by Marty Coleman | Aug 29, 2013 | Marty Coleman, Plan On It! - 2013 |
This will be spot on for some people, and not for others. I planned it that way.
Sheesh, another drawing of naked people, what’s up with you Marty!? Well, I like naked people. Some of my best friends are naked at least once a day. But beyond that, nakedness is a visual metaphor of our stripped down, exposed self and the cathartic transformation that occurs when we allow it to happen.
Megan LaBonte
Megan
That may be something that happens physically, like it did to Megan, a Photographer friend of mine in Massachusetts, who recently decided to go without makeup now for a number of months. She was petrified by the idea but she did it. She stripped herself clean of the mask and went out into the world not knowing what to expect.
This is what she wrote upon posting this photograph:
Before and after. Realized yesterday I have now been through my first whole season with out make up. What a difference it has made not only in the health of my skin but in my happiness as well. I love waking up each morning and facing the world just as I am, never realized how much I was hiding until I took this mask off. I now will wear it every once in a while to go out but other than that I don’t miss it at all and in fact for such a seemingly little thing it really has made a big impact on my life. I feel free from it and look forward to the next three seasons with an all natural face.
There are a lot of things Megan can’t change about herself. Genetically she is pretty much set and short of plastic surgery she isn’t going to change her natural face much. In other words, she has her spots. But she still could do a lot. In the simple act of not wearing makeup she took away some color, and added texture. She took away strong line and exchanged it for more subtle transformations of tone. In other words, she changed the color of her spots.
Reading her statement, it’s about much more than a physical transformation. It’s about a psychological and emotional transformation. She says she is happier. Happiness is not physical, right? It’s about attitude and emotion. She also said she realized she was hiding much. Was she hiding some hideous deformation on her face with the makeup? No, she was hiding something psychologically deeper. While the transformation was physical on the surface, that mask of makeup represented something much deeper and it was facing those deeper issues that was transformative far more than just going without foundation for a day.
Deeper Planning
Just to clarify, the napkin scene above is not related to Megan. She is just an example from among my friends about a physical transformation and she had a recent illustration I thought captured it well.
The Napkin shows a pretty horrendous family scene. It’s fraught with sexual tension, distress and possible abuse. It’s not hard to make the assumption that the family has highly dysfunctional relationships throughout. Who knows what terrible things have happened to make everyone run away in pain. We know all the children are running out into the world with spots. Spots that came from that home, that set of parents. Spots that hurt, spots that scar, spots that fester.
So, how do we go about transforming in these situations? With courage and a deliberate decision to do it.
For example, I have a family spot called alcoholism. The only way I found to deal with it in my own life was to stop drinking. I turned the scotch colored spot to water colored spot (whatever color that is.) I had to choose to change the color of that spot long ago or lose what mattered to me. The spot is still there, but it is pale now compared to the color I initially inherited.
What about you? Perhaps your spot includes a gravy colored spot called eating. Well, you aren’t going to stop eating. But you can transform the color of that spot to green for more vegetables and less gravy. Perhaps your spot is the green spot of envy. What color could that spot be turned into?
What about other spots you would like to transform? Whatever spots you choose, they won’t fade or change colors on their own You have to decide you want to change them, and yourself. You can do it.
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Drawing, quote, and commentary by Marty Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 28, 2013 | Eleanor Roosevelt, Plan On It! - 2013 |
I planned today to be about wishing.
Wishing
I wish I had a dollar for every time I wished something would happen. Is that wish a plan? No, it’s a wish. A plan would be setting up automatic transfer from some ‘wish’ account to my own wish account. It would be directly linked to my brain thoughts, would know when I wish something and pay me my dollar. That is a plan.
Planning
What is the difference between wishing and planning? Not much. Planning is just sort of organized wishing. You wish to paint a painting for your mother’s birthday. If you organize that into what to buy or find to paint with, where you are going to paint. and when you will make time to paint, then you have organized the wish, simple as that. It’s still a wish, but you have put legs to it.
Dream, Image and Deed
Long ago I did a series of art pieces called ‘Dream, Image and Deed’. It sort of clarified for me what it took to make something happen. I had to dream (or wish), I had to imagine it clearly by making an image of it (or writing it down, same idea) and then I had to do the deed. The drawing above illustrates that idea.
The key to turning a wish into a plan is to not get caught up in the big picture. You may wish for an around the world trip, but you aren’t actually putting that in action. All you are really doing is the first step, which might be to figure out the stops you would like to make. That is a wish and it’s a plan. You keep doing the next little step, until you can’t do any more steps. If it ends before your trip, then you adjust the dream to be only half way around the world and back, or whatever it takes for you to continue to take steps.
I wish you good plans!
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 27, 2013 | American Proverbs, Plan On It! - 2013 |
I planned this last night all by myself.
Being Played
The saying when you are being taken advantage of without you really knowing it is, ‘You’re being played.’ It means someone is manipulating you to achieve an end of their own. They make it seem like it is in your best interest, maybe even that it was your idea. But unbeknownst to you, the real goal doesn’t take you into consideration. You will be left behind when you are no longer needed. You might even be damaged or hurt. That’s being played.
Being Planned
If you don’t know what you want in life, if you don’t make some effort to go in that direction, you are going to find yourself being a chess piece in someone else’s plan for their own life.
