The same way I can't comprehend that the Universe is literally expanding and contracting simultaneously, I can't exactly understand this cosmic paradigm either, but I don't need to understand it to believe it. There's no end, no finite amount of more, particularly when it's asked for and accepted in the right spirit: one of gratitude, grace and generosity.
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May 17, 2022…I walked through a new door
But this time, I'm starting off by owning my strengths and talents. I'm not trying to make myself a blank slate to be filled in by someone else; I'm bringing what I've learned and developed up to this point, and I'm setting expectations for myself and those around me. I'm not creating more content in an effort to find the proverbial golden ticket. Instead, I'm trusting that what I've already created is valuable and just needs to be tightened up and strategically populated out into the world by experts who do that work day in and day out.
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Parlez vous marketing?
I said, "I imagine I'm standing in a round room lined with hundreds of doors. I'm opening door after door, desperately hoping that behind the one I'm about to open is the person who can take my extraordinary product and help me scale it up. I'm happy to do the work, but I don't even know what work I'm supposed to be doing to market it, to expand my reach, to take this as far as I want it to go."
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What makes your heart sing?
I don't believe we only have one path to take anymore than I believe we only have one soulmate (and truthfully, I don't believe in the concept of a soulmate at all). We have a life to live; our job is to be curious, ask questions, work through our stuff (believe me, we all have stuff!), ask for help, get as brave as we can and take the next first step.
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Why is it so hard to pause, rest and just be?
But even though I made vows to myself that I would honor the time I gained and the lessons I learned during COVID, I find myself moving back into the frenzied rhythm of the "before times" much faster than I hoped I would. My schedule is packed with back to back meetings, and my time for reflection, strategic thinking and just being is nearly as limited as it was leading up to March
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Sit up straight…and other lessons
Instead, I went with a version of what I used to call my "signature Dayna Del Val" look: a sweater, simple skirt, tights and low-heeled boots because I was walking a mile to the lunch (incorporating exercise into your daily life is another great point of the book).
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I’m FINE. How are you?
I'm facing some professional challenges that also feel like mountain climbing, too. This one isn't slippery; the challenge on this climb is that there are many paths from where I stand, all making their way up. While they all feel like they would be fine, I know there are some that will be better than others. Not easier, but better. How to choose?
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It’s time to recharge my spark
In so many ways, that talk in 2019 set a level of engagement and expectation that I have been trying to recapture ever since. I left that stage flying high, ecstatic over the interplay between the audience and me. A few months later, I gave the MSUM commencement address, and while the audience wasn't as effusive, it was clear the talk landed. Two months after that I spoke at Creative Mornings Fargo, and that audience was all in, too.
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Looks can be deceiving
This photo popped up in my memories today. I’m sharing it because behind this absolutely stunning dress (my grandma’s that she wore to the 1961 or 63 ND Governor’s Ball) and big smile is a woman who is as sick as she has ever been (including when I had COVID in Dec 2020). She is hopped up on DayQuil to the point of near hallucination. Her chest and back are covered in stress hives. She has a bruise on her chin from where she passed out the morning before getting out of the shower. Her husband is on day 8 of in-patient rehab for alcoholism and has been away from…
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15-22-33-45-67…
In fact, I was recently invited to be on the podcast, Leave Your Mark, with Scott Livingston. He asked me a series of questions about things no one had ever asked me about, including why I'm an actor, and that me articulate some of this in a new way for me. I've been thinking about many of the questions ever since. Start at minute 8 to hear me talk about why I've always known I am a performer and what drew me to it even further. And note what age I set for the G.O.T.E. sheet analogy to life as well as the fact that i was 22 when I…