Category Archives: healing artists

Exploring Painting through Video

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My heart and soul have been surprised over and over again, with every work of art I explore. ~ Kathleen Carrillo 

ThePaintingExperience.com claims that “if you can hold a brush, you can paint.” Fair enough – you may not be able to create a museum quality piece, but there is no reason why anyone who desires it, can’t try it. 

A short video from http://www.thepaintingexperience.com explores the therapeutic value of “dabbling with art” or experimentation with painting. The video makes a powerful statement for seizing the moment and allowing your heart to lead the way through color, shapes and forms put to canvas. To watch the video, please go to this link.  http://bit.ly/VulI01.  

life paint and passionThinking you’d like to try your hand at some kind of art, is a positive first step. Smart people learn to follow their intuition. Art creation, of any kind, provides a wonderful outlet for our translating our emotions and our thoughts into imagery whether it is through music, film, words, dance, theatre, or any other kind of art or craft. 

Not every community, such as the town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, has imaginative businesses like Splatz Canvas and Wine, providing space, instruction and all the art supplies needed, so you can just dabble. An alternative –  in-home art workshops, brought to you digitally, is also useful. Learn more about www.thepaintingexperience.com through their website. 

artistically speakingThanks to artist Sheryl Allen http://smallbizbiglife.com/ for sending me information for today’s blog. Earlier in the week,  she contacted me as a result of a blog posting on All Things Fulfilling about Splatz Canvas and Wine. She’s been on a blog radio show called, Artistically Speaking http://bit.ly/VocrmJ.

Visit us tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling, where sharing independent thoughts, words and views is all part of the business. This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Using a Blog as Vision Board

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“Never mind searching for who you are. Search for the person you aspire to be.” ~Robert Brault

Yesterday I discovered All Things Fulfilling was featured once again on author Mara Purl’s blog. http://bit.ly/11hneiN. Purl had this to say about the content that we post on this site. “Just one glance at Sue’s extensive, multi-faceted, eclectic and intriguing blog will demonstrate she actually practices the fulfillment she talks about.” 

I would agree with Purl’s assessment of this blog; the subject matter is always a little different. I write about what is  in my heart on a daily basis. We all find enjoyment in different things in our lives, so I try use my intuition to steer me in knowing what others might find appealing and interesting in the arts and humanities field. Perhaps All Things Fulfilling could be described as my vision board for committing to and exploring possibilities for creating a lifestyle filled with heart and soul.   I use my emotional energy to help others follow their hearts desires to do what makes them happy in their careers and find personal fulfillment in their personal lives.

Mara Purl’s fictional characters in her Milford-Haven books, are people who have decided to think outside the box and create a life that is uniquely suited to their personalities and interests. I like that, Purl’s characters “sit right with me.”Click for the Milford Haven Novels ink pen with heart

So, I’m going to put Purl’s next (3rd) Milford-Haven novel on my vision board, and I’ll let you know when it is available.

Did you know Mara Purl is now a national best selling author of women’s fiction? Visit us tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Searching for Creative Outlets?

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“Anyone can dabble, but once you’ve made that commitment, your blood has a particular thing in it, and it’s very hard for people to stop you.” ~ Bill Cosby 

Ever thought you’d like to explore painting but never had the gumption or confidence to try it? Or have you hesitated because you don’t want to invest in all the “gear” that comes with it, in case it ends up not really being your thing? No way to know if you will like it, unless you give it a whirl. 

What is becoming a new concept in entertainment, creativity and socializing in other places has now arrived in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Splatz Canvas and Wine is an imaginative business that provides opportunity for people to stop in and dabble. People may not have aspirations of becoming the next Picasso or Monet, but it gives them the chance to have fun with a group of friends exploring a new hobby together. 

paint partySplatz Canvas and Wine provides the instructor, the canvas, paint, easels and all the other art supplies needed to create a painting that is uniquely yours. Organize a girls night out party, birthday parties for children or adults, corporate parties or enjoy a different kind of date night at Splatz. The older set (over 21 years of age) can order up a glass of wine and along with munchies. 

