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DIY Designer Living-Designer Alchemy

DIY Designer Alchemy

Alchemy has fascinated humanity for at least as long as Time Travel. Maybe it is the fact that there are so many places where transformation occurs in nature around us. From Bullfrogs, to Diamonds, and  back to butterflies, not to mention the insatiable appetite of people to grow and expand and become a fuller expression of themselves.

In the Alchemical mix, we have the base elements, the sliver from the Philosopher's Stone, the Elixir of Life, and fire/heat.

In this brand of DIY Designer Alchemy, I'm looking at how this principle of transformation can be applied to life in a very similar way, creating intentional, lasting and beautiful changes in the quality of our state of being and hence our lives.

Part 1 Your Base Elements-Your Current Position

Let's lay this out in a simple way. Take stock of your life. Consider your skills and talents. What are you good at? What work do you already do? What positions do you already hold?

I recall when studying Time Management I heard a speaker say that anyone who is interrupted every five minutes is a person in senior management. I was a mum of five children under ten years old. I definitely qualified!

Taking Stock- Make Inventory of what you have in your hand.

My point here: look beyond the obvious. Forget formal education and think about what you do in a day? What dexterity did it require, what forethought? How many people were involved or affected? You can add the elements of education but institutions are not the only "school" in life. Like anything else, completing courses or degrees or PhDs is worth celebrating and recognising, but so is mastering any skill. In light of life, all are valuable. And it is life we're talking about here.  A LIFE TIME. So, let's make it the time of our lives!

Begin with your present day. What are you doing,  or have you done and what skills, talents, gifts, disciplines, practices, thinking processes, physical capabilaities, mediator, investigator...everything that comes to mind. Take NOTHING for granted. Do you know how hard it is to walk without all your toes for example?

Keep a Log-What you do, how, why and the associated reward (personal/monetary)

List the tasks begun and completed and the necessary skills etc. Rank them in terms of enjoyment. 1-high- 3-medium, low-5

Then, come back tomorrow. You could well find that more and more detail becomes added to this list as you begin to recognise just what's involved in being the manager of your own life! You will likely grow in appreciation too! Even if all that happens is that you realise your contribute a whole lot less than you know you could, then  you have a great starting place for transformation! (buit it's likely to be the other way around)

Mining Your Own "Acres of Diamonds"

These are your raw materials as they stand. Your "base Metals" for the upcoming alchemical process about to take place in your soul. I will add a sample from my own life in the hope that you can see how to apply the principles, but I can be contacted for personal "passion coaching" advice!

Part 2-The Sliver from the Stone –plan

Recognising your position (your resources and expenditures), you can see how effectively you are using  your abilities, fulfilling responsibilities and expanding your capabilities. You can see where you are, where you think you'd like to be and where you might like to go from there.

This is where the planning comes in. Creative planning. I see this as being the sliver from the Stone because stone is symbolic of foundational strength. It's what we build on. The Ten Commandments were given to the Hebrews on stone tablets and the laws upon them were supposed give people a safe structure to grow within, until their own healthy habits developed, because they just weren't cutting it on their own! They still had the mentality of slaves and couldn't govern themselves.

The Plan was to bring them to a place of maturity, independence and freedom so they no longer needed to be told what to do or be punished for not doing it.

The Sliver is the ‘discipline base' present in any educational endeavour. We learn theory, put it into practice, apply it to life and reap the reward. It is the budget for financial goals. It is the menu for a healthy new diet. It is the means to help you "habituate to habitate". It is the way to live consistently in your desired lifestyle. It is your schedule of tasks, so that you complete your agendas.

There must be certain requirements met in order to generate the change we want to see, but there also needs to be balance, fun, flexibility and maybe even a planning "buddy". If it's too rigid, you won't want to stick to it, but if it doesn't have enough structure it will lose appeal and effectiveness.

A simple example of this from my life is that I recently divided my energy into three main areas of vocation. My long term goal is my novel, which has music and images and I have BIG plans for, but initially, to finish and publish it. The next goal is product development. What I'm doing right here, right now, is this goal in process. And the third area is music, both my own and my performance as it is my main income source at present and I need to keep my "chops". I made things very simple and committed two hours to each of these Mon-Fri.

My Utube videos, website and blog, social media, radio show, portrait work, book keeping, volunteer work, socialising, networking and actual gigging, get slotted in everywhere else. I decided these three things were my personal priority. They will give back the things that have for so long eluded me and fulfil what I believe to be my Life Purpose.

And I am LOVING this plan! I am committed to it and very excited about what I can already see coming to fruition!

