With Complete Gratitude...

I believe everyone is an artist.  Everyone.  I believe we all are born creative.  All of us.  I believe each of us has a unique set of gifts and talents, with an imagination that needs to be discovered, explored and nurtured, and an individuality that makes us US, and a connection that makes us ONE.  I believe we all have the ability to inspire.

For nearly 10 years I have worked at an art studio that strives to nurture the creativity in children and their families.  This special place has been provided free as a public service and creative gift to our community by one of the largest greeting card companies in the world for close to 40 years.

I started working there full-time and eventually reduced my hours to part-time to pursue teaching yoga and my deep desire to make art with yarn and felt.  For the last year I've only worked one day a week so that I could not only grow my creativity and holistic life-coaching career, but also to stay-at-home with my sweet boy.

This past Friday marked my last weekday.  (I can't seem to step away completely - I'll be going back just one Saturday a month after my maternity leave.)  But I've made the decision to keep both my boys out of daycare to stay-at-home and work-from-home on the things I love most.  

This job has been really good to me.  It's where I met the love of my life.

It's where I learned to knit.

It has been the stepping stone that I needed to make my dreams a reality.  

And on my last day something really cool happened.  The day itself was pretty uneventful.  I worked as usual, had a quiet lunch, said good-bye to a few friends, and then towards the end of the day I check my mailbox one last time.  

I found a letter from someone I've never met and I have no idea why the letter was addressed to me.  The man who wrote the letter shared that 25 years ago he remembered visiting this art studio as a child and he reflected on how it was such a joyful experience for him, one that let his creativity run wild and free.  

He goes on to say, "I write to you with gratitude from the child of my youth, the child within, and the grateful adult I have become for the special impact this [art studio] has had on my life.  ...I also write to you as part of a lifelong dream of mine that has been of great importance and value in my life as of late due to a recent diagnosis of colon cancer for which I anticipate a successful recovery.  It has, I admit, been a lifelong dream of mine to write a book as a tribute to those special to me. The idea came to me in the last year to honor these special to me with their thoughts of gratitude and personal legacies in a book for others to learn about, be inspired by, and appreciate these people.  ...more importantly I hope to have this collection of inspiration available for my loved ones to reinforce their gratitude and inspire them in the event that I may one day not be around...

I would be honored to know your thoughts on the following questions:

1) What are you grateful for?

2) What gratitude do you hope others will have for you?  That is, what legacy do you hope to leave for others?"

He ends the letter by saying, "I wish you all the best in the realization of your dreams and the realization of the dreams of those special to you."

Whoa.

Is that not amazing?

And to receive this letter on my last day, where I'm taking bold, big steps to continue manifesting my own personal dreams?

So I ask you today to please take some time to reflect on these two questions and if you are so willing, I would love for you to share with me here.  I haven't yet answered the questions myself.  And I promise to share when I do.  What I can say is I'm completely grateful to the universe for bringing this letter my way.  

So thank you, Mr. Letter Writer, for posing such thoughtful and positive questions for us all to reflect on.  You are an inspiration.

Your Personal Reflection:  What are you grateful for?  What gratitude do you hope others will have for you?  That is, what legacy do you hope to leave for others?

Being Me is All I Know

(Photos courtesy of Chris Duh.)

Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul. -Plato

This is my brother, Jeff.  He is a very talented musician.  When I took piano lessons growing up I'd practice for hours trying to play a piece of Bach, then I'd step away from the piano and a few seconds later would hear my brother playing the same song - by ear!  Ooh...that was so frustrating.

When he got his first guitar we could name any song, usually Nirvana or Tori Amos, and it didn't take long before he sounded them out and played us the songs in their entirety.  This is talent that you are just born with - yet one that needs to be practiced and focused on to manifest and grow.  Luckily, he has done that over the years and has become a wonderful singer/songwriter. 

My frustrations of his innate musical talent subsided years ago!  In fact, I couldn't be more proud and excited for him.  For the first time, we have "collaborated" on a piece of music.  I have to admit that I didn't do much, but I did hand over a few of the lyrics and then Jeff created (wrote, sang, played, and produced) a beautiful, inspirational, just-makes-you-feel-good kind of song.

Go stop by his website and listen to Be Free.  This is the theme song for my e-course, Inside Out: A Creative Adventure of Self-Discovery.  I feel so incredibly honored, excited, OVER-JOYED, that my brother put his heart into a song that means so much to me, too.  (We're also making a music video together!)

Years ago when I was feeling sad and confused I heard an inspirational yoga teacher say, "Don't die with your music still inside you."  Whoa.  That statement hit me right over the head.  I felt like my talents, my passions, my true nature, my authentic way of being, my music, were all trapped inside - I was keeping them hidden - as fear and self-doubt consumed me.  

But never again, will I keep my music inside, and hopefully that goes for you, too!  And this is why I created Inside Out, to share, to connect, and to grow with other beautiful people in search of setting their inner music free.  Because how sad for any of us to let even one more day go by without creating and FULLY LIVING a life we LOVE.

Which leads me to the winner of my Inside Out e-course give-away...

Congratulations to...Amy with Girl's Life blog!

For those of you who still want to become an Inside Out explorer, I'll be offering one more give-away this fall and will open registration towards the end of the year for the January, 2011 session.  Join my Free Spirit Knits Facebook Fan Page to be the first to learn the details.  (Thanks to each of you for your thoughtful comments.)

Now everyone, get over to Jeff's site, turn up the volume and get your dance on!

Your Personal Reflection:  Are you letting your inner music - your most authentic YOU - out to dance, play, breathe, and be?  

Open your heart and your soul will follow. -Jeff Kinney