Moxie Conclusions

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MOXIE- The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage; vigor; verve; pep. [Moxie Week begins here. Click for this week's Bliss Initiative.] 


Wow what a week!  This was my third time visiting Moxie during my game and it felt so different from the other times out. I really think this game is working some magic now! Previously I was playing around with the virtues but recently I have been noticing them getting "under my skin" so to speak. The first couple of times through Moxie I was really looking for some kind of showy expression. With people like Lucille Ball as an examples of moxieful living it is easy to feel like one's regular life would always fall short. This week I feel like I really got to know what moxie looks like in my life.

My little Moxie Girl

When I was in my 20s and 30s  I  was quite the adventurer. I would pick up and move at the drop of a hat and I would go out of my way to try new and interesting things. I walked across 40 feet of hot coals in my bare feet, I sky dived, I went to a ten day silent meditation retreat.  I dated voraciously and I threw town warming parties (rented VFW hall, hired a band and posted flyers to invite my new neighbors) when I moved to new places.  Looking at that time in my life it is kind of easy to think that I had Moxie then but not now.


Today I lead a much more gentle life. I eat dinners at home, I go on play dates with my daughter, I drink lattes much more regularly then martinis. My days can sort of run together in watching cooking shows with my Sweetie, taking day trips to art festivals and walks in state parks. It is a really nice life but it lacks the flashy fly by the seat of your pants nature of those early years. What I have come to realize is that Moxie has a variety of flavors. Certainly in the case of the strong and exciting versions as exhibited by someone like Amelia Erhard it easy to point and say there it is! 


At the moment  for me, Moxie lives in doing what is right even if it is hard for me. It doesn't matter if something I find difficult is easy for someone else, even my twenty year old self, if it is difficult for me right now then pushing forward and doing it anyway is Moxie. When I contrast the town warming enthusiasm of my 30s to the slow and deliberate meeting of my new neighbors today it is rather amusing but honestly all that bluster with which I promoted those events kept me from really getting to know anyone. Now I still feel a little excitement in the pit of my stomach as I approach someone I have never spoken with before. Butterflys a fluttering I still go out of my way to say "Hello!, I am your new neighbor!" 


This week, I failed to follow my heart upon occasion and I did not do something everyday that scared me but I do feel like I really got in touch with the moxie in me. As a result of paying attention to it this week I am certain it is more available to me then ever before. For this reason I will give myself a 8 out of 10 for my weekly score. I am also awarding 5 bliss boosts for the over all increase of bliss this moxie access is giving me. Funny how just thinking about moxie can amp a whole experience up!


How about you? Are you in touch with your Moxie power?


Next Post: Humility week kick off with new pig giveaway!

My 13 bliss virtues are

joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, 

romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, and surprise.



This week we are studying moxie. Next week it is Humility.

A little pig and a lot of Bravery!

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MOXIE- The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage; vigor; verve; pep. [Moxie Week begins here. Click for this week's Bliss Initiative.] 

First of all a great big thank you to everyone who stopped by to congratulate me on my 300th post. I really appreciate it AND I also hope a few of you took a moment to visit some of my favorite blogs which were mentioned. 

Second I have a little something to get off my chest. It is moxie week so it seems the perfect occasion to do so. You may remember last week during Gratitude week, I kicked off a little gratitude game I have been affectionately calling the pig giveaway. When I came up with the idea of it I got all inspired and thought it would be so much fun to get everyone sharing why they are grateful AND (this is the not so altruistic part) handling it all like a big contest might drum up some business for the blog. I created the goal of getting 120 entries and for each of those entries I would donate a dollar to Heifer.org which at the $120 mark would mean a needy family would get a pig to raise and use to support their family.

At the end of Gratitude week the total number of entries was ten which wasn't even enough for a flock of geese! So I was bummed and just sort of dropped the whole thing. Now of course my plan is to give the full $120 dollars (I guess this is the altruistic part) to Heifer no matter my game outcome and I suspect most of you saw this right from the start.  I also realize I never actually made the game worthwhile to YOU! You could see that Heifer was going to get their pig money so why exactly did you need to play?!! I promised some small token for my winner but never even announced what that  might be! Well I have decided to change that and starting Monday I will be re-launching my game in a whole new way and running it from June 14th to June 21st when an actual winner will be announced. Rest assured, no matter what, the pig will be awarded and you may walk away with something pretty fun yourself!

