Roxanne Darling

Our company was started in 1996 by Shane Robinson and a previous partner. In 2000 the partnership dissolved and Roxanne Darling joined Shane to rebrand the entreprise as Bare Feet Studios. At that time we had the hardest time with a new name as – don’t laugh! – all of the good web addresses were taken.

So as we sat around the desk of 6 people in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the winter, we noticed that no one was wearing shoes. And that the URL www.barefeetstudios.com was available! So our new name grew of a very simple attribute, yet it represented so many aspects of our core philosophy:

Take off your shoes, get comfortable, the internet is here to stay. We’ve got our bare feet planted firmly on the ground, and we’ll help you figure it out.

While some people still don’t have a website or have barely dipped their toes in the sand much less the water, we’ve grown webbed feet and now consider ourselves “digital natives.” The internet is our address and we commute to it from the north shore of Maui.

Shane started as a database programmer, I as a marketing and business consultant. He built his first web site in 1996; I built mine in 1998, all on my own! We share our love of Apple computers (we met at an Apple seminar…) and our love of the internet – though we love it for vastly different reasons. We’ve been blessed to have clients who have come all from word of mouth over the past 16 years, and two who remain with us almost the entire time.

We love sharing and have supported numerous nonprofit and grass roots organizations over the years. So when the tools of social media came along, we knew the world would be forever changed.

Shane has toggled back and forth between art and technology since high school. He programmed on a Commodore 64 yet was also nick-named “copy machine” for his ability to draw virtually anything he saw – accurately and down to the finest details. He ended up graduating from the University of Iowa with a Bachelors in Fine Arts. And yet one of his first jobs was at Kinko’s where he taught himself how to use Adobe Illustrator over the weekend in order to sail through a job interview the following Monday! H continued bouncing back between database programming and owning an art gallery, programming computers and building fine furniture.

Visit ShaneRobinson.com to see Shane’s art. | Join Shane’s art community on Facebook.

In 1995, he fell deep into the internet, with his first web site ever built in FileMaker Pro database – designed as a content management system. He has excelled as an internet early adopter and “lazy programmer” – which has spurred him to learn how to do things faster, easier, and with the best tools.

In 2010, under the influence of his fellow podcaster friends the Bui Brothers, he picked up a DSLR camera and poured himself into it to see how it worked. His artistic nature had been waking up, he was also dabbling with acrylic painting in the carport. Two years later, he has been featured in COLOR Magazine, won several awards, and been featured in shows in Honoulu, Maui, San Francisco, Miami, and Orange County. He continues to flow back and forth between analog and digital – many of his pieces are shot on one device and “painted” on another, whether hand-built panels or the iPad. The luxuries of this time and space him to play in a unified field of his two loves – art and technology.

You can find more about Shane’s Art at ShaneRobinson.com. In keeping with our Bare Feet principled, you will find it eclectic, diverse, and energetic!

Featured: Keiki Pua #5. Unretouched, taken in-camera with Intentional Camera Movement.

Roxanne is a lifelong learner and her favorite topic is consciousness. For all, all roads lead to the big C! Being conscious means having less stress, being a more artful and compassionate communicator, heading off problems before they fester, and finding the humanity in each person regardless of their quirks, their shortcomings, and even their demands.

Go explore Divine Openings with Rox. | Like Rox’s page on Facebook.

In April 2009, Roxanne was initiated as a facilitator of enlightenment via a week long process. It used to take much longer, but like most everything else these days, the spiritual process of awakening to our larger selves is also speeding up! During this silent retreat she received direct downloads of—“grace”—you might call it – a literal shift in the frequency of her physical, emotional psychological, and spiritual being. This is what physicists refer to as the quantum field of intelligence. It feels like that place athletes call the zone. And bottom line, it is an engagement with forces beyond one’s own small sphere of heavy lifting!

For the past 12 years as a managing partner at Bare Feet Studios, Roxanne has rejected business as usual on many fronts, in favor of a more conscious, humane, and enlightening approach. You can read articles like Why I Rarely Answer My Phone (she is also our Sales Head, by the way!) and “The Customer’s Not Always Right. She loves integrating this love of consciousness with its proof at being successful in business. She has always been a pioneer – first dropping out of a PhD program in Marine Biology in 1977 to study ballet (having only started ballet 3 years earlier!) to teaching the first even Mind-Body Fitness session at the first ever aerobics convention (IDEA Fitness) in San Diego back in 1984. She put on the first Podcamp + Wordcamp in Hawaii in 2008 – the first UnConference in the state held at the hawaii Convention Center.

She knows now that business people consume volumes of how-to books regarding success, work-life balance, relationships, and more. She has the ability to help people fast track through these speed bumps and to make sense of how to tap into forces that our outside of the usual circle of CPAs and programmers. She likes to think of them as the quantum force field – literal energy that can be tapped to solve business as well as personal challenges. She loves sharing this with others; just reach out and ask if you are curious! Email Roxanne to inquire about using quantum energy to make your life easier and more free.

Back in late 2004, Shane was podcaster #32 in the universe. Always one to be on the front lines if seeing what the internet is up to, he had an audio show called “None of This Matters.” Surprisingly, it has a lot of overlap with the business philosophy we have developed over the years, and which is now available (on steroids!) over at my coaching site, Divine Openings with Rox. But I digress – as I often do – as so much of our lives are interconnected now. It has become virtually impossible to discern fixed starting points and pure examples of cause-effect!

Visit BeachWalks.tv.
Join Beachwalks on Facebook.

So later in 2005, when it became possible to video podcast as well as audio podcast, we began talking about an experimental show so we could do what we love doing with internet tools: test them and see what is really involved, from a technical point of view, a business strategy perspective, and of course better understand the resource requirements. Alas, we yakked and concepted for 6 months, unable to come up with an idea that would survive even the 2-3 month testing period we proposed.

Finally one day it occurred to me: since I go to the beach every day with our dog Lexi to chill out, how about we film a few minutes there, a la “Tuesdays with Morrie.” And so our simple show was born, using not even a video camera, but a small digital snapshot camera that took 20-second video clips. I learned from the start to talk in sound bites, and we edited the 3-4 minute episodes together in iMovie. In two weeks, we had viewers in over 60 countries and within a month famed podcaster Adam Currie was calling to have us join his new podcast network, to become PodShow. (We never did.)

