Our choices in life can lead us to success and joy!

I have had a very inspiring two weeks since my last blog post; in fact it hardly seems possible that so much has happened since 9/11/2012.

A had the pleasure of meeting a kindred spirit last week, Kathryn Doll, an awesome jewelry artist and remarkable person. She has enjoyed a great deal of success in the art industry with many accomplishments. As a member of the Artisan Group Kathryn as had the opportunity to provide jewelry to celebrities in the SWAG gift bags at the Oscars, MTV awards and currently is preparing for the CMA awards. Be sure to check out her website, http://www.kathryndesignsjewelry.com/ and like her on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/Kathryndesigns. Her work is absolutely phenomenal; the photographs don’t do her jewelry justice.

Meeting with Kathryn helped me realize I was being to hard on myself. She helped me realize I have accomplished a great deal with opening Joyful Arts Studio, Inc. since March, thanks for that Kathryn. I feel an intense need to be successful NOW! By my standards, Kathryn is a very successful artist but she struggles with many of the same issues as I do. I look forward to seeing more of Kathryn and creating art with her.

What is the definition of success? I believe each of us need to define that for ourselves. I’ll explain. For me, I feel I have already accomplished some successes, I am extremely happy and fulfilled in my personal life. God has been very good to me, blessing me with His love, a beautiful and healthy family, a lovely home and many wonderful friends. I feel blessed to have creative talent. The success I am currently seeking is financial independence without returning to the corporate world. I simply want to be able to pay my expenses and take enough salary to pay my bills. I am giving it to God and have faith He will provide me guidance to accomplish my goals.

I’ll never forget years back at a painting conference there was a great influx of Japanese women coming to America to participate in the National Society of Decorative Painters Convention. Somehow in one of the classroom discussions the question was asked, ‘What is your greatest wish for your children?’ The American mothers quickly responded they wanted their children to be happy, the Asian mothers wanted financial success for their children. I don’t mean to imply it is wrong to want financial success but for those who have had financial success true happiness is not found in money. It certainly makes life easier but it doesn’t measure our true success in life.

I also had a job interview and ultimately a job offer with a former employer. The employment package was absolutely tremendous! I felt so blessed to have my former co-workers make me this kind of offer. My immediate decision was I must take this job, how could I ever turn down this salary? Within 30 minutes of receiving this job offer I had a woman visit my studio for the first time. She was an absolute delight and I believe an angel sent to me from God. She told me what great work I am doing in the studio, not just the actual painting but the joy I am sharing with others. Her visit was brief but very inspiring. I will long remember your visit Debi Boyd!

It was a tortuous decision-making process for me. A very large part of why I left the job previously was the travel involved, nearly 100 miles round trip on a daily basis, 2 hours in the car everyday with heavy traffic and aggressive drivers. While this job would have delivered me financial security it would have taken me from my dream of pursuing art for a living and most importantly sharing the joy of art! What should I do? In the end I could not bear the thought of traveling so much on a daily basis and I couldn’t give up on my dream of making a living through art, and am holding on to my faith.

I awoke with peace this morning with my decision to decline the position. I want to thank Jackie and Lauren for your continued grace and understanding. I will continue to enjoy and seek quality of life!