Facebook being the microcosm of the world that it is, I was fascinated this morning while perusing it long about 6 a.m. In a span of about 10 minutes, I noticed celebration and sorrow, fear and fun, anger and awesome appreciation being expressed in people’s postings. One friend was announcing her daughter’s scholarship, while another shared about a close call with a drunk driver. Others were asking for prayers for ill loved ones while some folks were offering their perception of the world around them. All of these things were happening in their ‘worlds’ simultaneously. I am here engaging in my Saturday morning ritual of listening to Sleepy Hollow on WXPN (88.5 fm in Philly), slight sleep deprivation headache with the whirlwind of activity in my life lately. Enjoying kale, flax milk, celery, carrot, blueberry, raspberry smoothie. Anticipating a few days at the XPoNential Music Festival today and tomorrow (an annual highlight of my summer) where I know that in addition to amazing music, I will spend time with dear friends and make new connections with other life and music lovers.

Yesterday, I was in creative business mode while attending “Unleash Your Hidden Influence: Harness Your Marketing To Catapult Growth”.   A mouthful and a day-full of ideas, insights, inspiration, opportunity and connectivity. The facilitators were Shawne Duperon, Terri Levine and Teresa de Grosbois, each a powerhouse in her own right. They gave us the best of what they knew about relationship in biz. My always-on-the-look-out-for -new-ideas friend Ruth Anne Wood had invited me to join her and early yesterday, we trekked down from our Bucks County area homes to the Philly area airport hotel that housed the day long event. I was delighted upon arriving when the first familiar face I spied was that of my friend Donna Meyer.  I had just been thinking about her on the way there, when remembering that she had brought the high energy force of nature, Lisa Nichols in to speak in New Jersey and I was bringing to mind some messages Lisa had to share that would likely connect with what we were about to experience. Donna and I heart-stormed about a workshop I will be teaching at her center in the Fall. At one point, I had turned to look in the back of the room and was glad to see Luisa Rasiej  (The Inner Contessa)  smiling back at me.

The rest of the whirlwind day was filled to the brim with ideas that I immediately began to compartmentalize in my brain, sorting out how and where I will put them to use. I was gratified to hear that one of the takeaway messages is something that I already do easily and it is that of being a connector and influencer who supports and endorses people’s work and becomes a yenta (Yiddish for matchmaker) who brings them together for mutual benefit. While there, I was having such a good time with my mind whirling over who in the world outside that hotel conference room I could match with those in the room. It seems that my fellow attendees were happy to do that for me too.

I had the opportunity to work individually with Terri and Shawne as a ‘demo model’ for concepts they were presenting. I figured that since I had invested a day to learn all I could on the subject, I was going to put my heart and soul into the experience and slurp all of the juice out of the glass. As much as I have been a journalist and speaker for more than 25 years, I found myself feeling like a newbie in so many ways. Not as smooth and polished as I am accustomed to being, I could hear the monkey mind chattering “You should know this stuff.  How come you feel like an inarticulate teenager on a first date?” They were all gracious and supportive and their feedback was helpful. Needing to integrate the ideas and put them into practice.

Looping back around to the original idea, I revisited Facebook and see that my friends are now sharing inspiration, wisdom, photos, as well as inviting their friends and their friends and their friends to experience the dance of life where everything is happening all at once.