by Tobey Crockett PhD

It’s my great privilege to be able to spend my time thinking about, teaching and sharing the things that make life truly special and worth living, and I believe that one of the most important discussions we can have is about the creation of peace on our planet. September 21 is International Peace Day, with celebrations taking place all around the world. How will you contribute your voice to this global effort to foster international cooperation and harmony?

Can we bring about Peace in our lifetime? What does Peace look like? Feel like? Smell like? What is the sound of Peace? Luckily for us on the Central Coast there is an affordable fun way to answer these questions in the company of family, friends and neighbors all while having a good time and helping a good cause. The Creativity Club’s upcoming Peace Pie Mandala fund raiser on September 19th provides a multi-sensory playdate for guest who will be guided to envision peace through magazine collage, drawing and painting. Also offered are children’s activities, a local arts and crafts raffle and silent auction, a bake sale, and a special guest speaker, yours truly, speaking about Peace. I am really looking forward to this special occasion and encourage you to come out and support your community in the joyful, fun spirit of play.

The Creativity Club in Cambria is a group of non-artists and artists who gather together at least once a month for regular expressive arts playdates at the Joslyn Center in Cambria. There are often juicy special guest teacher offerings as well, and the club is always looking for new voices to bring into the mix. Organized by club president Jennifer Star, this is a great community group that fosters creativity, spontaneity, and just a general sense of fun and connection both with others and with one’s own creative inner spark. Men are heartily welcome and have attended a few workshops, but to date the core membership is all female.

Jennifer is a graduate of Lucia Capacchione’s Expressive Arts training and brings a wonderful ease and sense of authentic exploration, with a nice emphasis on respecting an individual’s process while also encouraging sharing. A core tenet of expressive arts work is that a deep inner healing takes place in a non-judgmental engagement with our creative selves. As Jennifer says on her website, “Creativity is food for the soul. And creativity in the company of members of our community is collective soul food.”

Especially in challenging times like these, we need a chance to just return to our sweet innocent heart of unfettered happiness in being a spirit on a human journey. Art is one of the all time best ways to reconnect with that simple pleasure in being alive. I look forward to sharing this fun, soulful occasion with like minded spirits in a beautiful setting in one of the loveliest towns on the Central Coast.

Tickets: $10 adults, $5 Teens, FREE to children 12 and under, accompanied by an adult. This FUNdraiser benefits the Joslyn Center; the activities benefit our community. See you there! Please see www.creativityclub.net for more info about the club and see www.jenniferstar.net for more on Jennifer herself, including more info on the Peace Pie Mandala Project.