Weekly I get an email from the “The Ripples Project“, an online project whose purpose is:

helping others get excited about work and school and life; […] and challeng[ing] people to explore their potential

Below is an example of a newsletter that I received this week. The Ripples was titled: Dancing with the Universe whileas the title of my website/blog is Dancing Through the Universe. So why not?

PEBBLE
You can dance with the Universe,
but you don’t get to lead.
-written and submitted by Catherine Julian in Olympia, WA

BOULDER
Cinderella may have been given
the dress, the shoes and the ride,
but she was the one who made
the choice to go to the ball.
You are given opportunities every day,
make your choice to do something with them.
-written and submitted by Jennifer from Cal Poly-SLO

PONDER
Plenty of teeny and huge stuff happens over which we have little or no control; unfortunately we are sometimes so busy fretting over these unscheduled interruptions that we ignore the choices we still have, the options that are still available to us. Just because we cannot control everything doesn’t mean we have to throw up our hands and fail to get busy on the things we CAN control.

So if you’re feeling stuck this week, I invite you look between the lines of the STUFF you are facing and seek the choices and options you still have. And then find a way to dance with them!

Ever since the National Orientation Directors Association Conference 2004 (NODAC 2004) in Chicago (part of NODA), I was drawn to the Keynote Speaker: Paul Wesselmann. Uplifting, poignant, enthusiastic… we left indelible impressions upon one another during that conference.

Before I continue (you have to forgive my enthusiasm) at this time I was a college student, graduating soon hanging out with adults well professionals really, other members of the committee, and I was treated as an equal. Anyway, I digress…

I designed, developed, created the website for NODAC 2004 and as thus was part of the Conference Committee as the sole member in the Website Design committee. With a lot of the pressure of interacting with all the other members of the committee in getting as much information as possible to put on the website for all the members. Anyway during a break in the extended weekend long schedule of making sure the conference was running smoothly, Paul joined various committee members (myself included) for a trip out for dinner.

Paul Wesselmann joined us for a committee outing after a smooth day running the conference and I remember him tossing his head back and downing some canned cheese… in fact I may still have a picture of him doing that somewhere. In any case, when I introduced myself as the creator of the website he said, “You created that website? How did you make the menu go ‘shwing!’?”

Yesh, I do know how to make a subtle impact… I’m that good. 😛