tinaoverbury, Author at TinaOLife

Walking the Long Road of Red Tape

January 21, 2016

musac playing…

I have a problem with red tape.

I think I’m above it.

I’m on the phone. Waiting. wa wa wa w a i t i n g. A small wave of impatience is building. Tone Loc’s Funky Cold Medina is playing in my ear. What the hell is that doing being played on the ‘hold’ button of the hospital’s billing department. Is that song even old enough to be musac? Maybe it is.

“So, I gave some to my dog when he began to beg
Then he licked his bowl and he looked at me
And did the wild thing on my leg

I’m a little entitled. White chick, artist, living by the water, mom to three boys, hockey boys at that – the gear stinks, like S T I N K S, wife to a tall drink of water – surely being and STAYING MARRIED is like enough right? I make cookies, but only the ones my kids will eat. Nobody eats peanut butter cookies so guess what? Now I don’t either. I mop the floor, make the beds, write, try to be innovative, raw, authentic blah blah blah… just frickin care, sometimes just FRICKIN CARING feels like that’s gotta be enough too you know? I wash my face, stave off aging, use my eye cream, read ingredients, cut down on sugar, fucking survive, thrive find a voice through the insanity of cancer, BARF, rinse repeat. I sign up to do a triathlon, make friends with old friends and gal pals I said dumb things to, read up on leadership – so many bloody books on leadership, when do I ever get to say with a CLEAR HEART that I AM A LEADER? I stay current on the news – be mindful of my crush on Peter Mansbridge, collect the dust bunnies, get gas, sign permission slips, REMEMBER to sign permission slips, feel GUILTY because I fucking forgot the god damn stupid pink, no green, no blue, no BAHHHHHH what the hell colour was the permission slip this time? Oh right… it didn’t have a colour, it was online… oh… I didn’t check my email. I check my email, grocery shop with just the right list so I don’t spend too much, plan organic, buy bulk to save, think… think… think… let go of anxiety, get my ass to yoga, well, I say I’m going to do that, okay, so I say I’m going to get my ass to yoga, go to choir but not when I have a cold (like last night), feed my business, work my business, nurture by business… drink kombucha….

surely I don’t have to deal with the stupidity of RED TAPE too? Surely I don’t have to SIT ON HOLD to deal with this STUPID BILLING THING!

S U R E L Y ? ? ? ?

I’m entitled. I have a problem.

I’m on the phone with MSP (Medical Services Plan) to find out why my son who was born in 2009 did not have coverage in 2014 for a procedure done at the hospital just a year or so back, yet he received his shots in 2010 (no charge), went to emerg. for something dumb in 2011 (again, no charge), saw the doctor in 2014 (no charge), but only two months later he HAD NO COVERAGE? And now I have a $2200 bill that is going to collections? Are you kidding me? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED????

Hello Mary speaking…

Hi Mary so this is what happened…

yahta yahta detail detail story story boring boring what are you going to do about it? – Don’t say that you’ll start a war and you’ll never get what you want – be prepared she is going to stonewall you – just say with it smile – and be nice – she can’t see you but if you smile then your voice sounds friendly.

What do I do Mary?

Hold on she says.

K.

There you are it’s all done.

What?

I just backdated him to his date of birth. It’ll take 24 hours but…

That was it. Done. All I had to do was call. No redtape. No waiting. No fighting. No nothing. I just had to call.

I’m entitled.

I have a problem. Clearly.

TinaO, chill man, we’re all on this planet together. We get free stuff. We pay for stuff. We get crap mixed up this side of Wednesday. We fix it. You ain’t special, you’re human.

Oh yeah. I forgot.

Ya know what I’m sayin’

That Medina’s a monster, y’all

xxT

GRIT. Got some?

January 21, 2016

I didn’t know that my kids would be like other people’s kids. My eldest two are in or approaching their teen years and motherfudrucker are they ever doing what teens do. It’s a nasty stage to parent through yet such an important one for them because this is where they either grow grit or not, and then they suffer the consequences of not knowing how to pick themselves up out of the mud later in life.

And as we know, there’s a lot of mud to come.

Here’s a snippet of what happened in my family this morning. I wrote it for my ‘downline’ (network marketing jargon for team) because I recognized how insanely similar this is to the lessons we’re called on to learn in our business. I hope it speaks to you as it seems to have spoken to my team.