There are millions of people worldwide, who find personal fulfillment in painting and other art either as a hobby or as a career. Splatz Canvas and Wine provides a space to discover what people find so satisfying in creating images to hang on the wall. 

Now you can create, socialize and paint at Splatz Canvas and Wine in the ‘Boat!

Visit us tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling, where sharing independent thoughts, words and views is all part of the business. This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Film Friday: The Great Courses

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Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. ~
John Dewey

great-courses

 Are you a person who has an insatiable thirst for knowledge? A type of brain food is currently on sale until February 15, 2013. The Great Courses ww.ordergreatcourses.com  offers educational DVDs and CDs from top college professors. Available on a full range of subjects, from the arts and humanities to history, religion, math, health and science. At very reasonable costs, you can learn and be inspired in the comfort of your home, office or while you are stuck in traffic. Some of the topics contain as many as 24 half hour lectures, most ranging in price from $19.99 to $69.99, far less than enrolling in classes at a top university or college.

Here is a small sampling of The Great Courses Offered:

  • A History of European Art
  • How to Listen to and Understand Great Music
  • Nutrition Made Clear
  • The New and Old Testaments
  • Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writers Craft
  • The Everyday Guide to Wine
  • Our Night Sky
  • Optimizing Brain Fitness
  • Practicing Mindfulness
  • The Science of Natural Healing
  • What are the Chances: Probability Made Clear
  • Secrets of Mental Math

This is just a small list of courses offered by professors from colleges such as:  University of Iowa, Johns Hopkins University, University of Virginia, GeorgetownUniversity, Northwestern, Colgate, Scripps Center for Integrative Healing, Vanderbilt UniversityDivinitySchool, Yale School of Medicine, The Peabody Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

It is important, at every age, to continue to grow for a fulfilling life. Seek new knowledge; become a life-long learner.  Baby boomers will enjoy keeping their minds active through the topics offered.  Search for brain food that suits your individual taste. Click for DVDs of The Great Courses

Visit us on Monday, on All Things Fulfilling,  where sharing independent thoughts, words and views is all part of the business. This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Steps to Extending Life

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“Only difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is the way you use them.” ~Unknown 

looking up cover_Cynthia Olsen’s book, “Looking Up: Seven Steps for a Healthy & Youthful Midlife and Beyond is part resource and part personal testimony. It very effectively tells a story of someone who recognized at a young age, the importance of the mind-body-spirit connection. The insights she shares about her ancestors health gives the reader motivation to know that we need not be inheritors of poor eating habits, and diseased bodies and spirits. We are in charge of our own experience. 

“Looking Up: Seven Steps for a Healthy & Youthful Midlife and Beyond is an IPPY Gold Medal award-winning book. The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) has recognized the book for excellence in independent publishing. This book is not the first book Kali Press has published for Olsen. Here is a list of her other publications, all health related: 

  • Australian Tea Tree Oil Guide (lst ed)
  • Australian Tea Tree Oil Guide (2nd ed)
  • Australian Tea Tree Handbook: 101 Ways to Use Australian Tea Tree Oil (1st ed)
  • Australian Tea Tree Handbook: 101 Ways to Use Australian Tea Tree Oil(2nd ed)
  • Essiac: A Native Herbal Cancer Remedy (2nd ed) – 1997 IPPY Gold Medal Award Winning Book.
  • Birth of the Blue: Australian Blue Cypress Oil 

For more information on Kali Press’ books and other products, please visit www.kalipress.com.  Olsen’s publications are available at the following libraries and bookstores:  

  • Walgreens- Steamboat Springs, CO
  • Off The Beaten Path- Steamboat Springs, CO
  • Bud Werner Memorial Library- Steamboat Springs, CO
  • Boulder Bookstore, Boulder, CO
  • Wilkenson Public Library- Telluride, CO
  • Between the Covers Book Store- Telluride, CO
  • The Book Worm- Edwards, CO
  • Eagle County Libraries, Eagle and Avon, CO 

picture of cynthia olsen belliniThis book is highly recommended for anyone who is seeking change and improving their habits for a fulfilling life at any age. There is some great advice, especially for Baby Boomers in this publication.