Now with that off my chest lets get back to the topic at hand. Which today I am calling Bravery. It is not the same thing as moxie but they travel in tight circles together. Moxie often requires bravery and I have been thinking about what I can do to amp up my bravery quotient and then my bloggy friend Lisa over at LifeUnity went and did that very thing. She looked at something that scared her and she did it anyway! Her post called My Secret tells the whole story (you should definitely go there to check it out.) Bottom line she felt she had been hiding and "holding in" her stomach (literally and as metaphor for many other things in her life -- go read her post!) for decades and she was not going to do that one day longer.  And then she did about the bravest thing in the world for her and that was to take a photo of her bare stomach and post it for all the world to see!

Just imagine doing that! If you don't have a stomach thing then you probably have something else. In my case it would be a cleavage thing or possibly more appropriately called a sexy thing. I have a reasonably nice body but for what ever reason I just can not bear to wear anything even slightly revealing and sexy. If I try a dress on and it even slightly shows off my breasts I am extremely uncomfortable. Totally brave for me would be letting my husband buy me an outfit (He has excellent taste and would love it if I amped the sexy up a notch!) and then wearing it! So that is what I am going to do... I'll post that photo here sometime after said outfit is acquired!

So today my hat is off to Lisa for bravery of the highest order and a heap of moxie to boot! Thank you so much for the inspiration!

How about you? What is the bravest thing you have ever done... or better yet what brave thing are you going to do?

Next Post: Moxie Conclusions

My 13 bliss virtues are 

joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, 

romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, and surprise.



This week we are studying moxie. Next week it is Humility.

Everyday Bliss gets an Award for my 300th post!!!

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MOXIE- The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage; vigor; verve; pep. [Moxie Week begins here. Click for this week's Bliss Initiative.] And a little dash of Gratitude too!

I actually cleaned my house in lieu of writing this post. That should tell you something. I am not a huge "milestone" gal so the fact that this is my 300th post kind of snuck up on me. If you have been following my blog since the beginning you know that there was no mention of a 100th or 200th.  I just don't normally think in those terms. This is a year long project so my perspective has been on my 13 week quarters and each cycle through the virtues but since my guest blogger from yesterday was celebrating her 100th post I thought "Hmmm, wonder how many I have done?" and there it was, 300 was today.

As soon as I realized it I suddenly had the urge to mark it in some way and that is when the writers block hit. I've been doing everything and anything not to write this post. It is primarily because I think it is supposed to be particularly fabulous and I don't want to let you down.

Then today I received a little email telling me I had won a blog award. To be perfectly frank I've been a little bit on the fence about how I feel about the whole award thing but I figured I would just wait until I got one to figure it out. Then months and months passed and it never happened. You know that joke about not wanting to be a member of any club that wanted you... I was sort of in that place! You know, deflecting the fact that while I thought the whole "award" thingy could get in the way of so called "serious blogging" I was a little sad that no one thought my blog was worthy. 

Yikes! here it is Moxie week and all my teen age angst issues have decided to rear their heads! Pretty funny how this stuff continues to live on an on in us! On that note, to update you all regarding my little playground incident earlier in the week, I really feel I have undergone a transformation because of the comments so many of you shared. When I finished my post on Tuesday, I really wasn't sure how I might act in the future but now I am convinced I will make choices my heart will not regret. I said at the end of that post that Moxie is NOT strong in this one but because of all your support I can honestly say Moxie is rising in me. Thank you for that!

Back to the Award. Because of it's fortuitous arrival here on the eve of my 300th post it seemed positively fitting and particularly celebratory to play along! So thank you Katina, I will accept this award and am really delighted to share it with some of my favorite bloggers.

I received this award from Katina over at Peaceful Divas.  One of my inquiry web searches landed me on her terrific blog where she has an thoroughly inspiring take on tackling the mundane. I had already decided that I wanted to introduce you all to her next Order week and here she comes along and gives me my very first blog award. What really makes this award special to me is that I wasn't really even aware that she read Everyday Bliss on a regular basis. Gives me hope there may be more of you silent types out there actually do read regularly! So thank you so much Katina. I so appreciate knowing that you read and enjoy my blog.

When this award is given to you, there are a couple of things you are supposed to do:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award: (a little linky love never killed anybody!)

Check!

2. Sum up my blogging philosophy, motivation and experience in 5 words:

Bliss, Accountability, Inspiration, Love and Joy.

So sweet! Look how Katina answered this question:

Ok that is really hard to do but I chose: discipleship, empowerment, joy, sistahood, and moxie.
(I just love Everyday Bliss' definition of moxie: the ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage; vigor, verve, pep).
Thank you, thank you again!

3. The final step is for me to choose 10 other blogs whom I think are"Blogs With Substance".

I'm so excited to bestow this award on the following blogs. I would consider all of them Blogs With Substance. They offer their readers an interesting point of view and they make me laugh and think about things I wouldn't otherwise experience. I enjoy reading these blogs and they motivate me to become a better blogger.

