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.
(Your first comment below has to be approved, so it may not display instantly depending on the time of the day. Once your email address is approved you can post instantly. If you want your own profile photo to show up beside your comments, instead of the cute little design, upload your photo on Gravatar.com and give them an hour or so to make it happen.)
Hello,
my name is Sana Brauner, I am from Vienna/Austria, and would appreciate help to find a literary agent and later on also a film producer for my german published book with the title:
Die geliehene Tochter – you can find it on amazon and on my website:
http://www.sanabrauner.com
The book is already translated in english, the title of the book: The borrowed daughter
As I went through the Tsunami in 2004 in Thailand I lost my mother and miss my daughter. The book is an autobiography about what happened and how to experience personal growth while going through extreme life crises.
The english Blurb:
Imagine, if you can, that you had written a sort of life outline before you were born! If you are able to do that, then, as the creator of your own life story, crises take on a new meaning. This is because absolutely everything that happens to you in life has been written by you. Absolutely everything. Without exception.
Convinced of this approach, the author is unsparingly confronted with a cruel blow of fate during the Tsunami on the 24th of December 2004. The entire family is struck by the wave. Her husband, son Alexander, and she survive. Her mother falls victim to the flood. Her little daughter, Alexandra-Anita, remains lost without a trace.
How can one cope with everyday life amidst the turmoil of hope and fear, of searching but not finding? For the author, the only help comes from a higher dimension. She conducts a very deep dialogue with a force of energy that represents a home for her. A home that she refers to as “My Father”, where communication is direct, and where healing takes place.
Time and again the constant and profound prayers for guidance lend new strength. And thus, she encounters people that accompany her, step by step, day by day, through her life. Letters sent to her with messages of healing from the spiritual world that little by little try to make sense of the experience and the experienced.
With this book the author intends to encourage the reader to always affirm life. She reminds readers that whenever they make a decision, they have the choice to either see themselves as victims, or as creators of their circumstances of life.
Sana Brauner gives us insight into exciting parallel worlds of our consciousness. She sees herself as a spiritual being, undergoing a human experience – for who or what is it, who or what that breathes?! – A deeply touching book about loss and grief, letting go and starting afresh – a book that sets us afire with optimism for life in all its manifestations.
Thank you so much for any possible help
Kind regards
Sana
Dear friends,
I’m a 23 year-old girl that has just finished uni and the world is lying in front of me, ready to be explored and lived. I have many dreams, as people my age do, and although some of my dreams might be a bit more ‘shallow’ or ‘superficial’ such as getting a good job and earning a good salary, the dream I’d like to share with you is the following: I dream to make friends with anonymous people around the world, from all walks of life, despite geographic distance. I dream to make real friendships that extend beyond simply adding each other on social media and liking the odd picture here and there. I dream of having deep email convos, sharing experiences and life lessons. I dream of learning from the experiences of people older than me and living through experiences together with people my age. I just dream of feeling supported by a group of random strangers that I can always turn to for advice.
With that being said, anyone here want to be friends?
Does anyone here know what a “listserv” is? Years ago I belonged to one that had hundreds of members, all of whom were interested in Mongolia. They help exchange info about traveling there, what times of year were usually okay, etc. and 3 of them invited me to stay at their apartments in Ulaan Batar when I said I wanted to visit people there. They didn’t know I was an author, they just talked that way to each other. It was a great group.
There was another similiar group, this one was huge!, for weavers, and they could fill up your inbox in a few hours! But I think there must have been many such groups. I always imagined that Facebook itself would be like that, but for the most part, it doesn’t really seem to dig in deeply enough. You don’t get to know people much – except here in the Scanner groups.
Do any of you know if “listservs” are still called that?
Hi Patricia.
That’s an awesome dream you have – to make friends around the world. Which country are you in?
Eddie
Dear Friends,
I have a 27 year old son with a mental disability. He cant work and needs assistance each day with most everything. I have been care taking of him for 12 years..He was in a group home for the past 4 years, but his needs were never met there and especially this past 6 months he was getting neglected there. I decided to take him home and the amount of stress Im under is almost killing me.
Through NAMI support groups I have heard the same story like mine over and over. Family members worn out with no answer and feeling hopeless….just isolated and stuck.The State run Group homes are inadequate, corrupt, and depressing.
