Piece by Piece
     Sent 6/13/2006

Sharing Creative Energy Newsletter
By Darla Arni

June 2006
Sharing Creative Energy Newsletter is a free monthly, or whenever Darla
can get it out, publication for clients, friends and subscribers who want to
be more creative, energetic and productive in their life and work.
Past copies are archived on our web site: www.darlaarni.com.
© 2006 Darla Arni
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In This Issue:
PIECE BY PIECE
Quote of the Month
Mensa Moment
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PIECE BY PIECE

I am an artist. No matter what other labels I wear in this world; mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend, speaker, teacher, author, and others which aren’t so pleasant that have been flung at me rather than bestowed, I am, in my heart an artist. My choice of media may change but everything to me is a work of art in progress, including life.

A few years ago when we were renovating our basement I wanted to include a mosaic countertop that celebrated my husband’s Rhode Island heritage and more specifically lobsters. For weeks my brain incubated and imagined designs, colors, and the finished project. I explored cavernous home improvement stores, tile shops, and art supply chains to find inspiration and materials until finally I was ready to begin the work.

I loved smashing the pieces of tile and getting grout all over my hands. (Did I mention I am often a messy artist?) I enjoyed trying piece upon piece until they achieved the angle and fit I was looking for. Then a funny thing began to happen. The more I toiled, the more I saw the whole made up of pieces that didn’t fit perfectly together. Certainly it didn’t look how I had first imagined it. Those pieces I had carefully selected began to look more like a misfit than a fit!

Isn’t that how we feel about our lives sometimes? We make choices, have jobs, change jobs, build relationships, leave relationships, buy homes, move, move again, start over, try again and keep it up over and over. How can all of these disjointed
pieces of our life ever fit together to make a worthwhile whole? This wasn’t how I imagined it! But the answer is not in the pieces; it is in the ‘grout’ that holds our life together. The tidbits, experiences, and memories, really the character and essence that make us who we are and who we will and can choose to become. What and how we choose to fill in the spaces is as important as the big pieces, in fact maybe more important.

What do you choose to fill up the spaces of your life? What holds you together and makes you complete? What are you committed to no matter what happens to the exterior you? Some days I know exactly what it is, I am sure of myself, I am on a mission. Other days I am lost in space trying to figure it out, but no matter what I never give up.

Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Life says, “Nothing shapes your life more than the commitments you choose to make. Your commitments can develop you or they can destroy you, but either way, they will define you. Tell me what you are committed to, and I’ll tell you what you will be in twenty years. We become whatever we are committed to.”

Take time in the next week to examine your commitment choices. Is this the grout you want to hold your life together? Is it working, does it feel right? If not change it now. It is never too late to do the right thing.

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.”- Henry David Thoreau`
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MENSA MOMENT
One rainy day, my cousin Ernest found a dead body lying next to a strange package. He could not see any footprints in the area. Because of the temperature of the body, Ernest knew that the man had been dead for less than one hour. What was in the package? How did the man get there?

Email your answer to Darla. The first 5 correct answers will be entered in our prize drawing.

Last Month’s Answer:
Silence.
I received tons of correct answers so I think I need to make these questions harder! Our winner was Brenda Stegeman. Please email me Brenda about receiving your prize.

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Darla Arni is a Professional Speaker, Consultant and Author of Sharing Creative Energy at Home, Life Compass for Women, and the Sharing Creative Energy Newsletter.

Sharing Creative Energy
e-mail Darla
660.529.2969 voice
660.815.7262 cell

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