Author Archives: Playful Karen

Grateful Monday: What is Perfect About This Present Moment?Jan. 28th

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What Is Perfect About This Present Moment?*

The last Grateful Monday that I showed up for on 1/14/13 was the day after a pretty intense car accident where Bryan and I rolled a car twice, and by several miracles of ‘seconds and inches,’ we were both able to walk away from the wreck.  I continue to have a slight pain in my neck, and am GRATEFUL for it.  (I shudder to think of the alternative.)

 

So my perspective (for now) is pretty shifted.  Although I can still get caught up in the daily minutia — for instance today, when feeling pressured to get home, get showered and get out the door to pick up Lily from school, I pulled quickly out of a parking lot, and put the fear of God into Bryan in the passenger seat when a car across the way started moving out at the same time! — in the bigger scheme of things, I am feeling comfortable that life is unfolding as it should. Each moment feels pretty perfect.  Simply because it IS.

I saw a great post earlier today that I want to share here too.  It is written more from a workplace perspective, but it rang true so I wanted to share: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.  It seems to be a theme in my life right now.  Clearing away what isn’t so important, being committed to what is, and getting straight that what is important has very little to do with the ‘outside stuff.’

So, how about you? —

What Is Perfect About This Present Moment?*

Stay Playful, Playful Karen

 *Questions provided by Cafe Gratitude and their daily ‘Question of the Day’ program that helps facilitate ‘clear and present’ employees at their amazing Cafes.

Grateful Monday: What Are You Grateful For?Jan. 14th

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What Are You Grateful For?*

Quite simply, today (and her I am speaking for myself and Bryan,) we are grateful to be alive.  Yesterday, was a strange day to say the least.  A beautiful celebration of our daughters’ 8th birthday…

Lily does her ‘Walk around the Sun’ with Grandpa & Meme.

 

 

 

…which was immediately preceded by the most intense car crash of both of our lives:

We walked away.  Needless to say, we are grateful to be alive, no serious injuries, and feeling like ‘our work here is not done!’

Beyond that, kind of speechless.

What Are You Grateful?*

Stay Playful, Playful Karen

 *Questions provided by Cafe Gratitude and their daily ‘Question of the Day’ program that helps facilitate ‘clear and present’ employees at their amazing Cafes.

Grateful Monday: What Activates You?Jan. 8th

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What Activates You?*

Welcome to the first Grateful Monday post of 2013!  It is officially a day late, as today is Tuesday, but the entire holiday season threw off the schedule over here at PP headquarters!

I like this question for starting out the new year.  What Activates You?  I am feeling activated by a number of new commitments that have come as a result of getting depleted by the end of the ‘Old Year’ and reassessing as the ‘New Year’ approached.

It is a common song that mom’s sing.  Maybe working mom’s in particular, but I don’t necessarily think so.  I think many mom’s in general have the ‘putting others first’ affliction that can so often lead to self-neglect.  At least that is the experience I have myself, and seems to be a pretty common thread amongst women I know.

someecards.com - The joys of motherhood are never fully experienced until the children are in bed. ~ Author Unknown

So as the year was grinding to a close, with the holidays adding to the fray, I was becoming wearier and wearier.  Enough so that my husband saw fit to make a 2-day ‘escape from real-life’ part of my Christmas gift. (Thank you, B! xoxox)  We originally talked about him packing up the camper and heading to Big Sur with our daughter, but rainy days and nearly freezing temperatures at night were putting a damper on that plan.  By an apparent act of God, a cancellation came up at The New Camaldoli Hermitage, also in Big Sur.  Bryan booked a private hermitage for my for 2 nights and before I knew it, I was on my way to commune with the brothers!

While there, it became apparent to me that the space I was craving in my life didn’t have nearly so much to do with wanting to be ‘away’ from my family, as it had to do with my wanting to ‘be present’ for myself.  In every day life.  Not just at the monastery.

That is the long way round to my answer to What Activates You? Right now, I am being activated by a fresh commitment to prayer and meditation as well as having just started a Bikram Yoga practice.  The prayer and meditation is being supported by a lovely little book, Always We Begin Again, that was given to me as gift by a spiritual mentor.  The Bikram (aka “hot yoga”) was inspired by several things pointing me in that direction, but mostly by an internal pull to ‘JUST DO IT!”

