How Does the Online Idea Party Work?
You have a dream or a wish, and an obstacle to getting there. (If you don’t think you know your wish, work through my kick-starter and read this post. To learn why you must put logic aside to find your dream, read the following.)
The online Idea Party is here to help you – and the other fellow party goers – with your wishes and obstacles.
Voices from Success Teams and Idea Parties:
Having a team to report to and hearing what everybody did each week is very exciting. It’s kept me moving all year. In the past I made some good starts on my own, but found, every time, when the energy ran out, I ran out. Now it doesn’t run out.
Jade G.
Children’s Playroom Therapist, New York Hospital
I would do a painting a year, a sketch a year. If it was only me I know I would never do it. Having to tell you makes all the difference. It’s crazy why I didn’t do this years ago, it’s so easy all of a sudden.
Caroline R. Personnel Executive, Macy’s Dept Store
Post Your Wish and Your Obstacle Here!
And help your team mates out when you can. Use the Reply link to help, the form below the comments to add your own Wish and Obstacle.
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hi
i want to move into wellness or holistic tourism.
(I am not a spa or superficial provider or yoga or cacao provider. ) i provide a results based service that can be very life-enhancing with how the symptoms are reduced. and providing and new leash on life, extension of career or simply more freedom in general.
i may be interested in offereing in Costa rica with a brick and mortar clinic where i can integrate easily
i am not a dr but a massage therapist and in between the doctors and the yoga teachers so sometimes its difficult to find my place in terms of who is my tribe.
but my services are in demand just that many don’t know there is a cure but i am sure that we can work on that too.
I am just wondering if i should just call the hotels since all the posts on social platfroms are not serious.
i am just looking to expand my mind and to bring ease and joy in my journey too.
ty
i am also wondering if there is a list of operators in this industry.
Dear j,
After some thought, it appears to me that the best way to advance your healing practice is to advance yourself in several ways into a different healing career, and this for several reasons. And there are some strong warnings and caveats that need to be paid close attention to.
When anyone starts saying the word “cure,” I immediately become mightily skeptical. I was once at a physicians’ conference, and I was the only non-physician in the room. So I was like the fly on the wall, listening without giving input. They all, every one of them, admitted that they don’t know how to cure anything. They admitted that it was a great mystery as to how patients got well. “We don’t know how to cure anything, from cancer to the common cold,” they said. So they had gathered at this retreat center for the weekend to explore into alternative, holistic methods of medicine.
There are physical therapists who do wonders in terms of restoring people to functioning when they’ve had injuries or things that limit range of motion, and the treatments provide lasting results. There are naturopathic physicians, who use many holistic approaches, including diet modifications, in their treatment procedures. And there is a great difference between a naturopathic physician and a naturopath. A naturopathic physician goes to medical school for 4 years, and can do what an MD does, except surgery, and has had specialized training in nutrition. In medical school, nutrition is an elective, and many MD’s choose not to take it! Can you imagine?? Yikes! Nutrition is so fundamental to the ways our bodies function–or not!
There are herbalists in the United States, and up in Canada, herb doctors. Within the New Age movement, there are Reiki practitioners and other types of body workers who provide various modalities of energy work.
Upon thought, it seems that a massage practice alone may well be too limiting for what you really want to do, since I’m getting that you want to ensure a results-oriented practice that brings about significant changes for a client’s life. I really think this is going to involve an upgrade into another healing profession.
At least in the U.S., the laws governing the practice of any of the healing professions are very stringent. I, for instance, know a lot about ethnobotany, but if I try to apply my knowledge to cure cancer, epilepsy, or just a bad sprained or dislocated ankle, or even the common cold, I could be hauled away in handcuffs for practicing medicine without a license. In other words, in practicing any kind of treatment upon anyone, the laws are very stringent, and this also means not “expanding” your massage therapy practice beyond it’s typical boundaries and limits of what you are licensed to do. So the way to improve and expand, it seems, is to spread your wings and advance into the next profession that you choose to advance into, which best fits the definition of what you want your practice to accomplish.
I have no idea what the laws are like in Costa Rica; all I know is that such laws (and licensures) are in place to protect clients from people who are charlatans, and who can inflict more harm than good upon people.
Another thing–Is English your second language? Is Spanish your first language, and so is that part of the attraction to Costa Rica?
