ex.traor.di.nar.y

1) very unusual and deserving attention and comment because of being wonderful, excellent, strange, or shocking

2) going beyond what is ordinary, regular, or established

Free spirits need support

In honor of those who value imaginative expression over mindless imitation, thoughtful contemplation over instant gratification, originality over conformity, I offer The Extraordinary Living Project.

I am posing the question, "How do you live an extraordinary life?" to friends and strangers, artists and entrepreneurs, great thinkers and mavericks of all stripes. I collect the answers and post them right here.

To participate in The Extraordinary Living Project, please use 100 words or less to answer the question, "How do you live an extraordinary life?" Email your response to me, and I'll be in touch about posting it on the site. Also, please let me know a little bit about yourself--I'm eager to meet you.

Extraordinary living: Once you've done it, it's the only way to go.

I believe in not being the sum of the experiences I've had, but in living my way into the future I want to create.

In choosing goals and dreams that require me to push myself, learn, create nervousness, experience but not be stopped by fear. Getting out of my comfort zone.

-Chris Ragsdale, ultra cyclist

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I feel marked by a special light as an artist. I get to dig down deep in my soul and pull up images and feelings that I get to transfer to paper with huge globs of creamy bright colors. It's fun, it's intense and it's a glorious way to lose oneself for hours on end. When I'm up at night worrying about things, I can now, with some effort, switch over to my work and paint pictures in my head and try shove aside those awful, grinding gears. When it works, the confidence builds and the ineptitude falls away.

-Joanne Shellan, painter

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Authenticity. In an attempt to free myself from the foggy, desperate, phony trappings of suburban motherhood, I pause more frequently and truly open my ears and heart to listen. The unspoken conversations are louder than the audible ones. When I hear that voice in my head, the one that's setting up what I'm about to say, rehearsing if you will, I know I'm about to engage in triviality and fake niceties. I attempt to say aloud what I'm really thinking. Offending or hurting someone's feelings is better than wasting air with expected, scripted crap.

By realizing just how little I know.

Extraordinary.  Every time that word finds me I have to let it go.  And that's when extraordinary really happens.  To see the end in all things even when I can't see where I am in the moment.  To give my heart to God and watch as He does more with it than I ever could.  To reduce this short life of mine to words like happiness, fulfillment, music.

Peace chases pain.  And pain walks hand in hand with ignorance.  The less I know, the happier I eventually am.  What odd creatures we are.

-Cale, software developer, pianist, drummer, endlessly introspective, creative, struck at all times and under all conditions by the extravagance of nature

By the time I was thirty-four I had had every marital status there is: single, married, widowed, divorced. Initially I felt ashamed, as if I were a miserable failure. I was certain the Gods were out to get me.

From this vantage point, three decades later, I can see that the twists and turns are little signposts, pointing the way to a life that is bigger than I could ever envision for myself.

I have learned to run toward whatever keeps my heart open.

-Judy Ford, author, artist, bike rider, psychotherapist

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I always stop dead in my tracks when I see the color orange.  Flowers along the road in that bright hue can nearly cause me to be in a wreck.  That color is life to me.  It is beauty and energy.  It is love and warmth.  Life is so full of everything and that color helps me to slow down and appreciate how extraordinary it is to be alive.  I am all of these things and more.  I want to radiate "orange" to everyone around me!

-Zita Gustin 

I wake up, breathe deeply, stretch and smile,
Get excited about what adventures might come my way today.
I ride the waves, watch and listen, plunge in,
Come up for air, shake droplets from my hair and smile again.

-Nirvan Hope

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Do things that make you nervous. Go to foreign countries. Volunteer in orphanages. Spend afternoons on a regular basis in nursing homes keeping people company who will not remember you later.

Take chances. Follow your whims. Learn to write your stories. 

When you have learned things from visiting the person in the nursing home who will not remember you later, you can help the rest of us who do not enter that room understand.

You do not have to climb Mt. Everest to be great.

-Teri Hein, teacher, writer and executive director of 826 Seattle

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By the moment-to-moment effort to remember to pay attention to the ordinary.

If I can change the dragging, bothered mood of at least one person everyday, I know I'm living the good life.

Smile, laugh, love, and you'll have a new sense of appreciation for the world.

Expand your imagination.

Do what makes you happy, and make sure you always allow some time to stop and smell the flowers.

-Alyssa Simon

My friend Michael wants to know,

"How do you take yourself seriously wearing those earmuffs?"

I tell him,

"Sweetheart, I never take myself seriously."

-Amanda

In moments when I'm stressed out and emotionally unbalanced, I like going to the National Library.

Not because of the books, but because everything is so quiet and you can feel all that energy from all those written words in books and the minds of the people who are reading at the desks.

After ten minutes of walking around it calms me down and fulfills me in a very special way, then I go out and continue my day.

