Photo by Sookie via Flickr
Welcome to my long OVERDUE new website. The original Comfortqueen.com launched in May 2000 and although we made changes along the way, for the last three years, it was dated, riddled with broken links, and no longer reflected me. People would report broken links and ask where the e-cards went or that they missed the Daily Dollop and I’d say, “Soon. Soon I’ll know what to do.”
I kept telling myself it wasn’t the right time to do a redesign because I didn’t know what was next for me and I didn’t know what look I wanted for my “brand” and I didn’t know my target audience or my USP.
Then, one day, I realized I would never know if all I kept doing was thinking and mulling. I realized the only way I would ever know what I was doing next was to do something. To be in motion.
There are times when we get stuck because we have forgotten how to create. We believe we have to know exactly what we are doing before we can do anything — we have to know our brand mission, our ideal customer, have a snazzy logo; We have to know our big life vision, our soul purpose, have a cute tag line; We especially have to know where we will end up before we can begin.
When we notice that we are talking to ourselves in sentences that begin with “First I have to…” or “When the kids are…” or “When I know what I want to say then I will” before we sign up for the class or go for the interview or start the book, we’ve gone beyond listening and fruitful waiting and discernment and we’re stuck in a dead end story that is all about safety and fear and wanting guarantees in a life that never gives them.
The antidote? Action. Motion. Creation.
But not big long-term commitment kind of action. Not launching a company with fifty employees, not starting a book, not signing a year’s contract. Instead, start with something finite, easy, and yes, fun. Start with something that lights your heart up (or at least makes you faintly smile) and that has a clear beginning and ending. If you take a job after being home with the kids for ten years, take a job that you can leave easily but that interests you, challenges you or at least gets you into action. If you want to write, start an article or a blog post, not an historical epic. If you need to redo your website but you have no idea where your business is going next year, do something simple, with as few pages as possible and Word Press based so you can change it easily.
(Note: if you are somebody who gets into action easily but quits often, this advice is all wrong for you. You may need a big long hairy epic commitment. Or not. What do I know?)
Be in motion, build in change, and let it be easy.
Or think about it this way:
When the Shoe Fits
by Chuang Tzu
Translated by Thomas Merton
( a longish poem from: Roger Housden’s collection Risking Everything that ends:)Easy is right. Begin right
And you are easy.
Continue easy and you are right.The right way to go easy
Is to forget the right way
And forget that the going is easy.
Welcome to my ever-changing motion-filled ease-inspired new website.
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19 responses so far ↓
1 Kelly Watson Jul 27, 2008
Congrats on the new site design! I love the clean look. Your art is beautiful too. Hope you’ll find a way to retool the old content someday.
2 Anya May Jul 28, 2008
Love it! Love it! Congrats on the new look. And Keep up the good work!
Anya
3 Marisa Jul 28, 2008
WOW! I love the new sight!
Thank you for the gentle reminder about getting into motion. I think that a lot of the time that we are so afraid to “do it wrong”, “making a wrong move”, or that we must be “doing it right the first time” that we don’t let ourselves just get out there and start. Perfection be damned, what counts is our commitment to actually DOING what we want and we can’t do that if we never start moving. It’s “safer” to be stuck in making a plan so we will “do it right” (what if we fail? Or worse, what if we succeed?).
You are an amazing woman and I can’t wait to see how the new site unfolds!
4 CK Reyes Jul 28, 2008
Thanks for the reminder. Paired with being in motion is faith and trust. I just moved to a small town that I have been resisting for all the reasons that left me in fear. But when I surrendered to the promptings to make the move, everything fell into place. Faith and trust and motion, baby! Thanks Jennifer!
5 rebecca Jul 29, 2008
**Welcome Baaack….” (do you remember that 70s television program Kotter I think it was, John Travolta’s early days, anyway here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCaUJN6MFrw&feature=related if you want to listen).
I like the new website, it is great to have it all in one place…and I think it is great to have the ComfortQueen back and better then ever.
