All Possibilities

Seeds XI, 38

Seed: All Possibilities

“Open your mind to all possibilities, because whether you believe something is possible or impossible, either way you’re right.” These words come from the pen of consciousness teacher Wayne Dyer. They paraphrase the words of Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, either way you’re right.”

Possible = Can

Impossible = Can’t

You get to pick. Did you know that? Every possibility in the Universe is open to you if you’ll choose it. All possibilities. Now, some are more easily achieved than others. If I decided at 50 that I wanted to be a prima ballerina for a major dance company, American Ballet Theatre would be hard-pressed to find a place for me. On the other hand, I could found a dance company for performers over 50, and be one of the young ones.

Just think on this: you get to decide what is possible and what is impossible, and what you can and what you can’t. Make sure your impossibilities are really, truly impossible otherwise you could miss some swell ones.

Be joy,

Susan Corso

Dr. Susan Corso

Seeds are remarkable gifts. Sown in consciousness, they bring you to the most important part of your being—your Divine Spark.

Check out the Seeds Archive for past messages of inspiration.

When you have friends you would like added to the Seeds e-mail list, send their addresses to me at susan@susancorso.com.

For spiritual nourishment, please visit my website www.susancorso.com

and my blogs Seeds for Sanctuary, God’s Dictionary,

Ode Magazine, and The Huffington Post.

Follow me on Twitter @PeaceCorso

Done and Done

Gawdalmighty! I did it.

Finishing a novel is one thing.

Finishing the edits for submissions is a whole other matter.

Over the years, I have collected various writing habits, phrases, words that I overuse or use to buy myself time whilst I’m writing. Anyway, they have to be edited out before I send them to my first editor—the one I hire myself.

Then I need to read the whole MS aloud to my sweetie because I catch completely different things when I hear the text rather than read it.

Then I have to format the text. I write a first draft in single space, and then double-space and lay out pages at the very end.

Then I have to do the edits my editor suggests.

Well, we were in NYC this weekend for a dear friend’s 50^th and I was not going to have the time to get the whole process done.

I did as many searches as I could for my “bad” habits, printed the MS to read aloud in the car, and called it good.

Just now, at 4ish, I sent the edited, read and formatted MS to my editor. Hallelujah, I’m done. I even spell-checked.

And I’m toast. It was a big push and I’m so pleased. Now I’ll have a couple of weeks to start the next one and then I’ll meet with my editor.

The point: To everything there is a process. Keep going. Eventually, you too will be done.

Citing Sources—oh my!

Every time I write a novel, I take a huge risk. All my novels happen around some sort of stage production: theatre or opera. I know, even as I write, that because I use the lyrics from these wonderful shows to solve the mysteries of my protagonist, Mex Stone, there is a slight chance that I will not get permission to use the lyrics and then—pfft!—goes the whole book!

The one I just finished is called Wicked Joy, and it’s based on a Boston production of the fantabulous musical by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, Wicked. The musical Wicked is based upon the book by fabulist Gregory Maguire of the same name.

The book Wicked is based upon the book by L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In 1939, MGM got into the picture, pun intended, and visited Oz themselves in the form of the 1939 classic film.

Who owns the lyrics? Stephen Schwartz, sure. But Gregory Maguire inspired him. And L. Frank Baum inspired him. And if I use any of the words from the movie, then MGM gets in on the act. Or does it?

I need to admit that I’ve felt a little more worried about this book than the ones based on Once Upon A Mattress or Brigadoon. There are a lot more stakeholders in Oz, but I put it out of my mind and listened carefully to my muse so I could write my own book. Finis!

Enter Lessons from Oz, a delightful book by a serious Ozmanian scholar named Julienne La Fleur. (And here is how the universe is a complete and total conspiracy for our good ….)

I saw her book in an enewsletter from Smith, both her, and my, alma mater. Oz? I said. I’m in. So I ordered it.

I finished writing my novel on Thursday. Her book arrived in the post after I finished my book. Because it’s always hard to let go of whatever world I’ve been in, it felt like a treat to be able to read about Oz from an entirely new perspective. I knew when I opened the front cover that I was going to be thrilled, and I totally was.

Lessons from Oz is one woman’s lifetime odyssey through the wisdom to be found in the movie of The Wizard of Oz. She’s studied it, too, believe me. She finds 35 interesting, thoughtful, wise lessons from scenes in the movie—and she quotes the movie script. She has wonderful color images from the movie throughout as well.

I am a profligate and immoral reader. I’ll read anything, as long as I’m interested in it. It took me three days to chew up Lessons from Oz, and imagine, if you will, my delight when I got to the end and saw a page entitled Permissions!