So, 8 days in to 2013, and I have spent some time in prayer and meditation every day, and I have completed 4 yoga classes.  I go to my 5th class at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow.  I am excited, feeling a little tired, but not depleted, and yes, I would say I AM Activated!

What Activates You?*

Stay Playful, Playful Karen

 *Questions provided by Cafe Gratitude and their daily ‘Question of the Day’ program that helps facilitate ‘clear and present’ employees at their amazing Cafes.

Determined to Do Something in the Wake of SandyhookDec. 16th

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I’m sure this will go down in history as one of those events where people will ask, “do you remember where you were when you heard about the Sandyhook shooting?”  At least that is how I feel about it.  It feels like one of those definitive moments in our country’s history.  What will we do now to ensure a tragedy of this nature doesn’t occur again?  But, this is not a post about gun control or an open conversation about mental illness.  This is quite literally a pulling from my heart to DO SOMETHING in the wake of such a grievous loss for the families, the school, and the community of Newtown, CT.

Friday, December 14, 2012:  It’s going to be a busy day in my world.  Bryan and I are filming a segment of a show we are producing in the morning, next, pick up Lily and her good friend from school a little early and then drive a couple of hours up the road to The Holiday of Lights Festival at Gilroy Gardens (an amusement park in Gilroy, CA.) 

During the production portion of the morning, I periodically peek at my smartphone and see some comments about devastation, broken hearts, tragedy.  The comments aren’t giving me a complete picture of what was happening, but I am starting to piece together that there had been a shooting at a school. That is horrible, not again.  But what can I do?

Next, a business partner calls to update me on a meeting he had just taken.  First thing he asks is if I have heard about the shooting at the school in CT.  Connecticut?  My home state.  I felt something stir inside.  It is creepy no matter where an event like this takes place, but something about it being close to ‘home,’ brings it — well, ‘close to home.’  Then, the next jab…”it was at an elementary school, there were kindergarteners killed.”  [Just writing this sentence makes me cry all over again.]  How can this be?  It doesn’t compute in my brain.  My breath is taken away and I literally don’t know what to say or how to process this information. I have a 7-year old.  I don’t know what to say.  This is heinous, atrocious, should not be a possibility in our world, but what can I do?

The final piece of the puzzle comes for me as I drive to gather the kids from school.  At stop signs I scroll through the headlines to pick up more information.  I read some details, and again my heart nearly stops.  Newtown, CT.  NEWTOWN, CT!  This is just miles from my own hometown.  My best friend from college comes from Newtown.  HER best friend from High School is still there, and … OH NO, her son is six-years-old!  Oh, Dear God, PLEASE do not let John be among the victims.  I pull the car to the side and immediately dial my friend.  As I attempt to leave a message I am crying, I cannot get the words out.

I am relieved when my friend dials me back quickly.  I don’t have to wait to find out that John was safe at a different elementary school in the town.  But something about those moments of wondering whether that little boy that I held as a baby had been shot reached  me at a deep level.  And I am grateful for that.  I realize later as I am driving to the amusement park (with my very alive child and her very alive friend,) that it IS AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE that I keep finding myself with tears in my eyes and a pit in my stomach.  Yes, it is appropriate that I FEEL at this level when a tragedy of this magnitude befalls a community in my world.  Anywhere in my world.  But what can I do?

As we drive, it occurs to me that what I can do is to try to gather forces to be a stand for love and for healing and for support and compassion. I believe in the power of prayer and I believe in the power of joined consciousness to create an energetic movement in the physical world.   I personally do not have the kind of reach that could gain a critical mass to support this idea, but I am blessed that I have been in the company of incredible, powerful women in the online community that, together, MAY be able to create that kind of following.

And here it is born.  The vision to use social media and online influence to gather a million+ people to offer up a 5-minute vigil of prayer (or silence, or a vibration of love,) for ALL of the people affected by the devastating events on the morning of the 14th. And here it is that the amazing group that will say YES to help gather a light brigade begins to come together. 