Now in our 7th year, Beach Walks has gone from a daily show – yes, 402 episodes in 402 consecutive days at the start! – to a rambling, whenever-we-have-time posting formula. We have over 769 episodes – more than almost any other podcast out there despite our months’ long lapses. We have had over 2.5 Million downloads across numerous online distribution channels, and have tasted virtually every flavor of video hosting that has been available.

But we never made it into a serious business asset. Not to be confused though – it did garner us many awards (including three Vloggies and a Pixelodeon!) and tremendous recognition and connection in the online video community. We’ve been featured in several books and created a 7-part series for the US Navy after spending the night on the USS Nimitz, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. We came close to creating an online TV network for Prudential Insurance – they loved our pilot, which tested off the charts positive to male and female consumers, but back in 2007-2008, they were not ready to take the leap into this new form of communication.

So Beach Walks has been more of those chill out moments, those times when we get to share this beautiful place we live with you out there. We have thousands of letters, emails, birthday cards, and Lexi gifts from our loyal fans around the world, and we continue to get 100-200 views a day from our rich archives. And it spawned a Ning community for a few years too that has since been moved to Facebook – please join us there! And also a radio station: Reef Radio. You can grab the widget and listen from your phone on on your computer via Live365.

It says a lot about our company – our love of the internet and new technology, our desire and willingness to put ourselves out there before most others, our ability to report back about what is easy and what is hard, our love of sharing both the process and the results, and this deep connection we have to the place where live – Hawaii.

Our site has been going through a lot of repair and maintenance this past year. We’ve had virtual assistants combing through and fixing video embeds, updating code, and retrofitting a few of the many lovely new features now available on WordPress. We have commissioned a new design, anad it is being coded as I type. We are eager to relaunch the Maui edition, and re-join our online community.

There is so much more to this story, and the fun parts are still being written!

Aloha,

Back in the spring of 2000, while we were still based in Santa Fe, NM, there was a huge forest fire that broke out and endangered the entire community of Los Alamos, home to the birth if the nuclear bomb and one of the largest nuclear research facilities in the world. As a founder of the New Mexico Internet Professionals Association (NMIPA) Shane knew that online would be the best place to coordinate emergency communications. He and his team of fellow employees and other NMIPA members rapidly launched a web site to funnel emergency messages that ranged from fire department updates to volunteers who could take in pets. It was a literal 24/7 job with very little sleep yet so much at stake. Keep in mind, this was before WordPress. Before Twitter. Before Facebook. Before smartphones. All of this had to be coded by hand, with information being coordinated from numerous sources. Shane’s database skills and mastery of information architecture allowed him to perform so well under pressure that he received a special Governor’s Award later that year for his efforts. He grew up on a working farm in Iowa, and helping out in times of need, well, “Itʻs just what you do.”

We were also founding members in the nonprofit Social Media Club back in 2007. This meant contributing time, attention, and the leverage of our network to help bring social media into the core set of online business tools. In 2008, we produced Hawaii’s first full scale “unconference” – Podcamp + WordCamp. The rules of Podcamp and Wordcamp required that this be an entirely 100% volunteer effort. For 6 months we worked with the community both here in Hawaii and our network beyond to garner over $60,000 in in-kind and cash sponsorships, enabling us to rent the premier Hawaii Convention Center and make this event available to over 400 in-person attendees, completely free, and offer it to thousands more worldwide via the two-day live video stream. It was during that week that we also launched the Hawaii chapter of the Social Media Club, now in the top 15 chapters worldwide.

Of course we think giving free training programs to businesses is good for our economy and our community yet we continue to recognize that not all organizations can be profitable. We have taken a number of nonprofits under our wing over the years, most often on an informal basis as a friend of a friend. Ask any techie and they will tell you the same story: Can you help our school set up a blog? My friend’s cat rescue facility needs a Facebook page – can you set that up for her? The motto of the Social Media Club is, “If you get it, share it.” Social media was born from personal connections, touch points that often live outside the realm of traditional business relationships. We lean much more toward the “teach a person to fish” approach than the “give ‘em some fish” approach, and with social media this is where the rubbah meets the ʻaina! There are so many ways to give now – via free web hosting, some training time, making a video on BeachWalks.tv that can be shared across numerous networks and help raise funds and awareness…what a great time to collaborate across our community!

Some of the recent nonprofits we are delighted to know and support include:
Hawaiian Islands Land Trust
Puakea Foundation of Hawaii
The Maui Farm
Beach Access Hawaii
Institute for Hawaiian Music
Hana Build
Hawaii chapter of Social Media Club

Photo: Kids on a camping trip with the Puakea Foundation to plant trees as part of a koa reforestation project on the Big Island. This foundation is named after Uncle Bobby Puakea, one of my mentors and my first outrigger paddling head coach.

As a side note, much of what our pro bono activity is off-the-record or off the cuff. We do it because it feels good and because we support the cause. Weʻve added this page during a web site update and overhaul, as perhaps it can help you get a more accurate feeling for who we are as individuals and as a company.

I’ve started using Sprout Social to manage the social media for one of my client projects and I LOVE it! This is just a short post to weigh in on how much a user interface matters these days.

• Raise your hand if you are on the computer a lot. #ScreenFatigue


• Raise your hand if you have a lot of social media incomings and should have a lot of outgoings, whether you are meeting your expectations or not. #Overwhelmed


• Raise your hand if someone somewhere wants to know what the heck you do all day! #ShowMeTheNumbers


• Raise your hand if you like one stop shopping and accounting. #DontMakeMeRunAround

Well Sprout Social does all this and more for me. I have had major resistance to using HootSuite. I give them credit for being early in the space to attempt a lot of integration and advanced functionality. But I find it soooo sloooow and I find the interface so unpleasant. Then along comes Sprout Social which is fast, so easy on my eyes, with such an intuitive user interface, straightforward pricing, alive customer support…!

