Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Robin’ Category

Jun 30

8 Comments

Robin: Teaching My Mind

I came across this poem written by Wendel Berry analyzing the work done on a farm:

“I am trying to teach my mind

to bear the long, slow growth

of the fields, and to sing

of its passing while it waits…”

This poem describes perfectly what motherhood feels like to me. I am teaching my mind to remain peace-filled during the mundane of a life that involves long periods of isolation and feelings of insignificance. The idea of not simply logging days until the next major milestone but to live into whatever the day holds for me today. Even… the monotony of it. I am moving toward my 5th year of home life as my life.

This year has definitely taken on different hues, especially with the exploration of my online business as a creative outlet. Again setbacks are a part of this process as well. I have had to learn to wait until we move back to the United States to really begin building it because materials and customs are very challenging to deal with here in Germany. So my encouragement for today comes from the words of this poem. I have to TEACH MY MIND to…

In what area can you apply these words today?

[photo credit]

Jun 21

6 Comments

Robin: Going Deep

Preparing for a road trip last weekend, I gathered some books to read in the car and came across one called When I’m Big, by Debi Gliori. It is the story of a little boy who is dreaming of all the things he would do when he’s older. One page depicts these big, beautiful, stylized whales with the little boy snorkeling in their midst saying “I’m going swimming with the whales in the deep blue sea instead of splashing in the bathtub.”

As I read that line, I realized this fearlessness represents the spirit of most children. Somehow that vibrancy tends to leave us when we become adults. We decide to play only in the shallow end. And if we do venture out too far and we are unsuccessful, we vow never to go out quite that far again. When I look at my little one, I see she has the personality of “why not?” in her. And for some things, I have to rein that in, like in issues pertaining to safety. But in many instances the exploration is where the meat of life in all its juiciness occurs.

I see that when it comes to other creative endeavors OUTSIDE OF WRITING, I treat it as an “all or nothing” transaction. Like so many other ventures in my life, I have a zealous beginning followed by a drastic ending with the hindsight of what the hell was that. What I am finding though is that the creative process entails in large part growing into yourself and finding how your unique self is able to express most freely. And then as I drift back to my home base — writing — I find MORE strength to push back into uncharted waters and maybe just see — IF I CHOOSE TO.

So the paints and the “good paper” are out again. Colors of red and green and blue and all the mixtures in between are falling together boldy. And I am swimming toward the deep end.

[photo credit]

Jun 4

5 Comments

Robin: Focus in the Flurry

Lately, ideas flow furiously as I move through my day. The momentum is to a degree that I have never experienced before. Ideas come in the middle of the night as well. I am no longer making the dreadful mistake of thinking I will remember them in the morning — I NEVER DO! In the past, I would have an idea and I would wake literally every hour and rehearse the idea in my head convinced that this time I would retain the inspired thought only to wake up with NOTHING. And then of course, the constant awareness of the thought throughout the night would play so vividly, that restlessness would creep in. But I digress…

The biggest fear in all this productive yumminess is that the flow will end. I admit my pessimist’s attitude when it comes to the idea of a writer being able to make a living from her craft — surely one would run out of ideas after awhile. So, rather than enjoy the bounty of material for as long as it lasts, I calculate the endgame, challenging whether or not this is the most practical use of my time given the length of time a windfall like this could possibly last.

These thoughts are hilarious given my state of life at this moment. I am a stay-at-home mom of a toddler. I am a type A, multitasking, yoga-practicing woman who has incredible amounts of energy. I have about 10 books I am in the process of reading. Three “books” are in various writing stages. I crochet to relieve stress. I am dabbling in homeschooling. I started a six week e-course this week. I run an etsy shop. Oh, and the e-course is about DREAMING BIGGER. Yeah, lack of ideas is not really my issue; it is focus.

What about you? Where does your writing anxiety stem from?

[photo credit]


May 26

9 Comments

Robin: The Hamster Wheel

I have a friend who recently quit her job in retail management because she felt like it was zapping her energy (she might have said something like siphoning her life force — she is very poetic!). She said her immediate response to the new stage in her life (you know, after the thrill of sticking it to your boss) was sheer panic. Did she really decide to take herself off the hamster wheel — the one that tells you where to go, when to go, how fast to go, and how to think about on any given 8-10 hour work day? Quick, we must find another hamster wheel!

