Soness – Blog

1,320 steps to work from the beach

“I wanna work from a beach!”

I’ve heard this all my life from my mom. Now I have my own mantra.

“I wanna work remotely from a beach.”

Maybe I would like to add to that a number and a mission statement, but for now, let’s keep it simple.

If you had the opportunity would you take it?

I live 1 kilometer which is about 1,320 steps to the beach. But I don’t take my work down there.

The beach for me is my sacred playground. I run alone. I like solitude. I try not to answer the phone while running.

But today, before I started running, I got a message that the Show-N-Tell book translator could only talk for the next 10 minutes.

We Skyped and I made some business decisions on the beach. I felt like I was living that mantra: working remotely from a beach. Glad I wore sunscreen today!

I still won’t check messages while running. But maybe just before or after I’ll schedule some working hours down by the beach regularly since it is my dream.

What’s your dream work mantra?

By admin|May 23rd, 2012|Blog|0 Comments

Reading Deprivation = Harvesting Seeds

They say all things begin with a seed. An idea. A source from which inspiration grows. My seeds remain unharvested. What happens with disregarded seeds?
My voice. I have a sore throat. I know what this can lead to. My first day of Reading Deprivation (no books, magazines, media, news, social networking)… and now I can’t talk. I vow absolute silence until I’m healed. My voice = my biggest asset. So much for my plan of calling everyone in my iPhone and Skype rosters! What do I want instead?

The Head Gardener has been asking me for weeks from 9,000KM away, “Have you collected the Aas Gao (Morning Glory) seeds?” No. “Have they turned brown?” Yep. Like, um, 3 weeks ago.

Too busy. Got stuff to do. Gonna (fill in the blank) right now. I want the Head Gardener to come back and do it for me. Everything is so much easier when someone can do it instead.

Reading Deprivation. No books. No media. No social networking. Email once a day after noon. What do I do instead?

First thing (without being asked by the Head Gardener) I picked the seeds from the skeletons of Asa Gao buds ready to sleep for the winter. Easy. It took 15 minutes. I enjoyed plucking them from the crispy case and finding the seeds. I put them in a pretty “strange English” envelope and labeled them. I enjoyed being in the garden. I collected ideas. Ready to grow my next project immediately.

I did that project + 3 more. Things I’ve never done before. I’ll tell you more about that next time.
What was I doing that was so important that I couldn’t collect these itty bitty seeds to sow for next year? Am […]

By soness|October 22nd, 2011|Artist way, Blog, The latest|2 Comments

Reading Deprivation Week. What would Socrates say?

Books stare at me. I stare at books. Often I miss the point.
Socrates said that nothing should be written down; we should pass on history and philosophy by word of mouth lest we forget how to remember.
We wouldn’t know what Socrates had said if Plato had not taken notes.
Have you ever felt like there’s too much noise? Maybe you’ve been busy or can’t seem to get a chance to hear your own voice?
Mind Fasting:
This week I’m again teaching and practicing Reading Deprivation for week 4 of The Artist’s Way+ in Tokyo. It’s a week to sit in the juices of creativity, listen to what is around me, and engage in dialog.
I’d love to have a dialog with you! Please call me or Skype me as I’ll only be checking my email once a day.
Did you know that Tim Ferriss of The 4-Hour Work Week doesn’t read the news and only checks his email once a week? Leo Babauta in Zen Habits has 20-minute email ninja secrets too.
What would you be able to create if you could listen to the world around you?
In the meantime, leave a comment. I’ll get back to you next week. Even better yet, call me

By soness|October 20th, 2011|Artist way, Blog, The latest|2 Comments

In a bottle… It must be better

Water. Our natural resource comes from a bottle. What else comes from a plastic PET bottle? Listen up, Seven-Up, as I find out.

Water is more expensive in a bottle. In fact, water in a bottle is more expensive than gasoline. How is that?

And now: Earphones in a bottle?

So basically, anything in a bottle can gain more profit.

I think I’ll start bottling my blog and my smile in a bottle. Maybe then I’ll start bringing in the big bucks!
What unusual things have you seen in a PET bottle for sale? What would you bottle up and sell? I’d love to hear! Leave a comment!