Here is my list in no particular order:

BLissed-Out Grandma

LifeUnity

Optimal Optimist

Welcome to My World

I Like to Fish

Just Jingle

we bloom here

Gravity of Motion

NieNie Dialogues

Words of Wisdom

Please dear friends I have nominated for this award, feel no pressure to do anything with it. If you would like to play along, of course that would be delightful, but if your blog plate is already too full for one more thing do of course I understand. Just know I put you on this list because I enjoy what you provide and my blogging experience is richer for having you in it. Thank you.

On this grateful note... and considering that June 11th is the National Hug Holiday I would like to send out a virtual hug to all my readers. I really am thankful to have shared these 300 posts with you and if you are willing would love to share 300 more!

Next Post: Acts of bravery and a little pig

My 13 bliss virtues are 

joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, 

romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, and surprise.



This week we are studying moxie. Next week it is Humility.

A Moxie-licious Guest Post -- We've got The Scoop on Poop over here!

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MOXIE - The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage; vigor; verve; pep. [Moxie Week begins here. Click for this week's Bliss Initiative.]


Today's wonderful guest post is from a new bloggy friend Stephanie. I was her first "stranger follower" over at her delightful blog "The Scoop on Poop" and although her blog is just 100 posts old I've always assumed she has been blogging for MUCH MUCH longer. I asked her to guest blog because contrary to her own opinions I saw her approach to life filled with moxie. She is also celebrating a blogging milestone this week and has decided to have a party to celebrate. After you read what she has to say here do hop on over and congratulate her on reaching her 100th post.





Now here's Stephanie:

When Kathy first asked me to guest post, I was floored. I have never guest posted for anyone before. Then, I became nervous.

Nervous because I didn't want to let her down. She claimed I have "moxie" yet I had to ask her why. She told me it is because I meet life head on, stare it straight in the face.

And it's true. I do. I don't really see that there's a choice. I wasn't handed an easy life, so I could either wallow in self-pity and depression, or I could stand up and make the most out of what life throws my way. Self-pity and depression are no fun, and I am all about the fun.

Life isn't easy for a lot of people. Some of our favorite celebrities started out penniless, living out of their VW vans (Jewel), scouring diners for leftover donuts (Lucille Ball), surviving Hitler (Audrey Hepburn), and overcoming drug addictions (Lady Gaga). They've been the first in flight (Amelia Earhart), refusing to give up their seat for a white person (Rosa Parks), the first to show her pregnancy on a nationally acclaimed and live tv show (Lucille Ball). They've taken the face of opposition and risen to the challenge, endearing themselves in our hearts forever.

These women all have one thing in common. They have moxie: the courage and spirit to overcome difficulties. They all made their mark.

Lucille Ball is the greatest of these. A woman of great moxie. She lived the life of a gypsy as a small child, lost her father to smallpox at age 3, put together her own plays as a child. She even dropped out of high school to find her way along her career path. She became a familiar face in Vaudeville. When the Great Depression hit, she survived by scouring diners for left over donuts, then buying a cup of coffee to eat it with. Her wit and charm turned a donut into lunch and dinner.

Eventually, she took the radio and television world by storm. She started a studio that would be the foundation for many movies, hiring directors that would go on to make many famous shows. There was even a rumor that Lucy tested her co-workers to see how much moxie they had. What a minx she was!! What a charmer. She stole our hearts and endeared herself to many generations. She even managed to change the face of women's roles on television, becoming the first mother to ever air her pregnancy and birth as a part of her show on live national television. She formed the path that many have followed since.

Her legacy will continue on forever. To borrow a final quote from a memoir on Lucille Ball: "In a world where we deal with death and destruction and poverty and sadness on an hourly basis, we can say of Lucy, "She made us laugh." She still does. And that's all she needed to do."

She made her mark during a time when women didn't make marks. This, to me is the ultimate definition of moxie. I hope that someday I am remembered for making my mark too. It takes moxie to envision your dreams and rise above reality to make them come true. I hope that when I am old and gray, people will remember me as having the moxie to follow my own dreams and making my own mark on life.

Thanks for having me over today, Kathy, and making my dream of being a guest blogger come true! I'm going to shamelessly plug my blog here and remind y'all to come over and enter to win the gorgeous necklace I am giving away over at The Scoop on Poop. See ya there!

Next Post: Holy Heck its my 300th post!

My 13 bliss virtues are 

joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, 

romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, and surprise.