Cherry on top? They have weekly webinars that are actually useful – including rockstar audience members. You know something is really good (at least from the social media point of view) when the people it attracts are top shelf. And a really helpful blog. And real people to answer questions.

I’ve attached here a screenshot of just one screen that opens up in a cascade only as you ask it for more options. (Click to view the screen shot full size.) Such a delight! It found a YouTube video for me (via Web Alerts I set up), then allowed me to draft a message, which I then chose to post to several places at once, and then offered me the chance to schedule it, based on their user data recommendations!

What I used to dread doing, I now look forward to. That, folks, is how important a user interface (and it’s underlying features of course) is to me! In case you are wondering, I am a paying customer, plain and simple. It’s just so rare that companies aka people do something so well – it deserves a shout out!

Aloha,

Saving Hawaii’s beaches and open space is a widely shared commitment – not just among those of us who live here but even more so perhaps for the millions of visitors to Hawaii! Everyone is invited, as even those of you who may never visit have likely experienced calm and inspiration from looking a Maui sunset or listening to the rhythm of the waves while watching an episode of Beachwalks.tv.

I am part of the social media team that is helping raise funds for the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust (HILT) on January 28, 2012 and their annual fundraiser. We are putting social media to a test. In the past, this has been a local event that targets local attendees who bid on deluxe local packages. All of that is the same this year, however HILT is adding several social media options. I am blogging here to enlist you, dear reader, in our activities and to create an additional central clearinghouse for all of the social media assets being created!

Here Are The Main Activities

Live Auction Packages. We KNOW the live auction will be a hit – there is a track record on that! But what about the social web? Can we build the buzz as well as the commitment to make a dent in supporting the Hawaii Island Land Trust? View all auction packages here. They are also listed below for your convenience.

Share-the-Cause Love: No matter what, we appreciate your help in raising awareness of our ʻaina (that means land in Hawaiian). Please blog about it, tweet about it, and if you are here – treat it as your best friend!

Resources – Use As Often as You Like!

• Like HILT on Facebook and share your stories of Hawaii. Recommend them and help build their community.
• Follow the Hawaii Island Land Trust on Twitter @HiLandTrust. They have an emerging account – help them grow their follower base!
• Use our event Hashtag: #BBTB2012 (BuyBackTheBeach 2012) so we can include you in the conversation.
• Make a donation now and then do it again as often as you wish by January 28th. Let’s get “social media” an honorable seat at the “donors” table.
• Buy a ticket or a table and join us at the luau on January 28th.
• Tell your Hawaii and especially Maui friends about these packages and recommend they attend the luau in person.
• Help thank our many sponsors and donors; links below.
• Friend, Like and share HILT photos on Flickr.

Follow and Tweet These Peeps: Hosts and Donors

Follow and Tweet the Social Media Team

Use and Share our Shortlinks

Discover What Our Social Media Team is Blogging About

Lots more to come! Please bookmark this page so you can see all the updates!

Here is an UPDATED list of the Auction Packages & Videos!

It is the last day of 2011 and I want to add an exclamation point of gratitude on each of my blogs – most of which suffer from neglect from me. It was my friend and Maui blogger Liza Pierce’s idea: let’s all write a blog post for January 1st! So, I’ve set this to post just one minute in to the new year. Happy New Year!

I am starting on this blog, as this is the easy one! (I have at least three more I am aiming for.) This past year, I was hired by the Lānaʻi Visitors Bureau (LVB) to run a social media marketing campaign for them, based on a very original concept created in discussion with Mr. Keliʻi Brown, who is the PR director for the Maui Visitors Bureau (MVB). For those of you outside of Hawaiʻi, Maui Nui, as we call it, or Maui County, encompasses not just the island of Maui but also the islands of Lānaʻi and Molokai. So the MVB provides support to the LVB.

Lānaʻi is was the least known of the Hawaiian Islands. There are only three hotels! So we wanted a program that would shine the best light on this beautiful place, something that would go deep and not just be about “one more trip to Hawaii.”

First, though, watch the video! It is a quick one minute. Then keep reading for more on this program.

UPDATE: The New Media Artist-in-Residence Program slide deck is now available for viewing and download on SlideShare.

New Media Artist-in-Residence Program from Roxanne Darling on Vimeo.

You can read more about the setup of the New Media Artist-in-Residence program here, but in short, it involved the hand selection of seven well-known bloggers who each spent a week on Lānaʻi and who also agreed to collaborate in supporting the other team members throughout a six month period in 2011. Of course there is more to all this than meets the eye, but for now, in this post, I have two goals.

First I want to thank my clients at Maui Visitors Bureau and Lānaʻi Visitors Bureau for taking a chance with me on this innovative program! This is the second time I have worked for MVB and they are so willing to get out there and do what it takes to keep Maui Nui a top travel destination! Plus, they are willing to tolerate my at times demanding ways. Thank you so much, Terryl, Lynn, Keliʻi, Charity and all of the board members.

Second, I wanted to share the results – with you. Luckily, I had already prepared this video for our local Hawaii chapter of the Social Media Club’s year end party, which featured our social media accomplishments of 2011. The preso’s were played throughout the night on the big screen, so I made this without a sound track. I also want to thank my colleague and SMCHI president, Tara Coomans, who assisted me with the interpretation of the results and the ROI formulas.

We also received great coverage online. Be sure to read this summary over at Media Post and listen to my interview on the This Week in Travel.

Bottom line? Visitor spending was up nearly 28% on Lānaʻi, far more than on either Maui or Molokai.

Plus, I have been hired to run this program again for LVB in 2012! Lots more ideas are percolating of course, but for now, I share my gratitude for a wonderful year in 2011 – in so many respects, and am very excited about the big possibilities in 2012 – the year of the Dragon!

UPDATE: Please help me also thank the wonderful team of bloggers we had on this inaugural run! Visit their blogs and search for “lanai” to read all about their trips. Here they are, in order of their visit to Lānaʻi:
Shannon Hurst Lane of The Traveling Mamas
Chris Gray Faust of Chris Around the World
Matt Long of Landlopers
Gary Arndt of Everything Everywhere
Kara Williams of The Vacation Gals
Sheila Beal of Go Visit Hawaii
Melanie Waldman of Travels with Two

Aloha,

My colleague and brilliant marketer, Tara Coomans, created an open playlist on the music sharing service Spotify, and has invited anyone to help beef up the party mix for our annual Hawaii Social Media Year in Review partee. Yes, of course you are invited!

