Discovery Road

I am now back training and in class. Not at full capacity yet, but the important part is that I'm back and quite happy to be back. Still wheat-free and have noticed some differences and tuning into how my flexibility and smoothness of motion are and seeing if there is any difference there. Am I starving? Oh good grief no!! Learning to work with coconut and almond flours ensure that I not only feast, but feast very well. Cupcakes, brownies, and chocolate pudding are a now healthy part of my diet as they are low-carb, sweetened naturally, high in fiber and protein, and taste amazing. I can like it and Dennis has no complaints.

This week I made a monumental discovery during a visioning process that is part of a course I am taking. The visioning exercise was to vision where we want to be in the future, say 6 to 9 months from now.  After the exercise the question of "what support do you need to get you to your vision" really struck a cord with me. I realized that my glass art goals that I set did not serve me as I had set goals of making 1000 each of blown and sculptural pieces. The "not serving" part is how do I compare making a dragon (1 1/2 to 2 hours) to making a pendant (7 to 20 minutes) and what about the time spent making components? I realized that I need to treat my glass art like an apprenticeship program where the emphasis is placed on the hours spent doing the work. Therefore, I am "leaving" my 2 goals of pieces made and instead placing a goal of logging 500 hours on my torch for the rest of the year to encompass the time I spend making components.

I looked at what system works for me and that system is the UBBT (now I Ho Chuan) system so now to figure out how to fold over UBBT for Kung Fu training to my glass art. Sifu Brinker has harped on us to do our pushups first thing in the morning to get engaged in our training. This I must do with my glass on torching days. Yes I still will do pushups first thing, but on torching days I have product in the kiln by noon instead of waiting until sometime in the afternoon when I finally get to my torch. My Kung Fu training has a schedule for me to follow and now so does my glass art. Kung Fu has an immersion component and so does my glass. Kung Fu has ample coaching supply known as Sifus, Sihings, and other team mates that know more than what I do. I have access to a top notch coaching system with my glass that will help me with my blocks. Kung Fu has a positive checkin system via our monthly I Ho Chuan meetings and this is what my glass does not have. There is a local lampworking group, but unfortunately, that group and me mesh as well as chocolate cake and garlic. Translation: we don't so where do I look from here. Then it came to me. I do have a positive checkin system that's right in front of me called the I Ho Chuan. There is nothing stopping me from stating where I am with my glass during the meetings (I am assuming this), therefore keeping me accountable for my progress. In the team we all are going forward in our own ways, glass just happens to be my project.

There was one other thing that pinged me during the visioning process and that was why I have been crabwalking (vs going straight forward) with my glass. I have been afraid of the responsibility that comes with making more difficult and complex items. Seems silly but true and the items I have been asked to make have a big degree of difficulty. Plates, vases, wine glasses, and hookah pipes (yes, been asked to make those) even though have a very different end result all stem from the same beginning: the blown bubble. The message for me here is to keep progressing as stagnation is not in the cards for me no matter how I choose to shuffle them.
Sherri Donohue