Tag Archives: Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected

Learning from a Protagonist

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What is a protagonist? According to Dictionary.com, a protagonist is the leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or other literary work.

“What characteristics then,” I’ve been asked, “does your protagonist have that makes her a leading character in your two publications, Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul?

I’ll give you a little insight into Fanny,  the very special character in both books. Not only did she bring humor to an entire family,

character in story

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

Thirsty Thursday: Art for Good

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chula beauregardOn this Thirsty Thursday, I will be sharing an interview I had with artist Chula Beauregard regarding her Art for Good Project. The good news  is Chula’s artwork goes to  support a humanitarian concern that she feels very strongly about. Read the interview to learn more about this young artist.

Chula Beauregard: Art for Good Project

 

 

Sue: Chula, back in the fall of 2011, I featured an article on All Things Fulfilling about the influences you have had as a young artist. We talked about your plein air and mural paintings. For those who missed it, here is the link. https://allthingsfulfilling.com/2011/11/08/influences-and-inspiration/.

Today, I’d like to discuss your Art for Good Project. But first, I’d like to ask you about your unique name – Chula. It has me intriqued.  Is it a family name or does it have special meaning?

Chula: It was a nick-name given to me by my Uncle Peter who had recently returned from studying in Mexico. At the time, it meant “sweetie” or “cutie.” My uncle influenced my life in another way when he served in the Peace Corps in the Solomon Islands. Two of his siblings also served: in Liberia then Micronesia, and Venezuela. You could say I come from a Peace Corps family!

Sue: Most of your paintings that I have seen at Wild Horse Gallery  have been beautiful Colorado landscapes. I know from our previous discussion that you particularly enjoy plein air painting over studio painting because of your love of the outdoors.

The images in your Art for Good project have a different kind of focus. For those who have not seen them, can you tell us a little about the art in this project?

Chula: I served in the Peace Corps in Gabon, Central Africa (1998-2000) in the agriculture program, making school gardens and raising rabbits. Along with these projects, I spent two hours every day making art. The images in Art for Good come from my collection of art from those years.

Sue: Why was it important to you to support the mission of this project through your art?

Chula: The stories and images I was seeing from the Ebola crisis really hit a chord in me. It looked so much like my village and the people I knew in Gabon. I imagined my good friends suffering like that, and it inspired me to do something. I thought about the art I had, and I realized that I could create something to raise money to send to the Ebola efforts.

Sue: How can others join you in supporting your Art for Good project?

Chula: One great thing about this project is that people can make a difference and also get something beautiful to share with others or put in their homes. All proceeds from the blank note cards and postcards goes towards the Ebola response. You can buy these cards and also giclee prints on my website www.chulabeauregard.com/art-for-good or at https://chula-beauregard-fine-art.myshopify.com/

Sue: What did you come away with as a Peace Corp volunteer that made the biggest impact on your life?

Chula: It is hard to quantify the impact my time in Gabon had on my life. It essentially helped form who I am today. The sense of gratitude I have for things like running water certainly has an everyday influence. It also helps me see the humanity in people from different cultures. I can imagine their families and their everyday lives.

Sue: I know you are the mother of two young boys. Do you see any artistic interests emerging in either one of them?

Chula: They both know how to be in an art gallery! They certainly have an appreciation for art and beauty in our world. My older son enjoys painting, especially mixing colors. They take after their dad, too, being oriented towards the mechanical and craftsmanship.

Sue: Is there anything that you hope your children will learn from you through your artwork?

Chula: One thing they are learning is that I am not just a mom but a person. I have passions and aspirations in my art career. I am grateful that it is a flexible job, so I can still be there for them. We are all enjoying the life of adventure that goes with landscape painting.

You, too, can help to support the e-bola crisis through the Art for Good project. Visit http://www.chulabeauregard.com/art-for-good/. In February, Chula will be at the Vail Beaver Creek World Cup ski races, painting en plein air. Her art work is also represented by The Cogswell Gallery in Vail, Colorado. Here is the event calendar for the World Cup Ski Races in Colorado. http://vailbeavercreek2015.com/events/#event-calendar. Stop by and say hello to Chula if you are in the area. Or if you are in Steamboat, Chula’s paintings are part of the permanent collection at Wildhorse Gallery in Steamboat. You can see them any time of year! 