But about the Spotify Playlist: Great idea! I thought. But it is easier said than done. So here is a quick cheat sheet. Of course, you will require a Spotify account before you can add any songs to the playlist.

1. Visit Spotify and set up your account.


2. Then navigate to Tara’s playlist.


3. Then click the “I have Spotify” button and the desktop app will open for you if it is not already open, and take you to the playlist.


4. Subscribe to the SMCHI Playlist.


5. Peruse the current songs, then decide what song you would like to add next.


6. Use the Search function to find your way to that song.


7. Then right-click on the album art and choose “Add to > SMCHI Playlist.”


8. Or, if you are on the iPad, click the small “i” in the upper left corner, then choose ”+ Add to” > The SMCHI Playlist.

See you on the dance floor,
Rox

As the founder of the Social Media Club Hawaii chapter and a very active social media consultant here in Hawaii, I am often invited to attend events and receive services for free in exchange for social media buzz – aka tweeting, facebooking, photographing, and videoing about my experiences.

Though I thoroughly enjoy myself when I am on site and do pour myself into the activities at hand, I have this persistent nag of discomfort. I’ve been letting it percolate as I gather information and sort out all of the energies that are in play – just what my “systems analyst” mind likes to do!

I am ready to open up a conversation about this practice as I think we can do better.

In case it is not obvious why brands engage social media influencers in this manner, let me summarize as I see it:

• Brands give things away for free in exchange for buzz.
• Brands hope to use influencers to build their own influence and market their products and services.
• Brands save money by giving things away free as compared to hiring said influencers to work on the brand’s behalf.
• Brands save time by having the influencers organize themselves and manage their messaging, as compared to planning a social marketing campaign.
• Influencers get freebies and possibly a chance to build their own influence, by association.

I think I have nailed down the key reasons why I have threads of discomfort woven into my own participation as a guest tweeter or member of a volunteer social media team:

1) Those of us who get freebies are set apart from those who don’t. For some, this could actually hurt participation as friends and peers who were not invited for free, feel left out. (Have you experienced this? I would like to hear about it.) Social media constantly pushes up against high school clique issues, and as a believer in best practices, I want to make social media activities more inclusive not less. The theory has been to get the influencers on board first and the masses will follow. But what if some of the influencers are left out and choose to hide the event info from their friends and fans? What if they develop a negative feeling toward the brand that persists after any individual event? What if the masses begin to doubt credibility because of the pay-to-play underlying mechanism? What if the brand loses credibility only by featuring cheerleaders and not objective reviewers?
Bottom Line: To me, there is risk for the brand and the influencer to actually lose positive sentiment/respect in the community – at least here in close-knit Hawaii. By inadvertently creating cliques, we are anti-community building.

2) Those of us who accept the freebies generally get less value than the brand, on a dollar-to-dollar basis. Looking at this strictly as business, we are providing our services for below market value in most cases based on the dollar cost of the service/product being given. This reminds me of that old saying, “Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?” Now if this is for a nonprofit cause, we have a different basis. So let’s take that off the table. But regarding for-profit businesses, they are paying very little for professional social media services. Consider a free meal or ticket or service in exchange for many hours of social buzz. They are also missing out on the best quality those influencers could provide them. If the brand makes judgments about the efficacy of social media based on these relatively random, unstructured free services, that would be a mistake.
Bottom Line: To me, when we work for free, we social media professionals devalue ourselves and do not help brands understand the full value of social media – regardless of the outcome of any given event – if for no other reason they are not getting our best work. OTOH, do you think working for freebies is a viable way for a newbie social media practitioner to build their expertise and business practice? Maybe I am jaded, having been at this for so long, and knowing with certainty the knowledge and value I can bring to a brand.

3) The third challenge is the FTC guidelines for disclosure. Bloggers in particular are held to a very high standard. (Tweeters not as much yet but the intent still applies.) I try to append my tweets at least a few times in the conversation with things like “gift” so readers know I am being comped. But I admit I do a lousy job of it and have never been given instruction by a brand to disclose. In a community, though, people have a way of finding out. When it is not out in the clear, I think there is enhanced risk of creating ill will as well as running afoul of the law.
Bottom Line: FTC rules require disclosure of freebies. We could all use clearer guidelines and easier practices to accomplish this.

So how do we improve on this? I have a few ideas and I am quite certain you readers can help add to this conversation. I want to hear from influencers and brands and community members about how we can collaborate in ways not that are not just win-win (you and me) but win-win-win (you, me, and the community aka marketplace).

Here are some ideas to get us started. I expect to modify them as I get more input from you. It requires an upgrade in your brand’s use of social media, but I think our time has come for that. Free tweetups were a great way to learn and connect but I think they have out-lived their usefulness to the brand, to the influencer, and to the consumer.

• Stop giving away freebies and instead create standard business transactions.
• Have a business goal for each event and hire influencers accordingly.
• Make it an open process, so you expand your pool of support rather than restrict it.
• Have at least a part-time social media consultant or staffer for your brand. There is too much to figure out on your own or in a scatter shot manner.

• Have your social media staffer/consultant define the scope of work, outline the goals and metrics, determine criteria needed to meet said goals, and agree on a working budget. It does not have to be big! Keep in mind, the adage “you get what you pay for” still applies with social media.
• Put out an open call for social media assistance and include your performance criteria. Your goals will determine the relative balance of skills you want: photos, tweets, video, blogs, local/mainland followers, peeps/business users, etc.
• Provide specific and measurable assignments to your team and equip them with as much background info as possible so they can do a great job for you.
• Measure and report on your measurements.
• Rotate your hiring to give as many people a chance to collaborate as possible – building your de facto network of influencers as well as good will.

Photo Credit: Mannequin Clique by quinn.anya on Flickr.

With love and Aloha,

I laid out my to do lists and got some crazy math! It helped me understand why I am behind on a few things. Note to self: I realized that the more I stay off my case the more I get done!

