Sheri Gaynor - Creative Awakenings: Envisioning the Life of Your Dreams Through Art

CREATIVE
awakenings
Envisioning
the Life of Your
Dreams Through Art

Sheri Gaynor

www.mycraftivity.com

Creative Awakenings Copyright 2009 by Sheri Gaynor. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote a brief passage in review. Published by North Light Books, an imprint of F+W Media, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236. (800) 289-0963. First edition.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gaynor, Sheri,
Creative awakenings: Envisioning the Life of Your
Dreams Through Art / Sheri Gaynor.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60061-115-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
eISBN: 978-1-4403-1564-0
1. Handicraft. 2. Handicraft--Blogs. I. Title.
TT157.G38 2009
615.85156--dc22

2008032302

Editor: Tonia Davenport

Designer: Geoff Raker

Production Coordinator: Greg Nock

Photographers: Tim Grondin, Adam Hand

My Heartfelt Dedication

For my parents Marilyn Itkin Gaynor and Michael Gaynor, for always reminding me I could be whatever I wanted to be when I grew up. To my brother, Adam Gaynor, whose pursuit of the impossible taught me in the most extraordinary of ways, When you believe, dreams do come true.

For my husband, Andrew Chase Putnam, who bestowed his love of the mountains and rivers on this city girl. I believe in my heart that the seeds of this book began with you. You have been my greatest teacher in being my authentic self and becoming a Feisty Female. Trust your gut! are words that continue to inspire me.

For maternal and paternal grandparents, entrepreneurs all, and the ultimate dreamers. You took the road less traveled and stepped into your dreams. My grandfather, Abe Itkin, took many of the vintage photographs you see in this book. I wish my grandparents were alive to see this, but somehow I have a sense they know.

In Memoriam: A Truly Feisty Female,
Anne Putnam Mallinson
19392008

With So Much Gratitude and Love

A big thank-you to the following. My editor, Tonia Davenport, for seeing the possibilities, and believing the timing was right. To my team at North Light Books, your creative vision is extraordinary! A mountain of gratitude to the phenomenal group of artists who contributed to this book. Thank you for believing in me and trusting the process.

To the Putnam clan, I am in awe of the creative energy that lives within each one of you. To the Marsh women, thank you for the years of love and support. To all my women friends, who are too great in numbers to name on this page, I pray you know who you are. I celebrate the years we have spent together traveling this rich and rewarding road of life.

To Cindy Dunn, Laura Kirk and Beth Zukowski, for standing by my side every step of this adventure. Your forthright honesty and brilliant words of wisdom were invaluable during the writing of this book. To my SWIRL Sisters: You are an inspiration to me, my lifeline to laughter, good food andoh yesa bit of writing too! Its my turn to cheer you on from the sidelines. To Dream Riders: Your dreams are as sacred as my own. An extra special hug to Barbe C. for the weekend retreat at your yurt, and to Toni Grenko and Linda Drake for your constant love and sisterhood! To Carol Lloyd who gave me wings to fly all those years ago. Your generosity is not forgotten and is simply extraordinary!

To my clients and students who have taught me so much. Without you this book may never have been born. Thank you for co-creating with meI am honored and blessed to have been witness to your many journeys.

To my beloved, free-spirited creative community at the base of Mount Sopris. This is a place where we make our dreams happen. I am grateful every day to be in our amazing community. Keep on rocking Bonedale!

And last, but of course not least, to each of you who will read this book, thank you for joining me. May the process plant a seed in your heart and soul. As I tell my clients and students, Never give up your dreams. Dance your fear and imagine the possibilities!

Contents

GEARING UP
(Supplies for the Journey)

The Adventure Begins
Fate Might Lend a Hand

Awakening: 1. a moment in which clarity or insight is gained.

I offer you this story, the origins of finding my authentic self and of knowing I could no longer play it safe. I share with you the seeds of this book and the adventure of my life. It was 2001, and I was adrift; my inner compass was broken. I was going through an early midlife crisis of sorts. My career path had not been a linear one. There was not going to be a thirty-years-of-service gold watch for this woman. In the realm of life callings, it always seemed like there was one more magnificent opportunity just over the horizon. I had no regrets about any of the choices I had made in my life, as out of each of them, a challenge or opportunity grew. But I was the most disillusioned I had been in a long time.

I had already experienced several career incarnations: photojournalist, rubber-stamp mail-order artist and T-shirt designer. Alongside each of these was an ever-steady paycheck received from work as a psychotherapist. It was the psychotherapy career that was weighing on me at the time, and although I had tried to bring the arts, as a healing element, into my work with clients in mental health settings, I was yearning to create the practice I had always imagined. I was out of alignment with my values and true beliefs about how to help people. My work was beginning to feel like an old itchy skin that no longer fit.

The problem was that every time I attempted to shed that old skin or think about what might be next, what I refer to as the Venomous Toad Committee would croak up its fears and what-ifs. To keep me towing the line, the committee would round me up and lead me to the edge of the cliff for a view of the BIG BLACK BOTTOMLESS VOID land of the unknown. Inevitably, I would run screaming from the edge, back to the safe career with benefits.

As a life and creativity coach, I believe there comes a moment in our lives when we have to ask the age-old, yet important question, Am I truly living the life I have always imagined? Or to paraphrase the poet Mary Oliver, If I could put fear and doubt aside, what would I really want to do with this one precious life? What if I followed my heart, not my head? One daywithout really knowing it was on the waythat moment came for me.