Very interesting experience with my teenage son this morning. It made me think of our business and what it takes to design, get, and live a life we love. Here’s what happened:

We have a rule in our house, ‘as soon as it gets too hard to get up for hockey, hockey goes away’ – and right off the hop, since the boys were 7/8yrs old, they’ve been able to get up, sometimes as early as 4:30am to get on a 5:30am boat for a 6am practice. No kidding. Cold, tired and hungry… Yet off they would go.

So flash ahead 6 years and my eldest is now 14yrs and is in high school. He is often home later after his games, like 10pm and then the next morning he’s up for school at 6:30am to catch the bus at 7:05am. This morning (and multiple others this year) he had refused to get up saying ‘I’m too tired’. He’s 6’2 and 180lbs with his own mind, his own convictions, and his own chutzpah. I don’t believe in ‘making kids do anything’ anyway (unless the issue is human decency), but the truth is, I couldn’t make him get up now even if I tried.

Soooooo… I realized, this kid CAN get up, he does it all the time. He has a TRACK RECORD of doing what is challenging, he’s simply choosing not too because he doesn’t WANT TO. The REWARD or the REASON isn’t compelling enough. So… Given all of our ‘What’s your WHY?’ training, I decided to up the ante on his ‘why’. On my 5th attempt to get him out of bed, I said, ‘Mister, this has to stop. Here’s the deal, for every morning that you are like this, you lose a practice. You have two minutes to get up or there’s no hockey tomorrow.’

He didn’t get up.

What the Truck?

I go back in and do the thing I would NEVER DO in a coaching conversation. I implore with him: ‘Why would you do that? Why would you choose being tired over playing hockey? It’s worth so much to you. Why would you choose to be right about how stupid it is to go to school when what you’ve worked so hard for over the last six years hangs in the balance? Why would you do that??? Help me to understand because I don’t LOVE hockey, I love you.

He says to me: because I’m tired.

Classic.

In our business, the response is different but the same, it sounds like this: ‘Because it doesn’t seem to work for me’

Also Classic.

His dad has now been texted in because he’s on his way to work already (now 6:55am). He sends this: No school, no Maple Ridge on Friday (Game).

I walk back in to his room (which I often do in our our biz too… I walk back in) and tell him the news. – An exasperated GROAN comes from under the covers as he knows he really has no choice now. Well he does have a choice, just not one he’s willing to make. He’s backed into a corner because IT JUST GOT REAL.

The phone rings. It’s his dad. I hand him the phone.

‘I don’t want to talk to dad, he’s just going to yell at me’.

I say: ‘Listen dude… You made this bed, you don’t get to opt out of respecting your father. You don’t have to like what he has to say, or even agree with it, but you do have to listen.’

I leave the room.
He listens, hangs up, gets up and in 9 minutes gets himself dressed, packed and fed and out the door.

No he’s not talking to me.
No he’s not happy.
Yes he is honouring his CONVICTION to play hockey by doing what is least pleasant to him.

Here’s what I see, some of us are pleasers, others avoiders, some are team players, others loners, we do what we do for personal reasons and we choose to get back into the ring to go another round FOR WHAT MATTERS TO US, but only and I mean only WHEN IT GETS REAL and unfortunately, as is the way with the human experience, the magic only happens when our backs are against the wall. Oh boy.

Sooooo back to business… What we have is the brass ring. There is NOTHING and I mean NOTHING else out there like this that MOST PEOPLE can do to get the kind of return that comes with this biz model.

High pay for low time
High freedom for low responsibility
High friendship, lifetime friendships, deep meaningful walk through fire kinds of friendships without having to give up who you are.
A life first job without having to give your own life up in the process.

No education needed
Low investment needed

So when it feels hard for you to ‘do the do’, ask yourself, ‘what would have to happen before I was willing to REALLY do it? When would I cross the line into true LIFE LEADERSHIP and be willing to be the last person standing to make this business a success?

Unless of course you don’t really want what you said you came for… But I doubt it.

I said to Todd when it all blew over, this lesson were in with our son right now has NOTHING to do with HOCKEY, and everything to do with building the GRIT it takes to DO THE DO in order to LIVE YOUR LIFE on YOUR TERMS and not the terms of others.

Sometimes you have to get in to the ring with yourself in order to win.

Thinking of you.
Thinking of your grit.
Seeing your magnitude.
And holding you accountable to your WHY.

And the same with me.
Me too.
I’m just like you.

Some days I’d rather just say I’m too tired. But where will that get me?

It’s okay to be tired when you are. It’s not ok to be tired when there’s still life and will and Fire and a want inside of you. Some days you just gotta dig a little deeper.