It would behoove you to bone up on the English language, by taking at least a couple of years of immersion English courses offered at the college level which involve grammar, spelling, punctuation, pronunciation, and reading. For a successful health care practitioner needs to be very fluent in English, these days, regardless of the country in which they practice. Colonialism? Yes, unfortunately so! But, no matter what the circumstances, English has pretty much become a universal world-wide language, and a high degree of proficiency in it is required for the health care professions. The transitions you need to make to rise up will not be easy. There is no easy way out to making such advancements. But if you truly believe in and have passion for becoming the kind of provider who can produce lasting results for clients, you will embrace the difficulties and forge ahead, expanding and gaining in competencies all the way. In this country, we have funding for anyone wanting to advance their career. I don’t know what opportunities like that exist in Costa Rica. It would be very important to investigate and compare, and see which country offers you the best possible options for funding your education, and advancements into the next level of your life. An ambitious undertaking? Yes! But, with the passion and the drive, you would have the means to pursue things to the hilt. And the financial support to do so. Remember, there is never an easy way out! But stir up the fires of passion for the work, and you’ll achieve and even exceed your dreams.
hi ty i already provide results with acupressure and reflexology and energy and massage. not sure what u understood…will keep reading to open my mind to more ty. joanna
Dear James,
Reading between the lines, it seems that you’ve been stuck in the Muck for a very long time, first on the battlefield, and also, on this side of life, grunging along at work that depresses you, that you have to force yourself to tolerate.
So, the questions become these: What do you like doing? Not for a job, but what do you like doing, in your time off. What do you love? Let’s abolish this notion of skills. That’s a kind of a rotten, stinky notion, when it comes to discovering “what makes your socks go up and down.” I have been an entrepreneur for about 30 or 40 years, and so I’m good at accounting. And I’ve also been a professional cook and a professional baker. I’m good at these things. And I’m good at mopping floors. But, I don’t love doing any of them. In fact, I Hate Accounting! AGGGHHH! But I’m good at it.
What you love doing, that you’re good at (talented at) is what I call your right livelihood. Whether you get paid for it or not, especially at first.
Me, I love nature. I always have, very much, and it soothes my soul as nothing else does. I live in Washington State, which has some of the most magnificent mountains in the world. So the way that pans out for me is that I happen to be good at photography. That’s one of my talents. So I do wilderness photography and close-ups of wildflowers. I’m also a musician. And a writer. And a speaker.
And a professional storyteller–storytelling is almost considered a lost art these days. And a counselor–I hold a master’s degree and a professional license as a psychotherapist.
Oh, and then, I get really excited about astrophysics. Don’t ask me why; I just do! The pictures that the Hubble telescope and the other one, that goes way out into outer space, are utterly fascinating. This is a fascination that I haven’t developed and am not likely to. And I’m a reader. Always reading and reading. Stuff that I want to read.
None of these things came to me through the work world. They all came at various times in my life, and some of them came when I was little. The love of nature has always been with me. I learned to read music when I was 5 years old, but piano lessons were no good. Wrong instrument. I couldn’t make any progress on the piano. But, beginning in the 4th grade, I got a chance to learn to play the viola, and WOW! That really took me places!
I was reading at genius level–at the 6th grade level by the 2nd grade. And I read all the fairy tales and folklore that I could get my grubby little hands on. By the time I was about 10 or so, I had read all the fairy tales in our branch library, and was hungering for more! Sometimes, I think that maybe I would have been an astrophysicist, or an astronaut. The business of becoming a storyteller (another talent) just was an extension of all the reading I’d been doing. When I was a kid, the other neighbor kids and I were always making up stories and acting them out, and even costuming for them, sometimes. I would assign roles to the other kids, and we would develop the plot lines from there. (Cecil B. DeMille, move over! Here I come!)
There’s passion behind everything that I ever did. It’s not ever totally possible to explain in words where the excitement, the love, ever came from, in words. And that’s where the talents lie, I’m convinced, in all of us. And what’s more, I am totally convinced that people have about half a dozen talents, instead of one or zero like they think they have. So . . . not when you’re at work, but on your time off, what do you like doing? What do you love? Can you say, without quite knowing why, that you’re attracted to something, the way that I’m drawn to astrophysics? I am also fascinated by ancient cultures. And by geology. I’m a rock nut. And a shell nut. I live by the beach and can’t come back from the beach without rocks and shells in my pockets. And, get me in a rock shop, and you can’t get me out of there for 3 1/2 hours! I’m running my hands through the big bin of tumbled and polished stones, mostly agates and picture jasper, as if they were rare diamonds and emeralds and rubies. Of course, I love those too!
And it just is that way. I don’t know why.
