an interview with Lara Eastburn, the Moonshine Marketeer!!

by Deborah Globus

by Deborah Globus

by Deborah Globus

by Deborah Globus

Isaac and Ishmael at their father’s grave.  In Abraham’s place is an overturned chair.  Thus the stage is set in the bibliodrama Elizabeth is leading.

These two (half) brothers have not seen each other in no one knows how many years.  What do they say to one another?  You – Isaac, what do you say?  You – Ishmael, what do you say?

We answer, in character, each of us imagining how it went.

One of us suggests, “I’ve missed you brother; let us make peace”

Another imagines, “What are your intentions?”

Still another sees it this way, “This is my land.  Be gone!”

But I know this scene.  I have been here before.  

And suddenly I am no longer at “the grave” but in a hospital room, years earlier.  In the bed is my brother, 39 years old and steadily poisoning himself with alcohol.  Within a year he would be dead.

by Deborah Globus

by Deborah Globus

It's a sweet little practice that allows me to wander joyously through a bookstore randomly pulling books into my arms and savoring them and their potential and learning…without actually needing to spend a fortune on all that loveliness!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• An hour or two of uninterrupted time
• A journal and writing implement
• A place to sit with your ill-gotten gains
• A cuppa (optional, although it will allow you to sit, guilt-free, in a chair in the café so there’s that!)

Begin with your intention of assessment.  Going in with the idea that this is your intention triggers the subconscious (and your intuition) and keeps it clear that you don’t mean to by every (or any) book you pull.

Wander.  Gather.  Pull books into your arms.  Look through ‘em first.  Or don’t.  Go to your favorite sections.  Go to new-to-you sections.  Allow yourself to be lead.

When you can’t carry any more find someplace to sit.  

Make a tidy pile of your books, spines facing you.  Open your journal and write down the titles.  

See any themes?  Commonalities?  Look back at your books – are there similarities in the colors used or maybe in the fonts?

Once you’ve explored this track, pick up the first book that calls to you.  Peruse it.  Ponder it.  Write down anything from inside it that captures your attention.  

Play along: if this book had a message for you, what would it be?

Now think about the essence of this book.  Why did you pick it?  What did you hope to get from it?  What is the secret (or not so secret) yearning behind the book?  What (if anything) is the perceived lack?  

(For example:  when I end up in the Writer’s Reference section I’m often feeling called back to my long-term writing project but fear that I don’t have the time to commit to it that it deserves so “Let me at least read a little to further my craft and my know-how…”  Then I know to ask the question “Is that really true or would I be better served to just GO and WRITE?”)

Repeat for your other books.

When you’re done, bid your books a fond farewell and thank them, heartily, for their wisdom.  Take time to review what you’ve written and keep the thoughts and learnings fresh.

by Deborah Globus, Milo & Sammy

Then there were babies – a tough time!  

Creative solutions for keeping naps going (until they were 5!) were a mandatory addition.  

• They would nap in my bed.  
• The littler one napped in his sister’s bed, thereby causing confusion about whether he wanted a big boy bed (no!) or a “big GIRL” bed.  
• Then there was the “cozy corner” of blankets and stuffed animals and flowers painted on the walls.
  

They’ve outgrown naps, now, but I still live by them.  Sometimes I’ll catch a twenty minute nap on the couch in my home office right before the kids get home.  (It’s easier to get up when you have someone to get up for!)

Sometimes I’ll curl up next to my honey and snooze an afternoon away with the promise of late-night movie viewing together.

Sometimes, like after a night in Brooklyn with my Brooklyn Crew (my women’s circle) I need to make up for the lack of sleep and I’ll crawl under the covers for a two hour snooze. (Note: Earlier in the day is better so I don’t mess up my bed time.)  

The price I pay if I don’t nap  is irritability and everyone in the house is miserable.

And sometimes, if I’m working on something – a writing project, a work thing or most likely processing something on an emotional level – I’ll “cocoon.”  

I’ll curl up under the covers with the thing that I’m working on that’s stuck, with the intention of letting my subconscious have at it for a little while.  Most days I’ll have to turn over and take notes.  Once in a while I get nothing more than a little extra rest during a trying time.

Napping is a tool in my pack.  

There’s plenty of ways that I go about it but no matter what approach I take I know one thing for sure.    I am not, and have never been, someone for whom “powering through” works effectively.  Sure I can do it, but the payback is a bitch and if it’s a creative endeavor it always suffers.

Better to take the gentle approach.  Rest.  Sleep.  Give my body what it needs.  

I learned this the hard way – I can fight how sleepy I am or I can go with it.   Cat napping.  It’s good for THIS soul.  What about you?

by Deborah Globus

The last two weeks have been all about assessing.

I hadn’t planned it that way.  

It just kinda snuck in, took up residency and won’t be on its way until it’s run its course.  A little like the flu but less unpleasant, though just as unexpected.

I shouldn’t be surprised, though.  Assessment is the first step in many of my practices.