If you have ever taken a plunge like that, then you know. It feels like you are drowning in possibility. Problem is, you do not know how to discern anything outside of the schematic of a structured work environment. My panic came in the form of motherhood. I waited several years for the little girl in my arms, but where was the constant ringing in my head coming from? I felt like I was a retired Pavlov’s dog unable to generate anything more than DO NOT GIVE IN to the desires invoked by the bell which is GO BACK TO THE HAMSTER WHEEL. Too much time to fill and no one to tell me how to fill it. Well meaning friends who have heard me “lament” (a pretty word for moaning and groaning) said, “finally Robin you can write like you always talked about.”

But how can one create in a state of panic? I felt forgotten in the world. Forty years old in a play group with a toddler surrounded by the other “20-something” moms. Many of whom were joyfully talking about their “next baby” while the one in front of them is barely a year old. I am college educated and full of life experience, stuck in a world filled with The Wonder Pets anthem playing in my head and not much else. It was getting difficult to get out of bed.

So as I embark on this thing — this facade I still call it even as I make myself write — I have no choice but to wake up in my life and EXPLORE. I see that my panicked friend and I could help each other. She actually has her undergrad in art so she has the foundation to re-imagine a life of openness to love through her creativity; more fully with her heart and mind.

As I continue to journey DAILY, I hope I can inspire and encourage others on the way. I do find from past attempts on this creativity kick that, very similar to my walk with Jesus, that I am “simply A BEGGAR trying to show other beggars where the bread is.”

photo credit

May 13

8 Comments

Robin: A Storyteller’s Tale

Two years ago, a fellow yogi and I e-mailed one another daily preparing for a retreat we were both attending. This correspondence continued over a 6-month time period. I saved all the e-mails thinking that I would compile them and put them in book form as a beautiful memory for both of us. This endeavor produced 63 double sided (8.5 x 11) pages. I realized with that exercise that writing a page a day is incredibly doable. So, why have I continued to make excuses for my non-existent writing life?

Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist’s Way, describes this type of behavior as ‘shadow artists.’ Pent-up creativity flows sideways into other venues such as e-mails, telephone conversations (read Facebook and Twitter!) in an effort to clue the defiant artist that he/she is not living the fullness of his/her life. Whether it hearkens back to being discouraged from exploring art as a child, feeling incompetent or simply viewing the task as a waste of time, the idea of creation for its own sake rather than a manifestation of outcomes takes much courage to walk into.

As I choose to move my own shadow artist into the light, dusting off years of denial, complacency, and just plain laziness, I pray that this decision awakens the thrill of living within the juicy words on the page, finally out of my head with the potential to garner community and conversation.

[Photo credit here.]

Apr 28

2 Comments

Robin: Ordinary Choices Prompted by Extraordinary Love

Sometimes, while I am working on a mosaic piece, I begin to feel myself becoming anxious over the idea that I have wasted precious hours prepping and organizing for a result that is less than inspiring. The process calls for the artist to apply the grout to the point where all the beautifully hand-picked pieces are hidden. The result she is striving for is hidden underneath the muck and she wonders whether the piece will recover its brilliance once the grout dries. This is the point where, similarly to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, I want to hide the object behind the spaghetti leftovers in the trash bin in my kitchen.

The correlation between mosaics and motherhood are striking. The idea of a little person coming into the world with the image of the mother and father and the community shaping and coaxing those things that are planted inside there by her creator looms large in my head these days. The parents represent the sponge I use when removing the grout. They help to remove the childish ways of thinking that could destroy a future while cultivating the personality and the fascinations the child holds and exposing her to opportunities that enhance the interests the one working with the pieces can see upon close inspection.

When that mosaic piece begins to show me things that I may not necessarily like about myself or remind me of the roadblocks that I experienced that may have detoured my life whether temporarily or permanently, rather than throwing up my hands in dismay I can promote opportunities for the child to sidetrack the pitfalls (or minimize the opportunity for long-term damage!).

Observing a mosaic piece to see how it responds to the grout as it is laid and observing a child as she responds to life as new challenges enter in — obviously one has less room for error. I am amazed that as I create new things, fashioning them with my hands, I can enter into my responsibility as a parent in a deeper way and in turn experience a more intimate connection with my Creator.

[Photo credit]

Apr 19

8 Comments

Robin: Experiencing Freedom Through Creativity

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron calls for the artist/writer to gauge his/her process week by week with questions like:

  • How many of the 7 days in the week did I write/create?
  • How am I feeling about the writing/creating?
  • Do I see any shifts in my approach to writing/creating?