 (Photo: Author Cynthia Olsen)

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Connected Through a Gesture

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Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end. ~Scott Adams

It’s hard to find good news on TV. The other day, I was getting more disturbed by the moment, as I flipped through the TV news channels. Everything I heard was negative and upsetting. I subject myself to that, as little as possible.

Finally, I flipped to Fox News and just happened to catch the story of Laura Schroff & Maurice Mazyck. Have you heard their beautiful story? It is about the power of one person to change the life of another. Although, if you listen to interviews of these two people, whose lives came together many years ago, this is, by no means, a one-sided story.

The tale is about trust, family, hunger, need, rebuilding lives, compassion. One person’s stepping out to help another is now helping to drive the fulfillment of other’s needs throughout the country, through the publishing of this inspirational true to life story. Click here for info and ordering An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny.

Proceeds from this book are being donated to No Kid Hungry, a non-profit organization. http://bit.ly/Wmsej9.

an invisible threadThe story, The Invisible Thread, has become a NY Times Best Selling book. It would make for an outstanding book to film adaptation. I hope it is in the works!

Rather than tell you more, please take the time to visit this website. Be prepared! It will deeply move you, but in a way that is very different than most news stories. http://www.aninvisiblethread.com/

Look forward to visiting with you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling –  where sharing independent thoughts, words and views is all part of the business; I hope you’ll join us. This blog brought to you from www.cornerstonefulfillmentservice.com.

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Spreading the Joy in Indie Publishing

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“Joy isn’t in things, money or positions. It is IN us. And we need to bring it with us and SHARE it!” ~ Unknown 

Day Two of 2013!  My resolution this year is to do something a little different each month, to promote our growing population of independent publishers here in Routt County, Colorado. 

snowboarding tricksWhy? Because I believe greatly in each one of our We Write Steamboat, independent publishers. They are a creative and well-educated group of people, male and female. Many of them are award-winning authors with award-winning books! Each of them is a healer of mind, body and spirit! They have career knowledge in all sorts of fields. Our members include teachers, physicians, life consultants,a chef, holistic health consultants, experts on our natural environment,  just to name a few. All with valuable experience in life to write about. Our group also includes young people and retirees who like to spin yarns just for the fun of it! (Of course, they don’t object to selling their books, also!) 

In my opinion, all writers are helpers and healers of mind, body and spirit! After all, we publish books to educate, inspire others, entertain,and inform readers. Could there be better reasons? I don’t think so. In fact, writing is as therapeutic for the author as well as the reader. It gives us a way to share our thoughts, emotions, experiences and our imaginations. http://bit.ly/ZSk0Yc.

A networking group of independent publishers, She Writes Steamboat, that I began almost two years ago, has grown, and as of January 1, 2013 we have changed our name to We Write Steamboat. From the very first meeting, we have had male writers attend, and we don’t want them to feel slighted! We’ve welcomed them and have been delighted to have them part of the group from our inception.

We, independent publishers here in Ski Town, USA and Routt County, Colorado, come together and meet monthly. In a nutshell, because producing independent books, films and music is a win-win for the artist creating the work as well as for the audience who so enjoys it! Our mission is to provide networking opportunity and to promote success of independent publishing. Our affiliation with the Colorado Independent Publishers Association www.cipabooks.com , also fosters our growth as award-winning writers and publishers.  

If you wish to learn more about starting up an independent publishing networking group in your area, contact me through this blog.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com, a company specializing in e-commerce and e-marketing for independent publishers!

Cheers! Moving Forward

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“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” –Jim Rohn

Ring in a New Year tomorrow! Acknowledge and forgive the past, accept and bless the new.

Did you ever consider the two things that we can not change are our genetic predispositions and our family lineage?  But, we do not need to be limited by either. Although we may not be able to do anything about the fact that we are related to eccentric Aunt Mabel or the way we are engineered to age, our attitudes toward both can be altered. We can limit our exposure to Aunt Mabel if her attitudes or lifestyle rub us the wrong way or we can make resolutions and act on changing our habits, so that our bodies can better cope with the hand we were dealt genetically. That’s good news.

Taking responsibility for our choices is the first step toward changing what we do not like in our lives. The first of every year is the best time to do some personal house cleaning of our environments – physically, emotionally, environmentally and in our relationships. A New Year provides us with the opportunity to get rid of the things that have gotten us stuck. Start anew.