Xxxt

So, I ask you. Do you have grit? Are you willing to be the last one standing to have what really matters to you? What is it going to take?

xxT

Are you a SUPER COUPLE? Bring on HUMP DAY with Tara Caffelle

January 20, 2016

As per yesterday’s teaser, this is TinaOLife’s very own Lady Hump leading the charge on all things relationship. We’re opening her regular weekly Where Relationships Get Real post here at TinaOLife with a question from me, TinaO and you can too – feel free to send us a thought, question, wondering, or quandary below if you have a burning ‘sex, love, intimacy and relationship’ Q as well. Okay… so on to my first question to rock out Tara’s first post…

TinaO – Tara, you know my history with Mr. Todd and that our relationship has been the greatest teacher for both of us (which means it ain’t been easy as you know). You talk about ”super couples”, what does that mean exactly? And do you think it’s possible for everyone?

Tara: The Very Official definition of a Super Couple (based on what I found in the Very Official Urban Dictionary, anyway!) is a couple who “overcomes adversity and repeatedly reunites” – think Soap Opera couples like Luke and Laura or Bo and Hope. (Ah…Remember Bo and Hope? I think I was addicted to them…)

But I digress.

I like this definition well enough, but I would add to it: Super Couples are resilient. They keep seeking and choosing, even when it’s hard and it just plain sucks and it’s the testing-the-vows part of things. The beginning is fun; anyone can do the beginning, when it’s new and the stress hormones are flowing and la-la-la-we-have-the-same-taste-in-music!

Super Couples are in. They are intuitively committed to The Relationship, and not just their own well-being. There is a focus on the other and because each of them is doing this, the relationship benefits.

Super Couples are in.

They’re relentlessly brave. They might be afraid, but they also know the best life is on the other side of the prickly stuff.

They engage in what I call Sexy Conversation. I call it this because it can (and should) resemble sex in many ways; raw, open, noisy, quiet, messy, slippery, connected, naked, open with both parties grinding to have their needs met against the other before everyone lands in a satisfied heap. Right?

They know the prickles and the mess are worth it.

Super Couples take responsibility for their words and actions. They know that the whole idea of a relationship is to set them free, so each lays down the weapons and embraces the glorious person before them as an ally.

I think Super Couple-dom is possible if you want it, but not everyone knows that’s it’s even available. I was with some family over the holidays, and when this cartoon made a huge splash, it occurred to me that not everyone sees or knows the value of all the self-actualization I am so used to.

I obviously think about this stuff all the time and it’s a part of nearly every conversation I have. However, I am fully aware that not every couple, in fact, many couples, just go through life, attending to the responsibilities of getting the kids to hockey practices and birthday parties, not even thinking about their actual connection and how it works or it doesn’t.

I think Super Couple-dom is possible if you want it, but not everyone knows that’s it’s even available.

Who wants to sit around and dissect their relationship? ICK. Most people just know when they’re not happy and that something is off, and aren’t necessarily equipped with the tools to actually do something about it. I like to give people some of these tools. I think most couples are already quite super and have a beautiful roll-with-it quality; I love observing all the things they’re doing well AND I also think that nearly every conscious couple could benefit from a tweak here and there. They take – and I think you and Mr Todd were there – managing life well enough, but there’s a more that’s there to be found if you know to look for it.

It’s like having a satisfying dinner at the White Spot and realizing there’s a section of the menu that Gordon Ramsay will prepare just for you, but you have to know to ask for it. I’m the secret weapon here; I can show you what’s available on the menu and the best way to eat it so it’s crazy delicious.

It will feel like you just had a…Sexy Conversation.

Get real like sexy real, Tara

You can check more of me out here. It’s okay, I’m good with you looking.

Have a question for Tara? Have an idea for a Hump Day conversation? How about just some thoughts about this thing called life? Let us know here. We’ll answer back. We promise.

Hump Day Teaser… Tara Caffelle

January 19, 2016

Tomorrow Tara Caffelle brings on the hump.

What you gon’ do with all that junk?
All that junk inside your trunk?
I’m a get, get, get, get, you drunk,
Get you love drunk off my hump.
My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump,
My hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely little lumps …check it out.

-Black Eyed Peas

Did I just post that? Oh boy. Can you tell I’m kind of a prude? Well, maybe prude is too strong. I’m just kinda, sorta, unsure? I think. Maybe? I think my appropriate gene is loud and strong inside of me. Can one be publicly private, but privately not so much? Hmmmm… that’s me I think. Is that you too?

Of course when I hear those hump lyrics I don’t think about The Peas or the song. I think about Will Farrell in Blades of Glory. Remember this?

