What if…

…the power is already within you?

…you overcame your fears today and allowed yourself to dream big?

…you already have all the tools, resources, and answers you need to get started — or to finish! — successfully?

…the world is literally chomping at the bit for what you and your business have to offer?

…you knew you had plenty of money coming into your bank account for the next six months to do and be everything you want, and that money will EXPLODE because of your actions?

…you threw down the gauntlet and declared exactly what you want, what you stand for, and what you’re worth?

…your success story is no different than those of the multi-million and billionaires you read about in Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Fortune, et al?

…every “challenge” life and business chucks at you really does contain the gifts that ultimately lead you to the ripest, most fabulous and prosperous opportunities?

…time IS on your side, EVERYTHING has played out perfectly so far, and you’re in EXACTLY the right place and frame of mind to become your wildest, most kick-butt vision and version of yourself?

Seriously. What if?

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 16th, 2008 at 11:24 am and is filed under Mood Boosters, Storytelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

I rarely open email forwards, and even more frequently delete them if the sender doesn’t add a little note at the beginning to explain just why they were compelled to send the thing along.

But I happened to open the one pasted below. And it’s bizarre, because I’d just been thinking about how it’s our fifth year in business. How 80% of businesses supposedly fail in the first year, and 80% of the remainder fail within five years, and if we make it through this year, we’ll have beaten some pretty incredible odds.

Not to mention how tough it got in the latter half of 2006, when the option of “quitting” started to look attractive for a little while there.

That said, here’s a little Mood Booster for you, and for those of you who aren’t comfortable with use of “God,” do like Julia Cameron of Artist’s Way fame advises, and treat it as an acronym for “Good Orderly Direction,” a nameless force in the universe that is constantly looking for opportunities to help you on your journey:

The Fern and the Bamboo

One day I decided to quit…. I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality… I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

“God”, I said. “Can you give me one good reason not to quit?”

His answer surprised me.

“Look around,” He said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

“In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.”

He said, “In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit.

“In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit.”

He said. “Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant.

“But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.”

He said to me, “Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots. I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you. Don’t compare yourself to others.”

He said, “The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern, yet, they both make the forest beautiful.

“Your time will come,” God said to me. “You will rise high!”

“How high should I rise?” I asked.

“How high will the bamboo rise?” He asked in return.

“As high as it can?” I questioned.

“Yes.” He said, “Give me glory by rising as high as you can.”

I left the forest and brought back this story. I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on you.

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Posted in Lessons Learned, Mood Boosters, Storytelling | 1 Comment »

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Lessons Learned, Mood Boosters, Storytelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Thank you, Michael Port (the brains and brawn behind the “Book Yourself Solid” and “Think Big” revolutions), for calling this amazing feat in contemporary storytelling to my attention. 

It’s the entire human experience hitching a ride on the graphics and communications stylings of the boardroom culture. Trippy, profound, creative, heartwrenching, exquisite. All in under four minutes.

Clemens Kogler is the artist behind this portfolio piece, which “manages to produce some magical nuance and shades between the great topics death, cable tv, emotions and hamsters.” Clemens, you’ve got a bright future ahead of you!
Interested in learning new ways to deliver YOUR ideas, insights, and content to the masses? Sign up for our ezine, “The Inciter,” at EpiphaniesInc.com!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 24th, 2007 at 5:26 pm and is filed under All About Content, Storytelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Heck - our company’s name is Epiphanies, Inc., so we darn well better say a few words on this sacred day!

First, I’d like to share that our company’s name came to us years before Allen and I ever even considered starting our own business. In fact, we were just beginning to slide down the road to Schmoopiedom, batting eyelashes and going all ga-ga over each others jokes and stories, whether or not they were actually funny or entertaining. You know, that stage in a relationship. Only bearable by the two people immersed in it. God help any onlookers!

So, one day, one of us wrote a love note to the other. (Neither of us can remember who started this, by the way.) Because we’re both writers at heart and rather geeky by nature, the love note was an “official” love note, set upon a fine, fibrous sheet of paper with a header and footer designed to look like an important business document. The footer had a fake address. [Attention diabetics - you may want to stop reading this post right now!]

The address said:

epiphanies, inc.     2 hopelessly devoted lane     youand, me 54321

(I warned you!!)

We have a file now, with a dozen or so letters on such faux letterhead. (Whoa, are these things SAPPY!) Why “Epiphanies, Inc.”? Neither of us can remember that, either. But two years pass and Allen and I are engaged, and we’re deciding on what to engrave on the inside of our wedding bands…and we both agreed Epiphanies, Inc. was the natural choice.

Three years later, when we were stumblling into our fate as co-owners of a business, forced to set up a way to become legal and viable contractors for Mattel after I left their full-time employment to move cross country, we figured we’d stick this unshakable name as our business name. It seemed to be working for us, after all.

Unfortunately, we didn’t really factor in the Internet, and web domains, and how only 2.7% of the Earth’s population actually knows how to spell “Epiphanies” - let alone knows what it means. But we’re in this thing too deep to take our own advice about making sure your website is easy to say and spell. In other words, do as we say, not as we do!

So here we are, nearly a decade after the first letterheaded love note was passed, on the actual Day of Epiphany. While it’s recognized on most calendars, it’s not exactly a mainstream holiday. I, personally, have been trying to find some kind of common beliefs about this day, but it’s never an easy mission.

I’ve read about it being a day for a Christian feast designed to “to celebrate the ’shining forth’ or revelation of God to mankind in human form.” I’ve read it marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas, and that it’s the day the famed three Wise Men, or Magi, showed up at Jesus’ manger, at long last. There are religious conotations and controversy, Eastern beliefs disagreeing with Western beliefs. What can ya do?