This week we are studying Moxie. Next up is Humility Week

Moxie Failings...

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MOXIE - The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage; vigor; verve; pep. [Moxie Week begins here. Click for this week's Bliss Initiative.]

Yesterday I said that Moxie means looking squarely at the thing that scares you and acting anyway.  I promised to you that I would be on the look out for opportunities to be brave and speak up instead of quietly going about my business. Sadly, I have to say that I failed. I can say that I heard my moxie mantra ringing in my ears a couple of times but I just didn't act. 

One of those occasions was yesterday when this guy, a rather scruffy looking dad who was with his son at the park, tried on several occasions to interact with me. I was at the park with my group of mommy friends, we go there most Mondays and we, and our kids, really take over the place.  His appearance not withstanding he had another strike against him. He was a man. Our little mommy group has always been welcoming to the spouses of our little click but a singleton man without a wifely introduction has little chance of garnering much attention from us.

We really don't intend to be so unwelcoming. It is just that we have spent several years together and we have a friendship that allows for speaking in shorthand. You know, with a shared knowing eye or just the right gesture which now speaks more then any word can ever say. This poor Dad had already been a recipient of some unspoken language when he got really flustered by one of the little girls in our group repeatedly pulling her shirt up over her head. Clearly he hasn't spent much time with the preschool set so our reaction which more properly could be called a complete lack of a response was probably slightly upsetting to him.

No matter, he kept on. Forging ahead with comments about this or that or about what each kid was doing. At one point, after the parks and recreation department had stopped by to fix our parks little water feature, it was this Dad who sat by the fountain mediating who's turn it was or was not to push the button. The kids were having a great time and he was performing a fabulous service as I was able to stay perched on my bench with out interruption. 

Google Images

As we were all gathering to leave, somehow the mommy conversation turned to vegetarianism. We are a typically crunchy California crew and several of us are vegetarian (not me at the moment) and if not do eat vegetarian food on a fairly regular basis (again I can't count me in this number). The bulk of my participation in this conversation was my consideration to return to a more vegetarian diet, I was vegan in my 20s and all the bacon I now consume is weighing on my heart (particularly with my pig giveaway underway... but I digress!) and at some point this Dad jumped in to ask this question:

"Can you make a good meal like that? With all Vegetables?"

He went on to explain that he was a bar-b-que guy and his wife's friend was vegetarian and he just didn't know what she could eat.

This is where my moxie failed me. There were suddenly a lot of "knowing glances" being exchanged among our crew.  A kind of overall "It figures, this guy doesn't know about vegetarian food." An honest observation perhaps but as I walked away I began to realize how positively dismissive we all were towards him. We answered him with trite responses.

"Of course you can make great vegetable based meals." Without any further explanation. Not even a little mention of how portobello mushrooms are awesome when grilled. I do remember tossing out that vegetarian chili can be as good as meat based ones but my comments were intended to end the conversation not engage it.

This poor guy spent an entire afternoon being the odd man out and when he tried to interact with us, on our current topic of choice I totally blew him off! I believe he was genuinely interested in figuring out what vegetarianism was all about. If we had taken the time to converse with him it might have been possible to get him interested in trying something. I know that if I was alone I would have answered his questions but there in my pack it was simple to just walk away. 

Was he a guy I wanted to get to know better? Not particularly but I really think I could have been a hell of a lot more gracious. What made this whole thing a moxie failing for me is that I felt this way BEFORE I walked away. My friend Shannon and I had even, moments previously, engaged in a conversation about high school clicks (a posse of teen girls were within earshot totally dissing a classmate) and how we are glad to be out of that situation. What irony to feel like I was doing the very same thing in an adult context. 

My realization further crystalized as I was driving away but to tell the full truth I didn't really want to to be the brave one who actually interacted with him. First, I didn't want to be the odd one out among my friends. The guy was a little weird and I didn't get the impression anyone really wanted to risk his becoming a regular at our park. I was feeling bad about how I was behaving but I didn't really know what to do. So I did what has become normal. I took the easy way out and just walked away. 

Would I respond any differently in future similar situations because of this experience? I certainly hope so but as I sit here typing away I am really not convinced. Moxie is weak in this one.

So what do you think you would have done? Have you "spoken up" recently even though it was hard for you?

I am participating in the "Pour Your Heart Out" Meme with this post. It wasn't easy to write and I am interested in what you have to say about it. Thank you so much for your comments.      
Please also visit Shell our host to read more Pour Your Heart Out Stories!

Next Post: Someone who has moxie!

My 13 bliss virtues are 

joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, 

romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, and surprise.



This week we are studying Moxie. Next up is Humility Week