Category Archives: relationships

Social Entrepreneurs

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“Being successful and fulfilling your life’s purpose are not at all the same thing…” ~ Rick Warren

There is an NGO that All Things Fulfilling has been following for a few years called the BOMA project: Prosperity with Dignity. The BOMA Project has lifted North Kenyan women out of poverty by giving them entrepreneurial skills so they can help them selves. If you missed our previous blogs about the mission of this organization, please visit these links.

The founder of the BOMA Project, Kathleen Colson of Dorset, Vermont has been selected as a Rainer Arnhold Fellow. This prestigious fellowship is awarded yearly and it “is offered to 16-20 social entrepreneurs around the world who have promising solutions to the biggest problems that face developing nations.” 

Kathleen Colson1Colson’s vision and spirit, along with the partnerships she has fostered has lead to educational opportunity, advocacy, economic empowerment, leadership and training for women in a part of the world where poverty is widespread.

Today, I would simply like to say Congratulations to Colson and her “team” of people who have been so successful in lifting up 28,000 women and children out of extreme poverty by helping to launch 1380 micro-enterprises in Northern Kenya. The income and savings from the businesses are used to support 23,340 children and 4,668 adults. This group is just one of many NGO’s that have had fulfilling results in helping people in impoverished countries.

To learn more about the BOMA Project’s mission and accomplishments, there are several You Tube videos on the Boma Project Channel. http://bit.ly/1cvIz2d . Check them out.

In the future, I would like to highlight social entrepreneurship here in America on All Things Fulfilling. Please send me suggestions of undiscovered, worthy candidates who have done much to empower women in the U.S.A.  but have not yet reached celebrity spotlight status.

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Spirited Women

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“To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.” 

-Helen Keller

I like being in the presence of spirited women. I guess it’s a result of my upbringing. My mother says “she has been a tomboy all her life. If she wanted to be with my father, she had no choice but to learn how to fish, pilot a boat, be a carpenter’s assistant and do the things he liked to do or be left behind in the dust.” Friends as children, now married 65 years, I guess the relationship has worked out alright.  She does know how to dress, and act the lady. She’s also led a “cultured life.”

I’ve recently come across some really fun blogs and books, for and about women, who like the outdoor life. Today, I’d like to share them on All Things Fulfilling in hopes that they will be interesting for our female readers to know about.

As write to you from Steamboat Springs. Colorado and a few days after I had drafted this blog, I came across the books Glamping with Mary Jane and Sisters on the Fly at the new retail store Remember Me, here in town. It is a fun store, with a lot of spirit, stop by and visit it!

sisters on the fly

This is your life, so, whatever moves your spirit, pursue it!

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.Click for info & ordering
 Do return tomorrow to the space where independent thoughts, words, and views are all part of the business.

Bicycles and Freedom

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“The less routine, the more life.” ~ Amos Bronson Alcott

This summer I began switching up my exercise routine alternating from walking everyday to sometimes biking. I haven’t had a bicycle in many years but thanks to my mother, I inherited hers, when she got a new one. At eighty plus years of age, she is still biking three or four days a week. That’s the way to keep on movin’! Most women in the generation before hers took to their rocking chairs at age 60, and now women are staying active well into their 70s, 80s and even at 90.

Its been a while since I have been on a bicycle, and I had forgotten the exhilaration that comes with using that mode of transportation. It is a very fulfilling feeling to be able to cover more ground, than on foot, in a short amount of time.

There are benefits to getting out of a rut, and doing something different. Choosing a unique vacation spot, driving roads less traveled, dressing in something new and stylistically different, eating foods that have never been tried before are just a few things we can do to add spice to our lives.

wheels of changeThere is a book by Sue Macy, a sports historian, called Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires along the Way) which explores how the bike had social impact on women allowing them to become more independent. Women’s infatuation with biking began as far back as the 1890s, and it started a slow evolution in fashion – moving away from Victorian couture. Bloomers, split skirts, and less voluminous dresses began making their entrance onto the fashion scene, which made biking easier for women and more convenient. Click for more info & ordering

Women’s activist Susan B Anthony once said of biking “I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” Anthony’s independent thoughts remind me that I have freedom of choice. The same old story in my life needs to be replaced every once in a while with new narratives.

“I love biking in scenic Steamboat Springs, Colorado.”

Gift of A Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected is an story that has been waiting to be told for many years. It is now available! Click for info & orderingAll Things Fulfilling is  brought to you by www.cornerstonefulfillmentservice.com. Where independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business.

Meeting Needs, Circuitously

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“I’m conscious of a series of circles working its way through my life.” ~ Ben Okri

Circle-Of-Life-(Small)

Image above: Artist Nathalie Parenteau

There has been a certain synchronicity lately on All Things Fulfilling around the theme of building things – building stone walls and memorials, building a beautiful home and family, building business through our passions, building meaningful relationships between people and community.