The important piece is that all this came to me during my childhood or during the spare time of my life. Yes, I can cook and bake, and I’m good at it, but that’s not where my passions are. Those are skills, and something that would be good survival work, as long as Covid weren’t shutting the restaurants down, the way it did. I didn’t discover my talents in speaking until midlife, and counseling about the same time.
So, I hope that by sharing all this, it gives you some idea of where talents and passions lie. “Flow” happens when you are doing something that you love, and you lose track of time when you’re doing it, because it’s fun or because it’s really engrossing.
Barbara Sher had an exercise that was a good one for awakening one to life, to oneself, and it is this: Get out an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper, and number down the left hand side, 1 to 25. At the top of the page, put the heading, “25 Things I like to do” For me, the list ranges from cross country skiing to astrophysics, to doing road trips, but you get to make your own list. And I don’t care if you have to write, “scratching when it itches,” as Barbara put it, but develop your list! When you write, try to go as fast as you can, without putting tons of thought into it. This ought to be a fairly spontaneous exercise.
A final word: My front door is a bulletin board. There are many signs up there, and quotes. One of Barbara Sher’s is, “How you see yourself should not be your focus. I’d like to talk you (and everyone else on the planet) out of spending time on self mind- control, and just concentrate on the “work” of doing what you love.
One more thing: Get ahold of Barbara’s book, “Wishcraft, How to Get What You Really Want,” and pay particular attention to the Ideal Day exercise. But try the list of 25 things first, and begin implementing these. I hope that this has helped.
i really appreciated what u wrote and it inspired me. thank you again.
i will write that list of 25 but perhaps also a micro version of which aspect i love of what i love.
I created a sound machine that plays frequencies to balance chakras and promote natural healing, including but not limited to mental health, mood, calm, balance, pain management, sleep, anxiety, ptsd, autism, etc.
I’m on Amazon, I have a website. I’d like to get into stores and also find affiliate marketing. How can I affordably get this product out to people who are looking for wellness through sound? I’ve also recorded a bunch of videos, started an instagram and tiktok. I tried ppc on amazon but don’t know how to optomize so I’m hiring someone from upwork. Any suggestions? I would be grateful.
i would say to find your bottleneck. you have a product, and maybe a target audience. do you know what’s the most immediate obstacle in front of you? i would guess its your audience, and not being super highly defined such that they are biting like hungry fish bc the bait is 100% what they eat. check out hormozi, he has a step by step from zero ideas all the way up. free courses.
https://www.acquisition.com/training/offers
A lot of yoga studios have products for sale in their lobbies and the people who attend yoga are probably the same people who would be interested in your product. Maybe start with local yoga studios or other like minded places and see if they would put your product there.
Dear Tiffany,
There are Reiki Masters and others who do sound bathing as part of their holistic treatments. I know this, because I am affiliated with a metaphysical store that also offers what they call “Reiki Share,” where people come together to share Reiki treatments and to get into discussion afterwards. And there is a long hallway, with little offices off of it on either side, where massage therapists and other healers do their work. I would say to locate places like this in your area and hobnob–go to, interact with, participate in programs, become a part of the scene, in as many places as you can. And, of course, have plenty of business cars to distribute, and also, develop a description about your machine that can be handed to people. Are you interested in wholesaling or retailing your product? My idea is, the more you rub elbows with the right interested parties, the more they will get to know you, and by extension, your product. This is no longer the time for cutthroat competition. The day of the lone wolf is over. So, as long as you are hobnobbing, go about learning, in as friendly a manner as possible, how they market things. Hopefully, they will be willing to help with marketing advice. I have known a woman who uses gongs and singing bowls to achieve somewhat similar results. She worked her day job very intensely, Monday through Thursday, and then, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, was her time for working with the gongs and singing bowls. If you get into the metaphysical community, you will find that you will be able to discover and get into all sorts of metaphysical fairs, or psychic fairs. These aren’t just for psychic readers, but vendors also, and people vend all sorts of things. They also have healing sessions going on right there. So this could be a way to be able to give hands-on demonstrations about how your machine works, and to meet people who are interested. The fairs are not just little things, either. There are some mighty big expos in the New Age/Psychic/Metaphysical movement. I really think that the electronic marketing only goes so far, and doesn’t work as well as print media and advertising used to. and is no substitute for really getting out there in person, getting involved with the fairs, and the expos, and really doing the legwork. I hope this has helped, at least a little.
hi ty for this
I am part of a community that also teaches how to take ur mess to message which i found very liberating and useful. I was seeking too on how my pain would alchemize… this is truly helpful
and not the least…
the only reason there is a pearl and that chemicals causes these pearls to form
IS BECAUSE OF PAIN.
ty for ur note again.
