“There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
The Way It Is, by William Stafford
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it, you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.”
My Life Journey
In 1996, each of us in my Artist Way circle chose a project to create over the year we were together. I made my first (and only) quilt. It was a kind of collage of my life journey up to that point, depicting 16 major events with images that mostly came from dreams. I was often asked how long it took to make. I never knew what this question really meant or how to answer it. So I asked my mentor, Marjorie E. Johnson, the gifted fiber artist, for advice. “A lifetime,” is how Marjorie said she answers this question about her creations.
The simple truth of Marjorie’s answer, “A lifetime,” always resonated with me. When I was a young girl, two threads were beginning to weave through my life: I wanted to be “grown up” and I wanted to share what I learned about being grown up. I wanted to play with the big kids, not the little ones my age. I also became adept at listening in on the grownups. I was convinced the secrets of life would be revealed if only I were grown up. I grew to love sharing what I was learning from the big kids and adults.
Looking back, I interpret those two threads as a call to learn how to find the resources to live happily and wisely — to be “grown up”— and as a call to share those same “life” skills with others.
“Just because you’re old doesn’t mean you’re wise!
Shirley Tassencourt, Elder, Arizona Council of Grandmothers
Being wise means staying awake!”
Now inching towards my 70’s, I am grateful for all that’s gone into my quest to be grown up, to become wise and to stay awake.
“A lifetime” is indeed what I bring to all that I do professionally and personally.
A lifetime of trial and error; a lifetime of blunders and doing my best to learn from them; a lifetime of creating and adjusting; a lifetime of seeking out wise teachers and listening carefully to what made sense to me; a lifetime of testing out the truth for myself and then applying that wisdom so I might live happily; and a lifetime of supporting others to find their own truth and to develop those same life skills to live happily.
You can trust that “a lifetime” is what I bring to anything I share, teach or facilitate. You can trust that I have practiced what I teach and have made it my own. You can also trust that I respect the deep well of wisdom, “the lifetime,” that each of my students brings to the circle. I believe we are all here to teach each other.
Since my Libran birth in 1948, the other consistent threads of my journey have been my fascination with discovering and expressing life’s meaning, joy, and beauty. I have creatively woven those threads into my life and work as I have served in the role…
- as a community organizer;
- as an imaginal educator, teaching topics ranging from the ABC’s to theology and spirituality, to people from diverse backgrounds and all age groups from infants to elders;
- as a single working mother of two teenage sons and as a full-time college student;
- as a career/life coach and founder of Right Livelyhoods and Designs for Peace;
- as an artist;
- as a friend and mentor;
- as a spiritual partner and wife; as a mother and step-mother of five; as a grandmother of seven;
- as a caller and Practitioner of PeerSpirit/Circle Way circles;
- as a student of the Enneagram, psychology, creativity, theology, astrology, death and rebirth, and mysticism;
- as a meditator and meditation teacher;
- and now, as a Facilitator of the SoulCollage® process.
My greatest joy in life is equipping myself and others with the “life” skills and practices necessary to sustain a life of meaning, joy and beauty. It is a privilege to witness someone discover the threads of their own wisdom. When this happens, their unique heart-light, their SoulEssence, shines forth as a gift. It is then that their world truly changes–for the better.
I am deeply grateful for my life, a beautiful tapestry woven of many lessons and blessings from so many beloveds. Okagesamade.
