How do ideas and Sparks appear to you? I get asked often where all the words live in me. Truthfully, I don't know. They make themselves known to me, most often as a quiet but serious voice inside, and almost always from seemingly out of nowhere. My entire life, all my best writing has arrived like this and fallen out of me, like cool, clear water from a simple glass pitcher. Because I don't really think it comes from me. It's much more accurate to say my writing comes through me.
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Shame and isolation be damned
Shame at what's weighing you down breeds an almost frenzied desire to isolate. Mustn’t be discovered by everyone else, by anyone else–no one will understand what you’re going through; shame convinces you that you are the only person who has “failed” in this way, fallen down or been dragged down by someone else. Isolation, in turn, feeds fully off the stories you continue telling yourself as the shame piles higher and higher, burying you under its massive, crushing layers.
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What do you miss when _________ masks _________?
One more piece of back story: I am not a joiner. Of anything. I can't say why exactly, but I've always been that way. Actually, that's a lie. I can say why: it's rooted in absolute insecurity. If I join and fail, how will I be perceived? If I join and don't belong, what will I do? If I join and do belong, am I not all that special after all?
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Eat. Drink. Spark! and the (re)Discover Your Spark retreat is coming to Hopkins, MN in October!
Calling everyone in the Twin Cities area to an #extraordinary Eat. Drink. Spark! dinner + 1-day Discover Your Spark retreat coming OCTOBER 20 AND 21. When I met Kathleen Crandall earlier this summer, I knew I was going to like her, but then she suggested we work together with our programs and offered to host a 2-part, three-ways-to-engage opportunity, and I’m so excited! I can’t wait to see you there! OPTION ONE: Eat. Drink. Spark! FRIDAY DINNER What: The Eat. Drink. Spark! Dinner experience includes the beginning of Discover Your Spark work, a sumptuous 3-course meal prepared by a chef from Minneapolis-based chef Jo Seddon’s team, complemented by three exclusive Spark cocktails or NA cocktails, if…
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What if you don’t have a Spark?
Looking at it from this different lens, it's easy to see how anyone could read that and assume I'm only interested in working with people who have grand, audacious dreams: professional athlete, rock star, astronaut, tech scion… In the course of thinking about and working through this with a number of trusted people in my life this week, I came to realize I've only been thinking about this work from a shallow, surface-level place because it never dawned on me that anyone would believe they didn't have a spark.
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Something to puzzle over
Dr Marry and I did what so many of us do: we make a big declaration about something...anything in our lives. And we make a great big splash about it.
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Grant funded (re)Discover Your Spark virtual weekend retreat for ND-based artists & makers now available
Fargo-based arts leader welcomes North Dakota artists and makers to attend virtual retreat focused on personal exploration OCTOBER 20, 2022—Two years ago, a spark of inspiration ignited a shining new vision for The Arts Partnership President and CEO Dayna Del Val, one that has since helped her—and many others—rediscover passions, projects and purposes that have long since fallen into the shadows. But first, she had to walk into those shadows. Del Val recalls the moment the idea for (re)Discover Your Spark hit her where she needed to feel it the most: right in her head and her heart. “In September 2020, I was awarded a two-week Artist in Residence with…
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Who do you think you are?
Struck by the perfection of the scene, I grabbed my phone and took one photo. Flowers from last night's dinner guests, a mug from a dear friend filled with Barry's Irish tea, my paper calendar, my all in one journal, scheduler and dream keeper, and the sun streaming in to bless it all.
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What makes your heart sing?
I don't believe we only have one path to take anymore than I believe we only have one soulmate (and truthfully, I don't believe in the concept of a soulmate at all). We have a life to live; our job is to be curious, ask questions, work through our stuff (believe me, we all have stuff!), ask for help, get as brave as we can and take the next first step.