Category Archives: Creativity in business

Radio Spot On! Mark it Down

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Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle.” ~  Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Everyone wants to find long-lasting, meaningful happiness. Right? But, how do we discover or develop that spot in our lives where we find true contentment?

Although we like to paint rosy pictures in our minds of how life should be and what the perfect world would look like, there’s that thing called reality that creeps into the picture and sometimes switches things up.

On May 21st I will be a guest on blog talk radio – Living a Richer Life. Save the date! The theme of the evening will be Finding Your Path to Personal Fulfillment. We will be discussing the journey and the challenges that come with finding that place in your life where a deep sense of harmony exists. Can we ever find it?

I hope you will join in the conversation because listeners will be able to call in with their comments and questions. Here are the details of the broadcast:

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That’s all for today from All Things Fulfilling. I look forward to your return and mine on Monday.

This blog is brought to you by the award-winning author of Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul and Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.

Meet Me at The Movies

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“Healing Art is being born as we speak. The concept is catching fire, is awakening in people’s spirits…Artists, musicians and dancers are realizing their imagery has meaning….that their imagery heals them, others, their neighborhood, or the earth.” ~ Michael Samuels

meet me at the moviesThe Frye Art Museum in Seattle, Washington is partnering with several organizations to bring back classic movies because of their power to connect seniors with memories. The Alzheimer’s Association’s Western and Central Washington Chapter and the University of Washington School of Nursing along with Artists for Alzheimer’s/I’m Still Here Foundation have sponsored Meet Me at the Movies to celebrate film and it’s ability to stir the human emotions. An interesting partnering isn’t it? It speaks to the power of art to heal.

During the great Depression, people flocked to the movies because the entertainment cinema provided gave them relief from every day stresses. The eldest of the eldest of our country’s population, those in their late “renaissance years” remember the Golden Age of Movies and dancing every Saturday night. Alternatively, family and friends sat huddled together in front of the radio engaged in shows that united people and provided diversions to forget the financially difficult times and as ways to uplift their spirits.

Stories through the decades whether by film, book or through audio listening inspire, influence, entertain and change lives.

Do return on Monday. Next week I’ll have a few announcements! Have a great weekend.

This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard. Her publications are available in audio, paperback and e-book format.

Thirsty Thursday: Going Dutch

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“Looking at things through the eyes of people who have very different experiences and assumptions than you do can be like food for the brain,” ~ Tom McBride

I happened upon a story that I like a lot. So, on this Thirsty Thursday, a day of the week dedicated to good news, we are going to visit a story from the Netherlands. It is about a creative living arrangement for the elderly and college students.

In short, there is an eldercare facility in the Netherlands who is letting college students live free so long as they agree to one condition – they must do their part in volunteering 30 hours a month to help the elderly. All sorts of unexpected benefits come out of the arrangement for both parties.

The six college students who have entered into the agreement have found the arrangement to be fulfilling. They like being around the seniors cooking for them, doing projects and teaching them about new things to keep the seniors interested and engaged in life.

Dutch retirement humanitas2

“Perhaps,” I think, “this intergenerational partnering will be a testing ground for the college students who are considering whether a career in eldercare is what they’ll want to put their hearts and soul into in the future.”

The senior citizens benefit because they do not feel so isolated, and it keeps them feeling young having the students around.

Other countries in Europe are beginning to look at this example as a viable option to help out both generations – college students and seniors. Read the entire article.

Senior care is changing in many ways to benefit the mind, body and spirit. Thanks to research on aging, many countries are providing a better quality of life for those in the final years. That’s good news!

See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling. This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.

 

 

Creative Districts Rock

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“Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right or better.” ~John Updike

Yesterday I blogged about the Yampa Valley Choral Society. It is just one of many art organizations that abound in this town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

boettcher_report_thumbnailDid you know Steamboat Springs, Colorado was recently ranked in the Southern Methodist University’s National Center for Arts Research as #14 on the Arts Vibrancy Index?

The town also has the distinction of holding 4th place in the Small Towns to Visit in 2014 in the Smithsonian Magazine. For the small community of 10,000+ people, art and culture is important to part of everyday living yet it does not always get the attention it deserves. There are changes underway which will change all that.