While my writing time is not as frequent as I would like, my feelings about the work and the way I approach the writing have shown improvement. One shift I definitely see is that I have begun writing for the pure joy of the words flowing together. For quite a while my words felt like weapons, nothing more than rants of anger and bitterness about time lost, life stolen, accomplishments robbed.

Freedom. An interesting concept. I thought I was feeling freed up when I ranted on paper. The problem was that I put so much energy into the feelings behind the rant that when I got them out of me, I was left with an empty vessel. Not empty in the sense that I was “free” to think about other things. I found that bitterness so consumed me that getting the words down only gave me enough “space” to sustain me so I was able to fulfill my daily responsibilities. I was in survival mode in a way I did not see until I came out of it.

The financial slavery our family was under for years had me in such mental and emotional bondage I thought there could be no way out; there was no hope for any new dreams. The emotional disappointments in my marriage began to cause me to question the value of creative expression (or expression in general, for that matter). The only expression I seemed to engage in revolved around a vicious cycle of suppress/release.

I realize now that, if in my freedom, I am not experiencing an ability to change or grow, I should challenge my interpretation of freedom. Change and growth does not have to look like a mass exodus from life and the responsibilities that we hold. But the awareness of pain needs to be coupled with the desire to feel redemption or we run the risk of some weird manifestation of pride and self reliance. Freedom is a gift from God; a grace. Freedom means to be released from bondage with the implication that we gain the ability to pursue something (inwardly or otherwise) that is new, edifying, satisfying.

Writing holds something for me today that life experiences snagged from me long ago. The words on the page help me to experience redemption.

How have you experienced freedom through creativity?

[photo credit]

Apr 8

14 Comments

Robin: That ONE THING Essential to Your Survival — What Is It?

“Sometimes you will find you have a piece of equipment so vital that you will be totally lost without it — in other words, it is essential to your survival.” ~Ruby Redfort in Clarice Bean, Don’t Look Now by Lauren Child

We had about a 60-day lead time for our move to Germany at the beginning of this year. I really had no idea whether I would be able to get the items I would need in future for all the creative prowess that my daughter and I had developed while my husband was away, so just to be on the safe side, I decided to ship about 3 boxes forward of various crafting supplies. One of those boxes was a large moving box of yarn. AND I AM SO GLAD I DID. The average price of yarn in Germany runs about 6 euro for one skein (approximately $8 US). I would have had to depend on international shipping, which involves extended wait times and varying shipping rates.

We live in pretty tight quarters — one-bedroom basement with a large living/dining area — so I was a bit hesitant at first to claim some creative space. But the time apart during deployments has somehow given me the courage to say that I need a space and then requisition a corner. The craft/creativity aspect of my life is so incredibly valuable and necessary to my well-being as a person and as a mother who has to endure the long periods of time alone. Even though we are all together in Germany, my hubby still works 17 hour days 5 days a week and is on call the other two. Not to mention, we are here without a family network and we live away from the base where my husband is assigned, which hinders making new friendships.

Maybe you have been waiting to lay claim to a little space, a little creative time, and you find yourself frazzled and depleted because of it. Make this the day that you recognize that one thing you need to get back into the swing of your creative life. I truly believe we benefit from having a creative life emotionally and mentally, which ultimately permeates the other areas of our lives.

Mar 31

13 Comments

Robin: The Way I Give Birth Now

The running joke in military families is that you can predict the ages of the children in a deployed family by knowing the dates of scheduled homecomings and R&R (meaning during the time the couple is being “reacquainted” the chances are higher that a baby is conceived!). While my husband and I do enjoy these “catching up” segments, conceiving more children is definitely NOT ON THE AGENDA. With my body fast approaching 42 and Mike having already crossed that threshold, we are content to have biologically produced one little princess together who just turned 4.

As I was working on a mosaic project this morning and gazing over at the potential of a piece of plywood I have sitting on my dining room table, the thought occurred to me: this is how I give birth now. The excitement of a new idea, the purchasing of the materials I need in preparation for the new arrival, fantasizing about what form it will ultimately take once I begin to apply my hands to the materials. Even that certain point where the creation begins to move in another direction than I had anticipated and my response to such change reminds me of raising and then releasing a child (my oldest is now 21).

And then, at least with mosaics, as you begin to dust off the excess grout and the beauty comes through after the piece goes through its own version of the birthing canal, the creation sits before you. You feel protective and defensive about her. You almost could not bear to part with her.