It’s no longer MGM I’ll have to approach when it’s time. I’ll have to connect with Warner Bros. Entertainment and possibly Turner Entertainment as well. And I know this all because I ordered this wonderful book to enjoy after my own trip to Oz! {Julienne, I cannot thank you enough for braving movie companies to get the underlying rights to the lines that have inspired you.}

I have no interest in giving away any of her lessons. Get the book please to read and digest them for yourself, but I do want to say that I admire and appreciate Ms. La Fleur’s positive and necessary approach to the vicissitudes and exigencies of life, and I definitely think you will, too.

So, dear one, missing Oz? Put on your magic shoes, and fall over the rainbow of love into Lessons from Oz by Julienne La Fleur as soon as you can.

Taking Attendance

Seeds XI, 37

Seed: Taking Attendance

Back to school … my favorite time of the year. This feels more like a new year to me than January 1. I’m wondering if teachers still take attendance by hand or if they scan in their students. No, seriously …

Remember attendance? It mandated listening carefully so we didn’t miss our names and feel foolish. It also mandated a response.

“Here!” or “Present!”

The next time you’re distracted or have too much on your mind, take attendance. Siphon thoughts out of your brain until you can answer truly,

“Here!” or “Present!”

You’ll be glad you did because being here and present makes living easier.

Be joy,

Susan Corso

Dr. Susan Corso

Seeds are remarkable gifts. Sown in consciousness, they bring you to the most important part of your being—your Divine Spark.

Check out the Seeds Archive for past messages of inspiration.

When you have friends you would like added to the Seeds e-mail list, send their addresses to me at susan@susancorso.com.

For spiritual nourishment, please visit my website www.susancorso.com

and my blogs Seeds for Sanctuary, God’s Dictionary,

Ode Magazine, and The Huffington Post.

What are you—an Ascended Master?

My sweetie made me laugh out loud on the porch the other day. She’d been the point person for our building’s insulation project over the summer, and the process had broken down and left her way discouraged.

We live in a Victorian house that’s 120 years old. It’s a beauty, but greening the building didn’t offer a lot of affordable options until we heard about a program spearheaded by NStar, our local heating and electric company.

We applied to have NStar insulate our home. The cost to the building was only 25% of the total cost—they paid the rest. We insulated the walls and the basement ceiling.

Well, the walls went swimmingly, and the basement ceiling was done, but it was ugly, ugly, ugly, so we voted to pay additional funds to have the insulation in the basement covered. They came on Friday to do the work.

We paid them, and that was that, we thought. Insulation project complete. Bravo!

Uh-oh. Saturday morning, not so much.

One of the families who shares our building wrote an email that they were very unhappy with the quality of the work, that workers had stood on and bent and scraped brand new appliances, and that we ought to stop the check.

Enter my sweetheart in our porch moment Saturday morning.

Her: I don’t understand why all our projects end up leaving someone unhappy.

Me: Really?

Her: Oh well, I learned a lot about the fact that how I visualize something isn’t how everyone else sees it.

Me: That ought to be useful, especially for this design process you’re entering. (She’s directing Hedda Gabler at Tufts á la Mad Men this winter.) It’s a good lesson.

Her: Well, I don’t know that I’ve learned it that completely …

Me: Oh, since when are you an Ascended Master? You look pretty settled in that chair to me.

Her: (laughing) The seventh Thursday of every month beginning with the letter Q.

Laughter á deux. Hilarity, really.

Living in a condominium situation can be fraught. We have six units in our building which means six viewpoints, six opinions, six different visualizations. And a mess of communicating to get everyone even close to on the same page.

My sweetie’s no Ascended Master, except for the moments in which she is. She told me later, “Here’s where I am a master: in between breaths.”

Since we’re all breathing all the time, I’d say that’s a pretty good claim.

Other Resources

Grateful am I that I am a person who needs people. A friend wrote me about last week’s “I don’t wanna” blog post which addressed my acupuncturist’s question. (His name is Scott Cedeño, and you can find him at Visions Medical Center. 781-431-1333.)

Are you willing to marshal all your resources to heal this imbalance?

Here’s what she said:

Oh, I wanted to respond to your blog post about Scott’s question. There are enough resources, not just within you …. but with us all around you!  ”Muster” all of those/us.    Resources are all around you.  

OMG, as the texters would say. (I’m slapping my own forehead in an approximation of that old V8 commercial. )

Of course! I don’t have all the resources. In fact, that is a huge part of my resistance.

I just finished my seventh Mex novel, as you know, and my habit is to begin the next novel straightaway, so I’m always in the “middle” of the next one. I don’t want to marshal ALL my resources for ANY ONE THING!