An example: The daughter who is ‘forced’ by her parents to get a law degree when what she sort of liked was art. But she didn’t know herself very well, didn’t think her ideas of what she wanted to do were valid or useful (because her parents said so) and so she bowed to the pressure and got her law degree. She grew old resenting her brother for having the courage to withstand the parental pressure and become a salesman instead of the doctor they wanted him to be. She blamed her parents, her school, America, capitalism, and her gender. But she never realized the real reason was she didn’t know herself, didn’t trust herself enough to say, ‘this is who I am and this is what I want to be.’ She was afraid, and maybe lazy. She was afraid of not living luxuriously. She was worried about putting out so much effort to achieve her dream. She was tired just thinking about it. And so she ended up living the life her parents wanted her to live, for their reasons, not hers. She was a bitter and angry woman later in life, never knowing it was her decisions that made her like that, no one else.
Naked to the World
Why are the people in this drawing naked? Because others can see through us. They can see when we are being who we want to be, who we plan to be. And they can see us when we are hollow shells, waiting to be filled by someone else’s idea of a life. I would rather be courageous and say ‘This is my plan.” and be seen in all my planned glory than to be a coward and live someone else’s ideas and life and STILL be seen naked to the world. Because, if I am seen naked as me, then the criticisms and compliments are things I can actually listen to. I can evaluate them knowing they are at least based on something real.
If I am a lie, then criticisms and compliments aren’t ever about me. I am not connected to them, I can’t be helped or encouraged by them. It’s as if they are talking to or about someone else. And they are.
What is your plan for your life?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote is an American Proverb
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SXSW
Don’t forget, I am in need of votes at the 2014 SXSW PanelPicker site. I have a workshop proposal called ‘The Compelling Image in the Age of Social Media’ that I would love to present in Austin next March. Part of the decision making process (30%) is having SXSW members vote for the proposals they would like to attend. You do have to register, but it’s painless and if you are involved in Social Media and interactive online world in any capacity the conference would be worth finding more about.
Please vote here —–> SXSW PanelPicker and then amplify the proposal across your social media world if you are able!
Thank you very much, M
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 23, 2013 | Gloria Steinem, Plan On It! - 2013 |
I planned this post for yesterday, which it is – if you read this tomorrow.
Dreaming your Plans
Are you allowing yourself a dream? I don’t mean the ‘I ate a cookie and it turned into a pink tutu in my stomach and flew out my butt and became a butterfly and talked to me about the African Lowland Gorilla needing cookies more than I do’ dream. I don’t mean that kind.
I mean the real life dreams. Do you allow yourself those dreams? Or do you think you don’t deserve one? Maybe you had your dream shot down and don’t want to dream again? Maybe you have been told so many times dreaming is for losers, just go and do your work and shut up about stupid dreams. Or maybe you fill your mind with other people’s dreams instead of your own. Remember, without a dream, very likely you won’t ever have a plan for anything. It all starts with a dream, so allow it.
Planning your Dreams
Are you planning your dreams? I don’t mean the ‘I dreamt I had a sock around my wrist and there was a baby alligator coming out of it with a bobblehead doll of my 3rd grade teacher in it’s teeth who was singing an oratorio in a Donald Duck voice while wearing a mankini’. I don’t mean that kind.
I mean the real life dreams. Are you planning those?
- Do you dream of downsizing and having less ‘stuff’? Are you planning on how you will actually get rid of that stuff?
- Do you dream of being a size 8 again? Are you planning on how to make that dream happen?
- Do you dream of making new friends who are more like you than the stuffy people you know at work or church or the country club? Have you joined that nudist rock climbing group yet? Have you auditioned for the community theatre yet? Have you taken that bow hunting class yet?
- Do you dream of contributing to your home town somehow? Have you looked into that school mentoring program you heard about last year? Have you called the hospice society who helped out your uncle in his last days?
What are your dreams for becoming who you want to be? What is your plan to make that happen? Do you think you will become it without a plan, without a dream? You won’t you know.
If you can dream it, you can plan it. If you can plan it, you can make it happen.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Gloria Steinem
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 19, 2013 | H. G. Bohn, Plan On It! - 2013 |
The Fitness Challenge
I am starting a 12 week fitness challenge with my wife and daughter today. Caitlin actually started it last week but I couldn’t get my act together that soon after my trip back east so I am starting a week after her.
Time vs Excuses
Having delayed it a week it was easy to start to think of reasons not to do it this week either. I have this run schedule. I have this weekend trip. I have this lack of groceries. I have this confusion about the program. Maybe I need more time.
But I don’t need more time, I need less excuses. I needed to measure myself. I needed to have pictures taken. I had to figure my goals. I had to read up on nutrition. I had to figure out what I have, and what I need, to make it happen. I needed to join the gym. All things that are not part of my daily napkin dad life and sort of a hassle.
But doing these things is a commitment. I am telling myself that I am implementing a plan by taking these steps. Without these concrete steps, it’s just a ‘one day’ plan.
What is your plan?
- Does it have a date attached to it? If not, it’s a ‘one day’ plan.
- Does it have real concrete steps to take? If not, it’s a ‘one day’ plan.
- Are you accountable to anyone? Have you told anyone of your goal? If not, it’s a ‘one day’ plan.
And a ‘one day’ plan is no plan at all.
Let’s hear one step in your plan. What is it?
Speaking of a PLAN
WHO WANTS TO VOTE FOR ME? I am wanting to share some cool stuff with the peeps at SXSW next March. I have proposed a 2 1/2 hour workshop on photography, an extended version of the presentation I gave at Social Media Tulsa earlier this year. If you liked that presentation, or if you just want to see me go to Austin and do something cool, vote for this proposal, ok? THANKS!
http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/24603
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by H. G. Bohn, 1796-1884, British Publisher
The quote was found in a book (The Book of Positive Quotations’) given to me by one of the runners I coach. She came up to me with the book as a gift and said, “I found you online. I didn’t realize you were so infamous!” I thought that was the coolest thing. I like being infamous almost as much as being famous. The fact that I am actually neither is immaterial in my mind! hahaha
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