And THAT is why I invited Tara to TinaOLife. She takes the preciousness out of sex and intimacy. She takes the public insanity about it all and reminds us that relationships are personal, they’re ours, and oh so beautiful. Tara transforms what is private and personal into understanding, claiming and enjoying all that intimate and that’s worth sharing. What do you way we go public with that.

Tara and I decided to launch Hump Day with Tara starting with a few questions from me. Since most of you are here checking out TinaOLife at this point because you know me, or you know someone who knows me… I’m likely not even six degrees from you but more like 1 or 2 right? – so let’s keep it real. Let’s start with the things that I want to know.

Here’s a sneak peek at tomorrow’s question to TinaOLife’s Hump Day Lady from me:

Tara, you know my history with Mr. Todd and that our relationship has been the greatest teacher for both of us (which means it ain’t been easy as you know). You talk about ”super couples”, what does that mean exactly? And do you think it’s possible for everyone?

Tune in tomorrow for Tara’s awesome answer. Are you part of a Super Couple? Wanna be one?

xxT

Oh yeah… and when you want to know more about Tara, go here.

Have a question for Tara? Have an idea for a Hump Day conversation? How about just some thoughts about this thing called life? Let us know here. We’ll answer back. We promise.

TinaOLife Welcomes Tara Caffelle

January 18, 2016

Please join me in welcoming Tara Caffelle, Relationship Coach (whether staying, splitting, or having a baby), Intimacy Guru (chief instigator and founder of Nookie November), Big Life Conduit (coach and online host of Speaking of Sparkles) and now TinaOLife’s Hump Day Lady too (did I just say that?).

Oh Tara, you are such a fit and I am thrilled to announce you as one of TinaOLife’s Core Contributors covering all things relationship, in fact, you might even say that YOU are Where Relationships get Real. Well, I do say that.

Here’s our story (TinaO’s perspective):

So I met this gal by accident which means on purpose. I sat across from her at a BNI breakfast meeting and to be honest, as much as I’m a total hound for networking because I really do just love people, any kind of organized business thingy where we’re supposed to be ‘authentic’ and ‘non-pitchy’ yet the bottomline of why we are there is to get business and make our cash register ring… these events always strike me as just odd, as in not quite honest but not quite false either (spank me now for speaking it as I feel it). The thing is, I can do these kinds of events, I’m even good at them, but still, they’re kinda weird to me. ’nuff said – yet its probably the very reason why Tara made such a subtle yet significant impression on me.

Now when I go to a morning breakfast meeting, I see getting up, getting dressed, doing my hair (oh gawd really?), putting on lipstick (oh boy oh boy like reallllly?) and then leaving my house before 6am as a decision to further my education in people. As well, I see it as part of my active agreement with the universe/God/powerthatbe in order for the big magic we all allude to, to happen. One thing I know for sure is that nothing shows up for me unless I show up for it, thus the partnership. So every now and then I put my cynicism aside (yes I can be a cranky codger) and I ‘show up’ at a networking event and do my do. A few years ago, when I did that, I met Tara Caffelle.

We barely exchanged words – but who needs them when you understand the game of business networking. The words we speak at these events are usually heavily rehearsed yet planned as hopefully authentic and packaged together as a 30 second elevator pitch to let the room know what we do so they can hire us right? It’s not so much about who we are. That’s why I don’t pay too much attention to what people say at these events, but rather do how I feel when I experience them.

As I was taking the last few bites of my eggs benny, I knew that there was just something about this gal sitting across from me and a few chairs down that I wanted to get to know. So we did what you do at these things, we exchanged cards and she followed up. Perfect. Here’s what it looked like:

March 25th, 2014 – Hi Tina, It was so great to meet you at BNI this morning – what a HUGE group that was! I am a member of BNI Harbourside (we meet at the same restaurant on Wednesdays) and we’re only about 26 people, so that was a bit of a shock. It seems like we have some great overlap and could likely have a fun, connecty kind of tea. Let me know if you’d like to set that up in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, if you think of anyone having babies or adjusting to life with a newborn, the links to my workshops and website are below. Have a great week and I will look forward to seeing you soon. Cheers, Tara

April 8th, 2014 Hi Tara! Thanks for reaching out and I’m sorry I haven’t connected sooner. I’m in the middle of a few really big shifts and I’m practicing focus… 🙂 I would LOVE to meet for cup of tea. I think I need two weeks to get myself organized. What do you think about Monday the 28th? Would that work for you? Thanks! Tina

Tara same day – yes, that would definitely work. How about 10am somewhere? What part of the city are you in?

