Starting To Feel Like I Am Getting Plan Together

I keep thinking about what it is that I want to do with my life and what direction I want to take my career.  I keep going back to something creative.  Yes, I love the idea of nutrition also, but I think my real love and passion is in the creative arts field.  I have been doing some research and I think there are definitely creative arts areas that I enjoy that can be considered therapeutic.  I am thinking doll making, quilt making, card making and collage are all therapeutic areas that I enjoy and can actually complete and maybe even teach.  I am not a painter, sculptor, or other fine artist.  I have been concerned with wether or not I can actually be an art therapist since I am not a fine artist.  After spending some time research, I am feeling much more positive about using my love of creativity as a therapeutic tool.

I am continuing my research on art therapy and doll making, art therapy and collage, and art therapy and quilt making.  I have found some interesting ideas and reasons why creating dolls, quilts, and collage is therapeutic.  I was thinking that painting and sculpting along with other fine arts is the only way to do art therapy.  I basically knew that the act of creating in and of itself is therapeutic, but I didn't think that making a quilt, for example, could have a therapeutic influence.  I've seen reference to the cutting of whole cloth into smaller pieces, sewing it back together, creating warmth  and comfort.  Then there is the act of creating a wish doll.  I was searching on YouTube and I found this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieHWyYtTsuQ.  I decided to make a wish doll with my 4 1/2 year old daughter.  Her wish was for a wedding dress.  This is the outcome:

I have also watched this video, but on my phone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJjUcJ_3IIo.  I now want to watch this on the reagular computer and see what else I can learn.  I am also going to do a little more research into collage and see what I can figure out.  I first learned about soul collage in grad school and bought a couple of books on it.  I think it's time to start reading more about it and start putting some of these things into action.

I am feeling a lot more hopeful about having a radiant career.  I am really looking forward to learning more and maybe even putting an actual plan into place!

Amy

Making Life Decisions

As a child, we are often asked what we want to be when we grow up.  Often times, we go through different career choices depending on our interests at the time.  For me, I went between being a paleontologist, a biologist, a teacher, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and finally I ended up with the career as a social worker.  I started out with the BSW and after nine years I returned to school for an accelerated MSW program, receiving my MSW in a year, ten years after I graduated with my BSW.

Throughout the last sixteen years, I have gone between loving and hating my career choice.  Sometimes, even with in a weeks time or even a days time, I have different thoughts about my career choice and the path I'm on.  This summer, I turned forty.  Now, I know that forty is not old, but on some level, it is too old for certain career changes.  I am almost too old to get into the public school system retirement wise.  At least in Massachusetts, you have to work in the school system for 30 years, before you can collect your retirement.  This means, at this point I have to make the decision to work in the schools until I am seventy, and that is if I get a position now.  You can not, again in Massachusetts, collect both public school retirement and Social Security.

When I think about what it is in life that I am passionate about, I know that I am passionate about creating, natural/healthy foods, people, and a natural/healthy lifestyle.  I often try to think about how I can incorporate these passions into my next career move.  I believe that almost anything I decide to do, my social work background will benefit me.

If I really think about it, I think what would make me the happiest, is to be around like minded people.  I would love to be part of a group that focuses on health and wellness from a mind, body, and spirit mentality.  I would love to be able to teach some creative classes and talk about how creativity can benefit a person from all three of those aspects of life.  I would love to talk about nutrition and again how it impacts ones mind, body, and spirit.  I would love to be around others that teach similar ideals.  It would be wonderful to be part of a group that teaches meditation, yoga, art, nutrition, alternative therapies, and learn from them myself.

I'm not exactly sure how I can go about doing this and make money.  I think I will need to go back to school for some more education at some point.  The question is where, what,  and when. I am hoping that through this blog I will find my radiant light and in turn, I can help others find their radiant light.  I want to have a career where my passion is being used and where I want to go to work!