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

Consider this: About Creativity

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Wow!  Fact or Fiction? Hmmm… consider it. State your opinion.

creativeadult

 

 

These simple words could bring very deep thoughts. Happy Simple Pleasures Week, everybody. Ponder it, reflect on it and share your ideas with others on this site about this thing we call “creativity.” Post your comment.

This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard. For information on her award-winning memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul, please go to http://www.allthingsfulfilling.com/about-the-book/.

Simple Theme Week

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This week’s theme on All Things Fulfilling is going to be the beauty of simplicity. So, in that vein, blogs will be short, sweet and to the point. Yet I still aim to inspire, entertain, educate or

Inform!

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Inform

As they say at http://www.YouAreNeverAloneFoundation.org

“I Matter…You Matter…Each Person Matters.” ~

 You Are Never Alone Foundation

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

Committing it to Writing

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“So let it be written, so let it be done.” ~ Cecil B DeMille from Ten Commandments

I love blogging on a daily basis. It’s my form of journaling. A crafting of sorts – putting together a blurb with a quotation and an image that helps tell the story.

In this new year, I aim to do something a little different on All Things Fulfilling. Every week I’ll attempt to track down a short story from another source that I feel needs to be shared with others. To my way of thinking, by sharing narratives with “sunny sides” to them, I am making a contribution to “the art of living positively” with our readers around the world.

Can I meet my goal throughout the year? I like to think of myself as an eternal optimist, so I feel that my commitment will be accomplished.

ScarvesHere is the first story of the year that I would like to share with you. It’s about providing warmth to those who need it. http://bit.ly/1AhozMR.

Stay tuned every “Thirsty Thursday.” It will be one day of the week on All Things Fulfilling when your desire for good news will be quenched.

 

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

 

Talking Hurtles and Hoops

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“When faced with a challenge, look for a way, not a way out.” David Weatherford

Today, let’s talk hurtles and hoops as it relates to yesterday’s blog about exploring creative ways of making a living. Only others who have been through it can relate to the kinds of challenges that come with successfully writing and publishing a book in this digital age.

The most fulfilling end result despite all hurtles and hoops, is knowing the sense of accomplishment that comes with reaching the goal of what you’ve been dreaming about.

Today, I’d like to say thank you to my son, Marc, who beside my husband has been my biggest supporter. Every time I questioned myself or got discouraged, he reminded me in his own very soft, kind and compassionate ways that “the only thing to fear is fear itself.” And he has been my tech support person in crucial moments. Best of all, he’s encouraged me many, many times to step beyond my self-imposed boundaries of growing up in the “etch-a-sketch era” to advancing into the “i-pad age”  and to figure things out myself! Talk about a gift in my life.

Ahh…… youth, as Samuel Ullman once said “Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.”

2-piece-mother-son-heart-dangle-charm-beadSomeday maybe we will have a story to tell together. I’ve gotten it started in the award-winning memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul. For more information, please visit http://www.allthingsfulfilling.com/about-the-book/.

P.S. The jewelry is available through http://www.pandora.net.

Creative Economy

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“The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.” ~ Arnold J Toynbee

For the new generation of college graduates, employment and making a living has a very different approach to it. Business is not the same as it was even ten years ago. For many, the traditional 9 to 5 type jobs have deemed to be archaic. Flex-time and working remotely has changed the way many people labor and spend their free hours.

As a growing creative economy takes off, young adults are finding more fulfilling ways of making a living which includes the development of new types of media and communications.

There is a new site called Crux Collective http://www.cruxcollective.com which officially launched last week. It’s “mission is to educate, inspire, and encourage traditional and non-traditional exploration of the outdoors.”

If you are a skier, snowboarder or technie who is interested in the development of equipment used by competitors and to save lives in avalanches, check out this video footage. You’ll be surprised at the new generation of  gear that’s coming to the marketplace for outdoors enthusiasts.http://bit.ly/1xgCJXq

I look forward to following http://www.cruxcollective.com. It brings together a big variety of interesting stories from around the world thanks to the gift of new technologies.

working remotelyThis blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard. Award-winning author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul.