Tina same day – sounds great. I’m across the water so can we say 10:30 instead? It’s closer to when I can be there! – so downtown, or east van is good for me! You?

April 20th 2014 – Tara Oh, dear, I completely forgot to confirm this! You are in my calendar for 10:30 on the 28th. How about we meet at the Laughing Bean on Hastings (near the PNE but I can’t remember the cross street).

April 24th 2014 – Tina Hi Tara! I just remembered that I am booked from 10am – 11am on that day. Can we do 11:30? Same place? Thx!

Same day – Tara Yup, that works. See you there.

April 27th 2014 – Tina Oh my… Sorry to do this again… Any chance you can do 3pm? My day shifted once again! I’m so sorry to make all these changes!! If not, we can always rebook for the following Monday! Whatever works. Xxt

Same day – Tara Sorry, but 3pm doesn’t work, and the only time I have is the morning on the following Monday. If we can do 10:30, I can do it.

April 28th 2014 – Tina Next Monday at 1030? If so YES! And again… My apologies… I’ve been juggling a little more than usual and stretching into new territory which means my structures shake a bit and my weakest point is scheduling… So thank you for your patience! Next Monday 1030?? Locked??

Same day – Tara locked! see you then!

Why do I share all the drivel of booking and rebooking and apologizing and rebooking again??? Seems boring right? Well, that’s life. That’s what SHOWING UP and STAYING WITH IT looks like. It’s not all fireworks and magnetic pulls to work together. It’s simply a desire to inquire first, matched by commitment and follow through.

So we met at this place, The Laughing Bean.

and from our first kinda ‘search and discovery’ conversation, I was introduced to the concept of this guy: Chris Dierkes, Soul Interpreter. It went something like this:

Tara: chatty chat chat what I do who I am what I’m interested in what has happened to me… ‘and then my soul guy’…

Me: listening listening listening watching wondering wondering… ‘what did you say?’

So much more to come about this… Chris has become my ‘soul dude’ and he as well will have a regular piece on TinaOLife called just that: Dear Soul Dude (but that’s for another announcement) – see… magic happens when we show up. Okay, back to Tara.

So fast forward a few months later and over a beer with Tara on a sunny summer patio, I met this gal, her awesome friend and colleague: Coach Michaella.

Holy crap! What the hell happened? is all I can say. No kidding – we laughed so hard on that newly hot summer patio that I suffered dearly from my first inspiration hang over. We came up with a SNL Sketch called empha’sis’ that I swear made me pee (come on, three children, cut me some slack), as I clamored to get into my truck and head home. I had no idea that having such a good time could require couch time as recovery.

The three of us met up again last January to support each other’s vision for all that 2015 would bring. Here’s a pic of them as they arrived in perfect West Coast style – yup, coffee in one hand, umbrella in the other. These kooky two women rock my world. Little did the three of us know that my year would look nothing like we had planned, yet what we came up with was exactly what I needed. I hope the same was true for them.

TinaOLife with Tara Caffelle and Coach Michaella

That year Tara launched Nookie November, 30 days of intimacy filled with silliness, sexiness and spontaneity. Holy Dinah did that ever crack me wide open. It started out as sexy re-connection gift to my husband and it became so so so much more. I’ll share more about later.

When I was diagnosed with throat cancer last spring, Tara had her own big life stuff going on at exactly the same time. We were two soul-inspired women trudging through painful muddy waters together yet completely apart. When the dust had cleared for both us, Tara asked me to be a guest on her show Speaking of Sparkles and here it is: Cancer, the wisdom of the body, getting off the rollercoaster of marriage and finally sinking into relationship.

We became hooked. p.s. I know, I know, I know, I need a new microphone because wowzers do I ever sound LOUD and fuzzy in this. Well, turn down my volume just a bit and climb into the brainwaves of Tara and Tina.

When TinaOLife showed up as the answer to my professional home, I figured out pretty quick that as much as I’m all that and a bag of chips, I AM most definitely NOT THE ANSWER to everyone’s life questions. I can’t be. So if I’m going to take on this topic called LIFE and what it feels like to be REALLY LIVING, I’d better call in the giants who ignite that very thing inside of me.

Welcome Tara. You’re a fucking rock star in my world. You make dropping the f-bomb not just explosive, but sexy, crazzzy-ass funny and tender too. How can that be? It must be you.

Watch for Tara’s weekly posts on Wednesdays as Hump Day (how appropriate), where she’ll be leading the charge on all things relationship.

xxT

Want to know about Tara Caffelle? Check her out here at TaraCaffelle.com

Is Your Knowledge on Ice?

