Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsIt's DEFINITELY Time To Play! WooooHoooo!!!
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2017
Nuggets. I believe in these spirit-gifted breadcrumbs. They hope that my antennae is tuned in enough to notice. These nuggets are ever-present-----it's just that I'm not ever-present. Thankfully, there is a PART of me who notices and tugs on my pajama pants.
"Art & Soul, Reloaded" by Pam Grout has created a book FULL OF NUGGETS! And here's the deal, dear Reader. What tends to kill off a brilliant inspiration or a commitment to carve out a greater connection with our creativity is that we don't make a mindfully designed PLAN that we can simple follow without tons of resistance or mental-stop or whatever our limiting voice spits out. "Art & Soul, Reloaded" sneaks in and makes showing up & doing --- clear, simple, curiously challenging, with a side of goofy, joyful, kind, and more.
I gotta ask, "Has YOUR way worked to the extent you're satisfied (or thrilled) with?" (I did ask myself this and that self-righteous judgmental naysayer in me kinda shrunk 12'...um; no, but I've been VERY busy handling other important things.... Really? )
Pam Grout has generously offered us 52 weeks; a 1-year apprenticeship to the part of us alternately whining. defending, wishing to tap into some self-generated FUN-PLAY that makes us smile. I'm 65 now (yay!) and I notice (a lot) how I tell myself that I don't have time to color, or go on an Artist's Date, or just drive 45 minutes to the Pacific Ocean to face it, breathe it, seek for small stones or shells. (Wow...it's embarrassing to admit) The big question: WHEN will you have time to "reload"? And is it actually TIME or is it permission to invest an hour or two that doesn't have some worthy purpose I've labeled "as productive"?
I love rewinding my memory to when I was a kid... During a boring summer while my mom worked full time - I wrote, casted, set-directed, acted, and directed a play. I was so clear in my confidence (innocence) that the neighborhood kids didn't question me. We sold tickets, we got costumes, we rehearsed, and we did it. Or when I would set up a small town of toys and teach my lime-green parakeet, Tiki, a routine going from section-to-section... we spent those summer hours engaged in creativity. I was so proud of "us"! I colored endlessly....outside of the lines intentionally. Where is that little girl now? (laugh...she's writing a review!) A worthy review.
Over 10 years ago, while I (magically created) a 2-week stay (for free) in Kauai ALONE, I was writing, walking, coloring, reading, meditating absorbing a much-needed break for my mind, body, and soul. The words, "Art & Soul" came to me. I thought, "Wow--What a great title. Certainly SOMEBODY has come up with that one (naysayer). But I was more delighted and charged by the words, that I did a search and there was Pam Grout's book "Art & Soul"--published in 2000. I read about it on Amazon and LOVED IT....ordered it. I researched this Pam Grout... and then realized... I'd been led. A nugget got through. I emailed her, she emailed me back...back and forth, back and forth... we "talked" about screenplays...she shared an idea she had... We began working on it together (long distance) for months. Sure there was hopes and dreams that this series would sell...but the "work" was so fun and fulfilling. Not long after our first long-distance meeting, she asked...(good Southern Girl) if she could ask me something unusual - off the wall. This whole thing has been off the wall...why not? She'd been invited, as a Travel Writer, to come to a Cabo San Lucas resort along with other travel writers for an all-expenses-luxury-several-day trip for two. Typically, she'd take her young daughter, Taz, but Taz wasn't interested---would I be? Folks, we'd never met, but there was "something" in our friendship that had this magical exchange and I said "yes!". We had a BLAST, worked on the screenplay, shared life stories, and continued our friendship through mostly email, but also some FUN visits when she and Taz traveled to California. THIS is an example of what wacky, wonderful goodness CAN come to you when you're "present for the present".
What BIGGER nugget could land in my lap than "Art & Soul, Reloaded"??? It's time, indeed.
I joyfully rest my (still) creative spirit into the hands of "Art & Soul, Reloaded" and smile knowing that every time, I resist or balk, I can wave that part of me off. There's PLENTY of time! (10 minutes here, an hour there, an artist's date + all the tools contained within the pages...week by week with no "masterful" goal other than remembering this awesome part of myself who'd like to play more. Like "The Artist Way" by Julia Cameron or the joyful-colorful-SARK... Pam gives us yet another way to open, expand, invest, and grow.
