Are you ready to access greater clarity as you search for new direction?
Does the anxiety of uncertainty keep you up at night?
Our guest, Maggie Oman Shannon, is the author of five books, including her most recent book, Crafting Calm: Projects and Practices for Creativity and Contemplation. Maggie is the founder of A New Story a coaching and consulting business focused on helping people create deeper meaning in their lives. She currently serves as Spiritual Director of Unity Spiritual Center of San Francisco.
Click Here Now to Listen to or Download Maggie’s On Purpose Interview
Gem of Wisdom:
Pay Attention. I believe that God or the Universe, whatever word you are comfortable with, is always speaking to you. Pay attention to what captures your interest, to what you might hear repeated – the Universe is always speaking to us and if we follow those breadcrumbs we will be led to what it is we meant to do with our lives.One Small Step: Visit a Craft or Art Supply Store
Crafting has become a really big business. Visit a store like Michael’s, Beverly’s or Jo-Ann’s Fabric or whatever is in your area, and explore. It’s like a candy store for the crafter. You will most likely find something there that lights you up, delights you. You may not know what you’ll do with it and that’s ok. For instance, I was in a discount store and I saw photo boxes that said, “Imagine Beauty.” I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it, but I got it. I may make a beauty altar, or it may become a special treasure box full of beauty that I go to when I need a lift. It isn’t yet clear to me, and that’s okay. Even if you don’t know what you are going to do with an art supply that calls to you, go ahead and get it, and it will emerge, sooner or later you will know what to create with it.Favorite Quotes from this Interview:
“I was 36 year old single professional living in Indianapolis. I had a successful career as a magazine editor, but I got this inner urge, an inner call that I had to move to San Francisco. This call was so urgent that it really felt like a life or death matter, like I have to move to San Francisco or I’m going to die – it felt that strong.”
“I learned about the concept of a treasure map where you place images and words of a goal or a dream you have on a piece of poster board. Then you really look at it and you envision your dream or goal. So I did that for San Francisco and the largest central image on my board was the Golden Gate Bridge. My Treasure Map was part of my prayer and meditation time. And about four months after making that Treasure Map I was hired for a job at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, which was based in Sausalito, CA which was over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco!”
“I was always interested in art and craft and never considered myself an artist. My experience with my Treasure Map started me on an exploration of using art and crafts as a way of looking at goals, dreams and hopes for my life.”
“Crafting Calm is an evolution of my exploration and experience of experimenting with the practices – the artistic methods – that I researched for my book The Way We Pray.”
“I have never ever seen a time where someone had a creative exploration, with the practices that I write about, and didn’t end up feeling a real sense of fulfillment, gratitude, appreciation for themselves, a new sense of empowerment – and that’s what excites me tremendously.”
“We have been socialized to forget that we are all inherently creative. . . Connecting to our creativity is a place of empowerment from which we can we can go forward and do anything, and certainly living a purposeful life is one of these things.”
“It’s important to underscore that it is about the process, not the product. If we can free ourselves from the idea that the end product has to look a certain way or be something and just immerse ourselves in the process then it will easier dismantle the idea of judgment. If we look at crafts as a form of prayer or meditation then the critic part is more easily pushed to the side because nobody would or should judge your prayer or meditation. So if you look at your artistic process in the same way then you’re really getting to the heart of what this is all about.”
“Don’t let a lack of time prevent you from doing something. You may not have a big uninterrupted chunk of time to work with, then take 5 minutes. If you don’t have time to immerse yourself in a project start with a small step, gather your materials, organize your workspace, go on www.pinterest.com and make a virtual inspiration board, go through a magazine to gather images for a Treasure Map to make later.”
Resources:
- Visit Maggie’s website: www.thenewstory.com
- Join Maggie’s Facebook Community, Crafting as a Spiritual Practice (www.facebook.com/craftingasaspiritualpractice)
- Get a copy of Maggie’s book, Crafting Calm: Projects and Practices for Creativity and Contemplation and view her other five books
- Subscribe to the On Purpose Show podcast: http://bit.ly/PurposePodcast
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