January 16, 2016

Ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on ice, or so they say. This success strategy has served me well for a long time but has cost me dearly for an even longer one.

My whole life I’ve been a dive into the unknown kinda gal. I do my best work in anything and everything I do when I know the least. I race to the top in whatever I do and faster than most because I am very comfortable wearing Steve Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field and keeping my head down, my eye on the prize and look only at what I’m doing.

When I don’t know what I don’t know, there’s nothing to tell me that I can’t leaving only possibility. This has been a brilliant results oriented success system for me. From the outside everything looks great: I do, I achieve, I am applauded, and then I move on. Wait a minute… that’s the kicker right? The trap of this kind of success formula is that there’s little desire further the work once I’ve nailed the goal. Why? Because I’m no longer ignorance on fire. I’m now knowledge on ice, with no motivation to get warm. And then it gets cold, freaking cold, like anxiety driven, worry filled night kinda cold as I sort out:

What do I do now that I know what I know?

How do I feed this success animal I’ve built on ignorance when my eyes are open to the whole picture now?

You may have heard this before too because I didn’t come up with it, and the person who taught it to me probably didn’t either:

Stage one = Uninformed optimism Stage two = Informed

Stage three is usually = Informed pessimism.

Why usually? Because it takes walking the double edge sword of all things in order to get to informed optimism. It takes converting informed on both the positive and the negative side of it to give you wisdom. Most of us just want the shortcut. We don’t want wisdom. We want results. We serve the bottomline or the adrenaline of achievement, or the satisfaction of belonging because we’re ‘worthy’ due to our accomplishment. Come on now, ‘fess up. Why do you go for challenges and incentives? Why do you take risks? What is usually your motivation for diving into the unknown?

You might say: Because I’m curious Tina. I’m a life-long learner.

I say: Cool. Then what? How do you let that learning LIVE?

For most of my professional life (up until now), I’ve been happily doing and achieving as ignorance on fire. Wow… what a rush. There’s always something new to learn, the excitement of the unknown and then the reward of figuring shit out. You could feed me this recipe for breakfast, lunch and dinner and all deserts and drinks too. I EAT THIS UP!

But then I get a stomach ache. I’m frozen by what I’ve learned. I can see the pot holes, the areas of growth that are needed, the dark corners and the stinky stuff that if cleaned up would make things even better. Oh mannnn why do that when ignorance on fire has such a higher return? Why implement anything I’ve learned when I can just go on learning new stuff?

I’m in the network marketing industry and this is a slogan that is thrown around at every ‘getting started’ training out there. As organization builders in a sales and recruitment based business, our bottomline and our team’s confidence go up when we have new people starting their business with us. We WANT FRESH FACES because it reminds us that this opportunity rocks, and you know what – it freaking does rock. Ten years in, with all the knowledge I have and very little ignorance left, I can say without a shred of holding back, this is the best industry going out there if:

you wanna make lots of money with low risk or overhead.
you wanna work part time.
you like people
you’re a life long learner.

But here’s the deal: You gotta let go of the ignorance on fire thing and ditch the knowledge on ice thing too if you really want to enjoy the fruit. Malcolm Gladwell talks about 10,000 hours to mastery. Well, that’s about 7 years in a 15 hour/week network marketing business. You sure as heck ain’t gonna be ignorance on fire for seven years.

Like any long term venture be it business, friendship, marriage, career, personal growth, whatever… the TRUTH of that story will always out over time and that means that the veil of ignorance will lift and knowledge with set in. Nothing is without dark corners. Nothing is without improvement needed. Nothing is perfect and that’s what makes the whole darn thing worth investing in.

So… if you buy this whole Ignorance on Fire is Better than Knowledge on Ice thing, I challenge you to step into WISDOM and see what kind of satisfaction, freedom and true wealth lives there instead.

My wish for you is true freedom, is peace, is long term success and feeling good about what you do.

What to check out my network marketing business? You totally can. Click here for an electronic business pack. Why not? You’re ignorance on fire for such a short time… wink.

xxT

Even my Resistance Resists

January 15, 2016

This is not a deep post. It’s brief and to the point.

Do you ever resist yourself?

Imagine making a soulful decision. Drawing an honest line in the sand. Answering a quest whole-heartedly. Doing the 100% thing and really stating what your mission is. Putting some guts into it. Knowing what you know and saying it like you know it. Setting your course. Being totally ready to rock it.

All you have to do is show up.