Part 3-The Elixir of Life –Passion

Inspire means "God breathed" . Enthuse is "God within". I hold very strongly to the truth that when we are living out of our passions, we are living out of our vital connection with God, the Source of all things, seen and unseen. The Elixir of Life is the eternal being, the part that lives beyond flesh. You won't get GOLD from tin without the crucial ingredient of involving your whole heart. When you do, you will find much MORE than you could have fathomed possible.

I once heard someone say that "Duty is the poorer sister of Love".  I don't recall who it was, but it was a Christian minister speaking on the motivation of Love (Agape) and it being superior to obligation. I may even have read it, rather than heard it. It struck a chord with me because I did a lot of study on "worship" , or doing things out of LOVE-not fear, not obligation, not for reward primarily...but LOVE

Motive is everything and if love wasn't the motive, then it was as straw for burning as far as I could see. At the root of all other motivation is Fear, Guilt, Obligation, Judgment, Anger, Hatred...and so on. To sow an action from these energy modes is to reap more reason to experience more of them. Sometimes, what we do is helpful to another, but unless done from love, won't benefit us in what should be healthy bonuses to our well being. Love blesses ALL.

This is an extension on the "worth doing well" principle. Kenneth Copeland used to say "Do it because it's right, and do it right" In other words, if it's worth doing it, then do it from love, the way you authentically desire to do.

The term "amateur" refers to someone who does something for the love of it. This has been mistakenly misappropriated to mean someone who doesn't get paid. i.e. not professional. But amateur comes from the root word "amour"= "to love". The biggest difference is that an amateur will give his soul to the pursuit of his love, even if he never sees a cent for it. He is compelled by Love.

My desire is to do all I do from this place of passion. It is such a life giving energy source. It is my "Elixir of Life". For the times when I'm not "feeling it", I fan it into flame by reminding myself why it matters. I'll "preach myself happy!"

Part 4-The Fires of Transformation-perseverance/commitment

You can bet, no matter how smoothly things flow at the outset, it's fairly safe to say, you will strike some turbulence somewhere. If the obstacles stop you, then you know  you weren't really committed.

Having done all to stand, stand. Perseverance and commitment are indispensible. No half baked attempt at "being better" but a total sell out to nothing less than your full potential. Commitment to decision like this will compel a person through the adversities, obstacles and discouragement. These come that you may learn the skills necessary to sustain life at the GOLD level. They are learning hurdles and reveal why you are not already there.

I have connected and spoken to so many people in the past few years who are in this phase of building their Life Work. They are refining their understanding of themselves, redefining their position, aligning to their peculiar bents and priorities and establishing their own niche. Dreams are forged in the fires of personal transformation. If we didn't have dreams we simply wouldn't bother, but this sense of hope and destiny within drags us on by the heart when we want to be let go and draws us back up to our feet.

Surely, my dreams have me, not the other way around! They are the alchemical pot over the fire, that transform me from base humanity to shining glory. This is why we begin to die when we stop dreaming. But once the dream gets hold of you, look out! "For the joy set before you" you will find yourself enduring all manner of things.

When the dream has you, you will have found a commitment that is "Do or Die!" You will burn all bridges behind you, wear blinkers that blind you to every distraction and you will fulfil your heart's desire. But be warned...the nature of the beast called "Life" is that you will have found another quest by the time you conquer yourself and attain the first one!  And the cycle will go around again.

And you will LOVE IT because you'll have become a champion!  "A champion rejoices to run his/her course" (Ps 19:5b) A champion loves to challenge themselves and believes in their ability to rise to the challenge  because they know it rests completely upon their commitment, which is unfailing.

Go for Gold, Champ!

One of my all time favourite quotes:

"Until one commits, there is hesitancy, the chance to turn back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans. That the moment one definitely commits oneself then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way, I have learned a deep respect for Goerthe's couplets; " whatever you can do, or dream you can do , begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
WH Murray. Himalayan Expedition 1951

 

About the Author

Lisa Shah is a mother of 5 grown children-all pursing Creative and Artistic Careers. A multi arts professional, Internet Radio host and blogger. She has a Bachelor of Creative Arts and has devised a workshop model called Creative Thinking Technology to help people from all walks of life to consciously reconnect with their creator core and from there begin to re-design their lives on purpose from the inside out-practical, applicable and outcome oriented.

Lisa works as a professional singer/musician as well as coaching through her "Passion is Purpose" Program.

Some links

http://lisashahescape.com

http://blogtakradio.com/lisa-shah

http://sonicbids.com/lisashah

http://youtube.com/lisashahescape

http://facebook.com/lisashah

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January 7th, 2008 in Wood Carving