If you read yesterday’s blog called “Riding the Circuit,” there was a bit of self-deprecating humor over searching for answers to what the term “circuit rider” means. Here is a continuation of my story.

As a first time visitor, I opened the red doors to the tiny UnitedMethodistChurch on TaylorsIsland with quiet trepidation, and with much curiosity about what this “circuit rider” my mother spoke of might look like. I imagined someone in the pews would be wearing a cowboy hat, since that is what I had grown accustomed to seeing on Sunday mornings as I entered the UMC in Steamboat, Colorado. From my relatively new Western point of reference, in my mind a circuit rider is a cowboy who rides the rodeo circuit.  

In I entered. I sat in a pew behind a small group of people who turned, smiled warmly and said “Good morning, welcome!” 

“No cowboy hats in this crowd, East coast dress code” I thought. I sat quietly and reverently listening to small town conversation around me. Finally, someone remarked that “the Reverend must be running late.”

“No big deal,” I thought. I was used to people running late, in places where people recreate (in vacation places like shore towns and ski resorts) people have more laid back attitudes, and seem to run on their own time clocks. 

Finally, in the Reverend walked. What I came to find out after the powerful, inspirational sermon he delivered was that the “Rev ” is the “circuit rider” my mother talked about. He goes around fulfilling  the spiritual needs of people at four services, at four different churches on Sunday mornings. That’s why he is called a circuit rider! To read more about this preacher’s life, please visit this article. http://delmarvane.ws/1bqWxTq. This minister has been serving people for almost sixty-six years helping to build one-on-one relationships between people and God, in different communities.

Tomorrow, a shorter blog. I promise! This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

 

 

Riding the Circuit

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red-door3 “Too often students are given answers to remember rather than given problems to solve.” ~ Roger Lewin

“He’s a circuit rider,” my mother declared a few weeks ago when we discussed the pastor who married my niece two years ago.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Good Lord, you don’t know what a circuit rider is?”

“A cowboy who rides bucking bronchos in the rodeo circuit?” I guessed, shrugging my shoulders and feeling rather stupid.

My mother laughed. Oh, she laughed.

“We have one of those on this tiny island. We don’t have a large enough population of people in this community to support a full timer.”

“Well, you still haven’t told me what it is.” I said.

“Go see for yourself, he’ll be up at the white church with red doors on the island on Sunday. People say he’s really good at fulfilling his duties.”

“Which one?” I asked, trying to clarify which church had the red doors and the “circuit rider.” Honestly, I didn’t know any of the three churches on TaylorsIsland on the Chesapeake were still functioning.

“Just go to the church with the open doors at a quarter to twelve, the others may be locked up.” She said quickly, like she was brushing me off. She ran out of the house to do her shopping.

“Or maybe I will just Google to see what a circuit rider is.” I thought. My mother still hadn’t given me a definition.

“Nah, what fun is that? I’ll just go see for myself,” I thought.  My mother had piqued my interest.

“I’ll go in with an open mind.” I thought. But,  a circuit rider at a church? I questioned, as images of rodeo riders came to the forefront.

“Why don’t you go with me?” I asked my mother when she returned from her food shopping.

“Where?” my mother asked.

Our mother-daughter communications were obviously not working well that day.

“To see the circuit rider.” I said yelling to her from the dining room into the kitchen.

“I might, but I see him all the time about the island.” My mother replied.

“Hmmmm……A circuit rider?”

Come on back tomorrow. I will tell you what I found that warmed my heart and how fulfilling  was to learn what a circuit rider is.

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Gift of an Angel

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a life lived There is a blog that I encountered over the weekend that I feel deserves very special attention. I hope you will take the time to visit it because it is filled with beautiful images and a beautiful story. It is written by a mom, who was given a gift from God, and out of her realization of what that gift has meant to her, she has created an inspiring and peaceful space on the world-wide-web. It is a place where people can perhaps come to terms with the challenges that they face in their lives and maybe put things in perspective about finding personal fulfillment.

Laughing with Angels is about finding loveliness in the home and family. Artful living.  ‘Nuff said. I hope you will take the time to visit the site, and please read what inspired the name of the blog, Laughing with Angels. http://bit.ly/13Fc0JI.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. Have a great day, everybody. Please return tomorrow for more of All Things Fulfilling!

Stone Preservation

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“We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them or build with them.” ~ William Arthur Ward

Beautiful stone creations with historical value – things to preserve rather than destroy. Building with stone goes back centuries. Along with our culture’s growing passion for geneology, there has been an increasing interest in the art of preserving stone monuments and markers in America. Even the finest historical markers and structures made of rock, like cathedrals, churches, castles, bridges and roads need attention because their integrity becomes compromised due to land development, weather, neglect, acid rain and vandalism.

