So Many Distractions

In this month’s Health and Prosperity Newsletter:
Distractions: Our story
Creativity: Finding it in the Sky
Healthy Lifestyle: Gardening with Children
Vegetable Kids: Reading With Your Children
Career: 14 Strategies For an Effective Job Search
Writing: Inspiring Writing for Anyone Who Wants to Write

There are so many distractions in our lives for doing creative work; some are small, some are big, and some are a lot of small things that are continuously coming at us. We all have them. How will we decide what to do about them?

This month my sister, Janet Hignight, illustrator for our new book, “The Vegetable Kids Cafeteria Club” had her second pacemaker surgery in a month. She has had continuous distractions since we started this book project together. Janet is a new illustrator who is using her artistic talent to create drawings for the new children’s book. The last time we got together, I told Janet that I see many of her talents coming together in her illustrations. She is using her decorating talents to draw exterior and interior designs that I would not have been able to imagine. She is taking my story ideas and bringing them to life. She is using her hair styling talents to create a unique cut and style for each character in the book. Her experience with painting is helping her create interesting spaces.

Since we started the project earlier this year, Janet had jury duty right before we met some of you at the Roseville Earth Day event––a huge thank you to all of you who purchased the book, Vegetable Kids in the Garden. Then Janet found that she needed a pacemaker a couple of weeks before her trip to Florida for her daughter’s wedding. The day of the wedding she was in an auto accident that rolled the other car (not her fault). Everyone walked away, but when she got home and went to her doctor, she found that a lead was loose on her pacemaker. Yesterday she had surgery to repair the problem which the doctor said was rare but not from the accident.

We had a goal of getting the book published this summer, but it is the middle of July already. I have a cornea transplant surgery scheduled the last part of September. We’ll see how much we can complete before then. Since the story is finished, I just need to do the publishing after Janet completes the drawings. Using the 3-Step Creative Problem Solving Technique, I looked at possible solutions for the problem of not reaching our goal. I determined that I love Janet’s drawings and they fit the story perfectly. The book is worth doing even if it takes longer than expected. I realized I needed to move on to my next project and let the book move forward in it's own time.

When you find you are losing sight of your goal, your project is not moving forward, and your motivation is waning, contact Nancy Miller, Life Coac h for a 30 minute complimentary call to see how the 3-Step Creative Problem Solving Technique can help you find your stuck state.

Creativity in the Sky
There are times when I feel very creative. Ideas flow and work gets done. At other times I feel like my creativity has been sucked right out of me. I’ve got nothing. This week I was on a plane going from California to Virginia. I had a 5 hour flight, so it seemed like a good time to work on my novel. I pulled out my computer, looked at the screen, and nothing came to my mind. I heard children, flight attendants, and the woosh of the plane. How could I concentrate? I sat listening for a few minutes. Then I realized the sound of children would fit a scene in my story. There would be children, and I previously hadn’t thought about how they might sound or what they might be doing. When I took a breath and listened in the moment, I found a piece of my story.

If you find you need ideas, not progressing on your story or project, or need to get started, contact Nancy Miller, Life Coach for a complimentary 30 minute phone conversation to flesh out your next step.

Healthy Lifestyle: Gardening with Children

In her guest post, Nurturing Patience and Responsibility in Children Through Gardening, Juliana Parker shares her love of gardening while teaching her children important lessons. Gardening requires care and patience. In children, it also teaches responsibility as shown in her sons comment:

“Where are my strawberries?”

In response, Juliana asked her son if he had watered the seeds. Unfortunately he had forgotten that important step, but soon learned the lesson all gardeners quickly learn. It takes time and effort to create an environment for growth. It is not always possible to garden with your children, but when you have the opportunity to show children where their food comes from, how sweet it tastes right out of the ground, and how the effort pays off with healthful vegetables, then patience and responsibility are lessons well worth learning. If you don’t have time and space for a garden, visit the Farmers Market whenever possible, and eat fresh whenever you can.

If you have you would like to share a story about your children in the garden, eating vegetables, or your favorite recipe using vegetables, contact Nancy Miller, Life Coach.

Vegetable Kids: Reading With Your Children

Sometimes the best books are the ones a parent hands to a child as a break from the board books and stories from popular movies. Young children can point to vegetables and hear about how they were created. As they get older they enjoy hearing how garden worms provide nutrients to the soil. Kids love to imagine the mysterious things that might be in the dirt.

When a mother reads to her child, she is sharing precious loving moments that last forever. Enjoy colorful vegetables for lunch then have fun reading Vegetable Kids in the Garden together.

Enjoy quality time with your child reading, Vegetable Kids in the Garden. Available at BarnesandNoble.com, and Amazon.com,. Amazon will order the hardcover book even though they say it is "Out of stock."

Career: 14 Strategies For an Effective Job Search

The most important career strategy includes knowing what you want and knowing your strengths, values, and interests. From there you will need effective strategies for your job search to get the job that is the best fit for you.

Treat your job search like you would your job. Employers say the way you look for a job is a strong indication of how you will work.

Know the skills you want to use and search for jobs where you can develop those skills.

The first strategy requires knowing the skills you want to develop and use in your current and future work. Job search is about more than just looking for a job. A better term would be skill search. Looking to use and develop skills you will take to your next job.

Want to know more about how to have a future mind set to prepare you for each job in your career path? Contact Nancy Miller, Life Coach/Career Counselor for a complimentary phone call to discuss your skills.

Writing: Inspiring Writing for Anyone Who Wants to Write

Join the Inspiring Writing Group on Linkedin to improve your writing through writing prompts and positive comments. Share a paragraph from your own writing to see what responses you get. Find occasional writing resources and comment on the writing of others. Writing with your children or grandchildren is loads of fun. This week we wrote from the prompt from 8-year old Hazel, “I feel cooked up when…”

Read more to see our responses to the prompt. The kids used art and words. I responded to the prompt. If you would like to challenge yourself to write to a prompt or share your writing with a small group, join the "Inspiring Writing Group" on Linkedin. If you want more inspiration to write, contact Nancy Miller, Life Coach for Career, Writing, and Creative Problem Solving for a 30 minute complimentary call.

Nancy J. Miller, M.S. is a Certified Life Coach and Master's Degree Career Counselor with over 15 years experience coaching creative entrepreneurs, professionals in transition and writers.