crafting gratitude, origami, self care
Posted on by Karie Herring

Love and Meditate with Crafting Gratitude

ABOUT CRAFTING GRATITUDE

In CRAFTING GRATITUDE, Rev. Maggie Oman Shannon believes that crafting for us and those we love can be used as a meditative practice to appreciate the incredible, overflowing richness of life. Each meditative craft, from novice to expert, is infused with stories like:

  • How Gratitude Bundles can represent prosperity and physical health
  • Spirit Houses from Southeast Asia can be a symbol of a happy home
  • A Values Bracelet can help you reinforce your best professional traits
  • Flower Mandalas can be an affirmation of nature, etc.

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The Five Fish

Networking Witches

 

With other crafts involving aromatherapy, journaling, dream catchers, and a variety of household items, anyone can invigorate their own lives with Crafting Gratitude for family, health, prosperity, the Divine, and much more. Accompanied by a carefully curated list of recommended reading, helpful websites, and how-to guides, these forty practices will resonate with and prompt you to begin, or continue, exploring gratitude.

REV. MAGGIE OMAN SHANNON is an ordained interfaith and Unity minister, spiritual director, workshop and retreat facilitator, and lifelong crafter whose passion is exploring the relationship between creativity and spirituality. A former magazine editor and creativity coach, she is the author of six previous books, including Prayers for Healing. Oman Shannon lives in San Francisco with her husband and teenage daughter (who also loves to craft). She currently serves as Senior Minister of Unity Spiritual Center of San Francisco.

An Excerpt from Crafting Gratitude

“We human beings are continuously looking for ways to ease or avoid the painful parts of life. We are also created to create. So many of us waited and waited for the permission or the credentials to call ourselves creative when in fact we are each born creative. Not only is our creativity meant to be a great joy to us through all the days of our life, our creativity also is a part of our thriving survival. All of us are creative in our own ways and it is my firm belief that our creativity is also our best, most personalized medicine for what ails our individual hearts. Fortunately, our creativity is also very often the best medicine for what ails the hearts of others. What is life for if not to ease each other’s burdens, to see the awe and wonder of life and to find our own way on our own creative paths?

For as long as I can remember, my first solution to my heartache or my boredom was to make something with my hands. When I learned the power of gratitude, my new go-to for emotional discomfort consisted of compiling a mental or handwritten list of all of the things in life for which I could be grateful. Combining these two practices is a powerful match.
I went through a very difficult decade where each day I was met with the challenge of not knowing whether or not I could continue on. My husband of 14 years sustained a traumatic brain injury and he became a completely different person. At this time, we had five young children and a business that we had built together. We had a farm to take care of and many obligations that had to go by the wayside so that I could care for my husband. As a caretaker, I had very little time to think about my own needs and over time, I deteriorated emotionally and physically.
It was gratitude and creativity that came to my rescue regularly. With my hands, I would have a conversation with God. I call my creative time my communing time. There are so many ways of prayer. Creativity is a way of prayer. The connection we have as we are creating is fertile soil for very personal communion, conversation, and insights that come through going into that zone of pure truth that comes as we are using our hands, our hearts, and our minds to know the next step to take in life. When we get into that zone, gratitude is inevitable and this changes our state of being. When we are grateful, we are healthier, stronger, and more receptive to everything good and true. We can heal. When we live in a state of grateful creativity through our own healing…we are led straight into helping others. Gratitude heals. Creativity heals. When we are healed, we can help. This is how we change the world.”

 

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One Reply to “Love and Meditate with Crafting Gratitude”

  1. They have a nice selection of books. I’d also like to have this book: BE A GOOD IN THE WORLD: 365 DAYS OF GOOD DEEDS, INSPIRED IDEAS AND ACTS OF KINDNESS.

    Reply

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