6 Viveca Jul 31, 2008
Glad to find you today and share in your musings … I’ve been feeling stuck, deserted by creativity and worried by this and that and this and that.
Then I changed our my nighttime read. Put down the book about the woman who was is going insane and started reading “Why Good Things Happen to Good People” which got me back into a sane loving and giving space!
Today I welcomed two new neighbors with chocolate cake and a hug.
Life is GREAT again.
Viveca
7 Jennifer Jul 31, 2008
Thanks for all the wise and wonderful feedback. Feels good to have this done! And to start blogging regularly again… And yes, perfection be damned and it is so important to remember what we take in (reading, films, TV) can so greatly affect our mood and outlook.
8 Tara Benwell Aug 1, 2008
Hey Jen,
Wow, I can see you’ve put a lot of work into this site. Talk about motion! Action, motion, creation. So simple. I love it.
And now…I shall get back to creating. Thanks for the pit stop!
Tara
9 keri Aug 5, 2008
just popped in to say hi! the site looks really great and light. so good to see you are doing well!
sending love
k.
10 Jennifer Manlowe Aug 7, 2008
I am so excited for you, Jen, way to go! Way to keep it real as to “where you are and where you’re coming from in shaping your future.” I love your framework — very Daoist/Taoist.
That Eastern philosophical framework is the same one that I work from when supporting clients to bring forward the book inside them that is “ready to be born.” I say, “write your memoir and let me publish it!” Like you Jen, I believe authorizing ourselves is what it’s all about.
Bless you and your good work in the world!
11 Karen Aug 7, 2008
Very nice! It looks grownup.
12 Francisca Aug 7, 2008
Excellent make-over, Jennifer. Reflects the renewed YOU as also seen at http://www.jenniferlouden.com.
Your entry resonates well with me. I too feel better being in the midst of a whirlwind, with energy flowing all around me, even if I can’t quite define that energy or where it is taking me, than sitting in stagnant, stifling air with little promise of change and accomplishment.
Love the Tzu poem!
Cheers to you and to all of us!
13 Marilyn Aug 8, 2008
Welcome to blogland! I love your site. The quote strikes a chord! I so agree about perfection! Who needs it?
Thanks for sharing!
Blessings,
Marilyn
14 alex s Aug 8, 2008
Despite trying to avoid perfectionism, I found this post perfect for me today! It is so easy to get stuck in overwhelm mode: overburdened by the “shoulds” and “have tos.”
Thanks for the nudge, and congratulations on the lovely new website.
15 Karen Aug 8, 2008
Just last night I was telling my husband that I find myself failing to write (which is what I’d love to do for a living) because I’m not even sure where to start….& he had basically the same advice….just start with today – nothing big…just one thought or piece at a time. I love the new site!
16 Anne in Virginia Aug 8, 2008
Jennifer,
I’m glad to see the new Web site! The old Comfortqueen was getting a little sad to visit, though I miss Cleo’s artwork. I’m also glad it’s now easier to post comments. I tried a couple of times in the last year to leave a comment and despite having a Typepad account, the comments never appeared.
Speaking of the old Comfortqueen.com, did you ever follow up on the idea of writing a subscription-based Inner Organizer? I miss the thoughtful weekly questions.
17 Eveline Aug 8, 2008
Looking good Jen! Looking good!
18 Sheilah Aug 12, 2008
Hey Jen–Just read your latest e-newsletter, checked out your new design, and your latest post. As usual, your heart leaps out from everything. Love the design, love your posts, love you! I’m redesigning my website this week, too, to better reflect the new me, my new books, and my new authors. The new site should be up next week. Change is good, especially when we realize that change is life. Love ya, and will be in touch soon.
19 Glenda Sep 5, 2008
All spring and summer, I’ve toiled in the garden / yard preparing it for the days when I could sit on the patio and enjoy the fragrances and beauty of nature’s artwork. One day I stopped thinking about that faroff day and realized, I already was enjoying it. I was creating it. When I finish a section, I stare at it from all directions, admire it, and smile. One doesn’t have to sit on the patio or deck to take in nature’s glory.