Download this episode | Duration: 2:59

Have you noticed this explosion of opportunity and possibility? Well it brings along with it "a lot of stuff to do." In fact the easier something is, the more likely I am to put it on a list somewhere. This is creating some fun challenges in the time-space continuum however. Translation: I sometimes get behind and my personal goals get shoved into tomorrow. Writing it all out and seeing the math on paper made a big impact on me! So much so, that I found time with my Secret Cameraman and Lexi to record this video note to self: get off your case about being "behind" and keep resetting priorities.

Why does that matter? Because for me life is all about the energy. I've learned that criticism only slows me down. If I am down in the dumps, I am not energized or creative - you know, those attributes that help me get things done. There is also this magical side benefit. When I am all lit up, I see many things that I don't have to do anymore - they just get handled "in my absence." #HowCoolIsThat?

OK, so what is your secret sauce for staying ahead of (or letting go of) those 21st century wish lists aka to do lists?

Hawaiian Word
Hoʻomāmā - to lighten up

We met Jeff back in 2008 and you will be amazed at what all he has accomplished! Wrongfully imprisoned for 17 years starting at age 16, he is launching a foundation with his settlement money to help others who have been falsely accused and convicted.

Duration: 7:13 | Download this episode

Jeff won me over the first time we met and we have kept in touch over the years. On March 16th, he is hosting a breakfast in New York and launching The Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice. I hope you will join me in learning more about what he does and has done, and support this powerful and empowering work. I have made a donation and hope you will also.

As you long time fans understand, Beach Walks is about more than fun on the beach. It is also about understanding the richness of life and embracing change and transformation even when presented with some of life's most staggering challenges.

Jeff's Personal Website
The Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice
Please join me on Twitter and Facebook and share your impressions and how you would have responded to such an experience. @roxannedarling and facebook.com/beachwalks.

Hawaiian Word
Halaʻole - innocent

Is it crazy to go to the beach on Saturday morning and start thinking about all that I did not get finished that week? Maybe not, as I came up with a new strategy to help me manage the incredible creeping to do list that continues to grow like some out of control virus. Watch the video then keep reading!

You know we keep reading about the data showing we are creating new information at an extraordinary speed - a speed at which we as individuals cannot really understand much less manage. Yet we go about our days as if life were the same as it was a decade or two ago. Our habits and our processes have not updated. We still cling to beliefs of how things must be done - because we've always done them that way or because we used to take comfort in doing them that way.

But now, things are reversed and we have far more freedom than we have time. Freedom to create like never before, to connect across the globe and even into space, to construct both systems and structures that are freakishly awesome. So stop bemoaning the lack of time and embrace the abundance of freedom.

I recently went to TedxMaui - a beautifully produced event. Yet I left after lunch - as I was literally full of the shared message to follow your dreams, be yourself, strike out and claim your life. Imagine if we measured inspirational events by how quickly the audience dissipated, because they "got it" and were off doing it? I just love having these wacky thoughts!

Last week I had a Divine Openings session, that had been scheduled a few days earlier. By the time we spoke, my client said, "You know, things started shifting after I made the appointment. I realized [this and that] and actually, I get it! I don't really have that much to sort out now. Yes, it can be this easy.

Have a great week! Love, Rox

Since moving to Maui, I have become involved with the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust. Their annual fundraiser is this weekend and we are intend to raise $5000 via online connections so that we qualify for a matching donation of another $5000! Watch the video then keep reading!

Download this episode here. | 2:52

HILT has secured a matching donor. If we can raise $5000 in online donations by January 28th, the donor will match us with another $5000. I think we can, but alas, it is going to be up to all of us to get this done. Please donate here now.

This is your chance to double your gift and help preserve those precious Hawaii scenic lands and beaches. Please watch the video - there is even a clip of Lexi Dogg at the end, chasing her ball in our back yard. Mahalo nui BeachWalks fans - I am counting on you to share your love of Hawaii with the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust - and make a donation by 5 pm HST Saturday, January 28th! And follow me on Twitter Saturday as I will be at the event - a special luau at Old Lahaina Luau in Lahaina! Please support the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust - do it for Lexi!

Please follow me on Twitter and Facebook Saturday as I will be sharing the amazing luay festivities with you! @roxannedarling and facebook.com/beachwalks.

Friend them on Flicker to see more beautiful photos of reserved lands throughout Hawaii.

Hawaiian Word:
Kuleana - responsibility

Watch the waves on South Maui as they fold in and out - a metaphor to stay in the flow in 2012 even if life starts coming at us sideways. These waves are doing just that and it so gorgeous! Watch the video, then keep reading...

Download the HD version here.

Filmed on the iPhone, edited on the iPad - brought to you by "The Better Something Than Nothing Department!" Wishing you a wonderful new year and another chance to live the life you dream of living, right here right now.

Hawaiian word:
Pelu: to fold, turn over and under, to bend

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Enjoy your own deserted beach on Maui! Leave your cares and footprints in the sand, they'll disappear.

I just love how many cool tools are available now as compared to when we started Beachwalks way back in 2006! While we are working on a new web site design, I intend to share some short mobile videos that I can make on the fly. Let's get back to the waves and the serenity folks! Coming to you now from the magic of Maui! And this one is in HD!

#HowCoolIsThat

iPod | 1:23 | To Embed or Email: click above

Hawaiian Word:
Hele hoʻokahi: To go alone

iPod | 6:38 | To Embed or Email: click above

We originally filmed this episode for Memorial Day in 2006. But it clearly stands out as a timeless message, and represents the true essence of Beach Walks - even though it was not filmed on a beach! It was completely unscripted, no shot list, we just showed up and worked as fast as we could before the sun set. Sometimes, you know the universe is on your side. Today's show was filmed at the Hawaii Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. 50,000 leis were donated, and over 100 young Boy Scouts placed a lei and a flag on each gravestone. I was quite stirred to be in the presence of death while smelling the sweet scent of plumeria lei. Though most of those buried here are from modern wars, this "punchbowl" of an ancient volcano was the site of Hawaiian aliʻi burials and human sacrifice of those who violated the kapu or taboos.

