the International Artist Debut Radio show with hosts James Armstrong and Eugene Ebner. Tama will be featured on their show as the Humanitarian Artist of the Month. In December, Tama flies out to Boston where she will be filmed for an episode of the groundbreaking national television series "What's the Alternative?" hosted by Portland Helmich. And in January, Tama will have a segment coming out in a new book published by Berkley/Penguin called "A Blessing in Disguise: 38 Life Lessons from Today's Greatest Teachers" by Andrea Joy Cohen. The forward is by Thich Nhat Hanh and it includes essays from other great teachers such as Dean Ornish, Rachel Naomi Remen, Bernie Siegel, Joan Borysenko, Susan Jeffers, Martha Beck, David Whyte and more.
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The adventure continues in 2008 with events in Seattle, WA, Toronto, ON and much, much more. So please stay tuned! More details are on the way. We so appreciate the honor of sharing this journey with you. We want to keep growing as a resource and a source of support and inspiration. If you have any thoughts on how we can better serve you, please let us know. Meanwhile, we wish you blessings on your journey and hope our paths cross soon.

Wishing you all blessings on your journey,


Paul

Destination Vacations:

We are very excited about the world-class destination vacations and life-changing retreats Tama has scheduled and want to help you plan ahead and not miss out on the time of your life!!

January 4-5, 2008:
Living Your Best Year Yet
A New Year's Retreat at the Hotel Santa Fe

Join us in magical Santa Fe, in the "Land of Enchantment" and jumpstart your best year yet!

Join an imtimate and intentional group of passionate individuals who are committed to stepping into their magnificence this year--and won't let anything stop them.

At this special time of new beginnings, create the tone of your year with abundance and grace with the inspirational energy and mentoring of Tama Kieves. Through intention, support, visioning, and breakthrough exercises, blast past limitation and remember your true strength and desires, why you're here, and just how good your life is meant to be. Let's set the stage for an outrageously great new year! Then stay and play in Santa Fe!!

Visit our Destination Vacations page for more information.