-Marko

I never thought my life would be extraordinary until last year when I gave birth to a baby girl. Now, each day we spend together I realize that what I have here is an extraordinary responsibility and opportunity to raise this baby into a healthy woman.  She'll model my behavior and that makes me want to be a better person and to be aware of the ripples that I create in my pond. 

It's an awesome thing to watch a child learn to crawl, walk and run. I can't wait to hold her hand every step of the way.

-Alison Brownrigg, momma and entrepreneur

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If I see a bunch of people standing in line, I do not join them without first investigating how long the line stretches, how quickly it moves, and what reward lies at its beginning (or I guess you could say "at its ending," depending on which way you interpret such matters). In other words, I make considered decisions and try not to be swayed by random trends and opinions.

I avoid groupthink.

Oh yeah. And I only buy shoes that I really, really love. I see no point in spending money on things that make me only moderately excited.

-Ella, surfer, wanderer, ponderer

I can do anything I want.

Maybe I can’t scale Mount Everest or run a 5K, but you know, I can do a lot of other things. I can travel.

Truth.

Nature is the truest form of friendship and by immersing myself in it I feel fulfilled. Dancing, playing, praying, chanting, loving, giving and breathing is pretty good medicine too. We are all children of god, so we better start acting like it. I love to live outside of the box and most of the time this means rejection and judgment from the "norm.” But by releasing fear imposed on me by others and surrendering all that does not serve my highest intentions,

I know that I have lived in my bright light of truth.

I live an extraordinary life by looking at each day, person and opportunity that I encounter as a new "teacher" in my life.

I gain knowledge and wisdom from each experience and I believe they guide me on my life journey.

At the end of the each day, I think back and reflect upon what I have learned, and trust in the fact that these things are meant to be learning experiences in my life.

-Jenn Nelson, child educator and artist

I focus on what I have and don't waste time pining for what I don't have. It sounds trite, but I try my best to be the proverbial, "glass half full," kind of chick. At the end of every ordinary day,

I thank God for the absence of drama,

a slow news day, no scary 5 am phone call, my kids tucked in bed safe and well. And I'm learning that gratitude makes everything seem extraordinary.

-Ame Mahler Beanland, co-author of the New York Times Bestseller Nesting: It's a Chick Thing

Visit Ame Beanland's Website

Never get too comfortable.

Every week, do something that scares you a little.  Excites you a little.  Challenges you a little.

Push yourself.  Not off a cliff, but (little by little!) toward your heart’s dream, toward that thing you were put on this planet to do.

-Karen Burns, writer, artist, editor, friend

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If your actions are loving and kind, they are right, no matter the consequences.
God handles my life so much better than I do, and I am constantly amazed at my refusal to let him.
Do what you want but be cautious, what you think you want may end up a horror to you.
Probably what you ARE doing is really what you WANT to do, so try to remember the way back.

I don't consider myself extraordinary. But ahhhhhh, a maverick? Most certainly. 

I could not possibly live any other way.

-Bob Edwards

Think like an individual. Dress like an individual.

live with passion
be yourself always
enjoy the beauty in every moment
listen and read
respect

-Isabel, fashion designer

If I like a particular book  in a bookstore, I gotta smell it first before reading the first page.

Cause new books and magazines just smell very differently,

and you never know how it's gonna smell this one....hmm...I don't know why, but I just gotta open it in the middle and taste the smell first.

-Marko

By not struggling to reach the top of the caterpillar pile, I've found there are ways to fly even higher by following my inner natural voice. My material objects are only borrowed by grace and must remain here, however, the love and spiritual realizations are mine forever.

I cherish a flower, a child's smile, the bounce of a puppy, the unconditional love of a mother, uncontrolled laughter, and the knowingness that we all are like islands--without the water it's clear we are all connected underneath.

I've won knowing we're all One.

How do I live an extraordinary life? I find that the older I get, I'm almost 67, the more I find the extraordinary in the ordinary. I try to live in the present and find beauty and joy in my day-to-day tasks.

My life is simple, yet abundant.

I love to cook healthy nurturing food. I love my home and yard. I love shopping at thrift stores and finding treasures that others give away or overlook. My mostly ordinary days are rich with extraordinary moments.

-Chloe Patton

I try to be myself and support others to do the same. Each of us is a one of a kind miracle of creation. The more we understand our unique gifts, talents and resources and cultivate those, rather than trying to be someone else, the happier we'll be. That means living from the inside out, rather than the outside in. Not easy in this day and age that measures everyone against some standard and evaluates every difference as a disorder or disease!

-MJ Ryan, life and exectutive coach

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I don't borrow dvd movies much, but when I do I always take a movie that I've seen before because I know that only that movie can fulfill me emotionally and give me exactly what I need in that moment.

I guess I'm the only member who does that.

-Marko