Hawaiian words:
Puowaina: hill of sacrifice
Kaua: war
Kapu: taboo
Maluhia: peace

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Come swimming with us on Maui and listen to the sounds of whales underwater.

iPod | 3:30 | To Embed: click above

We were visiting Maui as guests of the Maui Visitors Bureau and were booked for a sailing canoe venture. This was going to be the highlight of my week as you all know how much I love the Hawaiian canoe! But, the wind was in town and the trip was canceled, much to my disappointment.

Maui is not called the "Magic Isle" for nothing though! Since we were already at the beach, we went in for a swim. The water is clear and beautiful so naturally I was underwater straight away. And then I heard something really familiar, but familiar only from my iPod not from "real life."

Sure enough, it was the whales singing to me, "Don't be disappointed Rox! We're out here in the deep water reminding you all is well! Swim in this warm beautiful sea and you'll find fun and pleasure all around you." I cannot tell you how excited I was! In all my years of being underwater and seeing whales from boats, I have never once heard them singing while underwater. It was such a good reminder for all of us on vacation: don't get too attached to any one thing! As Vene said, "there are treasures and mysteries awaiting us" - if we let it all flow.

Links:
Maui Sailing Canoe Adventures
Ulalena

Please go explore the VisitMauiBlog for more stories, photos, and videos of our week on Maui. It is the perfect way to spend a little time on Maui and to plan your next vacation or business retreat. Mahalo nui to the Maui Visitors Bureau for inviting us to be their guests.

Hawaiian word:
Hoʻokalakupua: magic

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We're on Maui! Meet musician George Kahumoku at the Ulupalakua Ranch.

iPod | 4:07 | To Embed: click above

I was hired by the Maui Visitors Bureau to assemble a team of new media bloggers and podcasters to participate in a week-long press trip to Maui. You are the lucky beneficiaries! In this second episode, filmed on-site at the Ulupalakua Ranch, I introduce you to George Kahumoku, a slack key guitarist and multi-talented person - like so many Hawaiians! You must watch this to learn about his many talents. I love the title of today's episode as it has the rhythm of the Hawaiian language in these long yet simple words. Just say each one slowly as it is written; or do as my friend Shel Israel suggests, and say it 10 times fast!

Please go explore the VisitMauiBlog for more stories, photos, and videos of our week on Maui. It is the perfect way to spend a little time on Maui and to plan your next vacation or business retreat. Mahalo nui to the Maui Visitors Bureau for inviting us to be their guests.

Hawaiian word:
Kani ka pila: play music (an afternoon tradition in Hawaii)
Ulu: to grow, spread, protect
Palakua: to ripen to perfection

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We're on Maui for the Celebration of the Arts at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua. Come take a hula lesson with us from Kumu Hula Lopaka Bukoski.

iPod | 6:01 | To Embed: click above

I was hired by the Maui Visitors Bureau to assemble a team of new media bloggers and podcasters to participate in a week-long press trip to Maui. You are the lucky beneficiaries! In this first episode, filmed on-site at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, you get to meet my kumu hula, or hula teacher, Lopaka Bukoski. I think you will be mesmerized by his knowledge, his lyrical use of Hawaiian chanting and language, and of course by the dancing! In Hawaiʻi, many of the kumu are men, and just like in this class, both men and women are hula practitioners. By the way, you can see the staff of the Ritz-Carlton performing in the lobby especially for this weekend of Hawaiian culture at the end of this episode.

Learn more about the Celebration of the Arts here, and please go explore the VisitMauiBlog for more stories, photos, and videos of our week on Maui. It is the perfect way to spend a little time on Maui and to plan your next vacation or business retreat. Mahalo nui to the Maui Visitors Bureau for inviting us to be their guests.

Hawaiian word:
Hula: dance

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I am in Austin, Texas for a program with Lola Jones and we went to Barton Creek for a lunch break. It was a perfect opportunity to remember the rocks in the river are part of the fun! I am sure you'll get the metaphor.

iPod | 2:54 | To Embed: click above

Many of you viewers know I took a 5-day silent retreat with Lola Jones last year and that in addition to all the technology and social media training and consulting I do, I also give Divine Openings. I was here in Austin to gain some more experience and knew that you Beach Walks viewers would appreciate some flow analogies, some water footage, and of course a few pups! (We were joined by Honey and Sophie on the hike.)

Please visit my page on Lola's web site to learn more about how you can stay happier in the flow of your dynamic life. There is lots of free stuff there, including audios and videos.

Hawaiian word:
Pōhaku: stone

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I created this episode in July 2006, talking about the wonder that is Bode Miller and how he goes for the spirit of skiing perhaps more than the medals. Today he won a gold medal, and I think it's worth re-visiting. You'll likely be able to see the changes we have made at Beach Walks over the past four years! Here is the original episode Beach Walk 146.

iPod | 5:30

My hero du jour is Bode Miller, the so-called "bad boy" of downhill skiiing. I really dislike those kinds of labels, especially in cases like this where I believe he is a true ground-breaker. He offers up a very different way to live a life, one that is not invested in the results of what you do. He is one of the most competent skiers on the planet yet he is not invested in winning. He could ski in private, and choose not to be in competition, but part of the deep pleasure he has is giving the spectators an inspirational experience — and more often than not that distinctly includes not winning the race.

What if competition were not just about winning, which means only one person or team gets to be happy with the result? What if it were also about seeing how you perform under pressure? What if were also about being able to go places and do things that are not otherwise available? What if it were about the process and not the result? When it is, there is no way to lose.

Try this on today: Don't get invested in the results of what you do. At it's core, it is a radical thought.

You can read more and watch the CBS video here.

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This walk on the beach in Maui is a type of shadow play and a rare glimpse of seeing Secret Cameraman at work!

iPod | 1:57 | To Embed: click above

This is a little venture into avante garde film-making, as the camera perspective and what you see on screen is a bit unusual. No talking, just walking and some gorgeous waves here to wash away whatever shadows may be dogging any of us. On a side note, I had the most fun interview ever with Dave Moyer and Kym Huynh of Wordcast Conversations and they got me all energized to post a new episode! I'll post the link to it when it goes live.