Robin O’Bryant, of Robin’s Chicks and author of the amazing Ketchup is a Vegetable and Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves was the first to come on board.  Since then, the posse has grown.  Jessica Bern of Bern This; Ciaran Blumenfeld of Momfluential; Ann Imig of Ann’s Rants and founder of founder of Listen to Your Mother; Heather Westberg King of The Extraordinary Ordinary; and Yuliya Patsay of She Suggests are all mobilizing toward the vision.  The vision is to take a stand, take a few minutes, be prayerful and maybe, just MAYBE, with enough people adding their love to the mix — maybe the people that have been left with grief beyond comprehension, will feel a moment of peace, also beyond comprehension.  

We invite you to join us on Facebook on A Virtual Prayer Vigil for Sandyhook Survivors and share this vision with your own communities. 

 

Or, simply put this on your calendar: 5 minutes beginning at 9:36 a.m. EST on Friday, December 21, 2012.

Grateful Monday: What Are You Creating?Nov. 26th

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What Are You Creating?*

This isn’t a direct answer to the chosen question here, but to start, I just want to say that I am very grateful for this past holiday weekend that afforded me and my family some much needed downtime!  We made the most of our time together eating (of course!,) enjoying the great outdoors, taking in a movie, and, I for one, took the opportunity to disconnect from technology for the weekend, which was unusual and very relaxing!

And… that bit of gratitude is what has led to the answer to today’s question of ‘what are you creating?’  Bryan and I got to spend some time thinking and talking about what we set out to create with Playful Planet.  So much of our inspiration for creating this company was to create a way to support our family that also supports the lifestyle that we desired to create for us in our relationship, our family and our community.  We set out to create a way that we could be doing something meaningful in the world without losing sight of our connection to each other and our daughter.  We were excited to continue to work for ourselves (both having been independent contractors for much of our careers,) so that we could have flexibility in our schedules that doesn’t always come with more traditional career choices. 

 

This past weekend we got to look at where we are achieving what we set out to accomplish and where we are falling short.  In many ways we are doing a lot of what we intended – the most important being bringing a quality product to children to help inspire them to healthy lifestyles at a young age.  And we were able to see where what we are ‘up against’ is VERY familiar to entrepreneurs (as witnessed in this great article that talks about entrepreneurs being like the Pilgrims.)

In taking stock of where we are at today, we simply got clear that we have been allowing our work life to dictate our schedules and trying to fit in the things that feed us emotionally, mentally and spiritually around the needs of the business.  What we talked about, and what we are creating now, is the space to put our well-being first (for me it means making sure I take time to meditate in the morning AND get regular exercise,) so that there is more to give when it comes time to get to work!  It is the old oxygen mask analogy — place your mask on first before attempting to help anyone else. 

I think that this stance is so important in so many facets of life, including career, family, child-rearing and being a contributing member of a community.   I am taking on creating more balance in my life.

What Are You Creating?*

Stay Playful, Playful Karen

 *Questions provided by Cafe Gratitude and their daily ‘Question of the Day’ program that helps facilitate ‘clear and present’ employees at their amazing Cafes.

Grateful Monday: What Are You Grateful For?Nov. 19th

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What Are You Grateful For?*

Yes, the classic Grateful Monday question.  Nothing else would have made sense for Thanksgiving week, right?

My full-on gratitude list is too long to share here.  It probably wouldn’t be much different than many of yours.  If we are here (on the internet,) and reading a blog, than most of us have the comforts of the ‘well-taken care of.’  So, I won’t bore you with my particulars.  Just know that my life is abundant with blessings, and I am grateful for it.

Rather I will turn my attention here to my gratitude for Lynne Twist.  Some of you may already know Lynne and her work, and some not, but the timing of this post is coinciding with our loading up a video to Playful Tube  of an interview we did with Lynne a couple of months back. 

