Class With Brené Brown (Bacon)

   I am joining Kate Motaung and others who are writing every day in October. My intention is to record my reactions and feelings about Brené Brown's newest book, "Rising Strong". You can find the other posts I have written here. 

    Two years ago, on my 60 birthday, I registered for Oprah's online class by Brené Brown (Bacon, just added that to go with the Five Minute Friday prompt).  The class superseded my expectations. I learned so much that has stayed with me since then. My class avatar caught the attention of the producer. Peeking through the peppers was a drawing of a real photo. I was playing with my grandchildren when my daughter-in-law captured the shot. The producer Mashawn thought I seemed like a fun person.

   Catching the eye of the producer led to being on a live Q&A with Brené. She is fantastic on the live feeds. She makes you feel at ease and asks really great questions. Oh, wait, I was asking the question. Yeah, I wanted to know how to get over the feeling that making art was self obsessed and lazy. She, of course, once felt that arts and crafts were not important enough for her time. Upon evaluating her research she was chagrined to see that wholehearted people seemed to be really creative people. It allowed them to integrate their difficult emotions and stories. 

   So, she started using art journaling in her personal life. Art journaling became the central theme of her online class. Her encouragement to press forward  and make my stuff was privotal in my permission to pursue art.

" If we want to make meaning, we need to make art. Cook, write, draw, doodle, paint, scrapbook, take pictures, collage, knit, rebuild and engine, sculpt, dance, decorate, act, sing-it doesn't matter. As long as we're creating, we're cultivating meaning."

She is doing a "Living Brave" online class starting January 11th. You might think about taking it with me. I'll be there.