Wikipedia says “Ancient Liturgies speak of Illuminatio, Manifestatio, Declaratio (Lighting, Manifestation, Declaration)” and I dig these types of words, in general.

In all honesty, I get a headache everytime I attempt to locate a definitive answer on the real meaning of this day.

But it’s as good a day as any to pay homage to the word “Epiphany” - so here you go…

The entry for “EPIPHANY” from Wikipedia!

As a feeling, an epiphany is a sudden realisation or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something. The term is used in either a philosophical or literal sense to signify that the claimant has “found the last piece of the puzzle and now sees the whole picture,” or has new information or experience, often insignificant by itself, that illuminates a deeper or numinous foundational frame of reference.

The word’s secular usage may owe some of its popularity to James Joyce, who expounded on its meaning in the fragment Stephen Hero and the novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). Referring to those times in his life when something became manifest, a deep realisation, he would then attempt to write this epiphanic realisation in a fragment. Joyce also used epiphany as a literary device within each short story of his collection Dubliners (1916) as his protagonists came to sudden recognitions that changed their view of themselves or their social condition and often sparking a reversal or change of heart.

For the philosopher, Levinas, epiphany or a manifestation of the divine is seen in another’s face, see face-to-face

In traditional and pre-modern cultures, and up until this day, initiation rites and mystery religions have served as vehicles of epiphany, as well as the arts. The Greek dramatists and poets, would, in the ideal, induct the audience into states of catharsis or kenosis, respectively. In modern times the Dadaist Marcel Duchamp and the Pop Artist Andy Warhol would invert expectations by presenting commonplace objects or graphics as works of fine art, simply by presenting them in a way no one had thought to do before.

Epiphanies have also made possible the existence of technology and the sciences. Famous epiphanies include Archimedes‘ realisation of how to estimate the volume of a given mass, which inspired him to shout “Eureka!” (”I have found it!”)

Among hackers in the proper sense of the word, the word “zen” is used as a verb in the same sense as epiphany, to mean acquiring a sudden comprehension. Similar to grokking, but not done over time. The Zen term kensho would more accurately describe this moment, referring as kensho does, to the feeling attendant on realizing, for example, the answer to the question set by a koan.

Obviously, this word holds a lot of meaning personally for Allen and me. It first represented love, then marriage, then business, and now, in 2007, our efforts to bring it all together in a “Lifestyle Entrepreneur” kind of way.

Though far from the greatest domain name, the word itself is incredible.

Epiphany: that incredible, magical instant when time and space merge, your brain combusts in your favor (for a change), and you see THE ANSWER, THE TRUTH, THE PERFECTION of everything you’ve learned so far, and how it fits exquisitely into your own life’s story. It’s when God Himself smiles upon you - if just for a second - and lets you know you’re on the right track, you’re making progress, you’ve moved up a notch in your mental and spiritual capacities, and everything’s going to be OK. It’s the gift of clarity. And it’s something truly magnificent.

At least, that’s how I see it today, on this simple, mysterious, and wondrous Day of Epiphany.

Oh, happy day!

(Pssst - have you had an epiphany recently in your life or business? We’ve got an “A-Ha! line just for you and we’d love if you’d share it! The number is: (214) 615-6505 Ext. 9488. Don’t be shy - share your epiphany today!)

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 6th, 2007 at 2:01 am and is filed under Married - With Business, Storytelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

I’ve been blog hopping today.

From Seth Godin’s post on Brand as mythology to Lisa Wilder’s posts (first, one on www.Coachamatic.com re: “How to Shift Out of Fear” (Parts 1 & 2), then, on her www.TheWilderZone.com blog, “Contemplating the Coming Year“), then finally all around Acorn Creative’s “Nuts & Bolts” Blog, a la Kevin Skarritt…

Seth’s post talks about how effective storytelling - with the requisite HEROIC OUTCOMES implied or outright stated - can be weaved into a company’s culture and marketing to create powerful brands that resonate deeply with their core audiences.

Lisa reminds us how easy it is for us to become excellent storytellers of our own imminent DOOM…and urges us to consider becoming just as good (or, preferably, better!) at our imminent SUCCESS. As she says:

“If we’re going to spin stories, and we all do, we may as well spin positive stories that will empower and uplift us and keep us moving forward proactively.”

And Kevin…well, he advocates the practice of IDEA MASHING. Which brings me to my suggestion for you and your ventures, business, and vision:

Instead of (or in addition to) the standard goal sheet or vision statement for 2007, why not spin a beautiful, bountiful, big-vision story of your IDEAL OUTCOME, your BEST CASE SCENARIO, your ULTIMATE SUCCESS STORY?!!!!

Have some fun with it. Weave in details.

• Who will you meet?
• Who will you partner with?
• Will you become a media darling?
• Will you rise to some glorious occasion and inspire charitable donations around the world?
• Are you featured on the cover of Inc. or Entrepreneur magazine?
• Do you have a major business breakthrough that transforms your future?
• Do you FINALLY hit your stride, and become the industry powerhouse you always knew you could be?

The reason everyone who’s anyone recommends storytelling as a biz success tool is because it CONNECTS with the core of your being. It’s memorable. It drives EMOTION. And if done right, it’s downright MAGICAL. 

If you write a version of your own HEROIC adventure for 2007, it may be just the script that helps you play out the details so they become your reality.

So…What’s YOUR HEROIC MYTH for 2007?

Write it. Read it. Learn it. Live it!

For FREE articles, tips, and strategies designed to catapult your content and electrify your business, sign up for our ezine, “The Inciter,” at EpiphaniesInc.com!

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Posted in Call in the Coach, Storytelling, Tools to "A-Ha Yourself!" | 1 Comment »

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Call in the Coach, Storytelling, Tools to "A-Ha Yourself!". You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.