51yt7mbRA-L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_[1]Conspiracy for Greatness: Mastery for Love Within, a book about personal fulfillment, addresses how our lives change when we take responsibility for ourselves, our actions and decisions.Click for info & ordering

Looking inward, fully committing to the thought that the past need not determine our present and future, is a start to personal change. To read an article by Behnam Bakhshandeh, the author of this book, please follow this link. http://bit.ly/UeGg6B.

Kudos to you on this New Years Eve, if you have decided that 2013 will be the year you are going to eliminate, from your life, what has been holding you back from moving ahead in a positive direction.

Happy New You! Happy New Year! Cheers!

Happy-New-Year-Images1

 All the Best in 2013 from www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com

Spinning Yarns

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“The key to a healthy society is a thriving community of storytellers.” ~ Franco Sacchi

Yesterday our blog was about New Year’s resolutions, and the need for Americans to add PLAY MORE to their list of priorities for 2013. “Play more” means something different to everyone, depending on our own interests and hobbies.

growingbookLast fall I enrolled in a creative writing course, just for the fun of it. I enjoyed it immensely; it was enlightening. As a result of the class, I feel as if my brain has been fertilized and my garden pot of memories has sprouted and grown. I have thoughts that would be rewarding to share with others, in a way that never occurred to me before. Funny, how that has happened.

I made a decision for myself this morning.  Creative Writing II has been added to my “to do” list this winter. I have an independent publishing project I’m pondering; I wish to work through it, with the guidance of a skilled writing professor.

Finding inspiration is not always easy, but, researchers say that the more we create, our minds become more open and receptive to invention, ingenuity and artistry. I suppose this explains why “mad scientists” who come up with one great idea to patent, often go on to explore and invent other key concepts to copyright. Authors, after writing one book, often find the motivation to continue, and write a second.

 Imagination How Creativity WorksImagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer addresses how many factors in our lives  nurture creativity.Click for more info & ordering

There is an interesting review in Psychology Today magazine that both questions and validates what Lehrer says in his book. To read the article, please visit this link. http://bit.ly/W7A4xh.

There is also a good article for writers and artists on how to stay inspired. http://bit.ly/YlZKaS.  Many people who live long, fulfilling lives attribute satisfying lives to the fact that they never stop growing and learning. Is there something you have always wanted do but haven’t dared to? Perhaps 2013 should be the year to pursue it.

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected

Knitting Happiness

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“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your actions.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV 

countdown-from-year-toHave you made your New Year resolutions? Many of us share the same goals for 2013. I’ll bet at least one of your priorities is on this list of top New Years Resolutions, since the same issues hold concern for many Americans.  Many people have these changes in lifestyle on their list for this upcoming year.

  • Loose weight
  • Get a better job
  • Get Fit
  • Drink less alcohol
  • Take a trip
  • Get a better education
  • Manage Stress
  • Quit Smoking
  • Recycle, Reuse and stop waste
  • Volunteer
  • Save more money 

Notice that PLAY MORE is missing from the list of American’s top New Year’s resolutions. Why is that? Because Americans tend to over eat, over extend their budgets, over drink and they spend a lot of time trying to get their lives in order  and rebuilding their lives after abusing themselves. Sad, but true.

A few weeks ago, I saw a show about Spain, It is touted as one of the top countries for happy people. Why? The work day comes with a two hour lunch break and people in Spain get 30 days vacation from their jobs every year. The lifestyle in Spain provides more time to PLAY, which provides personal fulfillment in their lives!  Want to learn more about Spain’s population of happy people? http://onforb.es/VbOugN

cafe_linkI contend that if Americans spent more time at play, some issues would take care of themselves. There would be a reduction in stress, people would spend less time over eating and drinking because they would find personal fulfillment in other ways – doing what ever it takes to make their hearts zing. 

How about you? What one thing will you add to your play list in 2013? I am going to add knitting more to my list again this year. I did not succeed in fulfilling this wish last year because I spent a lot of time writing. Winter is the perfect time to pull out the yarn and knitting needles.

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