podcast 1

 hi there this is robin norgren i can be found on uh my website at www.josiesartschool.com

i can also be found on instagram under robin norgren i'm starting this podcast because i've noticed over the last decade that i have three main sources of knowledge that i'm starting to build that i really want to start to pursue in this new year of bringing them all together and really exploring what the pathway is that i'm on to kind of have a more fulfilling life so in the last 10 to 15 years i have studied creativity i have become certified as a montessori primary teacher and i've also gone to school to become a chaplain in the military all of those pathways weren't a straight and narrow path and yet i can see many ways in which each one has informed the other so as i go along this journey i hope that you are as interested as well to see how in even your life you can have three or four different things that on the surface don't really look like they come together but in some ways they start to merge very slowly and i think the key to that is patience so i first started out in creativity about 14 years ago now i um

start started really pursuing writing so i would write essays i would submit the essays it was something that i'd done as a little girl and i decided i really wanted to see if i could put that label writer on on on my resume and so i would write and write and write never really saw any success that way but then i um went into this new thing at the time called etsy and i used to crochet and i would crochet handbags and backpacks and little bracelets and so i thought well maybe that's what i need to pursue creativity as a handmade goods connoisseur that went on for a little while and then it didn't really give me the satisfaction other than a personal satisfaction so i had tried writing i had tried crocheting i then dabbled as a mixed media artist and in the midst of all of it as i look back i realized the key was just creativity i was experiencing a lot of stress a lot of anxiety my husband had just deployed he not once but twice in a matter of like four years i had a young child and i was literally just all alone a lot and i found creativity really helped me through those long um just unsure times over the years as you know life goes up and down like that i found i kept coming back to creativity and then i wanted to teach it to everyone so i started trying to teach it to adults i ended up landing on teaching art for kids which i adore that's how josie's art school was formed but i still have this nagging in my heart about why don't adults truly understand how creativity works as a means to help us process stress so i want to say back in 2018 i wrote a book called your creative peace find and deepening your creative voice while connecting to god and i thought well i'm going to start a podcast and i'm going to start to share some of those insights from that book through the course that i had done which i'd love for you to follow along and then i would also share some things about montessori and how those two connect together so anyway i if this is something that is interesting to you i hope that you subscribe to the podcast in the meantime let's begin so the name of this course is called your creative peace finding and deepening your creative voice while connecting to god in this course we will explore god's creativity explore the beauty of creativity explore creativity as an act of worship pinpoint your creative journey integrate creativity and spiritual journey more deeply this is my hope for you that as you journey through these next five weeks you will have a sense of how god has gifted you with the creativity that is uniquely yours maybe you already have a sense of where you thrive creatively this may be an opportunity to incorporate this section of your life into your spiritual practice this may be a time to try a new creative medium whatever place you find yourself remember during this point in time you will journey through this course as you need to here's some suggestions on how to use this course you can use this time to work on suggested weekly artistic prompts that i give you or work on your pieces in progress or something you feel like you must begin here's the vision statement this class this class is geared towards those who have a creative outlet already or have an idea of an avenue they would like to explore create creatively those who can commit some time this course is structured into five weeks to explore more deeply their creative processes as an act of worship or spiritual connected connectedness examples of what i mean by creative outlets drawing painting mosaic sewing cooking clay making photography decorating jewelry making baking scrapbooking writing music poetry knitting crocheting needlepoint yoga teaching gardening are you ready to begin

god is creator week one's prompt is this declare freedom the verse for this week is you know me inside and out you know every bone in my body you know exactly how i was made bit by bit how i was sculpted from nothing into something psalm 139 15.

recently i read through the best-selling book the purpose-driven life by rick warren he touched upon something that i find sits in a very deep place for me being successful and fulfilling your life's purpose are not the same thing have you noticed that in your own life do success and fulfillment go hand in hand i think it depends on how you define success and whether or not you have figured out what leaves your life feeling fulfilled for many years i had not answered these questions for my life i was just living were the bills paid are my kids healthy am i fighting with my husband i did not have any real sense of purpose definitely i did not think it mattered to god

i didn't think he understood what i was doing with my time and he really cared whether i was making sure other than i was making sure to live a moral life i would have been content to live this way but god in his mercy for me and for you allowed the events in my life to shift in such a way that i had to take notice one of the things i found in my life is that i seem to not be able to connect with god anymore i felt like life had beaten me to a pulp i was discouraged disillusioned distraction distracted feeling hopeless my prayers felt empty the words on the pages of my bible waxed cold in my ears the disappointments and discouragements felt too great to overcome i found that i was living in a shadow relationship with god he was there but i had no desire to connect no entry to connect no vehicle to connect what i did not know was god was making a change here's a quote from kurt wassel it is a choice we artists make that is not too unlike love where we find ourselves venturing into a realm of total vulnerable vulnerability i want you to dig deeper here how do you define success has it changed over the years and how so what changes would you like to make in your life in order to redefine success

here's another question for you are success and fulfillment two sides of the same coin or are they one in the same

how about this do you feel like you're fulfilling your life's purpose what first step do you need to take in order to get on track how do you see your creativity playing a role in those changes

now remember the theme for this week is declare freedom as in letting go of how others would have you define your success and your fulfillment begin to think of how you would represent this declaration in a creative way

well thanks for stopping by i hope this is something that you've enjoyed i'd love to hear from you over the next few weeks and months i'd love to continue on here and really discuss more and more how do you have a creative life how do you have a more montessori lifestyle as some people like to call it how do you take these interests that you have and converge them into something that not only makes you a fulfilling woman but if you find yourself with the role of wife and mother how do you integrate those into your role and still allow yourself to be a woman that has a fulfilling life thanks for stopping by