MY DREAM: Start an intentional community for care givers and their mentally ill loved ones to live at. In this way we can support each other in every way needed. I was thinking a farm type setting because my son and I love animals
BLOCKS: Need committed families, land or existing farm, and money.
.
If you do a search on ‘camphill communities’, you’ll find kindred spirits in communities around the world.
Hi all,
yay, I found my dream!! 🙂
I normally am full of energy and enthusiasm which I is also needed for fulling my dream.
My BIG obstacle is that I am married to a emotionally abusive man who takes all my enegy away since a very long time. But I (unshiftably) decided not to leave him as long as my kids are small. (The decision was not made easily!)
Till then I want to focuse on my kids and on my dream. I have a limited amount of time to do so but instead my mind is occupied with pondering the problems I got with my husband.
How can I focuse on my dream and put aside that problems for a particular length of time?
I just need concentration, everything else ist already there….
Thanks for reading and for ideas
Emotional abuse is hard. Staying for the sake of the kids may be teaching them this behavior is okay. I respect your decision and pray you build a strong support team around you and the children in order to maintain your mental health. I hope you belong to a small group of trusted friends.
Keep a lot of positive things in your life. You are building the lives of the next generation and that is a worthy calling. Remind yourself of this daily. Read good books. Be a frequent visitor of libraries and get inspirational books in audio so you can listen while you do housework. Keep your dream alive by writing about it.
I hear you Hazel. Thank you very much. I am (in the process of) fulling my dream. My project needs energy but also gives me a lot of it! The problem with the emotionally abusive relationship is still there and steals most of my energy. But I am preparing for change now as it does not get better while the time gets riper an riper. Sad and happy at the same time. Thank you again.
Hi guys,
I’m Jo, artist, writer, traveller, wild west and ghost nut intrigued by science, mental health advocate and renaissance soul with a potty sense of humour.
I’ve recovered from thirty years of depression and anxiety and I’m rebuilding my polymath creativity and life and recording it on my blog Creating My Odyssey. Apart from swopping links and posts with other creatives and those who suffer with mental health issues, I do have goals and wishes now that depression has virtually departed (I have my moments but then, don’t we all!), and I would like to aspire to be a bit of a role model for my age group, the over sixties.
One big wish is that I finish my epic western novel, Alias Jeannie Delaney, the life story of a devastating cowgirl who’s the fastest gun in the west and bisexual. Husband is helping me with the editing and I’m working on it as we speak. A second wish was accomplished yesterday! I finally returned to archery after years of depression. I’m delighted! Third wish is to travel to as many countries as possible. Fourth wish is to have as many experiences as possible and blog about it all, and one day write an anthology based on all these experiences.
I would like to be recognised as an artist, writer, blogger, traveller (add archer to the list) and mental health advocate. Just a small ask. Nothing elaborate. If anyone would like to follow me endeavours I would love that!
Jo, Hampshire UK
Creating My Odyssey – Liberating the Real Me After Thirty Years Of Depression and Anxiety http://www.jo-b-creative.blogspot.co.uk
Hello All,
My Goal is to travel the world interviewing companies, universities, Govt’s, etc on their latest Unmanned Aerial Systems Technologies (Drones). I have been working in this area for over 15 years and have a small newsletter that is published weekly with the latest exciting news.
The obstacle is that I have been unable to find funding or sponsors thus far.
Thanks for any ideas!
I would recommend that you sell public speeches on the topic. Create a nice webpage that contains all your collected experience on drones.
Position yourself as an authority. With paid speeching assignments, you will not only the funding for travels, but also sometimes free plane tickets to international seminars, exhibitions and similar.
Write directly to the big conferences and ask for press tickets, or if the need someone there to do presentations.
Good luck!
/Joel
ps, I used to do this in the Virtual Reality field and received invitations to seminars, exhibitions and similar very often. There I met all the big players in the business. ds.
I need more stability in my life (housing/financial/work) – the trifecta!
The obstacles: I’m limited physically, suffer from chronic pain (4 injuries in three years, including a bad car accident), have a rental subsidy (looked down on). These limited choices with only being able to work part time (teaching art and I get some work periodically from my small/seasonal business of 25 years) and finding decent housing (mostly because I have a subsidy and an ESA animal – high cost close to work & negative stigma). I suffer from depression/anxiety from being in chronic pain which limits me living a more fulfilling life. Self Motivation is hard to come by. I’m in survival mode!!! I know nothing about writing grants or where to look (locally or nationally). I need a car!
