creativenachos.com Blog

I was having one of those days where I felt like an old, crusty leaf blowing along a NYC street destined for the sewer. In other words, life sucked. I kept asking myself, “What does it mean to be alive?”

There were no answers for me. At the very least, I knew that being alive had nothing to do with material things but that was all I knew. What did it mean? This question had been plaguing me for days. My lack of clear answers led me to another more disturbing question. If I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it meant to be alive, was I really living?

As we crawled along in bumper to bumper traffic on this gray and rainy day, I was lost in thought when my daughter suddenly exclaimed, ‘Oh my gosh!” Instantly, I was jolted from my thoughts.

“What?? What is it?” I asked, spinning around in my seat.

Her small hand was reaching out of her locked window and up toward the sky.

“The rain, Mom,” she said, without removing her eyes from the raindrops. ‘The drops are so cold. Touch them. Touch them.”

I happen to think the rain is beautiful. When it falls, it always seems to suit my mood. But I realized as she spoke that I hadn’t recently let myself experience the full effect of the rain in a long time.

I stuck my hand out the window and let the raindrops fall down upon my skin. They were cold but felt so good. As my skin glistened with droplets, I closed my eyes and let the each drop sink into my skin, float through my bloodstream and change my entire mood. Suddenly, I knew what it meant to me to be alive.

Being alive is about experience. It’s about opening to the world around me – to the point of being vulnerable – and letting each sense deeply experience all there is in each moment. It’s basking in the way a person tells a story with their entire being, not just their words. It’s about listening to music with your entire body, not just your ears. It’s about making love with your heart and soul, not just your body. It’s about savoring the food you eat with your sense of smell and touch, not just your mouth.

For me, being fully alive means sinking into the beauty of my experiences, good, bad, and ugly because in the end, that’s all I will be taking with me anyway and when I allow myself that gift, I’m truly living.

What does it mean to you to be alive? Are you really living??

Back by Popular Demand!

No two stories or the ways in which we tell those stories are alike. We all have interesting lives and we bring a distinctive perspective to all that we do and yet, how many times have you thought of sharing a story but stopped yourself? How often have you felt you had nothing to say?

We don’t celebrate ourselves or the moments that make up our lives nearly as much as we should and – as artists, writers, bloggers, crafters and creative folks making a presence online – it is especially important to do so. Getting your authentic voice out there and being truly proud of it takes courage. Whether you are writing in your professional life or your personal one, it helps to have someone cheering you on and providing the advice and encouragement you may need while working to make your dreams come true. Let me be that personal cheerleader.

“Oh the Stories You’ll Tell” is a 4 week workshop designed to recharge your storytelling and celebrate the true magic in all you do. We will tell stories in all sorts of ways from writing and art journaling to collage and video/photography. As we explore new and unusual ways to tell our tales, our vision of who we are and what we do will broaden allowing us to find unique ways to represent ourselves and our work in person and online.

Within this limited enrollment class, you will find exercises, thought-provoking prompts, inspiring pdf’s and funny videos. In addition, you will interact with members of the group and receive personal attention from Natasha. This course has been designed so that many of the activities will fit within the framework of daily life. In fact, the hope is that it allows all of us to be more present and fulfilled in our day to day lives. In the end, you will have a journal filled with memories of your storytelling journey that you can refer to anytime you feel as though you are losing your way.

If there is one thing I have learned as a writer and artist, it’s that we need to shake up routines, find new ways of looking at things, and find an inspiring and supportive community where we can share our ideas.

I hope you will join me on this journey. In the end, we will not only have found a way to stay true to our voice but we will celebrate it in ways that will enhance our personal and professional life.

The workshop will begin on Monday, March 14th. You will receive a link to a private site a week prior to the start of class. The cost of this course is $40.

About Natasha

Natasha has been writing since the day her mom put a journal in her hand at age four. She received her MFA in writing from the New School in New York City before spending time as Marketing and Development Director for a nonprofit and later, freelance writer creating promotional materials for small businesses. Natasha assisted in creating original curriculum pieces for a private school in Manhattan before being invited to teach writing and editing workshops for some of the students. She has taught writing and photojournalism workshops for teenagers and written for publications such as Family Circle, Latina, Lifetips and MediaBistro. She is a 2011 Sketchbook participant and will be teaching along with 20 talented, professional artists in the upcoming 21 Secrets course.

I have begun to believe that “defining things” is not good. As I talked this over with a friend of mine, I realized that when we define things – a relationship, a piece of writing, an artwork, anything – we are limiting its growth.

Take the publishing industry, for example. In order to “fit” in the industry, you need to fall into a specific category. If people don’t know the specifics of your work and are simply browsing, if they are not looking in your category, they might miss you.

I was having a problem writing and I realized it was because every time I sat down to the page I would think – no, I can’t do that because it’s not done or I would wonder where it would fit. The entire thought process was so limiting that it made me stop dead in my tracks.

The same is true when we define relationships. It’s all too easy to begin to fall into the stereotypical roles leaving the relationship to die a slow death from simply being a giant cliché.

So, I’m going to do my best to stop defining things. I’m going to do my work and not try to view it through others eyes but simply bask in its evolution. I am going to simply enjoy the people that I love without having to definite what type of friends we are or how we are supposed to care for one another according to how society views specific relationships. And this is not to say that once we define things we always become a cliché. I’m simply saying that sometimes when we define, a very subtle thought process slithers into our mind, into our lives almost without our awareness and we begin to fall into its trap. When we remove limitations, the magic that could potentially be born is suddenly limitless.

Life has been NUTS! The whole family was sick and it felt as though it would never end. Everything was put on the back burner but now I’m playing.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

I’m not a huge Valentine’s Day gal because I  think it can often make people feel bad. It’s geared toward couples “in love” when really it should be about love – universal. However,  I do  dig the idea that there is a day to remind us of what we should be doing all the time – loving one another well.

So, in honor of loving all I’m celebrating ART JOURNAL LOVE DAY! I created a page and I thought I knew exactly how it would turn out and I found that it’s completely different from what I imagined. I also discovered it’s for a friend who needs to remember how loved she is these days.

So, pop over to Dirty Footprints if you have a sec and make an art journal page. Share it on your blog and you could win …a prize! YES, a TOTAL LOVE FEST PRIZE!! Woooohoooo

Here’s my love …