But you don’t.

Has that ever happened to you?

Me too.

Sometimes even my resistance resists.

Oh well, at least there is another undecided moment after this one. What will you and I do now?

xxT

I’m Walking… Still Walking…

January 15, 2016

Goals stink so says I. Why? Because you can’t just order them off a menu like they don’t belong to you. In order for them to work, they have to mean something. While placing your mouth watering want with the waiter in front of you might feel like a big deal – the reality is once the food is gone so is the meal.

A goal has to has to be rooted in a yearning in order for you to keep going. Lets face it, none of us would tread through snow up to our knees with our cheeks, ears and nose screaming cold from the wind, unable to see more than three feet in front of us if we didn’t believe that the promised warm cabin just 100 metres away wasn’t really there. We just wouldn’t do it – well, we wouldn’t do it by choice.

Goals are choices.

Goals are destinations.

Goals are stakes in the earth, in our mind, and on our calendars.

Goals are decisions.

This morning I set a bunch of mine in motion because I put them to the page. I’ve been self-employed for almost three decades and goals make me nauseous and angry now, yet try as I might I can’t seem to ditch the word. When I pick up my pen and my auto-pilot goal-setter kicks in, she writes: My Goal for TinaOLife…. My Goal for LYBS…. My Goal for my Network Marketing Business… My Goal for Me…

Man oh man… I just can’t ditch the word goal even though I don’t believe in them.

I believe in story.

I believe in walking.

I believe in direction fueled by a yearning.

and then I walk. as I listen. as I follow and lead, and move in the direction of the story of which I’ve chosen to be the main character.

I just keep walking.

Where do you walk? Why? Do you care? Are you willing to?

xxT

I Love You – She said Quietly

January 14, 2016

So I’m reading Olympic Medalist Clara Hughes’ book Open Heart Open Mind this morning at 4:30am and something interesting happened. I’m up that early because I’m a hockey mom and I gotta get the boys sorted as they hit the rink before school: put something in their tummy for breakfast, pack a lunch for school, and throw in all the stuff into their pack that they’ll likely forget about. This is the to do list of a forever in training mom for sure. Our youngest is still in bed – he’s not a hockey kid yet. I’m crossing my fingers that he falls head over heels in love with the arts so we can skip the third round of early morning family insanity. We shall see. Passion is as passion does.

The boys and their dad are off by 5:30am and by then I’m too awake to sleep but not quite ready to take on the day, probably because it’s Thursday and I’ve already put in three mom mornings this week so I crawl back into bed and crack open Clara’s book. My husband bought Open Heart, Open Mind for me for my birthday, probably because her story is coloured with dark corners, her triumphs have sharp edges and her drive is fueled by fire, unstoppable, wild, raw, and almost retchingly honest fire. Okay so honesty can’t retch, but maybe that’s why writers have been known to say things like: I just gotta barf it out first, get it on the page, get into the guts of it…

Thank you Clara. You clearly got into the guts of it and that’s why it’s carrying me away.

I’m only half way through the book but if I had to sum up your message so far I’d say it’s all about ‘self-love’ instead of ‘self-loathing’ right? Hmmm… such a universal quest to heal the scars of so many. It’s almost as if getting to that place requires understanding your own Escape Room: an insane past time where people are willing to be pushed, screamed at, and even terrified as they scramble to escape simulated life-threatening situations. The crazy part about escape rooms is that we get locked into them knowing there is always a way out. What makes it so intoxicatingly addictive is the adrenaline pumping through our veins as we question whether or not we’ll actually find it. The self-loathing to self-love conundrum is just like that. The only way to rewire our brains out of self-loathing is to step into our darkest blindspot: self-love.

That’s the thing about blind-spots, they’re bloody obvious once we see them and then they vanish as if they were never there at all.

So there I was at 6am, about a half an hour in to Clara’s book , when, as I’m all curled up and warm, out of my mouth tumbles: I love you Tina.

I love you Tina.

I’m like: What?

I love you Tina.

Oh. I thought that came from you.

Okay so I’m no stranger to the self-help world. I’ve read Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Life. I’ve affirmed my way into a happier disposition, I know how to talk to myself when I need to pull my sorry behind out of a crap load of poor me, or a give my brain an etch a sketch shake and redraw a nasty perspective into a positive one. Oh yes, I get the whole self-talk thing but that’s not what happened. I wasn’t standing in front of the mirror talking into my own eyes, or reading a magic yellow affirmation sticky, or even writing in my gratitude journal (I don’t have a gratitude journal shhhh..). Nope, I was in the fetal position, feet tucked under the covers, ankles crossed with one fist under my right cheek and the other cupping the edges of the book. I was in lala land and then out of nowhere, my inner me, the one who feels the same now at 45yrs as it did at 7yrs blurted out I Love You Tina just so I could hear it. It tumbled easily out of my mouth, and out loud.