My goal is to start another business (something to do with the arts and children – can’t really run my other one of 25 years because of pain and physical limitations). I’d love to live/own in a small (tiny) house or trailer which could be affordable for me (and I could keep my beloved Charlie), but the proximity of any place to have this relative to work is too far without a car.
Are there any groups in the Boston area?
I really need a mentor. I am person of many interests but especially music and history. Right now I have a full-time job working from home that is pretty low-key and I am learning a lot about finances and building legacies. I aspire to connect good people and support each other’s business efforts.
My soft skills include good people skills, strong intuition, and problem solving.
I’ve just launched my city business directory so that I can use recently acquired skills in digital marketing to connect people and make a living from it. I seriously need to put some processes in place and make a real blueprint for my business to ensure that it’s profitable.
If you have skills in IT, Marketing, and Business that are making a comfortable living from your business, I need you! I just need to see what needs to be done to get in position. I am really smart but I keep hitting a brick wall and now I am taking Barbara’s advice and raising my hand.
My want:
Mentorship
To make my business profitable and organized
Good interactive technology on my business directory and lots of interesting information.
To interview singers that I admire.
To sing professionally. Have a schedule that doesn’t interfere with my family obligations. Maybe some voice-over work, or narrating, or storytelling.
My Obstacles:
Lack of finances to hire a mentor
Lack of time since I am a full-time single mother and I work full-time
Lack of finances to invest in technology needs. I know enough to be dangerous, but my site could be more user friendly if I knew of some advanced design tools and had more coding skills.
Not sure how to get access to the singers I admire.
Lack of Funds to professionally record.
I seriously need some hand holding right now. Any ideas or mentors who want to guide me a bit and see me reach my full potential?
Hello everyone!
My name is Alena, I am 24 years old, from Russia. I have the most impossible dream in the world (I do believe it). My dream is to be an actress in Hollywood. The obstacle is – 1. I live in Russia, thousands of km from USA – I don`t have visa, don`t have money, 2. I am an economist, so I am not educated to become an actress.
Thanks for reading that…
Best wishes,
Alena
Hi Alena,
Could you work in LA doing as an economist and get a workvisa that way? Or an exchange via a university, possibly? Once you’re in LA you could earn an income and take actingclasses and auditions in the evenings etc,?
Maybe you could ask Michiel Huijsman, he’s done it in the last years starting from the Netherlands. Maybe he could give you tips?
Hi Alena,
Perhaps you could try working as a nanny here? I know they have some companies that will help place you and go through the visa process. Some families (at least in New York) look for native Russian speakers.
This would at least get you where you want to be where you could figure out the acting while there.
Best of luck!
I have a “radio” voice, and I would like to start doing VoiceOvers I’m not totally sure how to proceed, and I feel that I may not have the funds available to professionally produce a demo tape if that’s the next step. (I’m living on a rather modest retirement income.)
(I was a part-time disc jockey/newsman/engineer at the Number One radio station in Madison, Wisconsin in the 60s, and earlier at WKRZ in Oil City, Pa while in high school.)
Have you tried offering your voice over work on fiverr? You can do a YouTube sample clip.
You can also look at Voices.com… I just heard about it.
You could also think of volunteering for reading Wikipedia articles out loud. They always need people with good voices who are willing to read an article so that blind people can benefit from it, and there are a lot of tech-savvy volunteers out there on Wikipedia who are willing to give tips and technical advice when needed. Just enter into a search engine: wikiproject spoken wikipedia.
Hi Richard,
Re “I’m not sure how to proceed”: I find the way to do something is to find someone who’s done it and pick their brains. Have you picked the brains of any successful voice over artists to find out how they did it?
I’m in Australia and wanted to turn my travel memoir into an audio book. I was connected to an English author who had published several travel memoirs and turned some of them into audio books and he was a great help.
The next step was to find a recording studio that would allow authors to read their own books – which apparently was rare. But I found this guy straight away in my own city – and when I told him my impossible dream (that I didn’t have the several thousand dollars needed to record it in a studio) he said all I needed was this mic and this audio interface and I could do it at home by myself. The gear he recommended cost five hundred bucks.
He’s also one of Australia’s top voice over artists. Drop him a line and see if he’s willing to let you pick his brains: http://www.davidlegge.com.au/