I wish I may...

...I wish I might....have the wish I wish tonight. 

As you probably have noticed, I have been writing, posting and talking about the e-course I am taking with Stephanie Levy. It is called Creative Courage. We just finished up our first week and WOW what a thought provoking and productive week it has been. We have had amazing interviews with  Susannah Conway  and Jessica Swift both wildly creative, talented and successful women. I have had the opportunity to meet other like minded artistic souls and we have discussed things like, creative visualization and dream overload. We have done exercises to make us more aware of our dreams and goals and help empower us to vocalize, clarify and solidify them. It is a lot of heart-work, but so rewarding. One of the things Stephanie told us in the very beginning of the course was to actually write our answers out and not to just think them in our heads (haha she must know me!) She said, "Your "homework" is to actually answer these questions. It's easy to read through the exercises and imagine answers, but it truly makes a difference if you take the time to write things down. Writing down your dreams, goals and next steps is the first step to making them come true!"

I definitely think it makes a huge difference to take the time to define your thoughts and visualize your answers. I have been having a wonderful time being thoughtful with my answers and illustrating them as I go along.

On Friday (our last 'lesson' for the week) Stephanie assigned us a weekend project. It was to make a 'wish jar'. She said she got the idea from Keri Smith and thought it would be a great project for this course.

All we had to do, was get or make some sort of container. It could be a jar or a box or any vessel to hold scraps of paper in which we would write down our  wishes/goals/dreams. Of course, we could add to our wish container at any time and it would be something we could revisit at any time to remind us of our wishes/goals/dreams.

I, of course, was super excited to have this lovely reason to make something fun and creative.
And I even have a fun story to share with you as a result...

About two months ago I purchased this really cool jar a thrift shop for $3.00. I love this jar. Here is a pic:

I think it is super cool and I thought I would use it for my 'wish jar'. 
Then, on Friday, I stopped at another thrift shop, a thrift shop all the way across town from me (but it is just down the street from my daughter's apartment...) and here I saw another very cute jar/vase. It was a round glass vase and had cute daisies painted on it. It was only $1.99 but I decided not to get it, well, because I didn't need it and I figured I would use the cool jar I already had. Needless to say, when I arrived home on Friday night and began to gather my materials for my wish jar project, I took all of the candy out of the jar pictured above and set it at my art table. I was thinking about my wishes and how I wanted to make my art and fill my jar and suddenly I knew I COULD NOT USE THIS JAR! It had a lid!! I realized I could not have and did not want my wishes to be contained! I did not want to keep a lid on my dreams! My wishes needed to be able to go out into the Universe! They needed air and flow! I called my daughter immediately and asked her to go to that thrift shop and find that vase and bring it to me on Sunday (she was coming over to get a manicure and do laundry, so I figured it was a fair trade!) So Saturday morning she went and found it (I guided her over the phone) and here it is...
I call it my Wish-Full jar! It is Wonder-Full and I am so Great-Full!
                               

I am happy. Just looking at it makes me feel that all my wishes will come true! Silly? Maybe. But I don't think so! Here is a peek at the 'wish-full stones' I made...

It is a great project and exercise. If you are inclined you should try to make one for yourself...as I placed each stone inside, I held it and read it out loud. I could actually visualize each wish coming true. It was a very gratifying feeling. Thank you Stephanie and the 'team' you have put together for the wonderful inspiration, ideas and motivation. Yay for wishing and dreaming!

xokp

Creative Courage

Well, in a nutshell, I am on another quest. A quest for more knowledge. Knowledge about myself and just general, all around, I-wanna- know-more knowledge. Going back to school at age 41 (and graduating at 45) was great. But there is still so much more I want to know. Of course, I have ulterior motives too. I want to DO something with all of this stuff I am learning. I feel I am at a definite turning point in my life. I finally feel that I have something to offer. I no longer feel like I am an imposter and that at any moment someone may find out I am not really an artist and turn me in to the art police. After all of these years and experiences and education, I am really figuring out what I want to be when I grow up and what truly makes me happy. I am not all the way there yet but I am on the verge. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. I know good times are coming and I know there will be surprises, I get excited when I think about it but it seems like it is still so far away! That's okay though. I am enjoying the anticipation and the process.

I recently signed up to participate in my first e-course. It is called Creative Courage and is being run by the wildly talented Stephanie Levy. I am really excited about this class. when I first heard about it, just the name of the workshop was enough to intrigue me. As many of you may remember, my artist statement had a lot to do with the word 'courage' and that word has held a lot of meaning for me this past year. I intended on getting a tattoo of the word courage on my wrist when i graduated, but so far I have not actually had it inked! Anyway, I do digress! 
The Creative Courage workshop is all about taking your creative business to the next level and working to make these things happen. Just what I need right now. Our first 'exercise' was to do a bit of homework by answering some questions on paper. The first question was, " Why are you here?" Well, I am not sure if the question posed meant, Why are you here? -meaning, here in this workshop or Why are you here? - meaning, here on this planet, living this life. I figured, either way, the answers would pretty much be the same!

More about my Creative Courage endeavors coming soon, for now I will leave you with my answers...

xokp