SharedBliss: Interview with Story-Beads Creator, Deborah Globus

My Writer's Set of Story-Beads
hold a prominent position on our main altar.

Listening to: A little something from Deborah -- how can you go wrong mixing traditional Celtic sounds with Punk? (Thanks, Deborah!)

Today's Bliss Formula: Riding my bike to the library means riding along the bayfront, the water of Lake Erie stretching across the horizon to my left, as birds flit over and across the bike path. Giggling is not uncommon.

I have a feeling, from her pictures, that giggling is not uncommon in the life of Deborah Globus either. Her eyes sparkle from her photos. "This is someone to like," you immediately feel upon seeing her for the first time.

From a small town on the north shore of Long Island (another lover of water, I assume), Deborah lives a life filled with meaning and driven by purpose.

Her own words say it all. Check out her "about me" page on her Story-Beads site. She writes in a strong, confident voice that simultaneously crackles with the mystery and magic of fairy tales.

She writes a blog; she leads workshops; and she has started writing for this very interesting site as well.

On top of this, she is a wife and a mother, and she creates functional works of art that aid us in our attempts to understand and experience the divine, however we think of it for ourselves. The stories within her beads are multitudinous, as are her talents, apparently.

Describe the PrimaryBliss of your life. How did you come to know that this was your PrimaryBliss?

The PrimaryBliss of my life would have to be spiritual practices. This isn’t my first answer – my first answer was story, and then I thought writing, and then my Story-Beads, and then ritual, and then… and then I remembered that all those things are spiritual practices. I love each of them so much that I want each of them to come first, usually forgetting that they are all part of the same category.

I’ve always felt the influence of these things in my life, even before there was a name for them. A life coach once said that I’ve always lived a “spirit-led” life but figuring out what that actually meant and how it influenced my life and eventually my career would take years.

Little pieces of the puzzle would fall into place here and there. I realized early on that journaling was a way to know yourself and therefore a spiritual practice. My search for a better fitting religion led me to practicing my own ceremonies and circles and rituals so that eventually I felt called to do them professionally as a non-denominational minister. My creativity led me to make my own set of prayer beads and an intuitive nudge produced my company – Story-Beads. Then one day a cherished mentor used the phrase “spiritual practices,” and something in me finally clicked.

From that day on, I refined this idea of spiritual practices and combined it with this feeling that I was being called to something. Through the practice of discernment, I decided that my calling was bringing practical, do-able spiritual practices to people in their everyday, ordinary lives.

Living out that “calling” is yet another spiritual practice.

What types of choices and sacrifices did you make to be able to craft this bliss-filled life?

I have a hard time answering a question like this one. I think because I view my PrimaryBliss as my life (call it living authentically or call it being integrated) that I define the choices that brought me here as…all of them.

There are themes to the choices, though. I can say that I chose to believe my life has purpose. I chose to pursue the practices that were interesting to me. I chose to accept, rather than turn away from, whatever Spirit has led my “spirit-led life.”

How does your PrimaryBliss radiate out into the rest of your life?

Again, it’s a tough question, because my PrimaryBliss is my life. Whether I’m taking care of my kids, or marrying someone, or teaching people to make a set of Story-Beads, or just kicking back and relaxing with a good book, it’s all about self-awareness, personal growth and connection. That’s what makes a spiritual practice something spiritual. I look at just about everything in my life as a spiritual practice, or at least it holds the potential of being one. Finding those practices is one of my favorite things to do.

What are some other activities that also give you this sense of bliss? Things that make you lose track of time?

Writing. I don’t even need to think about this one – there is no activity where I lose myself more easily than in my journaling. I adore that feeling! I can sometimes find it in creative projects, things like quilting, or scrap booking, or sculpting in clay but all those activities fall by the wayside eventually. They lack the meaning that journaling has for me and without that meaning, that spiritual tie-in, there just isn’t the staying power in the activity.

What is your daily or weekly spiritual practice?

My Story-Beads are one of them – the non-denominational prayer and meditation beads that I make and sell and use everyday. I have one set for the year that I use to strengthen the monthly retreats I take; they also remind me to stay connected to Spirit on a daily basis. I also have a set that reminds me of a particular set of intentions I have for my business and another set to help me stay connected to a special group of friends.

I’ve made a business out of introducing people to the concept of Story-Beads and how they can use them to tell their own stories and reincorporate prayer into their lives, but prayer with a wider definition than just the traditional church stuff I grew up with.

What music is your bliss?

I love music I can sing along to and it’s nice if it has a deeper meaning, but that’s not a necessity. I love Peter Gabriel, John Mayer, The Chieftains, Van Morrison, Annie Lennox, and Judy Collins but I also like groups like The Dropkick Murphy’s (a punk band from Boston that covers a lot of Irish music) and The Ramones. Classical music I can take or leave, but give me a song that tells a story I can sing along with and you’ve got me for life.

Name books or authors/poets or people who are your bliss, who influenced your bliss.

I read a lot of the fantasy genre. It took a lot of years to accept that reading those fantasy novels wasn’t just the waste of time my father believed it to be. Sure it’s a bit of escapism but more than that is what I learn about the storytelling process by being intimate with the style. When I read stories that avoid the trappings of modern life I find it easier to see the bigger themes, the archetypes, and the ways in which stories can be told.

As far as authors who influence my calling and the work I do: Christina Baldwin (in books and in person), Julia Cameron, and Jennifer Louden’s books on retreating practices and self-care have all been vitally important books to my growth through the years.

What advice would you give to someone who feels they have not yet discovered their PrimaryBliss?

Keep believing that there is some larger meaning – Christina Baldwin tells a story about a woman who raised her grandchildren when her daughter died; the woman said that she felt that everything that had come before that moment in her life was preparing her so that she could raise those children.

Then, of course, is the idea that what we are called to do in life may not be what we imagined it would be before we found it; be willing to be surprised and then willing to surrender to the possibilities behind what life presents you.

And practice! Practice knowing yourself in whatever way works for you. Practice discernment and develop the ability to know what’s right and true for you and what isn’t. Practice keeping the faith. Just practice.

Do you have a favorite quote you would like to share?

"How should we be able to forget those ancient myths, that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons, that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses, who are only waiting to see us once, beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us. So you must not be frightened, if a sadness rises up before you, larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloud-shadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall..." From Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke

I love Deborah's main message of "being open and receptive and willing." And her own life is a great illustration of how that works out.

Her own use of prayer also illustrates how there is a balance between being in control and letting go. Imagine the magic and wonder we are missing out on because we insist on always preparing, always planning, always knowing ahead of time. With the help of Story-Beads and wise women like Deborah, perhaps we can face our fears and leap into the unknown.

We can never know what is waiting for us there.