Why should I be grateful for Lynne Twist?  I’m sure that the list could be endless, but for the sake of brevity, I will only share a couple of them here:

  • I had the good fortune to hear Lynne when she was a keynote speaker at the Natural Products Expo 2011.  Hearing her speak, learning her story, and experiencing her dedication to her work in person was truly inspiring.  It gave me the spark I needed to make it through a LONG day!
  • After hearing Lynne speak, I purchased her book, The Soul of Money. The wisdom she shares based on her personal family experiences as well as her global work with The Hunger Project are memorable and help me to keep priorities in alignment.  The story of her time with Mother Theresa comes back to me often.
  • I was introduced to Lynne’s current work with The Pachamama Alliance through a Leadership Training program I took with Cafe Gratitude (see the credit below that I give each week to our Grateful Monday questions.)    When I began to delve into the work she is doing to create a bridge between the modern world and the indigenous world in the rainforest, I was beyond moved.  Here is someone that is taking on the seemingly impossible, and it making it happen!
  • Lynne made time in an extremely busy schedule to grant Playful Planet an interview for our Playful Tube.  She was gracious beyond measure as she fit us in right before a major webinar she was hosting later that day.  We promised to be done in 20 minutes, and when we were done with our allotted 20, she offered to answer ‘one more question’ because she had learned that we had driven a long way that day to see her.

I am really thrilled with the beautiful story of the legend of The Eagle and The Condor that Lynne shares with us in this particular clip.  Stay tuned for more wisdom from this woman who teaches that it is entirely possible to live an amazing life filled with integrity and make a difference in the world. 

I’m sure that I qualify as a full-fledged groupie, but today what I am giving thanks for and what I am grateful for is Lynne Twist ~~ on so many levels.

What Are You Grateful For?*

 *Questions provided by Cafe Gratitude and their daily ‘Question of the Day’ program that helps facilitate ‘clear and present’ employees at their amazing Cafes.

Stay Playful, Playful Karen

Nov. 14th

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Mom It Forward Contributor I really felt good about meeting Cari Thompson at the BlogHer Entrepreneurs Conference earlier this year, and she enthusiastically supported me in submitting a post for the super cool site she works with, MomItForward.  Being a little bit shy about my “place” in the blogging world, it took me a little time to gear up for putting myself out there.  But I’m glad I did.  It’s surprising how cool it feels to have my post up on a site that I really respect.  Thanks to Cari and Jill Greenlaw for helping to make this happen!

Here’s what that post looks like, featured on the front page!

Surprisingly Simple SauceNov. 9th

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I just had to share here… I winged it yesterday with the overflow of cherry tomatoes I had on my super abundant plant, and came up with a super simple (and super tasty!) sauce.

I kind of remembered doing something to this effect a couple of years back but for the life of me, I couldn’t find the recipe.  So here’s what I did:

I filled a 9X13 baking dish with one diced onion, a large colander full of washed (uncut) cherry tomatoes, about 5 small cloves of garlic, a couple of shakes of italian seasoning, a little extra basil, about 10 turns of the sea salt grinder, and poured some olive oil over the whole lot.  Stirred it up and baked it at 350 degrees for probably about an hour. (Confession: I forgot to turn on a timer, so it may have been a little longer.  Some of the tomatoes were beginning to turn slightly brown.)  Once out of the oven and cooled for a few minutes, I threw it in my everyday blender, and in a couple of batches was done. 

Usually, Lily will eat plain pasta and will have a little sauce on the side.  Last night I served it up all mixed together and she chowed down. So fresh, so easy! 

Grateful Monday: What is Your Dream?Nov. 5th

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What Is Your Dream?*

My dream is that the trajectory of our world shifts in a major way.  That a sustainable future for all becomes the highest value.  That those that ‘have’ use their resources for the good of all and that those that ‘don’t have’ are given the means to live with dignity and peace.  My dream is that being kind, generous and giving becomes a higher priority than being powerful, dominant and right.  That barriers of all kinds (race, religion, sex, politics,) give way to Oneness. 

My dream is that children are given a fair shot at a future that is still filled with promise rather than mere survival.  That solutions to dwindling resources and over-consumption begin to appear and that all people get on board.

My dream is that I learn to live from the place of my stated dreams, in big and small ways in my daily life.  That I remember to put LOVE first and not be self-seeking, unconscious or fearful.

Honestly, I didn’t realize what I was taking on when I chose to answer this particular question, but I’m glad I took some time to think about it.  I invite you to do the same.

What Is Your Dream?*

 *Questions provided by Cafe Gratitude and their daily ‘Question of the Day’ program that helps facilitate ‘clear and present’ employees at their amazing Cafes.

Stay Playful, Playful Karen