Nudges

Here you can find the most recent nudges. And keep this in mind, you don't have to respond to the current month's nudge. Feel free to respond to any of these old nudges anytime.

Being Athletic

I am not athletic.

Maybe that’s not quite true–maybe it’s just that I haven’t found a sport or activ­ity I like. Or, per­haps, it’s because I’m too shy and self-conscious to enjoy things when peo­ple might be watch­ing. Maybe, hav­ing cho­sen drama as my extracur­ric­u­lar activ­ity at a young age, I haven’t had enough oppor­tu­ni­ties to become ath­letic. Could it be that some peo­ple just aren’t?

All I know is that some peo­ple are extremely ath­letic, includ­ing my younger sib­lings, and I’m not. Are you ath­letic? What does “being ath­letic” mean to you? Why do you think you are or aren’t ath­letic? Was there some­one who got you started or a time when you remem­ber becom­ing more, or less, ath­letic? How does it make you feel?

I’m try­ing to get some exer­cise this month, break­ing out of my usual rou­tines. I might like it… I encour­age you to try some­thing new this month too: If you usu­ally write, try paint­ing or sculpt­ing to express your thoughts about being ath­letic. If you are a pho­tog­ra­pher, try start­ing with words. If you’re a musi­cian, try cre­at­ing a short skit. Who knows? You might find new dimen­sions to your art by break­ing out of your usual rou­tines. And I might actu­ally be a lit­tle athletic.

Lace

February’s nudge is: Lace, a fab­ric that was once care­fully crafted by women, a tal­ent handed down by grand­moth­ers, but is now pro­duced in fac­to­ries with com­put­er­ized machines.

The idea came to me while think­ing about Valentine’s Day. Cards and lin­gerie dec­o­rated with lace. Two love­birds “lac­ing” their fin­gers together. Frilly and fine and fancy.

Of course, the sec­ond exam­ple I used refers to some­thing entirely different–you know, those things that help keep your shoes on your feet when you go out for a run. Or maybe, if you pre­fer a more roman­tic notion(depending on how you look at it), the laces could be on a corset.

Or another unro­man­tic idea: a yel­lowed piece of lace on the musty sofa of the dead woman. Hey, wait… that could be a pretty roman­tic story depend­ing on how you write it…

What can this lit­tle word inspire?

Happy New Year!

Another new year is upon us. Are you ready? My desk has been cleaned and my res­o­lu­tions have been made. I resolve to… actu­ally, I’m not going to say just in case I fail mis­er­ably. Again.

As we tran­si­tion into 2010 many peo­ple have been reflect­ing on where they were and what they were doing ten years ago, their mem­o­ries pulling them back and push­ing them for­ward into a new decade.

This month: reflect. Find a mem­ory, good or bad, shared or yours alone and make some­thing of it.

Ready… set… CREATE!

Classic Books

Clas­sic Books” is November’s nudge.

When the weather starts to get cooler I just want to curl up with a great book and read the win­ter away. I’m tempted to buy a Snug­gie just for that purpose(you get a free book light!) Of course, if you want to make the best use of those long hours you’ll grab a cup of cocoa and a “clas­sic book.”

Are you embar­rassed that you’ve read too few? Is there a book that is con­sid­ered to be a clas­sic that you pos­i­tively despise? Are “clas­sics” great works that every­one should be famil­iar with or should they be replaced by more diverse and mod­ern works? Did a book change your life? What was the last “clas­sic” you read?

Rain

In the movies, pathetic fal­lacy rains.(Malapropism intended.)

Nearly all funeral scenes in movies(and books) are drib­bling and drip­ping because black umbrel­las are dra­matic, but we all know that rain can be so much more than the cue for con­tem­pla­tive solem­nity. In the midst of a hot August day a light rain can be refresh­ing and wel­com­ingly cool. Roil­ing black clouds ripped open by thun­der and light­en­ing can be fright­en­ing and awe-inspiring. Yet another dreary day of spring rains inspires anger and annoy­ance after already hav­ing been kept inside because of weather all winter.

For me, some­times those dark clouds and wind before it rains fill my heart with a desire to go, to change, to run. On those days I inhale the breath of the gods and the rain gives me life.

This month’s nudge, while we enjoy the last days of rain this sea­son, is to cre­ate with rain in mind. The rain doesn’t have to be the star­ring char­ac­ter, of course, or even obvi­ously present in your work. Just keep it in mind and let it nour­ish your growth and breathe the gods into you.


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