By soness|October 20th, 2011|Blog, The latest|2 Comments

Expanded Awareness

Do you feel like a horse with its blinders on–only able to look straight forward? Wouldn’t you rather receive all the information that you need around you like a Samurai?
I share in this video talk with The Artist’s Way+ in Tokyo the secrets to Expanded Awareness allowing you better problem solving, absorbing new content faster, and Jedi Knight awareness.

What could you do if you could get into Expanded Awareness at any time?

By soness|October 19th, 2011|Artist way, Blog, The latest|0 Comments

The Naked Presenter–I can see your underwear!

I see London, I see France, I see your underpants!
You’ve been given the advice to calm your nerves before speaking to “imagine your audience naked.” Why not create a presentation where everyone is naked–being authentically you. Garr Reynolds in his book The Naked Presenter encourages us to create relationships with the audience like hadakasukiai (everyone naked and on the same level with no ranks).

In Reynolds’ book The Naked Presenter, he clearly teaches through simple steps how to present with impact.

Speak to your audience as in a conversation. Get rid of the TV shopping approach.
Give them a “Why?’ to begin your presentation. For those of you who are familiar with Bernice McCarthy’s 4-Mat method, this is the first component to reaching of your whole audience.
Zen. Be here. Right now.
Show your passion. I call this State Elicitation. If you want your audience to have a change of state, you have to embody that state.
Present yourself. In the early age of PCs, I remember my teacher saying WYSIWYG. What You See Is What You Get. Your audience looks for that in you. Additionally, your sound. Only 7% of communication is through words. 38% is through tonality (how you say it). 55% is your physiology.
Punch! Use storytelling to bring punch to your presentation. I remember a time when I used storytelling in a …

The Naked Presenter teaches familiar concepts in a clear way. Reynolds focuses on the presentation rather than hiding behind wordy PowerPoint and demonstrates how to keep those simple as well (check out Zen Presentation).

If you want to become an authentic presenter, get The Naked Presenter. And practice the techniques by speaking every chance you get.

You can find the link to this book on Amazon Japan […]

By soness|October 17th, 2011|Blog, The latest|2 Comments

Artist’s Way Plus in Tokyo

Winds of change are blowing…are you ready?

Take a moment. Imagine if you could tap into your creativity whenever you wanted. What would you do if you could do anything? What would you try if you had no fear?

Maybe you want to…
Discover or rediscover your creativity…
Find your passion and genius…
Remove blocks…
Be supported…
Live passionately…
Simplify your life…
Wake up!

Join The Artist’s Way Plus in Tokyo!
Through the next 12 weeks of introspection, rediscovery, and support, you will create those changes. Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way: A course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self book has been a best seller for 20 years. It works!

Previous Artist’s Way in Tokyo students include: singers, actors, I.T., Management, Restaurant owners, filmmakers, painters, bloggers, coaches, professional athletes, yoga teachers, and more.
Professional Photographer Peter Blake says

We follow the traditional Artist’s Way process; and have fun with Playful Games; plus, I share a series from my consulting on empowering topics such as:

How To Be Your Own Best Coach
Listen: I’m Hear for You
Creating More Connection Through the 5 Love Languages
How to Hypnotise Yourself…You Already Have
How to Connect With Anyone in Under 30 seconds

When: Wednesdays from 7-9PM Sept. 28 through Dec. 21.
Where: Shibuya, The Pink Cow
How much: 30,000yen for the whole 12 weeks. If you pre-pay by PayPal or Bank Transfer by Sept. 27, only 25,000 yen. If you decide to cancel during the introductory meeting, you may have a 100% refund. Spots are limited so register and pay now to reserve your spot.

Who is Soness Stevens? I am the founder of The Artist’s Way in Tokyo. I have taught workshops on Vision Boarding in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and New Zealand; I’m a certified Trainer of Neuro-Lingustic Programming and Hypnosis, Master Results Coach, Performance Consultant, helping internationally. Currently […]

By soness|September 21st, 2011|Artist way, Blog, The latest|1 Comment

Fear-less FLYing on the Trapeze

It’s been my dream since first watching the circus on TV as a little girl to fly on a trapeze. The gorgeously costumed ladies swinging gracefully high in the sky. Fearless, beautiful, and strong.

