Something to blog about…

July 4, 2006

Happy holiday (and to you who are self-employed: what are you doing at your computer? It’s a holiday.) Of course, I’m at my computer but am feeling enough of the holiday spirit to be taking some blog-time instead of jumping right into my writing for the day.

My life has been rich and full. The past few days we’ve had as our houseguest from Kansas City, Chris Michaels, author of Your Soul’s Assignment. (You can read about it at www.yoursoulsassignment.com and order it from online booksellers.) He was the guest on my live show on Saturday (www.charmedliferadio.com). I taped two other shows, first Michelle Anton with Weekend Entrepreneur: 101 Great Ways to Earn Extra Cash (that one will air in September when I’m in Vermont for a wedding). I so took to Michelle and if she moves back to NY from LA I think we’ll be friends. It’s funny because Michelle was the longtime executive producer for Dr. Laura, whom I listened to almost every day from 1992 to 1999 as I drove my daughter to her various classes and activities. Much of the time I was in total disagreement with Dr. L., but it was compelling radio. And every day she would say, “Michelle Anton, selecting our music and screening your calls…” It was so interesting to be sitting with this woman whose name I’d heard Monday through Friday for the better part of a decade.

My second taping was Sherry Boone, my spiritual “action partner” and an amazing soprano who’s appeared on Broadway in Jelly’s Last Jam, Marie Christine, and Ragtime. Our topic: “Star Quality.” Sherry and I had such a lively conversation I kept thinking “TV show, TV show. . .I think we could have a TV show. . .” We’ll see about that. You can hear the radio show if you’d like on Sunday, July 9, 2 p.m. Eastern, on Martha Stewart Living Radio, Sirius 112. Even if you don’t have Sirius and you have to sit in somebody else’s car, I think this will be worth tuning in for. It was very spirited and Sherry definitely has “star quality”---the real thing, not sham and show---down pat.

Anyway, after Sherry’s taping she and Chris and I went to Rockefeller Center for iced tea at the café that, in the winter, is the ice rink. It was a bright, warm, glorious day and this spectacular city was showing itself off. I felt so full. ‘You know how it is when you are so content, so in your right place, so surrounded by people you think are magnificent that you really do get that “cup runneth over” feeling? That was how it was.

On Sunday Chris spoke for Unity of New York with the message that we are indeed here only to love. He told the story of his relationship with his dad, a man who is very narrow in his views of life, lifestyle, and religion. For years the two of them did not speak. Then Chris realized that he didn’t have to understand his father, only love him. And when he did that, the love poured out from his dad’s side, too. They still don’t understand each other and his father has never been to Chris’s church (the Center for Spiritual Living in Kansas City), heard him speak, or read his book. And yet, they love one another today. (If you want to hear Chris speak---he is gifted---go to www.cslkc.org.)

After church, Chris and my husband William and I saw the final performance of Doubt on Broadway. It was a gripping drama, superbly acted by Dame Aileen Atkins and Ron Eldard. I usually only pay Broadway prices for musicals, but the dramas can be so moving. I mentioned in my last blog going to the Wednesday matinee of Awake & Sing! There was a small black dog in the show and during a pregnant pause in the second act, an elderly man in the audience announced for all to hear: “That dog’s a really good actor.” Ah, the theater!

Another moving and adventurous day for me was Thursday, June 29. I usually dash off to Starbucks to work on my book first thing, but that morning I read the newspaper before I left and learned that the entire collection of Martha Luther King’s written artifacts---homework from school and seminary, letters, notes for speeches and sermons, telegrams---would be on display at Sotheby’s just until 1 p.m. that afternoon. My schedule said I was to write from 8 to 12:00, have lunch, and be home by 1 to meet up with my assistant for an afternoon of work on the radio show and the various clerical and organizational tasks of keeping my multi-lane little business afloat. But I knew I was supposed to be at Sotheby’s, so I went.