Steamboat Springs has become an incubator as a Colorado Certified “Creative District.” There is an interesting full article in the Steamboat Pilot Newspaper about what it takes to become a creative district and to obtain funding and support for it.

I, like many others, have found the creatively stimulating environment refreshing. Living  life outloud is a term I associate with the people of Steamboat.

How does one “live life out loud?” Here is an interesting article about what that truly means.

earth without art

That is all for now. See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling!

This blog is brought to you by the author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul.

May Day, May Day

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“Each of us has a spark of life inside us, and our highest endeavor ought to be to set off that spark in one another.” – Kenny Ausubel

I’ve got a big responsibility ahead of me for Friday, May 1st. I’ll be speaking with  Junior Girl Scout Troop #12622 about my memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. For a couple of weeks I have been churning ideas over in my mind about how to creatively engage a group of  9 & 10 year olds. After all, it’s been decades since I was a Girl Scout and I want to make sure what I share is engaging, age appropriate and relatable.

I’ve been wrestling with several approaches. Finally, I decided to say “May Day, May Day” and call on two former Girl Scouts, baby boomers just like me, to help me come up with some suggestions. Their spark of an idea has given me something to really build on and I can’t wait to share “One Day in the Life of a Writer” with the youth.

I am so looking forward to connecting with the Girl Scouts and sharing my heart and soul about my passion for writing. Thank you former Girl Scouts, Sharon & Caryn, for your excellent suggestions.

I have three weeks to refine and polish up my act. From now until May 1st ,  I need to remember to:

Keep Calm and Eat Girl Scout CookiesP.S. I hope they are still selling them on Sunday mornings at the United Methodist Church of Steamboat. If not, I have an idea where I can find some – from a lady who says “she has been hording them in her freezer. She said she likes to bring them out on July 4th.”

This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard. Her books include Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul.

Life Through Iris’ Eyes

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Today’s story on Thirsty Thursday is about a woman who has not spent one extra minute of her life worrying what others might think. Enter Iris Apfel – the woman who says “happiness is more important than what you look like.”

Despite her words, she’s garnered plenty of interest in the fashion world over the years – enough for documentary filmmakers to want tell her story.

Enjoy the film trailer I’ve posted. The two minute clip has important messages about life which if we are open to the thoughts,  can be gifts for us all. The film critics call the movie an “exuberant portrait.”

Moral of the story:

Life shrinks or expands

That’s all for today on this Thirsty Thursday! I look forward to your return to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow.  This blog is brought to you by the author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul.

7 Things You Didn’t Know About Me

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As a nominee for the Versatile Blogger Award – there are 7 things I must share with my readers that you may not have known about me:

#1  When I was about 10 or 11 I did something very silly. I put a chicken leg bone in my hair to make me look like Pebbles Flintstone. Yeah, I know – hairbrained idea! But, you know, anything to make my twin sister laugh was double the fun. I hope there were many other things I did to reveal that I was just another “goofy kid” in the family.

Pebbles_Flintstone

 

#2  –  I answer to the call of

“Mommorson!”

That’s what I’ve been called by my son since he was a tween. What a kids’ definition of a mommorson is, I have no idea. But, nevertheless, I am very proud to be his “Mommorson!!”

 #3   I am the world’s worst Clarinet player – other than my twin sister. My father nearly went bankrupt having to buy so many reeds for my musical instrument. And I couldn’t keep it from squeeking.

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#4  Although I have lived high up in the mountains for 44 years. My heart belongs here:

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#5  In college (the early 1970s) I drove my car up the Long Trail (extension of the Appalachian Trail) rather than hiking it. Yeah, well, what can I say. Students get weird ideas that make parents cringe!

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#6     I can walk well on stilts! I had a pair just like these that my Dad made for me.

girl on stilts

 

#7  Back in 1974 (or was it 73?) I caught me a leprechuan.

I have been with him ever since !

leprechaun trap

Now it’s time for me to pass the Versatile Blogger award on to a few more bloggers and they are Sally Edelstein, Renee Rivers and Sarah Ward.

