Category: Mojo Mondays

Mojo Monday 12: Hiatus

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Hiatus

I started Mojo Monday 3 months ago and have had so much fun doing it, but even more fun hearing how its made you laugh outloud and wiggle just a little – or a lot! But I’ve decided to take a short hiatus, or Webster defines it – a pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process. I’ve got some ideas that require I improve my video and editing skills and need time to do that and I plan to refocus the format. So, stay tuned!

In the meantime

In the meantime, if you’ve got any videos of your version of Monday Mojo, please share – I’d love to see them!

 

 

Mojo Monday 11: Reinvention

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Reinvention

There are many defintions of reinvention, all having to do with “producing something new based on something that already exists.” (Cambridge English Dictionary)

But as many human beings who inhabit the earth, are as many ways to reinvent. Which is a number way beyond millions. To make this real in physical terms, I searched terms for reinvention in an online thesaurus. There are at least 18 words for reinvention. I focus on one in this video: Revitalize.

What does reinvention mean for you?

When have you been faced or are faced with having to reinvent yourself? If there is anything you learned from that crucial moment, please either share in the comments or message me.

Reference

Lambarena – Bach to Africa

Nano Vasconcelos, Sam Atela

Pepa Nzac Gnon Ma

 

 

 

 

Mojo Monday 10: On Remembrance and Celebration

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On remembrance and celebration

Memorial Day is a day for many of us to remember those who lost their lives in the line of duty. But perhaps for others of us, it’s a day for remembering those we’ve lost, not due to war.

Memorial Day has also become a day of picnics and bbq’s and gathering together to enjoy each others company. This used to bother me. The idea of laughing and having fun on a day intended for remembering those no longer with us, seemed wrong somehow. But over the years and after experiencing several losses personally, I’ve changed my mind completely.

I’ve come to realize that the best way I can honor the memory of someone I’ve lost is to embrace the memory of the whole person as best I can – the good, the bad, and everything in between.  If I can do this, then the focus is on that person instead of me and my rules and should’s and shouldn’ts of how to remember (or what it should look like).

Something is freed up inside to simply remember. And sometimes that includes a celebration.

This video is a tribute I did years ago to honor the life and memory of a friend, Zezette Larsen. The song is “Take me to the water” by Nina Simone.

May you remember those you’ve lost this holiday and celebrate in your own way. love robin

 

Mojo Monday 9: Wordless Questions

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On the nature of questions, thought and a bit beyond

Unless you’re in a philosophy class, you probably don’t ponder the nature of what a question is. And even if in a philosophy class, you’re likely taught to know great thinkers and their works; apply that to thinking in current times and maybe, just maybe reflect upon how this might apply to your life. But as to the question of the origin of a real question, and in particular, how that originiates inside ones being – that is, from ones subjective experience – that isn’t taught much in school, or really anywhere.

Ad to this the fact that popular understanding of the meaning of a question is uninspiring and not reflective of life’s splendor. Here’s an example of what I mean. The English (online) Oxford Dictionary offers the following definitions:

A Question (noun)

A sentence worded or expressed so as to elicit information; A doubt about the truth or validity of something; A matter requiring resolution or discussion; A matter or concern depending on or involving a specified condition or thing.

Questioning (verb)

To ask questions, especially in an official context; To feel or express doubt, raise objections.

It’s not that these definitions are wrong, it’s that they are incomplete and reflect nothing of the heart and pulse of a great question – the kind that are born raw and wordless. The kind that make us human and remind us that we are human…just by virtue of the fact that we can feel the impulse to wonder.

So you can imagine my thrill when reading about what Socrates had to say about the vibrancy and power of a question in a book titled, Why Can’t We Be Good, by Jacob Needleman. One section in particular, grabbed my attention because it talked about the possibility of questions that arise when thought (eg., the busy-mind) slows down or even stops. Needleman describes experiences in nature, among other situations, where he had early impressions of this quality of stopping inside that allowed for something different.

And so I ventured on my morning walk with the idea in mind of attending to what in nature compells me to stop, and be still inside. A simple experiment. But as the saying goes, that which is simple is often not easy.

And this is no exception.

Glorious!

Reference

Why Can’t We Be Good, by Jacob Needleman, 2007 Penguin Group.

http://www.jacobneedleman.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mojo Monday 8: Returning

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Returning to do what you love, what calls you

Last week I missed making the Mojo Monday video because of the very thing I’ve been talking about: procrastination and mind chatter. So this week I’m focusing on what it means to return to do that thing you want to do but are challenged to do – for whatever reason.

When I was a little girl I developed a bad habit of knocking my head into the wall repeatedly. I did it out of frustration; psychologists call it self-soothing. I eventually stopped (mom told me that I couldn’t go to slumber parties with my girlfriends unless I stopped), but I still have a zillion ways that I fight with the wall.

How do you fight the wall, or rather fight reality? Do you force it or just walk away and forget the whole thing? Or do you find a way to work with the reality you’re given?

A poem about showing up

The challenge of writing
Is to see your horribleness on page.
To see your terribleness
And then go to bed.

And wake up the next day,
And take that horribleness and that terribleness,
And refine it.
And make it not so terrible and not so horrible.
And then to go to bed again.

And come the next day,
And refine it a little bit more,
And make it not so bad.
And then to go to bed the next day.

And do it again,
And make it maybe average.
And then one more time,
If you’re lucky,
Maybe you get to good.

And if you’ve done that,
That’s a success.

by Ta-Nehesi Coates

Mojo Monday 7: Mindchatter Be Gone!

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Mindchatter be gone!

I think most creators, inventors, artists and makers struggle with mindchatter and self-doubt at one time or another. The idea that you have a bolt of inspiration, sit down and create easily is romantic and not based on real life in my opinion. Even if it’s easy to start, sooner or later, mind-chatter creeps in.

So the question isn’t how to avoid it or not have it, but to start something and persist anyway, whether or not there’s mindchatter.

But how?

Something to try

Next time you start something and find yourself taken by the over-critical inner voice, find a way to surprise or shock that all -to-familiar voice. If there’s one thing that you can count on with mindchatter, it’s that the comments are predictable. You just might discover something amazing.