Please visit Kenneth Makuakane's web site to learn more about his new CD, The Dash. I think his music works perfectly in this episode and he is so generous to share it with us.

Hawaiian word:
hoʻoaka: to cast a shadow

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As I am here stretching and reaching to get out of my cocoon and transform into a truer version of me, a Beach Walks viewer sends me this link from YouTube about an amazing dog. I am totally inspired and hope you will be too. Thanks so much Celeste! You can meet Celeste in this episode of BeachWalks.tv.

Love, Rox

Update: They have disabled embedding on this video. Please visit this link to watch it on YouTube.

From the original post:
"Surf dog Ricochet's inspirational video highlighting her journey from service dog training, to turning disappointment into a joyful new direction, to surfing with quadriplegic surfer, Patrick Ivison, to fundraising for charitable causes. She is currently leading a fundraiser for a six year old boy named Ian who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a horrific car accident that claimed the lives of his parents. If you'd like to help Ricochet help Ian, please go to http://www.ripcurlricki.com. To follow her on Facebook... search for "Surf Dog Ricochet". Thank you for watching, and donating to her charitable cause."

Does this story feel good? It pays to pay attention to the words coming out of your mouth.

iPod | 4:22 | To Embed: click above

We use words all day everyday yet rarely stop to feel the energy they pack. I think it is the energy that causes confusion, less than the definition sometimes. We assume others think words feel the same way but they often don't! We assume that a "story is just a story" but it's not! It is also the energy from that story. I aim for feel-good energy, so that determines what stories I choose to tell or not these days. What about you? Does re-telling that story, no matter how righteous, make you feel bettor or worse? If you connect with the energy, it may influence where your mouth and mind go today.

Here's an old episode on "Making up stories"

Hawaiian word:
Moʻolelo: story

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Big Beach, Little Beach: clothing optional on one, anxiety optional on both! We are on a business retreat on Maui, staying at the Hotel Wailea, soaking up the Maui lifestyle.

iPod | 3:42 | To Embed: click above

We as creatures of God, a part of the Divine, have been incarnating for millions of years, yet somehow the discomfort for being a physical being seems to be dragged along with each generation. The refusal to dance for fear of looking or feeling silly. The great lengths we go to for fashion and food. When itʻs Halloween fun, great! When it drags us down or keeps us home, not so much. Here at Big Beach on Maui, with the clothing optional Little Beach just over the hill, join us for some beautiful scenery and breaking waves. Come roll in the pleasure that can be found inside your skin, once we get the mind out of the way.

Hawaiian word:
Kohana: naked, bare, alone

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Big Beach, Little Beach; big ideas, small details. We are on a business retreat on Maui, staying at the Hotel Wailea, and filming at Big Beach/Little Beach.

iPod | 3:46 | To Embed or Email: click above

At home we have a small place with low ceilings, and no view. At the Hotel Wailea, we have a large room, high ceilings, and an incredible view! The shift in our thinking as a result in the shift in our environment is providing a contrast that was long overdue for us. It reminds me of the value of alternating between big view and little view.

Hawaiian word:
ʻIkena: view, scenery, knowledge

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iPod | 3:17 | To Embed or Email: click above

Programming code is just like cooking - sometimes you can guess the right mix and make a copy of something, but other times you need to know the original ingredients. Knowing when and how to tell the difference? Usually you only learn that on the back side, after you give it a try. I am not a big fan of the "fake it til you make it" school. I prefer authenticity and simple truths. Having said that, I also believe we are each free to try anything we want. If you are selling yourself as something you are not though, seller and buyer be aware.

Hawaiian word:
Maka: raw, fresh

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iPod | 2:20 | To Embed or Email: click above

I am out of town and left my intended footage back on my main hard drive so I found this remnant from last winter! It's got a mood to it I think, and it's dedicated to dog lovers and long shadows everywhere. The sound is minimal - just the sweet romancing rhythms of gentle late afternoon waves. Co-mingled with Lexi's steady breathing, and a reminder from my friend Lola Jones to "breathe for pleasure." I hope we at Beach Walks can cast a shadow of grace on you today. Mahalo for your patience in our absence.

Hawaiian word:
hoʻoaka: to cast a shadow

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iPod | 4:09 | To Embed or Email: click above

We meet the loveliest people through Beach Walks. A while ago I met Yoshiko Hino, a viewer from Japan who connected with me on Twitter. Like myself, she has visited Hawaii many times and fell in love with the place! She is now making plans to move here. She is a very talented jewelry designer - you can see the Hawaii influence in her work. You can find her on Twitter @yoshikocat. She also does sales, which is easy to understand as she has a way of connecting with people.

Hawaiian word:
Neʻe aku: to move away

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I’ve been spending the last hour reading blogs from friends of mine here on Maui. My friend Visit her blog for all sorts of fun and inspiring and beautiful things. Liza Pierce started a Facebook group where we can all connect, and one of the key things to come from it is that we do a “blog hop” each month. Everyone shares a link to their blog, so the rest of us can wander around to read and leave comments!

The glass half-full folks see it as a way to meet more of one’s neighbors, to discover treats in our shared back yard, and to experience some virtual Aloha. That includes me.

It is so easy to get distracted by looking at the outer experience of things, especially in our rush rush life these days. We see the actions of a group of people and possibly make a snap judgment. But what is motivating me to jot down this post tonight, is to state out loud the very pleasurable experience I am having reading entries from neighbors and friends.

There is no agenda. There is no client-vendor relationship. Some topics are more interesting to me (in theory) than others – though each person’s style often overrides that setting. It just feels so nice.

One of the folks I would like to shout out to is Ihilani at her blog Life is So Pupuka. Pupuka is a Hawaiian word, and I really recommend you

Nicotine may be beneficial to those with memory impairment and Alzheimer’s. I guess it doesn’t make sense to just call it a bad drug anymore.

My sister sent me a link that set off a delightful chain of thoughts and I wanted to share them with you. I often talk in platitudes, yet here is a street level example of what I mean when I say there is no absolute good or bad, right or wrong. Life is far too rich for that!