My next thought was: ‘uhhhh… how did that happen? Ohhhh… and I do this to my kids all the time. I tell them I love them just ’cause. It’s not a daily do, or an affirmation, or a mindset reset at all, it’s just because it’s true. I love them.’

So Clara – that may not have been the goal for your readers by page 112, but that’s what happened to me.

I love you Tina, I said to myself without any agenda at all. I love you – probably because it’s true. I do.

How about you?

p.s. I’m at the top of chapter 14 – Salt Lake City Olympics are next. Mmmm… can’t wait.

xxT

What I Love About You Is

January 14, 2016

I turned 45 this year. My birthday is on Christmas day so my family does a really bang-up job of making it special. People often think that my birthday is overlooked because of it being Christmas and all but you know, that’s just not the case though it’s a reliable ice-breaker conversation that I’m dumped into regularly. The truth is, I feel for people who are born on the 27th or 29th because those are mucky days where everyone is still eating leftovers, dealing with gifts half in half out of plastic, mulling over what worked and what didn’t, starting to think about the credit card bills that are coming… and of course, the mindfulness that once again another year is ending. People are busy man! Birthdays that fall on this transition week have more guck to wade through.

The funny thing is, celebrating my birthday isn’t even that important to me, but being remembered is. I suppose that’s tied into my history and understanding that this moment, as in right now will change in less than a second and we can’t stop it. Time moves on. People leave, tragedy happens, aha’s change our perspective, cars turn left instead of right… we don’t get to run that show – so really, who cares about birthday cake and beautifully wrapped presents? The paper is going end up in the trash because most of it can’t be recycled (insane isn’t it?), and the cake is likely some store bought thing because most of us aren’t willing to learn how to pour ourselves into food anymore… so really what is special and memorable about that?

I’m not a birthday downer I promise. What does matter deeply to me – is that PEOPLE, as in RELATIONSHIPS, as in our UNIQUENESS, as in our STORY is seen, recognized, honoured and shared. That’s what birthdays are about for me. It’s loving this thing called life and our connection to it.

We have a tradition in our house that on birthdays during cake time, we go around the table, or the couches or whatever and each person has to finish this sentence for the birthday person: “What I love about you is…” and we usually do a few rounds of it. My boys are 14, 12 and 6 right now (2016), and we’ve been doing this since they were wee. It’s old hat to them. It started out feeling kinda weird and exposing, and at various times in the boy’s development they got shy and even sensitive about it, like sharing their feelings about a family member was a bit too personal, and we’ve also been through years where ‘what I love about you’ is a silly poop, fart and bum joke (what is it about 5-7yrs old?), and now we’re in this funny mix of recognizing that this ritual we do for each other really matters, I can see on the boy’s faces. They ‘get it’, but they’re so pre-occupied with themselves (welcome teen years) that what they love about each other is what the other can do for them. “What I love about you is that you make my lunches every day… what I love about you is that you take me to hockey… that you do my laundry...”, thankfully there’s still a six year old in the mix sharing poop and fart gratitudes…

My husband totally gets it. He’s never been a birthday guy either. Neither of us grew up having birthday parties with friends over, loot bags and crazy amounts of gifts. Neither of us grew up with any kind of birthday rituals either, but we come from a time where our distractions were painful ones: my mom died when I was little, his family divorced and both of us grew up fast. It’s the relationships that matter. That’s the gift of birthdays. We remember how lucky we are to have the person sitting in front of us who is about to stuff their mouth full of cake.

This year for my birthday, we were up in a cabin away from home. We did this on purpose – opted out of the bigness of the holidays (though I’m a Christmas cracker and one could say I did it big anyway), it was quieter. The pic above is what I woke up to after having a nap on the couch by the fire. While I was sleeping after a long birthday walk in the snow, Mr. Todd and the boys hung streamers and balloons for me and while we all recognize that stringing pink crepe paper is ‘wasteful’ and ‘environmentally stupid’, this was their way of saying I Love You Tina, Mom, Wife, Cheerleader, Friend.

When we did our ritual of “What I love about you is…” for me, it was simple and silly and irreverent and kinda teenager/elementary school impersonal, and guess what? That’s what made it totally perfect.

What I love about you is…

xxT