Royal Spirit Alive! How to be a Beacon in a 40-watt World

Spiritual and personal growth gurus from around the world have delivered versions of the same message for centuries—our choices determine our outcomes. It’s not the person, condition or place that matters, it’s our response to them that makes the difference.

Consider this, after it took Thomas Edison 2000 tries to invent the light bulb, a young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times. “I never failed once,” Edison said. “It just happened to be a 2000-step process.”

This month’s YES (You Expressing Spirit) Showcase features a “beacon” who chooses to let her creativity transform “not exactly’s” into brilliant displays of creative genius. She chooses to embrace each opening of the kiln door with positive expectancy because she knows her creativity is like a personal Ace Hardware Store, a vast reservoir of resources ready to match any situation. Meet Nancy Brooks, Artist and Owner of Sleepin’ Dog Studio in Greensboro.

Creating an artist’s hallmark from disaster

To walk into Sleepin’ Dog Studio is to be hailed by copious amounts and mass quantities of brilliant color, masterfully crafted in glass by Nancy Brooks. Creativity in process can be seen in multitudinous projects clustered on large worktables and counters. Glass picture frames, bowls, goblets, flutes, jewelry, doorknobs, many featuring Nancy’s hallmark jewel motif, adorn every shelf on all four walls. They are visible testimonies to Nancy’s passion for brilliant color. “I love color! I think it’s truly entertaining to the eye to see color. Even if it’s not always bright color, there’s contrast and textures of color as glass really does encompass the best qualities of color.”

Nancy’s passion for brilliant color is also visible in painted furniture pieces, wooden picture frames, and benches. Painting furniture was the seed for this thriving enterprise. Nancy was searching for something to help her feel better, to relieve the stress of dealing with a recalcitrant teenager. “I began to paint furniture because it was so refreshing. The furniture was quiet, the paint did what I told it to do, and it was attractive to look at. It was a pleasant experience and it just felt good to do it. You could feel the stress go away. Maybe that was a measurable moment.”

Nancy says she developed her “expertise” in glass making through practice—disaster after disaster. She drew upon a large dose of self-confidence and combined it with a mindset that you can make something else out of a seeming disaster. “Pieces can be broken up and added to something else and it will add a new dimension to it that wouldn’t have been had that not happened. It’s a real stepping stone.” That’s the philosophical underpinning for Nancy’s artistic hallmark, the jewel motif.

Finding a way to make it work

Determination to make things work fuels Nancy’s creativity. She shared a favorite story about creating success from a disaster. She was creating a set of 14 champagne flutes, however, she over-fired them in the kiln. The stems melted together, yet the goblets were still vertical. “There had to be a way to make use of that piece. I could have called it a candelabra; I chose a vase and sold it as a one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-replicated vase.”

\Nancy applies that same determination to make things work to her gallery’s business transactions. “I look at it as strictly a vehicle to be able to do what I love to do.” She includes items in her product offerings that have more general appeal, yet may not be as fun to make; she’s developing pricing disciplines in order to expand her wholesale business; and she accepts that not everybody is going to like her work. “Not everyone likes what I do and it doesn’t hurt my feelings. It’s absolutely fine because I like it. And, there are enough people around who like it too.”

From transforming disasters into artistic hallmarks and one-of-a- kind vases to maintaining pricing integrity, what works for Nancy Brooks is “to give myself permission to do what in my heart of hearts feels like the right thing to do.”

Here are Nancy’s tips to light up your world with a “streak of happiness:”

	Have the confidence to believe that what you are doing is the right thing for you to be doing. The more confident you are in yourself, the more you really are able to give to other people.
	Assess your situation and capitalize on your assets.
	Express the whimsy, the amusement, the laughter.
	Pick out things that feel good to you and give yourself permission to do them. Self-indulgence is not always a bad thing.

What about you? Are you willing to view all of life’s circumstances as a moment-by-moment unfolding of your highest good? Are you willing to let your Royal Spirit shine like a beacon in a 40-watt world?

Remember Nancy’s words of wisdom,

“Pieces can be broken up and added to something else and
it will add a new dimension to it that wouldn’t have been
had that not happened. It’s a real stepping stone.”

It’s a choice to turn adversity into prosperity and to let your Royal Spirit shine!

Contact Nancy at:
Sleepin’ Dog Studio
5408 Century Oaks Drive
Greensboro, NC 27455
Phone: 336/288-6568
E-mail: sleepindogs@triad.rr.com