Carol Wiebe

We often think our blood ties predetermine who and what we are ~ including what we can do, whom we can love. Even blood ties cannot make up for what your inner self really wants. Let’s say you became a lawyer, because your parents expected you to. Your father had been one, perhaps was now the head of a firm, as was his father before him. Or, everyone in your family appreciates sports, goes to all the games, and you just want to make music. If your heart is not in what you are

I have loved the work of Mary Oliver for many years. Reading a poem by Oliver fills me, allows me to revel in a feeling so beautifully described that I can barely contain it within me. It wants to expand, grow, reach up to the moon, the stars. Barely Contained Oliver has always expressed her private nature, her solitary life, but recently I ran across this interview and was greatly surprised by how ebullient she was. I think my favorite question, posed by Maria Shriver, was “

. Gold stars are overrated. Expecting everyone to do their best at all times is oppressive, and can actually squelch creativity. The pressure to consistently perform and produce in a superlative, unsurpassed manner causes so much stress that many simply give up producing anything at all. Fear and inadequacy reign as the overly stringent standard flies. Or, the atmosphere becomes increasingly competitive and aggressive. After all, how can there be more than one who is the best

So long we struggle to reach a certain point, only to find the door closed and barred. Now what? I really appreciate what Helen Keller had to say about this: When one door of happiness closes, another opens but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. The Door Is Barred No matter how beautiful the door may be, if the way is barred, this is not a place for us to find our happiness. Rather, it is time to look for another door.

A Creative Life. Art is what saved her from continuing down a former path of working at meaningless and unfulfilling jobs (see Humana Maelstrom Zine). If she is not expressing herself through art, Mary Ann becomes unhappy. Fortunately for us, Mary Ann was awake enough to realize this and attend to her own needs. In doing so, she has met the needs of many others who recognize, and respond to, the spirit that permeates her work. Believe me when I say that I have experienced the