A few years ago when first doing The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, answering what job I wanted to do as a kid, flying on a trapeze leapt onto my page. Five sessions of facilitating The Artist’s Way later, I still resolved to fly on a trapeze. The past 2 years I’ve been actively hunting down trapeze experience rigs in Vancouver, Florida, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Timing and locations never seemed to match but I never let go of that dream. I put it on my Vision Board a couple of months ago, which as we all know, makes it really come to fruition. Then I found the perfect rig and instructors Mike and Bronwyn in Auckland, New Zealand which aligned with my trip. http://www.inflight.net.nz/Home.html
Taking a risk to follow your dreams, starting a new venture, taking a chance on love, whatever you feel is scary and exciting, do it. Learn to FLY through life like a trapeze artist.

F. Fear Operating System
Textbooks say that in a fearful situation, we either choose fight or flight. Can we choose both?

Climbing up the very tall, shaky ladder, Mike had warned me most people fear the climb up. He instructed me to keep my focus upward. I was actually fine with this part, I was just really excited about going up. The ridges on the ladder hurt my feet the most. Then standing on the edge […]

By soness|May 12th, 2011|Blog, The latest|4 Comments

Go, Go, Tokiko!

Fukushima Prefecture, Aizu-Wakamatsu City 60 year old Tokiko Kitano aids through the sleet. She embodies the Japanese spirit of aid.
This is my mother-in-love. She pushes a wheelbarrow of blankets, futon, towels, and so on around to the 17 refugees that have shown up at her door step. They hail from Iwate, tsunami destroyed houses where their families are still missing, and evacuated from next to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants. The Kitano family first got a call for help from their youngest son’s friends who had looked after him while he went to school near the power plants. They welcomed the couple. Then a trail of friends and acquaintances of 15 joined them along the pilgrimage to Aizu-Wakamatsu to the Kitano home. Naturally, they were all welcome with open arms.

Aizu-Wakamatsu may be the haven for many victims of the earthquakes and tsunami and nuclear power plants as it has been the most accessible town for people to run to in Fukushima with electricity. Those, at least, who were able to make it. My friend’s relatives-in-law were not able to make the trek. Their home had been washed away and they were all huddled up in an uncle’s half-standing house. Simply put: it’s hard to evacuate.

Hourly aftershocks and continuing daily earthquakes in Fukushima can rattle anyone’s spirit. Tokiko keeps her mind and body busy by making rounds to collect and distribute items to keep them warm. She tromps through snow and sleet like a good postal person should, even though the post office can’t make deliveries to home addresses now. She has become a pivotal person in the community because she can walk to the post office to pick up supplies sent to them to […]

By soness|March 25th, 2011|Blog, The latest|0 Comments

How to help Japan.

Here’s my personal update:
I spent a majority of the winter with his family in Fukushima. You know? The place where the Nuclear Power Plants are located. Fortunately, they are in Aizu-Wakamatsu City, which happens to be the *only* city in Fukushima with electricity. It is located on the other side of the mountain. They are fine for now. They await word to evacuate.

The Kitano family is currently housing 17 refugees ages 1 year old to 80+ from Iwate earthquakes, tsunami, and Nuclear Power Plant. I am so proud of my Japanese family. They make rounds daily to their neighbors while 17 people live with them. My Tokyo community is sending towels, blankets, thermals to endure the snow and winter temperatures. They will be fine. You can read about Go, Go, Tokiko! (Kitano mom) here.

His mom makes homemade miso from soybeans which coincidentally has fermented in time for this disaster. They also happened to have rice. So, they have enough to get by for the time being. There is no gasoline. Stores are rationed. The roads are closed for the most part so they cannot leave. The Kitano family is housing other families whose homes were destroyed this week in other areas of Fukushima. Yuji’s mom makes rounds to make sure the elderly are well and collecting blankets to share. It keeps her mind busy while the quakes continue. I am proud of their strength and courage.

Meanwhile, the death toll and missing rise daily. The scale is bigger than anyone ever could have imagined. It has been […]

By soness|March 25th, 2011|Blog|0 Comments

12 Next