I need help teasing out my one thing. My flow state. I call it a pearl. A beautiful thing that an oyster spends years producing – something gorgeous and precious to present as a present. to contribute. I feel like I’m wasting time on insignificant stuff that will not compound or accrete into a pearl. I am reading ‘if only i knew what it was’.
I think the path to my pearl is something in the constellation of these words.
trail guide, strategy, traction, accuracy of progress, correctness. teacher, mentor. designer,
Here’s an anecdote that I think holds a key. I was in baghdad fighting a war. we had one higher headquarters doing our things in one way for a while, then changed out to a different headquarters. they initially said, things stay the same, then changed a week or so later. (I understand with maturity that its a defensiveness, and resistance to change that drove my reaction, a threat to my competence, but i think what bubbled up is interesting) i remember screaming to myself, IF YOU WANNA BE IN CHARGE, THEN BE IN CHARGE. pick a thing and stick with it. we are literally fighting a war here, and have no time to deal with your wiffle waffle of changing your mind. (while at the same time recognizing authority and we followed orders) The feeling i have now, many years later, is around competence, traction, and worthiness of effort. in my head it sounds like this – we are literally lethal. we can do anything. we don’t wanna be lead by incompetence, I’m not willing to do all this effort of truly critical lethality for a wishy washy mess of a boss. do better. I can literally do anything, if only i knew what it was.
And in an act of oversharing, another. i know where my resistance is. my mother set the wrong message for me. she communicated and demonstrated that anyone who enjoyed their life was evil. happiness cannot be earned or deserved. any temporary joy was to be purchased not with service to others, but specifically, self deprecating doormat sacrifice and painful giving. joy is selfish, evil, and injurious to others (who don’t recognize or appreciate the sacrifice anyhow) so now as i endeavor to even find my pearl, I am hampered by this bullshit.
maybe one more – i like watch internals, motorcycles and handguns. for me the common item is the mechanism that harnesses their energy by spartan, tight, small, effective brilliant engineering marvels that transfers that power out to a controlled, powerful output. effective. accurate, controlled, correct.
how can i know what actions are in that zone? what skills, jobs, hobbies are the ones that do build the pearl? is it joy? Is my indicator the units of time spent in ‘flow’ and joy?
What will be different once I have the scent of the trail? Once I have convinced myself that I’m on the correct path. fucking everything. i have so much self doubt over this apprehension to choose a path. fomo, or hesitation, or the general feeling of spinning my wheels has got me stuck in life. to know that the path im on is mine would mean all my obstacles are MINE. mine to actually work on and care about. not bullshit at work that i need to motivate myself to care about.
(more for me than you is yet another footnote – this feeling of no traction is something i have screamed to my therapist about. the deep frustration with life and everyone i interact with feels like this. I’m a trained pilot. I’m in a cockpit. i see the button that says engine start. i hit it but the blinkers come on. the blinker button does the landing gear. nothing works. 100% of the labels are wrong. and more frustrating, is that sometimes they do work. which might seem like a start, but is only more insultingly depressing when they aren’t repeatable, and don’t do what they say when i reach for them a second time. i hate this muck. this mud i’m floundering in)
how can i convince myself – and my mothers poor advice – that i am on a path i like to get to somewhere i love, with joy?
ok people. what’s the job for me. its gotta be self employed. clearly i lack office culture. please please gimmie your stream of consciousness response here. please forward my ramblings to someone who might whiteboard it all out and actually see the constellation i can’t.
James, I’ve been self-employed most of my long life, but I am incredibly thankful for all that I learned while working as an employee in a small business, learning from the four owners, before I went out on my own. I highly recommend it, if you can find the right people, doing work you find valuable.
I am also thankful that I took time out from my business to have frequent lunches with other self-employed people in my line of work. It’s way too easy to stagnate without new ideas to challenge some of our great ones.
And I heard a great tip at an Idea Party for someone self-employed in a consulting type job who wanted to increase his sales a lot: hang out with people who love selling.
Barbara Sher often said that there were four big emotions: fear, sadness, anger, and joy, and each of us works hard to avoid feeling one of them. When people asked her how anyone could want to avoid joy, there was always a chorus of people raised by mothers (or fathers) like yours. So, you might want to get curious about which one you’re avoiding, and go enjoy the one she couldn’t.