HOW DO YOU HONOR YOUR PRIORITIES?

And when you do—

Do you ever notice, that your priorities have changed?

WELCOME
to the
PRIORITY BALL!

– Gail Conrad

OPENING:
Hello all you Vanguards & Visionaries, Innovators & Rule-Breakers!

So glad you landed here today!

Here we explore the creative and metaphysical, the link between consciousness and invention, so—let’s break some boundaries, turn things upside down & use the chaos to create in a whole new way!

 And if you haven’t already, subscribe to my podcast. This way I can let you know exactly when the next episode arrives.

You can do it at gailconrad.com. That’s https://gailconrad.com

And now—here we go!

(OPENING continues, with MUSIC:)

Hello and welcome to the Wildscape Podcast, sharing tales of stepping into the unknown to create more art, beauty, and magic in your life. I’m your host, Gail Conrad, and today you’re listening to:

THE PRIORITY BALL!
—

You get an invite. It says:

Arrive at 7.

For a special occasion. A celebration!

You’ll be greeted by everyone there.

Dress code is fluid—wear whatever suits you the best.

You are cordially invited to the PRIORITY BALL!

P.S. You’re also invited to lead a toast.

I study this INVITE.

Can’t say that I’m in the mood for a party, no less a Ball.

But the invite goes on to add:

It’s been so long. Can’t wait to see you!

Its tone is overly cheery. Now I decide—I’m definitely not in the mood.

For I think, celebrate WHAT?

Another friend is critically ill. I feel like laying low. Hardly feels like a moment for celebration.

But the Invite, perhaps intuiting my reaction, insists that it is.

It even argues against excuses I might give like: flying out of town, podcast episode due, I need a tooth pulled, or say—maybe I never liked the story of CINDERELLA…and says NO–these reasons won’t do.

Tell me—what other invite anticipates your objections, for not attending its event?

I feel like I’m in court, and the prosecutor says:

Why didn’t you attend the PRIORITY BALL?

And I have no excuse.

So I say YES, because—I confess—I send this invite to myself.

You see, it’s because of how I feel the other morning, meaning, another devastating world event implodes as I greet the day.

A friend says, “Let’s go out for a drink,” and then as I hesitate adds, “We’re due for a special dinner.”

And my 1^st thought is, and toast to WHAT?

Then it hits me, that there’s one topic, that begs for a toast from us all.

For what happens in times of chaos and confusion, when overnight, life is upended, or feels like a blur of shifting agreements and rules?

When you want to progress, but feel like you go one step forward, then two steps back?

Or when you experience a deeply personal loss and wonder: How do I go on?

Don’t you often go right to what you care about the most?

And when you do, do you ever notice, that your priorities might have changed?

How do you honor your priorities?

So hello everyone—welcome to this episode!

And do hear me out, because—imagine that you too, receive an invite to a PRIORITY BALL.

Perhaps you jump up, go: Yay! Count me in!

But should you, like myself, not be enthusiastic, or initially object, imagine that the INVITE, acting like some kind of perverse, psychic messenger, anticipates your every excuse, so that you too, end up saying YES.

Then, having accepted, you get a follow-up to the invitation.  It simply announces that

YOU’RE GIVING THE BALL!

Okay now—hold on. In case you think: I can’t or I don’t have time, and you’re ready to jump ship again, allow me to offer myself as your complimentary virtual assistant, my official title being- your Party Planner for the Ball!

So I get right to work.  I have a question. It’s your biggest decision to make:

What is your top priority?

In other words—

What you hold dearest?

Care about so deeply, that you’re willing to call people together, acknowledge, honor, and share it with all?

I realize that you might not like this question. You might think, I’m not sure or I have too many priorities—I can’t decide.

Tell you what—see first, what pops up. Your priority could be about work, a relationship, or a new direction or mission.

But most important, know this:
The Director of your Priority Ball is your heart.

Your heart sets the intention. It determines your priority. Then your priority becomes the theme of the Ball.

But—what if your heart’s confused? I know this happens. You might even feel like one priority conflicts with another, like two values are fighting a war.

No worries. As your Virtual Assistant, I offer a litmus test. Try it out. I’ll give it now. Can you notice:

If one priority feels like an old or outdated priority?

Meaning, did it serve you well at one point, but might not truly represent what your heart wants now?

Or—

Does one of your priorities feel like something that you SHOULD have, but—it’s that old word SHOULD. Is it taking over your decision?

This might sound corny, but I like to ask:

HEART, what do you really want?

Take a moment and listen to your heart.

Then next up—more decisions. What do you think?

Will this be an intimate, or a large gathering?

Or, based on your priority, who do you want to invite?

I urge you to stay on track here because—okay, I get that your big burning question is:

It’s a BALL, so what do I wear??

And yeah—I admit—we could spend days on this. Just know, this choice is entirely your own. But perhaps the more critical question is:

What do you bring?

I invite you to bring your most courageous self, because—I now suggest that we jump into your 1^st toast!

And when I say TOAST, I know some of you might prefer to go underground—maybe crawl into a hole.