Thinking

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, a lot of thinking about my career and where I want it to go.  I have prayed.  I have asked the universe to help me.  I have even tried to follow "The Secret" ways of getting what you want in like (or at least as I remember how to follow it).  I have spent time asking God and the universe for signs to guide me in the right direction.  I have literally said, out loud, what it is that I want out of my career.  I am starting to wonder if I am getting signs and starting to see them, but dear is getting in my way.  Being fearful, is not how to life a radiant life!

I was watching an episode of "Chopped", on the Food Channel, one night and I remember hearing one of the chefs talking about deciding to become a chef.  He basically said, he knew that he wanted to be a chef when cooking was all that he thought about.  That really resonated with me.  Here I am trying to figure out where to take my career, and here is this guy talking about choosing a career based on thinking about an area all the time.  What is it that I think about all the time?

I constantly think about creating all the time.  I really believe that I would be happy in a career in the craft industry, but I don't think I could make money at it.  I have said, out loud, that I would love to be an art teacher in our town's public school system.  I would love to use creative crafts to teach kids different things.  I'm not exactly sure how or what I would teach, but I would love to have the opportunity to work with the art department and other teachers, such as history and math, to create lesson plans.  Of course, I would be happy to do this in any school system, but it would be perfect for it to be in my town and it would be perfect if part of my benefit package included full day preschool and full day kindergarten.

I have also thought that it would be fun to work with Create Artisan Studios, a friend's creative studio, to teach classes.  She has asked me to teach some classes, but my fear of being in front of people and my fear of failure is holding me back.  I really want to do that.  I would love to do that a couple of nights a week instead of working in a nursing home. I don't want to be afraid to follow my dreams and passions.  I feel like this may be the opportunity and one of the signs that I asked for.  How do I take it?  What if I fail?  What if no one is interested?

I have started a pinterest folder to set aside ideas for potential classes.  What would I like to teach?  I can see a basic knitting class, a basic quilting class, a english paper piecing class, jewelry classes, rubber stamping, scrapbooking, journaling, and maybe some embroidery.  It is still in the fore front of my mind, and I am continuing to try to get over my fears.

One of my friends mentioned that I should read "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron.  I have "The Creative Life" and "The Right To Write" by that author, and have looked at "The Artist's Way".  Maybe it's time I actually get the book as well as the workbook and read it.  I should see if the library has it before I spend the money on the book.

I honestly believe, if I can figure out how to make money being creative, I will be happy to work.  I guess my newest idea is trying to actually figure out how to make money being creative, and maybe being a social work very, very per diem.  That will be living a radiant life for me!

How do you live a radiant life?

Amy

Welcome!

Welcome to my newest blog. I had a really hard time deciding to start a new blog. I have been contemplating what I want to do with the rest of my life. I've come to the conclusion that I no longer want to be a traditional social worker. I've felt this way for a long time, but its been really hard trying to decide what I want to actually do. I think I may have figured it out!

As one of my friends put it, "is there anything calling out to you?"  I've been trying to figure out the answer to that question for a long time. There have been lots of things calling out to me, but how can I incorporate them all?  Well, I may have found a way. 

I'm thinking that I need to teach people how to live a radiant life. What, exactly does that mean?  Honestly, I think I'm still trying to figure it all out, but for me, I believe it means allowing the light in your heart and soul to shine!

I believe that through different alternative modalities such as nutrition, creativity, journaling, mind/body work, as well as others, you can get that light that may just be the tiniest glow or it may even have lost its glow, to shine brightly again. I believe that creativity in any form brings out some good and positive in us. I believe that good nutrition, not the standard American diet, impacts us mind, body,and soul. I believe that you need to figure out what feeds that light that shines within each of us and feed it so that it continues to glow brightly. 

I am hoping that I can share on this blog, the things that I learn about feeding ones mind, body, and spirit. In time, I'm hoping that I can learn enough to actually make this my career path and not have to live the rat race of the medical model of social work. 

Wish me luck on my journey and I hope you all decide to follow along and experience your own journey to a more radiant life!