Another Diagnostic Tool

A former student, Ginger Ingalls, is undergoing treatment for cancer. She posted a "thumbs up" on Facebook today to the doc that helped find the cancer. In addition to the usual tests -- bloodwork, x-rays, etc. -- he also trusted his intuition that said there was "something" else there.

If he hadn't trusted his intuition, it would have taken much longer for Ginger to learn about the cancer. We all know what happens when a cancer diagnosis is delayed.

The allopathic medical community is deeply indebted to the many sources of data about our bodies that are now available to them -- blood tests, x-rays, CAT scans, MRIs, etc. etc. etc. -- with good reason. These diagnostic tools allow the medical practitioner to "see" into the body in a way the naked eye usually can't.

However, there's another diagnostic tool that has been drummed out of the diagnostic corps -- the intuition of an experienced practitioner. Intuition is not some kind of wispy surreal fakery. It's not make-believe. "Intuition" is the name we use when we're taking in information outside of the normal blunt cognitive processes. It's frequently the result of some very sophisticated integration of experience, observation, and standard data.

Sadly, for medical professionals it also often involves actually touching a patient, which doctors do less and less.

The other truth is that intuition can be taught and learned. It's not limited to the spiritually advanced or restricted to those born with a "gift". We are all born with the capacity. That capacity is often trained out of us during our formative years but it can be trained back in. The primary lesson you need to access your own intuition? Learning to listen to yourself.

But that's not a standard cognitive process. It doesn't come from a book. You can't get an advanced degree in it. It can't be measured with our current stable of measuring devices. (Though it can be tested for efficacy.) Therefore, it can't be "real" or useful.

Pity, that.

Starting At The Beginning

Back in September I started attending a weekly meditation group on Wednesday mornings. After our main meditation, we usually draw "angel" cards to see what they have to say for us today.

Today, mine mentioned my "divine purpose". The leader asked me what I thought mine was. I said "to educate and mentor". I love to teach and I tend to draw to me people who want to learn from what I've learned.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what kind of teaching I like to do. I've noticed that I most often get excited by helping people get started in something. I like to teach the 101-level classes, the getting started classes, the introduction-to classes. I get jazzed by helping people explore, step into, or accept the challenge of something new. I like giving people the confidence to go somewhere they haven't gone before.

I've wondered, at times, if I'm deficient because I don't help people develop mastery. I do not tend to lead people deep into a subject. I help them start on a path but then I have to hand them off to someone else for the advanced work. Am I a dilettante, ever dabbling in new fields and new experiences but never staying long enough to gain depth?

Maybe. More likely, I think this is my role in life. Others are not good at the "getting started" but they are darned good at the "going deep". I'm the experimenter. I am the explorer. I get buzzed from learning new things and sharing that.

In recognizing and claiming your strengths, you also have to have at least a nodding acquaintance with your weaknesses. That's valuable. It improves the odds that you will not commit to something that depends on your weak side.

The is my learning for today.

How Do You Spell Success?

I've been engaged in some interesting conversations lately about the concept of success for a writer.

Is it peer respect? That other people in my field think highly of what I write?

Is it selling a lot of books?

Is it making a lot of money from the sales of my books?

Is it gaining name recognition so that people want to come to my workshops and buy my next book?

Is it having a lot of people actually read my book?

These things are not mutually exclusive (I can only have one) but they also aren't mutually inclusive either (they naturally go together).

For example, I could sell a lot of books because I've figured out how to get "buzz" (Oprah? Have you gotten my memo yet??). That doesn't mean it's a good book that will get the respect of my peers or even of the people that have bought the book.

Example? I've been reading (more accurately, slogging through) "The Celestine Prophecy". This book was big in the new age/spirituality market back in the early 90s. The author originally self-published and sold 10,000 copies out of his car trunk before a major publisher picked it up. By 2006, he'd sold more than 20 million copies. It has been translated into 32 languages.

The ideas in it are fascinating but they're wrapped in a fictional story and the fictional writing is, to be kind, weak. In fact, in an informal survey of friends, more than half admitted that they only finished it by focusing on the ideas and ignoring or forcing themselves to finish the fictional story. I also know a lot of people who never finished it and they all cite the bad writing as the reason.

Yet, it sold millions. The author was interviewed endlessly and has gone on to a pretty conventional definition of success.

Another example: there's a writer here in Australia who has produced one of the stupidest cookbooks I've ever seen. But she sold millions of copies because she knew how to market the hell out of that book (actually "books", she's done a 2nd cookbook in the series). She also figured out that (1) people buy plenty of books (especially cookbooks) that they never read and (2) she doesn't necessarily need people to love her books, she just needs them to buy them.

She's got great name recognition and is a sought-after speaker, guest on morning TV, etc. Talk about "brand".

I can't say that's wrong because I would love to have that kind of name recognition and I'd like to sell millions of copies. But do I want to do it by writing crappy books but marketing them brilliantly? If my goal is to support myself with writing (and speaking, etc.), then the answer could legitimately be "yes".

Am I too "professional" for that? Or am I not good enough at marketing? I don't know. Ask me again in a year or two when I'm earnestly trying to sell my books.

More importantly, I need to get clear with myself about what "success" as a writer is going to look like to me. Working on that.....

Uh...where do my hands go?

Back in December Jeff fell and tore up his knee -- torn ACL, PCL, and lateral co-lateral plus hairline fractures of the tibia. He'll need surgery when we get back to the States but in the meantime he's getting around pretty well with a cane.


However, sometimes his knee still gives out on him. A few weeks ago that happened and he caught himself -- sharply -- with the cane. Phew! Except for the jammed shoulder.


He asked me to do some massage on his shoulder. For a brief moment, I couldn't remember how to massage a shoulder! It's been 9 months since I've done a massage.


It came back but there was a moment when I was wondering if PMTI offered remedial massage education....

Another fantasy...

Wish I had the wherewithall to do something like this: Bleeding Hearts.

Underwear check...

Years ago, my massage partner-in-crime Kitty Southworth was sharing her frustration at meeting someone who didn't carry their business cards. She said, completely extemporaneously "I leave home with my underwear before I leave home wthout my business cards!"

It's a great quote and I've shared this story with many other small business owners. I once caught her without her business cards and I made her prove to me she was wearing her underwear.

Well........2 weeks ago I got caught out without business cards (even though I was wearing my underwear). I ran out a month ago and was having trouble getting them printed since we don't have a printer at home and I don't really need 500, which is the minimum at the local print shop.

And God bless my lovely husband, Jeff made sure Kitty knew I'd been caught out without biz cards! Nice job, fuzzbutt.

I now have biz cards in my purse so I've got them with me all the time. All the time! So I can wear my underwear guilt-free again.