Cinnamon toast - my favorite breakfast as a young child. No oatmeal, puuuuuhlease. Day in and day out, when my mother asked me what I wanted for breakfast, my usual response was the same, “cinnamon toast, please.”

It was cinnamon toast that brought me the first opportunity to experience “applied creativity.” I remember one morning when mother was very busy and didn’t ask what I wanted. She just made cinnamon toast. It was a morning though, when my 2-1/2 year old self wanted plain toast. Not wanting to upset my mother, I was confident I could “fix” this situation myself. I’d learned to wash dishes and figured if I could clean plates by washing them with soap and water, certainly I could wash the cinnamon off my toast and get what I wanted. I pushed my step stool to the sink and climbed up the steps to reach the water faucet. I stood there, momentarily, gleeful with my “solution.” I held my piece of cinnamon toast under the faucet and turned on the water. Imagine my surprise.

In Disney World there is a vignette showcasing imagination and its sidekick "Figgie" (as in figment). Figgie may have been the rebel that sparked the idea to “wash” the cinnamon off my toast. It may have been the pesky little character that nudged me to go ahead and try an out-of-the-box idea. Or, figment may have been a form of my Royal Spirit urging me to take a risk, express my creativity and learn from the process. The memory of mother’s loving laughter as I sobbed through my explanation for putting the toast under the running water may have been the encouragement that nurtured my willingness to seek innovative solutions and risk expressing creativity.

It’s innovation, creativity and figments of imagination that come to mind for this month’s Royal Spirit Alive! Y.E.S. Showcase. Each of the three Triad-area women featured here is an amplified voice for championing creative genius. They exude a compelling drive to honor their intuition and have allowed their diverse experiences, along circuitous paths, to strengthen their ability to listen to it. Let’s meet this month’s expressions of Royal Spirit Alive!

Y.E.S. (You Expressing Spirit) Showcase

Being in Service

Two venues with similar dynamics is a way to describe the dual roles filled by Yvonne Johnson, Executive Director, One Step Further, and Mayor Pro Tem, City of Greensboro. Yvonne views her role as a catalyst to help groups of people who have a vision get a great part of that vision. “I just feel compelled to use my gifts and talents to do something, no matter how minute, to make things a little bit better in this particular time.” Yvonne’s strength of character allows her to unite her talents and skills with inventiveness “to do what is in the highest and best interests and good of all the people – ALL of the people.”

For Yvonne, building strength of character and learning to be secure in all parts of her was a journey that evolved “bit, by bit, by bit.” She uses the metaphor of a jigsaw puzzle to describe that journey, citing family influence, scouting, and Bennett College as foundational pieces in her strength-of-character puzzle. “Every piece that you can get to fit strengthens the love you have for yourself and makes that picture of wholeness.”

Overcoming fear added other character building “pieces.” Early in her career, Yvonne recognized that her ideas weren’t what most people thought, yet they made sense to her and she felt they were great ideas. She was afraid to speak in front of people, however, as she feared not being accepted, being laughed at and ostracized. To disarm her fears, she sought out tools that helped her embrace her out-of-the-box ideas. She says there’re many tools to help you get beyond your fears and she says it’s important to find one that’s comfortable for you and that works for you. She encourages individuals to be vigilant once a commitment is made and not let two or three bum attempts stop you. “Keep going,” is her strong advice.

Being on the Forefront

Speaking up for your beliefs can be life threatening. Such was the early experience of Gabrielle Beard, Co-founder and President of the Women and Wisdom Foundation.

Mississippi was her home state, the tumultuous ‘60’s Civil Rights Movement was the time, and Gabrielle was on the progressive side of the social change/social action continuum - a dangerous place to be. She was part of a group pushing her alma mater to be the first college to integrate without court order. And, when she went to work as literary editor for a “liberal” paper in the Delta, her articles were not mirrors of current rhetoric and were not totally flattering and accepting of Mississippi’s policies. She received harsh criticism from colleagues, family and friends, hate mail and finally was run out of town. “I didn’t think I was a courageous person. I was a rebel always, but I got courage in a hurry because I had to.”

Today, Gabrielle expresses gratitude for those early experiences and says they’ve held her in good stead to do the work she is doing now. She and her partner, Cass Catlett, co-founded the Women and Wisdom Foundation in 2001. Women and Wisdom is based on the idea that women have something special to offer and if it’s not brought forth in ourselves and in others, we won’t be doing our part. Gabrielle shares a Chinese proverb that says women hold up half the sky and emphasizes the importance of women exercising all of their rights and responsibilities in order to bring balance to our world. “Women and Wisdom has been a lot about acknowledging the empowerment of our foremothers and all the women mentors who have taken stands or done things or been out there doing the things they’ve felt drawn to do to mark the path. We follow in that path and we are then creating the path for future generations.”

Creating an organization dedicated to the empowerment of women seems to be a natural outgrowth for a woman who can link her activist behavior to six generations of female ancestors. From the front lines of the civil rights movement to the consciousness- raising frontier of the new millennium, Gabrielle Beard is a voice for honoring the creative genius of the Divine Feminine.

Gabrielle’s tips to honor your deep inner core:

Doing Good for the Greater Good