Author: Tova

So many little things we can do to brighten up the world we live in and bring little Muchness Moments into the every day. Here are a few- Ill bet you can do all 10 things in 24 hours and make your tomorrow MUCH MUCHIER!

1. Replace that pen. You know the one. It rolls around in the bottom of your purse. The one with the insurance company name on it. Just go out and get a cute pen. Seriously. Every time you reach for it you’ll think “ooooh! I forgot how cute my pen is!”
2. Wear a pair of colorful tights. What? Too Much? OK. Build up to it! Start with colorful sock inside boots. You’ll forget they’re there and then when you pull off your boots at the end of the day, POW! A surprise burst of color to make you smile!
3. Do your nails. But wait. Don’t do them in them in the safe, soft, neutral color you think you should! Instead, do them in the gorgeous, bold, color that made you go “OH! Now That’s a beautiful color!”
4. Call and old friend. Someone you haven’t spoken to in a while. The one you’ve been thinking about calling but haven’t found the time. Find the time.
5. Replace the buttons on an old sweater or coat with something Muchy, colorful or unexpected. You’ll forget you did it and get a rush every time you reach for the garment and remember how you brought it back to life. Too much? Replace the little inside fly button on your favorite black trousers with a kooky colored button. No one will see it but you and it’ll perk up your bathroom breaks!
6. Crank up the car radio next time a song comes on that makes you wanna sing! Bounce your shoulder! Make up lyrics! Invent drum noises and pretend you’re a rock star!! What? You’re worried the lady in the Honda Odyssey next to you is gonna think you’re nuts? WHO CARES?!? Cranky McCrankster’s just jealous of your Muchness! Wear it Loud! Wear it proud!
7. Get totally glammed up and go on a dinner date. To the local diner. Everyone will assume you are just coming from or on your way to someplace totally fabulous! (And you’ll get to wear that cocktail dress that’s been hanging in your closet since 2007, begging for a night on the town!)
8. Cover your important papers with happy face stickers. Like your bills. Someone, somewhere is gonna receive that mortgage payment and see your happy face sticker and it’ll make them smile. because opening other peoples bills all day is probably not that persons dream job either.

Uh Oh! I need two more but it’s my bed time!!! Please help me finish this list!!! How can anyone easily tap into a muchness moment on any random day?!?!?!

Dennel added these great ideas too!!!

LOVE your list!  here’s a few ideas for you 🙂

pretty bras.  They even have sequin bras at la senza right now.  You can feel sexy even if you’re dressed totally normal.

super colorful eyeshadow.  takes like 10 seconds.

sexy lingerie.  I had to take care of a freind post surgery for a few days.  had a hard time finding appropriate sleepwear becasue all I have is sexy lingerie 😉

muchness band on your rearview mirror-reminds you to smile when you’re stuck in traffic.

air fresheners.  hard to be sad when the room smells so delicious you wanna eat it up

dress up and dance with your kids.  make it a very important event, send an invitation even.  don’t answer the phone or touch your electronic devices, be completely plugged in to having fun with your kids.

heels.  i have yet to accomplish skinny heels, but I think for this summer, it will be my goal.  I would love to have that strutt.

baking…I make llike 6 dozen buns or cookies at a time…..but wait…then send your kids to each of the neighbours with a bag full.  spreads muchness and teaches your kids to take care of others and neighbours will love you. 🙂

Not sure what to ick as a theme for your Challenge?

Thanks to Shannon for creating this Muchtastc list of ideas— they are just the tip of the iceberg! More ideas to follow!

-Go Seasonal! If it’s winter, think of creative ways you can push yourself to enjoy the weather!  