First, the link: Nicotine Patch Improves Memory in People with Mild Cognitive Impairment. And now for the bottom line:

By specifically activating those remaining receptors, nicotine can boost the function of surviving neurons. And research done in cells suggests it might even protect neurons from Alzheimer’s disease.

Many other studies have shown alertness benefits from nicotine so this makes sense to me. Then there is the “accelerated metabolism” side effect too and nicotine is starting to look like the perfect drug for women over 50!!! Especially when you consider a patch in lieu of actually smoking. He he.

My mom, 87, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at age 83. Curiously, she was a smoker for many years, long after my Dad quit. We thought she was being stubborn though also heavily influenced by the addictive qualities of nicotine – which of course may well be true. What if she were also delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s at the same time???

Perhaps some inner guidance of mom’s kept her smoking well past everyone else wishing she would quit. I just love all these twists and turns away from the pretend black and white versions of reality!

It’s just another way of saying there truly is a silver lining to everything, if we are open to cuddling up in it. It is that place out there in “the field” beyond all notions of right-doing and wrong-doing as Rumi says. Chalk up another one for flexible truth and situational awareness.

Photo Credit: My last nicotine patch by SolGrundy on Flickr.

Love,

I was talking to friends on the phone from their car today and I had a momentary memory lapse: we were talking about last year’s New Years Eve. The mom was saying, “Remember, we were all together at our house?”

Slowly it was coming back to me as I spoke. Meanwhile, from the back seat, comes the voice of the first grader:

At first I couldn’t remember either but then I went quiet and went inside my mind and then I started to remember it all!

Then I saw this article on the NYTimes.com called The Joy of Quiet by Pico Iyer. He says,

In barely one generation we’ve moved from exulting in the time-saving devices that have so expanded our lives to trying to get away from them — often in order to make more time. The more ways we have to connect, the more many of us seem desperate to unplug.

Then of course later I look up and there is this banner ad displaying on the web page in front of me:

For me, the silence is not to fulfill a spiritual obligation. It is simply – to remember. To remember my connection to the whole hologram of all that is and to remember how many choices I have in any given moment. To remember that I am ultimately safe; no matter what happens I shall return to the unlimited state of everything and nothingness, just like you. To remember that life is but a game – one that we are creating and playing in the same moment, safe and free at all times.

Special thanks to my friend Liza Pierce who suggested in our Maui bloggers group that we each post something on January 1, 2012. I really appreciated the idea and happily ride the thread of energy to get here today!

I am also contributing this to my friend Tania Ginoza’s compilation of New Year’s Resolutions coming soon to her Maui Shop Girl blog. Though I don’t do resolutions per se, I do love this “do over” that we get every January 1st and the surge of inspiration and energy that often accompanies it.

Happy New Year – isn’t it fun we get to start over again?

Love,

Photo Credit: Quiet by towardsthesunset on Flickr

Lots of new age philosophers promise this. In my reality (as truly we each have our own realities…) this is true some of the time, not all of the time. Yet. Since it is a goal of mine, I like to acknowledge when it happens, so I can put the spotlight on my successes and generate energy for more of the same!

Last Sunday, my guy Shane was arriving in Albuquerque at 11:30 pm. He would then be driving about an hour up to Santa Fe. Having lived in both cities, I know that summer nights at 5000’ to 7000’ (above sea level) are cool and clear like few other places on the planet. And as you may recall, Saturday was the full moon, so there would be a big waning moon in the sky around that time.

At around midnight Shane calls me. “Did you order me a convertible at Hertz?”

I said, “No, however for just a brief moment around 11:10 pm MDT I had a brief thought of how cool it would be to drive the open road from ABQ to SAF in a convertible.”

That was it. A passing fancy. And voila, a convertible appeared on his rental contract, billed at the Compact Car rate.

All I have left to say, is what I might say on Twitter, via hashtag syntax:

#howcoolisthat

Translation: How. Cool. Is. That.

It’s very freakin’ cool and I love it when that happens! Attached here is the actual car he drove. (Thanks baby for taking a nice photo for my blog.) Check out his gorgeous photography at www.shanerobinson.com.

Do these “inexplicable” things happen to you? Do you allow a wider intelligence to play in your life? I would love to hear your stories of how all this “plays” out!

I updated my blog software today before adding a new entry; the whole thing broke! It was due to a plug-in incompatibility. It fit in perfectly with what I had logged in to write about!

One of my current transitions is completing some client projects that I have procrastinated on. The reasons don’t matter but the energy does: I have lost interest. This is stirring the pot for me and bringing up a lot of frustration, anger, disappointment, and the like. I slipped off my wagon earlier today and attempted to unload this on my partner. Silly move! He’s not that good a listener on these sorts of things, AND, boy am I grateful for that!

Why? Because unloading on another person is a very inefficient way to deal with these kinds of feelings. Much smarter to take them to the Source, and unplug them from the he said-she said-they said stories. Those stories just perpetuate the feelings, they don’t dissipate them! All that matters is that the feelings felt bad, that got my attention, and now I can look at what I want to be doing with the preciousness of my time and of me.

When you realize that everything is moving you in the direction you want, it is easy to embrace. Easy to let go of that which hurts, feels bad, etc.

Everything that happens to you is 100% for you.

And isn’t it brilliant that the Universe can have all this interplay (you complaining, him responding “poorly”, you waking up to a better plan…) with utter disregard for a balance sheet? It does not have to make sense to a human mind (partner acting irritating to help me redirect consciousness) or satisfy earthly rules of math. (Who knows if/how this made sense in his universe!)

That is the point of living here in our overlapping yet parallel and individual realities.

None of these actors in my play are good or bad per se; they are just filling roles that I have created to help me become more conscious of who I am and what I want. We are acting in each other’s plays all the time. The roles and the scripts themselves really are not the point. There is no need to track them, measure them, compare them.

The point is to keep moving in the direction of bliss, of grace. By being grateful for every feeling, every incident, every actor, I can do that even when I am so-called “feeling like crap or pissed off or down in the dumps.”

You know it is easy to feel grateful for the “feels good” stuff. But your life will shift dramatically when you are grateful for the yucky stuff!

Photo credit: Grateful by Gamma Man on Flickr

Aloha,

I blog therefore I remember.