 I follow Sally Edelstein’s blog because I like nostalgia. She writes about things baby boomers appreciate. I enjoy visiting Renee Rivers’ blog because she goes places I have never been before.  I can travel through her via my armchair. I tried following Renee on my stilts but my hands got too calloused.

And lastly Sarah Ward’s blog, Stars and Rainbows, I nominate because I like her ponderings on life and the honesty and openness with which she writes.

This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard and a many would say a “Versatile Blogger!”

 

 

 

 

 

Motivated Independent Publishers

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Thinking of writing your story?

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“Like anything in life when the right time comes along, and when you are fully and completely committed to the project you will find the personal resources like commitment, determination, enthusiasm, confidence and energy within to carry it out. The will to make it happen becomes much greater than your desires to let your dreams go by the wayside.” ~Independent publisher, Sue Batton Leonard

~Sue Batton Leonard, award-winning author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul.

Thirsty Thursday: Versatile Blogger

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Put your blog out into the world and hope that your talent will speak for itself. – Diablo Cody

Regular readers of All Things Fulfilling know that Thirsty Thursday’s focus is on good news. Usually we share stories of others who inspire us but every once in a while, the good news is our own.

versatile-bloggerToday, the good news is that I have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger award. The nomination came from a fellow writer who also has the award behind her and she has passed the torch to myself and few other fellow bloggers by nominating us. That’s pretty cool.

To receive the nomination from Linda Collison is very complimentary because I have been following her writing and blogging for a number of years. I am always inspired by her work and by the creative marketing of her publications. She is a multi-award winning author and a person who lives life admirably and literally with few restraints.

Getting recognition from fellow writers and independent publishers is an honor because it means it you are on track with what you are doing!

Thank you Linda for the nomination. Do return next week to All Things Fulfilling. I will share 7 things with our readers that may not know about me.

The good news is my  common interests with Collison go beyond writing. We are both coincidentally, Baltimore natives who had never met until our lives converged at the Steamboat Springs Writers Group!

This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.

 

O’Keefe in Everyday Life

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“To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.”  ― Georgia O’Keeffe

I’d always been interested in the art of Georgia O’Keefe. Any artist who paints flowers so magnificently, is alright by me!

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, NM. The art was beautiful, as expected but, what I enjoyed seeing, through black and white photos, was the life of this woman outside of her studio. According to a short film I watched and from reading other literature, O’Keefe found much pleasure in simple tasks of daily living. Images of O’Keefe walking her dogs, hanging out the wash, sitting on the roof of her adobe house and cooking outside over an open fire all acquainted me with her on another level.

She painted much more than flowers. She lived, painted and exhibited in New York City. What a surprise! I’d always thought her entire life was spent in New Mexico. After she married Alfred Stieglitz, America’s first advocate of modern art in America, New York is where she and other modern artists began to proliferate. Her summers were spent in Lake George, NY.

From her great success as an artist,  I would never have considered that she was anything but a person who had all she needed right inside of herself from the start. But according to this quote, not so! “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.” ― Georgia O’Keeffe

I love that! And I look forward to reading more about this woman of extreme talent who had traits of self-doubt that each artist struggles with, from time to time, going about the days of fulfilling oneself in the world of art.IMG_20150221_153831_642

Above: Photo of Georgia O’Keefe taking a car ride.

IMG_20150221_154346_188Above: Replication of O’Keefe’s studio inside the Museum. The photo is the view from her studio window in NM. These are her art supplies, with a work in progress on her easel. Her studio and home in Albiquiu is also open for touring.  That has been put on my “For Another Day List.”

Okeefe church

Above: Non-floral O’Keefe painting.

IMG_20150221_155447_610Above:   Black Hollyhawk & Blue Larkspur (middle painting – my favorite in the Museum).

Below: The Georgia O’Keefe Museum Gift Shop has a wonderful selection of books, DVDs, notecards and other products with the “signature” Georgia O’Keefe art licensing trademark.

Georgia Okeefe books

Georgia Okeefe DVDS

See you tomorrow! We will be talking about an art form that I saw in my travels that I had never witnessed live before until my visit to Santa Fe, NM last week. It was thrilling and fun!

This blog is brought to you by the award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.