(Buy a new hat, scarf, mittens, jacket , Build a snowfort or snowman ,Color snow with spray bottles and food coloring , Make Colorful ice rocks by filling water balloons up with water & food coloring, freezing them (outside would most likely freeze them!) and remove the balloon, Make a big batch of Hot Cocoa! Make homemade marshmallows for your hot cocoa or build a hot cocoa buffet with peppermint sticks, chocolate chips, cinnamon sticks, etc, Go Sledding! Go Polar Bearing :oD  OH MY! (FYI that means jumping in a frozen cold lake in your swimsuit), Make a snow angel, Shovel your neighbor’s sidewalk,)

Not all of us are the next Annie Leibovitz, but that’s no reason we can’t have compelling, beautiful, Muchtastic Muchness pics! This space will have tips and suggestions for how to set up your shot so you can get a great picture you will be proud to share, even if you are shooting from your old flip phone!

There are some great photo-taking tips here!

I know MANY of you have been following The Muchness since I first started wearing my daily sequins back in March 2011. Within 2 days of starting my challenge, I knew I was tapping into something much more powerful than sequins. I was tapping into a joy, a passion and a form of self-expression that I had been neglecting for far too long. The sequins were just a tool that helped me to do that. Don’t get me wrong- I LOVE the sequins- I’ve always loved anything sparkly, but I just didn’t have the confidence to even THINK about wearing them out in broad daylight! FORCING myself out of my comfort zone, little by little, over the course of 30 days, helped me realize I was letting fear and insecurity hold me back from feeling the MUCHNESS inside that I used to feel.

Are you thinking of taking the 30 Day Challenge? Are you worried you don’t know what your Muchness ‘is’? Ask yourself these questions, and reach deep into your truths to find the answers:

• If you could spend your day doing anything, without worrying about money, what would it be? Would you paint, write, cook, design Muchtastic hair accessories? Those are your passions! Maybe you used to think about these things but somewhere along the line, you’ve forgot you even liked them! They are laying dormant in you, waiting for you to pay attention to them.
• What is a characteristic you have always admired in others but didn’t feel you were capable of possessing? Speaking multiple languages, doing charitable deeds, knowing how to walk in a killer pair of heels? Who says you CAN’T do those things? Unless your goal, like mine, is wearing those killer heels and your chiropractor forbids it, take the plunge! Go do it!! Even if it’s just in tiny little amounts over the next 30 days, even if you really aren’t very good at it, so what? You will gain confidence from confirming that the power to at least try IS in your hands!!
• What are you good at? Are you thinking that this sentence is about to contradict the one I just completed? Well, don’t. We all love to do things we’re good at. I barely do anything I’m not at least semi-good at. (you will not find me on any ski slopes in the near future, haha)  But ya know what? So many of us don’t realize how good we are at doing some of the stuff we already do. Maybe you’re a stay-at-home mom and you just go about your days “momming.” Stop. Think about it. Maybe your are REALLY VERY EXCELLENT at that and you just think of it as ‘something you do.’ Maybe you aren’t a great cook but make FANTASTIC soups- take ownership of that and BE the AWESOME soup maker!!! Sometimes you don’t have to paint our talents with such a big brush. Sometimes, the parts we’re great at are hiding in the smaller, more nuanced strokes. Look for them. Find them. Celebrate them. (Oh, and blog about them here!)
  Conversely, sometimes we believe we are good at something, yet our journey through life presents us with circumstances or people that make us doubt what we believe we know about ourselves. If you think back, can you remember a time you felt self-confident about something, but then had that confidence ripped away from you by someone or something else? Stop. Now’s the time to reclaim it. The only day better than today for taking back your confidence, was yesterday. 🙂

Well, that’s it for now. I say that because I could go on. And on. I have so much I want to post here. In time, I will.

