A New Chapter...

After 5 (!) years of creativity and reflection here on Connect the Dots Crafts, I'm taking my work and play to a new space at www.caroleannpenney.com!

Please update your feed/reader, and come check out the new site to learn more about one-one-one life purpose coaching, reflective and creative workshops, and my (new) creative work.

See you over there!

My Word for 2013

I've chosen my word for 2013 - a word that will both guide and challenge me through this wonderful, wonderful year:

Courage

In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown explains that while most people think of courage as bravery - the guts to venture out into the battlefield or unknown territory - the word actually comes from the old French word coeur, meaning heart.  It means "to speak one's mind by telling all one's heart."

The question "How can I be more courageous?" changes from "How can I be brave in my life?" to "How can I live with my whole heart?"

I made an intention poster a couple of years ago that hangs in my studio, with this guiding statement: live from the heart, share from the heart.  It's a simple statement, but a very tall order that requires constant tending.

And now I see that living with my whole heart is quite literally an act of courage.

For me, living wholeheartedly means sharing my gifts and passions openly and freely with the world.  For a long time, this has applied directly to sharing my creativity at here at Connect the Dots.

But there's a piece of me that weaves into that creative work that has been asking for more space and attention: my love for reflection and discovering a deep connection with my sense of purpose.  I've only recently come to fully recognize the power of this part of me, and my desire to facilitate this process for others.  And that's what inspired me to complete a year-long certification program to become a life purpose and creativity coach.

So now I'm starting a new chapter, and a new mission both here on this blog and in my coaching practice:

Connect the Dots focuses on sharing my creative practice as a quilter and crafter, including documentation of my projects, reflections on the process and meaning behind my creative work, and sharing artwork by my creative friends. By offering a window into my own creative practice, my blog aims to inspire others to incorporate creativity into their daily lives.

As a life purpose and creativity coach, I deepen this work by offering clients the opportunity to work with me directly on developing their own creative practice.  I work with women who are creative in their personal and professional lives to recognize, make space for, and courageously share their own creativity and self-expression, whatever their medium may be.  


So much more to come!

A Year Ago Today

A year ago today, I was on a young alumni panel at my college - an event for seniors to prepare themselves for life after graduation. As the six of us panelists gathered to walk up to the stage, I felt my heart fall down into my shoes. I realized that the panel makeup was this: banker, entrepreneur, med student, banker, smartphone app inventor, and me.

As we began to introduce ourselves, I started to feel like I was speaking a completely different language from everyone else. I grasped my notes, looked out into the crowd of professionally-dressed and ambitious seniors, and told my post-graduation story even though it felt completely wrong. When I asked for a show of hands of people interested in nonprofit work, five hands out of a hundred and fifty went up. I nervously listened to the other panelists tell their stories. They spoke in generalities, with lots of "you know's," even though their work environments and daily lives sounded to me like something from an alien planet. I don't know! Should I? When I left the auditorium afterward, I wanted to completely melt into the ground and disappear.

At the time, I felt like everything was wrong. Like I was on the wrong path, or worse - that I wasn't on a path at all. I was wasting my education and, measured against my peers, unaccomplished and small.

How true was that, really? It wasn't true at all. But it sure felt like it.

The truth was: I needed that kick in the butt - that feeling of utter lostness to kick me into gear, and to make me think about what I really want, what is important to me, what my values are, and how I can best share my gifts with the world.

So I did. I spent months reflecting, talking with friends, and asking questions about my truest skills and interests. And that's when I discovered life coaching.

Coaching encompasses all of my favorite things: reflection, goal-setting, creativity, and self-care. It's about working with people one-on-one to help them envision and become their best selves. It makes me feel useful, confident, inspired, and excited. It's what I was born to do.

A year ago today, I was feeling low and lost.

Today, I am at my final weekend of training to earn my certification as a life-purpose and creativity coach. And though I feel a little bit uncertain about what happens next - how coaching will unfold as a piece of my life - I am sure that I am on a path, and the right one, at that. And that all of this - the low and high feelings - were a part of that process.