Honestly, if I were younger perhaps I would be willing to entertain conceiving another baby with my guy. Realistically, we choose to remain content to raise the one we have. So I have a studio instead. I find this birthing process to be FAR LESS painful (sometimes).

Mar 24

4 Comments

Robin: Play IS Fun

[Editor’s note: Please join me in “officially” welcoming Robin to our About page. This means that we can now bug Robin any time we feel like it! 😉 ]

“Play is fun, but it is also meaningful and complex.  The more intelligent the animal, the more it plays.” –Lawrence J. Cohen, Ph.D., Playful Parenting

Josey woke up the other morning to a note left by Daddy on the kitchen table. I of course went into swoon mode for my hubby. Josey looked at the pad of paper and said, “can I take that paper off so I can draw.” Josey wanted the notepad — it was hers, after all!

Parenting allows us to give a lovely type of nurturing drawn from that “outside of yourself” place. My hubby is not normally a “hugger” but he knows that Josey LOVES it.  She has no idea what an effort it is for him.

I got to thinking about this for myself. I am not one who really likes playing with toddler toys and only do it when Josey asks me to join in. However, I really enjoy reading children’s books and I really enjoy improvising crafts based on the stories we are reading. Maybe sometimes parents do not “play” as much as they would like because they feel restricted by the type of play that only taps into their kid’s place of whimsy. I submit that these could be opportunities to offer other playful options to our children which come in different and WONDERFUL packages.

I have found a few blogs that are incredibly helpful to get someone started:

So here we go: PERMISSION TO HAVE FUN PLAYING!

Mar 11

6 Comments

Robin: For Her, My Turn Revisited

A year ago, I wrote about the baby steps I took to move into living a more creative life.

I am amazed at how quickly time has flown. Many people toss around the words “what are you waiting for?” and to be fair many reasons can be found for not taking on a COMPLETE transformation from the life you live now to the life you want to live. However, I cannot say enough how much I BELIEVE that while Yes we have the tenacity to made big changes in our lives, ONE STEP AT A TIME, community is something that should not be devalued. I know that had I not had one in my corner coaxing me toward something that I was afraid of seeing on my own, I do not think I would have moved MUCH. I could have quit quite easily with no one being the wiser.

Even now, 1 year later, with my dear mentor thousands of miles away, I found that I have just the right amount of encouragement in the tank to continue to notice sparks of innovation and inspiration and MOVE into it. The rhythms of a year with someone experienced in noticing that sort of flash of life is priceless.

And then of course, I am more adept and helping my little one swim in the creativity current. While mommy learned to put her own oxygen mask on, she also learned how to help her offspring thrive. So it’s my turn, her turn, my turn…

Mar 3

7 Comments

Robin: Motherhood–An Invitation to Whimsy

This is not my first time here. This place called motherhood. While carrying one in my belly I was preparing for one to walk a high school graduation stage in a matter of months. Surely, I was well equipped to go through the phases and stages that motherhood holds; it was not that long ago.

But… something was different. A number of things really. I was 20 the first time; this time I was rounding out 37. The first one was a boy, this time I was blessed with a little girl. Possibly the realization that this will be the last time I hold a babe that comes from my body. More so, I recognize that as she grows, I am experiencing these inner tuggings of the girl I used to be but whom I had long ago lost touch with. I feel the emotions about art and beauty and color that she feels with the intensity she seems to feel it. But I had forgotten.

I am midway through year two of CHOOSING to live a more whimsical life. More often than not, we are in the midst of two art projects while preparing to go experience some sort of nature walk or find some new adventure in a library book. I do not know how else my life would have progressed to this particular place other than through my giving myself permission to go here. To REINVENT. To OPEN UP. To BELIEVE THAT whimsy is ageless and timeless. And so I did. And I KNOW, the three of us — yes I do add my oldest back into the equation — are the better for it.

Robin Norgren is a military wife and mother. Her most recent hats include growing as a fiber artist and placing her toes in the home-school water through integrating children’s literature with creativity. She is mom to 2 and step-mom to 1, ages 21, 17, and 4. She has been married 7 years to a guy who loves serving in the military (Navy) and is determined to take his family on his adventures whenever possible. The family currently reside in Ramstein, Germany. Learn more at Robin’s etsy shop and Robin’s personal blog.

Newer Entries »