Jonathan Appel, is a stone conservator who has been working in graveyards to preserve monuments and markers in Civil War areas, such as in Frederick, Maryland. http://bit.ly/18ApKGI. Finding fulfillment in preserving our country’s history on holy grounds, he trains others to become monument conservators through workshops.

Last weeks blog about the building of rock sculptures for a unique, personal reason left me feeling uplifted, because one man’s efforts became an community building event. stone_sculptor_at_workOut of all the statues, obelisks, monoliths, pillars and plaques that have been created to memorialize the spirit of beings, all over the world,  I hope an overwhelming number of them have been placed to remember positive spirits who have existed on earth.

If you did not read the blog or watch the video about community efforts to support a grieving man and his art, visit this link. It’s an interesting story. Let me know what you think. http://bit.ly/145b3xc

Please return to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow for more independent thoughts, words and views from www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com . Our blog tomorrow is about a special angel and how that angel has inspired a blog that I believe deserves special mention for it’s beauty.

Film Friday: The Way, Way Back

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“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” –Henri Bergson

Coming of Age Stories:
• Protagonist undergoes growth and transformation
• Transitions into adulthood – emotionally, physically, morally
• Presents key ideas and themes that follow throughout the book or film
• Story told through a voice or point of view that affects the story or makes the viewer or reader sympathetic toward characters.
• Opening scene usually sets the stage for the story. Turning points have significance to the conclusions.
• Are honest and moving.

way_way_back_xlg-691x1024There is a recently released film that has been said to contain all of the needed characteristics of good coming of age movies. The Way, Way Back is a top pick for summer movies. This is a story about human relationships in a day and age when  there are few standard definitions of “family.” A brother and sister uprooted by divorce, and displaced to a New England seaside town of the mother’s boyfriend is the basic story. How the siblings handle loss and change, are all part of this coming of age story.Click for info and ordering The Way, Way Back

To read Leonard Maltin’s review of this movie on Indie Wire, please follow this link. http://bit.ly/12HnPeQ . According to Maltin, this is a not to be missed movie. LA Times film critic, Betsy Sharkey, has also given rave reviews to The Way, Way Back.

To see where this movie is making its debut in theatres near you, please follow this link. http://bit.ly/11GxiYU. Brought to you by the same studio that produced Little Miss Sunshine and Juno!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. Happy Film Friday, everyone. Do return to All Things Fulfilling on Monday.

Rock Art a Healing Medium

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Making art is like giving a gift: evidence of your spirit and that you are here.” ~Patty Mitchell

Ok, so it’s not a National news story, but, it is significant to me. The short and long of the narrative goes like this….one man, stricken with grief over the death of his dog decided to make rock art to relieve his pain and sorrow. His creations brought community together, and they joined in the action so many were touched by his story. The artist’s work was then destroyed by someone who didn’t like it.

Bondville VermontDoesn’t quite seem fair, does it? The rock art sculptures, all one hundred or so of them, took delicate balance, patience and vision to build in the middle of a tributary of the WestRiver, in the small town of Bondville at the base of StrattonMountain, where I resided for almost thirty years.  The “stone forest” was not bothering nary a soul, just healing someone who needed it, yet the art was raked over like coals.

Once again, the community is gathering to support the rock artist and to do something about helping him rebuild his life through his art.

Want to learn more about this story of personal fulfillment, spirituality, community and what some see as a grave injustice? Watch this video and tell me whether you think the rock sculptures were offensive. I welcome your comments.

To view the video: http://bit.ly/1axocOu.

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Filmmaking in a Different Era

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If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Collected Works

What do movie mogul George Lucas and Norman Rockwell have in common? They are both visual storytellers, Lucas through film and Rockwell through iconic illustrations of of American people.

Lucas, producer and creator of the “Star Wars” empire, has sold his company, Lucasfilms, to Disney for a reported four billion dollars. As a top art collector, his retirement interests include opening a museum in San Francisco, to share with the public his vast private collection of Rockwell art, N.C. Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish paintings, comic art, along with comic art and children’s book illustrations. http://yhoo.it/1baeepf.  Lucas is also interested in highlighting fashion, the cinematic arts, and digital art in the museum exhibitions to inspire young people and to appeal to a broad spectrum of people in multiple generations.

Steven Spielberg, another huge collector of Rockwell art, also has interests in Lucas’ museum plans. A book, Telling Stories, was published in connection with a 2010 SmithsonianAmericanArt Museum exhibit comprising Spielberg and Lucas’ private collections of Norman Rockwell art. The connection of Norman Rockwell’s depictions of American life and the movies is evident in this book.

Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg is available through Amazon.com. Order this book, and enjoy seeing visual images of the American filmmaking way before the digital age.

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