One of life's universal questions is the search for the answer to the question "why am I here"? My clients and I work together diligently everyday to find the right answers. When we can grasp the meaning of life for us as individuals, we suddenly can create a travel itinerary for our life's journey. It provides a focus and a framework from which to make life choices and direct our creative efforts. My definition of purpose is an intention with meaning. What is meaningful to us personally becomes the centerpoint for our circle of life. To help you to tune into your purpose, try the following strategies:

Follow Your Fascinations We are all creative and original--we just need to release our flow. What ideas, colors, people, concepts, lifestyles, etc. captivate you? Where is your energy naturally drawn? Keep a fascination list for a month and it will provide you with invaluable clues to your purpose.

Choose a Lifestyle That Reflects Your Authentic Self Are you a corporate dynamo who thrives on encounters with politics and group energy or an entrepreneur who cherishes her freedom? Accepting that I am the later, as are many of my clients, has helped me to leverage my gifts and stop trying to fit into a suit I don't want to wear. Choose a workstyle and a lifestyle that fosters your fulfillment and reflects your true self.

Zero In on a Focus The quality of our life experience emanates from our life choices. Knowing our purpose provides a guiding light for decision-making. We cannot experience everything so we must make heart-felt choices. Focus on what truly matters to you and release the rest. We can pursue many goals in a lifetime, but not all at once.
Fail and then Soar Beyond It Unending self-criticism kills our spirit. Failure, mistakes, betrayals, and disappointments are painful, but not fatal. If we are risking and growing in our lives, there will be roadblocks and rejections. See your failures as experiments that are not yet perfected and move onto the next hypothesis until you achieve your goal.
Commune with Other Risk Takers When we live on purpose, we take uncomfortable but calculated risks. Take note of the people in your life who urge you to play it safe or undermine your dreams and subtract their influence from your life. Seek out and cultivate relationships with other daring souls who will embrace and encourage your action plan.

We want to hear from you, so we have just launched a guestbook for you to post your comments, suggestions, and brainstorms onto our site. We look forward to hearing from you.

Creativity Coaching Certification Program

I am delighted to announce that I will be teaching with Eric Maisel and Diane Reardon in the new online Creativity Coaching Association Certification Program. We have designed a comprehensive and exciting new program for aspiring creativity coaches and I will be teaching the unit called "Success Strategies for Creativity Coaches" this spring. We are almost filled up and the program begins April 4th. Click on:
http://www.creativitycoachingassociation.com

Living Into the Light Janet Hagberg, whom many of you may remember from The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women, is a woman I admire greatly. I treasure our connection and her wisdom. I want to let you know about her candid and illuminating new e-book called Living into the Light. Janet tells an inspiring tale of spiritual deepening, healing and wholeness, aging, and epiphanies, complete with challenging questions and contemplations. I have been unable to stop reading this book for the past two weeks--it has been my companion of comfort and pondering. You can either buy individual articles or the whole package. Don't miss this opportunity to do some soul searching with Janet as your spiritual director. www.janethagberg.com

Two Special Massachusetts Events Several months ago I met a wonderful artist of many talents, Beverly Sky, (http://www.beverlysky.com) and actually won one of her paintings of a group of wistful birch trees from a drawing at her studio. Beverly just wrote to me to remind me to let you know about the Faith Quilt Project from April 7-10 at the Boston Center for the Arts. This project was founded by fabric artist, Clara Wainwright, to help diverse communities of faith around Boston to gather together in conversation and creativity. It includes some extraordinary events and exhibits as well as a panel on spiritual leadership. The vision is to expand this event world-wide, so check out this website if you are interested in participating: www.faithquilts.org

Two Writing Opportunities My colleague, Susan Tiberghien, from Switzerland, has two all day workshops happening this spring. On April 29th, she will be at Smith College teaching Writing Memoir as Mosaic, All Forms of Creative Nonfiction. Contact Hannelore Hahn at dirhahn@aol.com . On May 6th, she will be at the Boston CG Jung Institute in Newton teaching "Longing for Home in our Fragmented Lives: Writing as Journey Home". Contact Pamela at pdonleavy@aol.com

At the request of our readers, we are now offering advertising in this newsletter. For further information and to purchase an ad for our next newsletter, please click on the link below:

www.creativesuccess.com/adsales.html

Creatively yours,
Gail McMeekin
http://www. creativesuccess.com Copyright, 2006. CreativeSuccess, LLC.