One important thing I will leave with you today:
There are two types of MUCHNESS Moments.
-The first are the organic moments that just happen – your baby covered herself in mashed potatoes, a beautiful sunset behind an abandoned old warehouse, the view of your family on a walk, all holding hand; things which simply made you stop and smile and give thanks for the things you have in this world.
-The second type are MUCHNESS moments that are ‘manufactured.’ Sequins and high heels on a random tuesday, baking a cake and decorating it with edible glitter, just so you can photograph it, an otherwise pointless picture of yourself making a silly face.
My original 30 Day Challenge had both types of pictures. Your “theme” is great for helping you create the “manufactured” moments. Those are specific, purposeful, consciously planned moments built around something that brings you joy. However, those moments will open up your eyes and your spirit to be more receptive to the organic moments. The ones that are already there, just waiting to be found.

Looking forward to seeing you GET IN TOUCH WITH THE MUCH!

Over the last 8 months, since I started The Muchness Movement, I’ve had a lot of conversations about The Muchness. A lot. Many in person and a lot online, through email, and even via text message. One thing I get asked a lot is “What should I do for a ‘theme’ of my challenge?”

Now, I can’t just tell you what to do. Muchness is different for everyone and, well, I don’t know you. But I think, in some ways, I’ve helped some of the previous challengers know themselves. I’ve been going through my mind (and email) to collect some of the inspiration I’ve helped people pull out of themselves. I’ll be presenting it in this group, in this series “Finding Your Muchness Theme”. I hope you’ll find something inspirational and uplifting in these posts, and I hope it inspires you to jump in and take the challenge.

In my last entry of this series, I offered ideas for questions you can ask yourself to help you find some internal ‘theme’ – some personal spark of creativity or joy or positivity (or Muchness) that lives inside you but has really been feeling neglected. For me, it wasn’t sparkle, per sé, but it was my personal appearance. I was not using my appearance to reflect my creativity and personality. When I neglected to do that, it affected everything about me.

There were many times before when I had thought to myself “gosh, I really should put some effort into my appearance. I mean, my jeans have holes in them, my sneakers are filthy and my hair isn’t brushed…. and I’m on my way to work! What is wrong with me?” And then I’d tell myself “You’re busy. Who has time? Who even notices? And you’re really good at your job so no-one cares. Besides, do you really wanna be spending money on new clothes that are not your ideal size anyway? Especially when you hate shopping?” (I do, it’s true. Imagine that.)

But then, as we know, life continued the way it did. I got pregnant with the twins, and then six months later we lost them. And then three months later I was pregnant again. And there was no way I was going to re-wear my maternity stuff from the twins. So I shopped. And I took with me on my shopping trips the conscious idea that I would NOT buy more frumpy dump clothing. I would NOT buy more brown which made me feel like a turd. I would NOT buy potato sacks which made me feel like I was drowning in my big sisters clothing. I may have been miserable about the twins, but I did not have to reenforce that feeling with my clothing. Because I was also joyous about my new pregnancy, and THAT was the feeling I wanted to reinforce.

D’ya ever notice that for some unfortunate reason, it always seems the Joy is a feeling we have to work to actively maintain, whereas sorrow or anger or sadness are feelings that just happen and seem to maintain themselves? As soon as we’re not feeling happy, we feel despondent or sad, or bored or lonely, but as soon as we’re not sad, we’re not automatically happy, by default. There are no books “How to find your sadness” or “The secret to being sad.” … sad is just something we all just know how to be. But finding happiness? Well, that’s one of life’s big mysteries, and the topic behind many a book.

I always start these posts with an idea in my head. A concept which started my brain rolling on what the post would be. Sometimes I get off point. This post was supposed to be a straightforward list of ideas for themes for The Muchness Challenge. Because I KNOW that it’s tough. I KNOW when you are in deep grief or sadness or just plain stumbling through a rough patch, sitting down and thinking about a “theme” for that unspeakable ‘thing’ which is your Muchness is just really hard. And sometimes it just needs a kickstart.

But I don’t want to be all scatterbrained throwing too much Muchness talk at you in one Finding Your Muchness Entry. So I will sign off for now and save the list for another entry. Stay Tuned!

xox, Tova

You made it midway! Congratulations! I hope you are feeeeeling The Muchness!!!