Do you demand a fish or fish for yourself?

Sometimes when I am designing a piece of jewelry, I get into this place....I guess others would call it "the zone". It is like this quiet focus that is peaceful, productive and makes me feel very content. Whenever I have made a piece, "in the zone" it is usually pretty spectacular. My mental ramblings don't enter into this creative process. If they do and I begin to question or doubt my design or myself in anyway, I am quickly bumped out of "the zone". The design then becomes infinitely more challenging, sometimes so much so I have to leave the piece for another day and stop working. Sometimes, I never pick it up again.

In life I think its the same process. Creativity is not just related to something we can make with our hands, its the way we have to approach our lives. Every time we find solutions to a problem, we created something. Conversations we have are a very creative endeavor, i.e. The brilliant conversationalist. Helping someone to find solutions to their own challenges, or problems is creative, even if the best way to help is to do nothing but listen.

My very bright son, recently reminded me of a well known philosophy. If you give someone a fish every time they ask for it and in some cases demand it, they never learn to fish for themselves. They become stagnated in a place of dependency with no tools to create their own solutions. Perhaps teaching children how to critically think needs to be taught in conjunction with lessons on how to tap into their own innate creativity. Art and music programs have all been slashed in schools, and those creative chops are not able to be developed. The entire thought process of seeing, in your mind's eye, the vision of what you want to create, and then designing the strategies or steps necessary to see your vision come to fruition is a fundamental life skill. If we can, then we'll be teaching kids to do their own "fishing", showing them how to get "in the zone" and create lives for themselves that are pretty spectacular.

0The only cure for the stagnation in our lives, our jobs, our relationships, our art is to begin to living a life in which we create the reality we envision for ourselves. Our own ability to fish, will feed us for a lifetime.

Turning the Prism

Years ago I heard these 3 simple words, Turn the Prism. A professor said them to our group when I was a student nurse. She was encouraging us to change the way we looked at the people we were caring for and the way we perceived situations in our own life. Those words have stuck with me all these years and really define the way I have dealt with the ups and downs of life. The saying, When life gives lemons; make lemonade, never rang true for our family. Lemonade implied something sweet and refreshing. Living with a life-threatening disease was not so easily turned into something invigorating. It was something that we have learned to manage, find meaning in and grow from but lemonade sounded to trite to give us comfort.

Turning the Prism on my own life was a whole lot tougher than helping my children or my sister. In 2001 it became imperative to see my life from a new vantage point when I felt the first serious symptoms of mitochondrial disease within myself. (www.mitoaction.org) This disease had touched not only my two children, but my sister and her daughter as well. So I knew the possibility for me to "crash" was a very real threat. I was to busy to let it consume my thoughts and pushed forward running here, there and everywhere. Looking back I see that running all the time, never left me with enough time for "thinking". It was my coping strategy, and it failed miserably. That is when jewelry making came into my life.

A friend said, hey do you want to help me out and design some bracelets for my fledgling company, I'll pay you"? The idea of doing something with my hands, at home that could bring in some extra cash certainly peaked my interest. I agreed and soon found myself surrounded by thousands of glass beads in every possible array of color, shape and texture. It occurred to me one day, that this combining and stringing of beads was rather meditative and therapeutic. Thoughts about my life, my children, mitochondrial disease and my larger family would float into my "therapy session" like a gentle tap on the shoulder, getting me to pay attention but in a much more gentle way. It helped me to "accept" this new path I found myself on.

I find it completely ironic, that our family creed, "Turn the Prism" has crossed the line from the figurative to the literal. I began to make a necklace or two for myself, that were happily purchased right off my neck! From that a rainbow of possibilities began to swirl in my head. I voraciously taught myself all I could about the world of jewelry making, took a class, bought out Barnes and Noble section of jewelry making and found multiple internet resources. I was beginning to see a life beyond being an ICU nurse; a life where my artistic creativity was rekindled, bringing with it an unexpected satisfaction. This is the place where Prajna Jewelry Design was born, within the light shined upon a new perspective on my life. Prajna means wisdom, wisdom gained from life.

The world of blogging, is a bit intimidating but I will conquer my fear of this new world. Hopefully you will find it to be entertaining, uplifting and inspire you to turn the prism within your own life. Our jewelry designs are evolving as is our life, so check in to see what new pictures and ideas we've come up with.

Each piece of jewelry is named, given its own identity and will not be duplicated. It was made in the present, moved by that moment and when that moment is gone, so is the inspiration. When someone wears one of our pieces, we want them to feel the way we felt when we made them; energized, blessed and uniquely fortunate.

many blessing,

Theresa