December 1 and #Quest2016 begins. Like a kid who can’t sit still, I hurry from email prompts to Facebook posts to the Quest community page and then stare at my notebook expecting the prompt to materialize.
Susan Piver, a New York Times best-selling author, speaker, teacher and mindfulness expert offered our first prompt: #TellYourself -“What I need most to tell myself about 2016 is…”
The morning passed and then early afternoon. When I picked up my pen to answer the prompt “for real this time,” I felt the answer.
“2016 will CAP every previous year’s experience.”
©2015, Mary Ellen Merrigan, fiber art, “CAP – Create | Amaze |Play”
My 2016 theme debuts today. I’m excited and scared silly with the opportunity to CAP all previous years. CAP – an acronym for Create, Amaze, Play – guides me, reminds me to open to possibilities, release limits, and step into the new. #Quest 2016 gives me a place to expand boundaries, be vulnerable and engage with a community of other seekers. As we each give voice to our dreams, we light candle after candle to show others the way.
Tomorrow, December 2, I’ll use my project to inspire members of the Bead Society of New Mexico to participate in the process of creating their own theme for a year. As one participant said, “This makes me take a really big breath. It’s kind of scary and out of my comfort zone.”
My fiber art is outrageously colorful and vibrant. The bead embellishment techniques showcase a compilation of pieces, some with great symbolism and meanings, some of which must still be deciphered. Safe? Nothing about this project is safe. Safe is sticking with marketing, except that doesn’t make my heart sing.
I choose to create, to amaze, to play, not knowing where it will lead but rather, purposefully following the joyful heart path.
What I need most to tell myself about 2016 is there’s a way. And tomorrow I’m going to tell each of my students (and you, dear readers) there’s still time to get on board with #Quest2016.