Maggie + Friends at Camp MightyIf you’ve heard about Camp Mighty, blogging, or doing cool stuff, you’ve probably heard the name Maggie Mason once or twice.
Maggie co-founded Mighty Events with the lovely Laura Mayes, and they teamed up with one of my favorite people in the world, Sarah-Bryden Brown, to launch Go Mighty.
Maggie + Laura with Wantist + Bing Gifts – more about that later
P.S. You have to see this animated gif of the Go Mighty team on Managing Editor Amber Doty’s blog, The Daily Doty.
I think you now have enough links to keep you busy, so I’ll keep them to a minimum for rest of this post.
The very first presentation at Camp Mighty was by Maggie herself. She talked about one of her specialties, the life list, and gave us some inspirational truths to think about when we’re moving through our life list and life itself.
I want to share these with you, along with my thoughts about some of them. Mostly because my brain sucks sometimes and I can’t remember the awesome things that Maggie said because I only wrote down the main points.
1. Your words determine your happiness.
I believe that this definitely has something to do with it. If you’re constantly focusing on, writing, or talking about negative things, that’s where your brain resides.
This reminded me of a quote that I have at the very top of my vision board. It’s by someone named Orison Swett Marden. I have to admit that I know nothing about him except for what I saw during the brief second I looked at Wikipedia when I fell in love with this quote, but you know what? That doesn’t make it any less powerful.
Our destiny changes with our thought; we shall become what we wish to become, do what we wish to do, when our habitual thought corresponds with our desire.
2. Action is transformative.
Do something. Right? Sometimes you have to just get out of your own head and write that book, start exercising, book a flight to India, or adopt a dog. Once you take the first step it’s easier to move forward.
Maggie and Natalie Bowman from Bing
3. Check marks don’t equal happiness.
At one point during Camp Mighty I found myself crying on a sofa next to The Bloggess. It had been an emotional day and all of a sudden I was struck with the motherhood plague of desparately missing my two-year-old son. Sandra and I wandered over to one of the outdoor fireplaces and parked it on the couch so I could pull myself together.
Jenny was sitting there and was super nice, even though we interrupted her reading and quiet time. We ended up chatting for a while, and one thing we talked about is how life lists can have the opposite effect on some people and actually end up making you feel like crap. Like if you don’t do everything on the list, or everything exactly like you had planned to do it, you failed.
I’m a list person, so the life list works for me. I don’t really think about all the stuff that I haven’t done yet. I just write it down to put it out into the universe, as something that I want in life. If I don’t get to check off “have coffee with Sofia Coppola,” I’ll live. It would be so super awesome though.
My point is that you can be happy and live a full life without checking things off a list. If you’re not a list person, or if lists make you feel worse about yourself, don’t write one.
4. Our opinions about ourselves are not fact.
Unless they’re awesome. Right, Maggie? ;)
5. Be rigid only if you want to snap.
6. My body is a compass.
I hear you. When I’m stressed out my shoulders clench all the way up to my ears and I get terrible headaches. If I’m doing something I shouldn’t be doing, or not doing something I should be doing, my compass is going to tell me to step OFF of that freaking trail.
7. It’s about who you love and who loves you.
You can make a list of every single thing that you want or want to do, but things and adventures are nothing compared to your people.
8. You can predict the future.
I missed what Maggie said about this one because I had to go the bathroom. Then I couldn’t find the one in the building, so I went back to my hotel room. Then my hotel room key malfunctioned so I had to go to the one in the lobby. Seriously. I wish I’d had this secret then! If you know, please tell me in the comments section. I’ll bet it’s a great one.
Thank you so much, Maggie – for your wisdom and experience and putting all this great stuff together!
Jill of TerraSavvy, Me, Sandra of Raincoast Cottage
Also, I want to thank Bing and Wantist. Each of us received a personal gift, chosen especially for us, when we went to Camp. I got this print by Jen Ramos, framed.
photo by Jen Ramos
Pretty perfect for me, isn’t it?
Thanks Bing, Wantist, and Team Mighty! xoxo