Mary O Gara
Focus:
Creative Process, Small Business, Spiritual, Women Over 40, Writers
Location:
Albuquerque, New Mexico. United States
E-mail:
Phone:
505-872-4990 or 505-220-1
Web Site:
Philosophy:
Stripped to its skeleton, creativity rests on processes that produce results. Day after day, the writer or artist must find the personal courage to use thr process, to build up the results and shape the raw mass into a work that has meaning for the artist and for the reader or viewer. Without regular production there is no career—without meaningful work there is no creative life.
As a coach, I help artists and writers find their personal strengths and create artistic (or professional) careers based on those strengths—including curiosity, a desire for meaning, and personal boundaries as well as crafts and a modicum of talent.
Creativity is stressful—and addictive. Laughter is sometimes the best a coach can offer. At other times, the right reference or the right question may help an artist or writer get back on track. It’s also the coach’s job to help the artist balance art vs. craft, satisfaction vs. enough money to support a real life in the modern world, and personal values vs. the communiation that’s possible in a given time and market.
I believe in baby steps—incremental changes that add up over time.
Methods of Working:Phone, email, teleconference calls, online classes and workshops.
I’m available for in-person sessions in Albuquerque and for occasional workshops in Northern New Mexico and Colorado.
Specializations:
I’ve been passionate about spirituality and the creative process—which I now see as the inside and outside of the same cup of life—for more than 40 years. I met some of the pioneers of creativity education while I was in college and have continued to study the creative process through personal research, work with my own clients, and studies such as hypnotherapy, NLP (neurolinguistic programming), Silva methods, astrology, tarot, and my Ph.D. and D.D. from the Academy of Universal Truth in Seattle. The Law of Attraction and the Law of Allowing are fundamental to my spiritual orientation and training.
Although I now see myself as ageless, I admit to being over 40 and to finding work with women over 40 especially exciting because they bring both personal experience and the energy for new creative adventures to the coaching sessions. I find the same excitement in work with small business owners and independent professionals of both genders.
What I like best is helping someone find the vision that stirs his or her own heart, the dream that brings tears to someone’s eyes, and then plan and implement small changes that reorient life toward the dream. I believe in 1% daily changes that add up to 365% change by the end of a year and prefer to work with people for at least 90 days to implement new ideas and processes.
Individual Services:
I offer combinations of email and phone conversations designed for the budget and time and commitment level of individual clients. Clients may change services from month to month.
I offer unlimited email exchanges with an agreement that the client will hear from me at least twice a week.
Phone sessions can be laser sessions (15 minutes as follow-up to questions clarified by the client by email) or up to three 45-minute conversations per month. Most phone clients, but not all, combine telephone and email.
Each month I also offer free or low-cost teleconference calls, which are announced in my newsletter and on my website or in my blog. For more information, please visit www.iowapoet.com
I offer local journal writing workshops and local spiritual development workshops and am occasionally available for a chat by instant messenger.
Workshops:Journal to the Self (full week end workshop) based on the work of Kathleen Adams www.journaltherapy.com Next workshop scheduled for September 2007 in Albuquerque, NM
Three spiritual development workshops based on the research of Pete Sanders www.freesoul.net Individually scheduled with individuals and small groups throughout the year.
Tarot Journal is a six-lesson, self-paced online workshop.
Talks:
Each talk is developed for the individual group.
Classes:
Walking the Tightrope: How to Juggle Family, Career, Writing and Life in General and Keep your Creativity and Sanity Intact. Offered by www.writersonlineclasses.com in January 2008.
Psychic and Spiritual Healing: A workshop for writers sponsored by RWA’s Kiss of Death chapter as part of its 2008 COFFIN Murder One offering at www.rwamysterysuspense.org
Retreats:
I’ve been a published writer for more than half a century, beginning with small town newspaper work, a journalism degree and investigative reporting training with a Dow-Jones Fellowship. I’ve worked for newspapers in five states and published short stories, essays and columns.
I’ve been self-employed since leaving the newspapers and my self-employment has all focused on teaching needlework and creative processes or on spiritual and creative development.
In addition to graduate studies in social psychology, I hold a Ph.D. and a D.D. from the Academy of Universal Truth in Seattle, WA. I’ve studied creative processes through Kabbalah work since 1987. My doctoral paper was on the Four Elements, which are the basis for human creativity in the Western spiritual tradition.
I’m a certified Journal to the Self Instructor, a certified NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner, a hypnotherapist, and a certified professional tarot reader. I also hold certifications in astrology and financial astrology.
As a coach, I began with my NLP foundation, studied with Dave Buck, Alicia Smith, Thomas Leonard and most recently with Eric Maisel. My own coaches have included Molly Gordon, Jeanna Gabellini, and Eva Gregory.
Training and Experience:
I’ve been a published writer for more than half a century, beginning with small town newspaper work, a journalism degree and investigative reporting training with a Dow-Jones Fellowship. I’ve worked for newspapers in five states and published short stories, essays and columns.
I’ve been self-employed since leaving the newspapers and my self-employment has all focused on teaching needlework and creative processes or on spiritual and creative development.
In addition to graduate studies in social psychology, I hold a Ph.D. and a D.D. from the Academy of Universal Truth in Seattle, WA. I’ve studied creative processes through Kabbalah work since 1987. My doctoral paper was on the Four Elements, which are the basis for human creativity in the Western spiritual tradition.
I’m a certified Journal to the Self Instructor, a certified NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner, a hypnotherapist, and a certified professional tarot reader. I also hold certifications in astrology and financial astrology.
As a coach, I began with my NLP foundation, studied with Dave Buck, Alicia Smith, Thomas Leonard and most recently with Eric Maisel. My own coaches have included Molly Gordon, Jeanna Gabellini, and Eva Gregory.
Publications:
“Trouble on the Home Front” in the anthology The Trouble with Romance from http://www.trebleheartbooks.com/GrandDames.html
Monthly Starfire column at www.fmam.biz
Numerous short stories, articles, columns, and essays. Listed in Poets and Writers Directory www.pw.org
Pricing:
Unlimited emails $75 a month.
Full coaching package is three 45-minute calls a month plus unlimited email for $300 per month. Unlimited email plus one monthly call is $150; unlimited email plus two monthly calls is $225.
Individual sessions, not part of a package, are $125 an hour with a 30-minute minimum time.
Availability:
We’ve never placed a limit on the number of people who could attend online workshops.
I am currently able to add three individual coaching clients for email or a combination of email and telephone communication. Individual appointments are usually possible within a week.
Additional Comments:
Please email or call me for a free 45-minute session to discuss your work and your coaching needs so we can discover whether we’re a good match and will be able to work together to our mutual satisfaction.