I want to do a zillion things: write novels, create trenchant blog posts, learn something new every day. I want to love my sweetie, go to New York next weekend for a visit and a special party, climb into my new cell phone. I want to learn how to text message, transfer my music to my new iPod, send a book to a friend, have a manicure and a pedicure. I want to eat dinner, return the dog we’ve been fostering, read a poem. Twitter, sing, do a silly dance, have half a drift day on Labor Day and go to the movies.

I want, I want, I want … so clearly … that what I do not want is clearer still. I do not want my life to be about a dis-ease! Ever.

And, wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, to borrow from Fiddler on the Roof, I don’t have to!

What I do get to do is listen deep within myself to see what resources I need and want to help me through this process.

Ever noticed that a conspiracy of goodness develops when you get clear about what you really, truly want?

I was blessed to be able to write to my friend, Noah St. John, the creator of afformations, to get clear about an afformation for this imbalance situation in my life. He wrote me back … so clear … so lovely:

Why am I free of diabetes?

Boom. The question socked my solar plexus with its truth. I don’t know why. I don’t know how. I don’t have to answer the question.

What I get to do is live the question into reality in my life which looks, I’m pretty sure, like all the resources of the entire Universe at my disposal.

Thanks to my wise friend, Karyn, for reminding me of where I really live.

Billy Wigglesdagger

Seeds XI, 36

Seed: Billy Wigglesdagger

Ever heard of this playwright? The first time I ever heard his name pronounced this way was the summer I did Taming of the Shrew with a Renaissance Faire Theatre Company. I mean, of course, William Shakespeare.

Here’s a delicious little story about him. Rumor has it that Mr. Shakespeare was part of the cadre of scholars who were responsible for creating the King James Version of the Bible. Think on it … the KJV is in what we know as Shakespearean English.

Well, lo and behold, some less-than-busy exegete thinks that WS “name-dropped” himself into Psalm 46. The 46^th word from the beginning of the psalm is shake. The 47^th word from the end of the psalm is spear. In 1610, when the translation was finished WS was 46. In 1611, when it was published, he was 47.

One of many anagrams for William Shakespeare is “Here was I, like a psalm.”

Truth or fiction? Who cares? Long live Billy Wigglesdagger!

Be joy,

Susan Corso

Dr. Susan Corso

Seeds are remarkable gifts. Sown in consciousness, they bring you to the most important part of your being—your Divine Spark.

Check out the Seeds Archive for past messages of inspiration.

When you have friends you would like added to the Seeds e-mail list, send their addresses to me at susan@susancorso.com.

For spiritual nourishment, please visit my website www.susancorso.com

and my blogs Seeds for Sanctuary, God’s Dictionary,

Ode Magazine, and The Huffington Post.

A New Phone

Oh boy, Verizon has a New Every Two policy that means I can get a new phone every two years at no charge. We schlepped to the Verizon Wireless store at the mall just so I could hold the possibilities in my hand. Decision taken in moments.

I knew I wanted a qwerty keyboard so I can (finally) learn how to text message. A friend of mine has quit answering his phone; he’s too busy. So he’s announced to all and sundry that we are to text him first to see if he can or will talk. Let’s just call it incentive, shall we?

So, the phone arrived in two days, just like they promised, and it’s sat on my desk for a couple of days since then. I haven’t even put the battery in or charged it, and then, of course, there’s transferring everything from the old phone into the new one.

Aye, there’s the rub. It’s a process, yet another thing to do. These technological advances are supposed to make our lives easier, but …

the climbing in! Argh.

Truth be told, I’m dreading it. It always takes a squillion years longer than I expect it will, or than provider websites and propaganda promise. In my case, I usually have to call the tech support people several times before I can make the tech support my new device.

And I don’t feel like it.

I’m just about to finish my seventh novel in The Healing Mysteries of Mex Stone. That means I have to, I should say get to, start the next one immediately. I make sure there is never a time when I’m not in the middle of a Mex book even if I write the first ten pages, and then nothing for months whilst I do my research.

Then I get to go through my list of “bad” writing habits for the new manuscript before I send it to my personal editor. They’re not really bad habits, they’re elisions. Silly, little things I use to represent writing ums, and ers, which, when taken out, make the prose more compelling. I’m hoping to be done with it and have it off to my editor by Labor Day.

And still I haven’t climbed into my phone.

You know that wonderful Chinese proverb? A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Well, the journeys of a thousand phones begin with the same thing.

Just for today, I’m going to begin my phone cheat sheet. I type in all the serial numbers, codes, battery pack identifiers, etc., then I’m going to go into a meeting and put the phone down for a while.

One step at a time … soon enough I’ll have moved into my new phone.

At 50, one thing I know, patience, especially with myself, is a virtue to be cultivated and applauded. Try some for yourself.