 

Little Things Remembered

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Last fall after I did a book signing in my hometown of Towson, Maryland. My life-long friend, Chris, handed me a handwritten missive that was so meaningful. To get a hand-penned letter in this digital age is something special to begin with. The letter contained her memories of our times spent together as children. I couldn’t believe the little things that she remembered, many were the very same memories I’d retained all those decades since my childhood.

However, there was one event that I didn’t recall at all. Here is what she said:

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“A surprise birthday party I gave YOU?” I questioned Chris after reading her words in the letter. “I don’t remember it!” My sister doesn’t either.

“What!!” said Chris, in amazement. “You’ve got to be kidding! You went to all kinds of extremes to lure me over to your parent’s house that day so you could surprise me!”

“Nope, I have no recollection at all,” I said. Obviously, the surprise birthday meant a lot more to her than it did to me.

people remembering how you made them feelThe point of this blog today is that we never know if an event or person in our lives will take up residence in our hearts and never leave us. S0, try hard to be nice to others because you never know the impact a friendship might have on your life.

This blog is brought to you  by the award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard. For more information on Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul, visit http://www.allthingsfulfilling.com/about-the-book/.

 

 

 

The Warmth of “Heart Bread”

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“God be thanked for books; they make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages.” ~ William Ellery Channing

On Saturday I had a book signing at Come and See Christian Books and Gifts in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. People drifted in and out throughout the day to shop and to speak with me about my award-winning publication Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.

During quiet times, I took the opportunity to browse and become more acquainted with what was in store. In the children’s section I came across a book called “Making Heart-bread.” I thought it was particularly meaningful, and the concept of the tale holds value for both children and adults. It is based on a true story of what helped heal emotional scars of children who were traumatized during the World War II era.

Heart BreadBriefly, a grandmother teaches children the difference between making bread to fill the “tummy” and bread that fills the soul. Making heart-bread she says is very important because it “never runs out.” The recipe has ingredients which nourish us most in times of need. The ingredients are revealed throughout the storyline.

After having read Making Heart-bread I have feelings of warmth inside me knowing I have been given all the fundamentals of heart-bread throughout my lifetime. Heart-bread is that which is made from memories of love and spirituality.

heart-shaped-potholders-1This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard. For information on her two publications Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul , please visit https://allthingsfulfilling.com/about-the-book/

See you on Monday on All Things Fulfilling.

 

Twin Telepathy

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My thoughts are free to go anywhere, but it’s surprising how often they head in your direction. ~Author Unknown

Sue & Jan Mt Werner

A few days before Christmas I filled the teapot with water, set it on the stove to heat, picked up the phone and dialed my sister’s phone number. I turned the burner up to HI just as my sister picked up the receiver on the other end and immediately said “Hello! Hold on a minute will ya, Sue, I want to put my tea kettle on.”

“Yep,” I thought as I waited, “we’ve still got it – that twin telepathy thing.”

When she returned to the phone I said, “What a coincidence. Just this minute I put water on to heat for a cuppa, too.”

Mind you, I am in Colorado and she is in Maryland. Although in two different time zones, we were both ready for a cup of tea at the same exact time.

It often turns out that we call each other simultaneously, both feeling  like we need to have a good long visit.

“I wanted to speak with you before real the holiday confusion sets in. I have been in touch with some blasts from the past.”

“Like who? Who have you been in touch with?” Jan asked, sounding very curious, and as if she had missed out on something.

“Oh some people we knew in high school. I’ve connected through social media.”

I began to name them off. We had a great time recalling the good old days and people neither of us have been in touch with for nearly four decades!

Do you have people you would like to be back in touch with? Did you know reconnecting with old friends is good for your health? Here’s an article that will be of interest. http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/wellness/staying-connected-to-the-past

What better New Year’s gift could you give a long lost friend or relative than the gift of your voice? I’ve tried to do that through a different kind of medium  – in my memoir writing!

Reconnect to a long-lost friend or acquaintence before another year goes by and you delay it. Wishing you a fulfilling year ahead with good health and lots of renewed friendships! Happy 2015!

This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul and the award-winning memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. For more information, go to http://www.allthingsfulfilling.com/about-the-book/.