But remember, this isn’t a solitary celebration. The point is to publicly honor and share.

So in your 1^st toast, think of yourself as the Leader.

You invite your guests to support your priority and your intent. This can be a few words or even a speech.

Imagine—what will your 1^st toast be?

And while you’re thinking, I’ll tell you about one of mine:

(AUDIO OF BELL RING)

A young actor, dressed as a butler, ushers my guests into a candle-lit room.

I’m nineteen, in school, and for a class theater project, I do an event called Dinner at the Mansion.

You could say it’s my first PRIORITY BALL.

I invite about thirty-five guests—aka, my fellow classmates, and I get a mansion, where I create a different environment in each of its rooms.

But the best part of the evening—it comes at the end.

It’s a Silent Dinner, my idea being, that the dinner will be silent, without my specifically having to tell that to my guests.

The room has no table; instead, a long white cloth covered with food, stretches across the floor. The butler rings a bell, then holds up a sign that says:

A TOAST!

Now I rise up. We’re all sitting on cushions, so as the host, I go from sitting cross-legged to standing up on my knees. I too hold up a sign. It says:

TO ART!

And I raise my glass.

My guests follow suit. Silently, and together, we toast TO ART, then attack the food.

For clarity about your priority and what you’ll share for your 1^st toast, I invite you to rewind to your much younger self. Pick an age and imagine:

What would your toast have been then?

Next notice:

How does that feel now? How might your Priority have changed?

And if there’s no change, consider:

What other nuances, other words, might you want to add to your present-day toast?

For while my nineteen-year-old heart says:

Let me be an artist! I toast to ART!

My priority today, has grown more complex. Today, my 1^st toast would include art, but I would add to it, substantially more.

Which leads us to your 2nd TOAST!
Are you ready…? Because –

You already know that the Director of your Ball is your heart. But now I must tell you, that your WILL—your indomitable will, is the Producer of your Ball.

In your 2^nd toast, you use your will to empower and defend. I’ll explain:

I urge that even your 2^nd toast support your priority. Imagine that you’re slow-cooking your vision, heated by your steadfast will and intent.

But-the more you expound on any top Priority, what happens?

The more opportunity there is for someone, even just one lone guest, to question, doubt, or to attack what you intend.

The trick—anticipate this.

How can you further empower your priority in your 2^nd toast?

You might highlight potential objections. Declare why you’re speaking your truth.

For if you don’t defend and uphold your Priority, tell me—who will?

I’ll go now to my 2^nd toast:

I admit, at age nineteen, my 2^nd toast acts a bit different. Maybe because it’s a silent dinner—there’s no audible speech.

We wait until every morsel of food is gone. Now dessert appears, but before any guest can touch it again, a bell rings and the Butler holds up a sign.

It says: A 2nd TOAST.

On cue, waiters circle round, sort of dance, and give out tiny pads and pencils.

Each pad says:
Write a 2^nd Toast—then pass it on to the guest on your right.

Minutes later, I give one further instruction. I raise a sign that says:

Keep passing the Toasts around.

In this case, there’s no public rebuttal. But during this pass-around, a few guests do, inevitably, exchange private messages back & forth. I never find out what they say.

But after desert, the toasts are collected. Days later, all guests receive a note. It says:

Here are the toasts, that we can share.

And I list them all.

I wish that I still had that note with all thirty-five toasts, all different, yet connected to art. But I remember what I wrote on my tiny piece of paper.

My 2nd toast said:

Let me never give up.

Today, I might amend this to:

Let US never give up, and I’d probably develop this theme considerably more.

I mention this because as we mature, so do our priorities. Like us, they tend to grow more complex.

If you have two top priorities, like—taking care of a child, but also pursuing work that you love, consider:

How might both priorities be inclusive—support one another?

How can your Priority Ball and your toasts, honor the complexity of yourself?

Now, do realize—that we haven’t explored the menu, the venue, the entertainment, or other activities that you may want to have at your Ball.

Well—I’m not that sort of virtual assistant—I leave that up to you.

But, there is one key part of the Ball that I haven’t covered.

It comes right at the end.

Let’s call it: The Parting Gift. 

The Parting Gift is a message. You too, receive this exact message once you begin planning your Priority Ball.

Once the Ball is over, the Gift goes into action. To do this, its only request is that you, as host, offer it to all who attended your Ball.

Its message, I’ll share now:

Dear Guest,

It’s been my great honor to host you.

As my parting gift, I offer this follow-up invitation, with instructions for you to create your own Priority Ball.

Rest assured, that lack of funds, nor lack of venue is not an issue.

You can host it just as I have.

PLEASE PASS THIS EPISODE ON!

Thank you.

— 

I’m Gail Conrad, your host of the Wildscape Podcast.

The opening music is by Chip Barrow and as always, I love to hear from you, so if you’d like to contact me directly you can go to gailconrad.com.

That’s
https://gailconrad.com

Thanks so much for listening, and again—do subscribe.

Bye for now.

Why not host your own Priority Ball?