And it was breathtaking. I was fighting tears as soon as I got in the room. I’m always moved by people’s handwritten works. It’s as if they leave a bit of themselves behind with the words. And rather like the psychics who claim they can “read” a person if they’re holding her necklace or his money clip, I felt I was with Dr. King as I perused his voluminous writings. Later, when I did get to my computer, I was enlivened. It was if spending an hour in the presence of greatness had opened the channels for inspiration to flow to me.

That evening, I went to the Oxonian Society to hear Ralph Abernathy. The Oxonians are the Oxford alumni in New York, but there are so few of them they let other people join, too, and they bring in luminaries to speak a few times a month. I know that not everyone likes Ralph Abernathy, but I like him a lot. He talked about the danger of narrow morality, “bedroom morality,” he called it, and how focusing so narrowly on the issues of abortion and gay marriage can shut people’s eyes to war, poverty, disease, children without health care and so forth. As a speaker he was funny and powerful. And when I asked if he’d be on my radio show, he said he would. I don’t do politics on my show but I do like looking at fascinating people who have something to say. If people disagree, they can call in.

The final thing I’ll share is about my talk on June 25 at Mama Gena’s School of the Womanly Arts (www.mamagenas.com ) . I’d heard about Mama Gena’s from TV---it’s been featured on Today and all over the place---and knew it was a program to teach woman to accept and enjoy themselves sexually and passionately, to unleash the power of pleasure and the power within. They use my book Fit from Within as one of their texts, and I’d had this date to speak on my calendar for a couple of months. When the day came, however, I was tired, my book deadline had been moved up, and I could have used a Sunday afternoon off. Then I got there. What amazing energy!---150 women believing in themselves and their right to enjoy their bodies and their lives. Mama Gena greeted me and said, “By the way, there are some VIPs in the front row---Dr. Christiane Northrup and her daughters, and Heather Graham.”

Wow. Dr. Northrup has endorsed two of my books but we’d never met. And Heather Graham---my goodness! Rollergirl! And I’d loved her in The Guru, a comedy with a message. Well, VIPs or not, out I went to “Here Comes the Sun,” the theme song for my radio show, blaring from mega-speakers. It was thrilling. I spoke about the gist of Fit from Within---if eating is a problem, give it to your Higher Power; be willing to sit through the cravings until they go away; and treat yourself very, very well. Then I shared the “free square” concept from Creating a Charmed Life and that day’s idea from Younger by the Day, “More Fun Tomorrow.”

During the q & a, a woman had a question about her husband who’d started writing and how she could help him. As part of my answer, I shared that my husband had also started writing (The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing the Harmonica and The New American Expat) and had also written a wonderful screenplay. There’s some serious interest in it and, just as she’s plugging for her husband to get a publisher, I’m praying and envisioning that William’s screenplay becomes a movie. At the book table afterwards, a woman came up to me who works for a major studio. She said they’re looking for family-friendly scripts and for William to send his over, which he has done.

Of course there are no guarantees about anything, but I absolutely love seeing how the flow of life energy works. I was there, book deadline and all, met some people I’m so happy to know, shared the ideas I believe in with women who were open and receptive, and may have helped William take one further step toward his dream. Just thinking of how things work in that way makes me smile.

In closing, I just want to let you know that there is an article in the August issue of Body & Soul called “Dare to Dream!” I didn’t write it but I was interviewed for it and they use my vision map as the illustration for how to do one. So if you have any interest in learning more about vision-mapping and taking a look at my current one (it has the cutest picture of a pig on it…), get yourself the August Body & Soul. (And my show on Saturday July 8 will be about vision-mapping.)

Okay, friends, I’d better get my breakfast and head down to the café to write. I go there to get the stimulation of other people and the blissful isolation of knowing that nobody needs me for anything. That seems to be the perfect balance for writing. Be well and happy and thanks for stopping by. I’ll do another entry in the middle of the month.

May your life be charmed,
Victoria