Phenomenal woman is you or I.  Everyday women who have achieved something ‘phenomenal’ – whether this is overcoming obstacles and/or adversity, giving birth, learning to drive, paint or swim, caretaking others, giving back to the community through voluntary work, mentoring others, starting and running a business, and so, on and so on……hope you get my drift…

Meet JJ Carolan….a 30 something year old everywoman…mother of a toddler girl, wife and certified Behaviour Analyst who is spiritually seeking how to live in the present, to walk through the world in a way that is meaningful in the now. 

Over the years of her life, JJ has found meaning in writing, dance, nature, more recently her child and even more recently through her photography.

I asked JJ what meaning she has found through say, her child, photography and writing (in particular, her blog).

“In the b’hai faith, creativity is considered an act of prayer, as it connects you to the same source which allegedly created us.  Although I don’t associate with any particular faith, that idea resonates with me.  I think every creative person – or every person who has been happily absorbed in any task – can relate to the “hum” of being connected with something greater than oneself.  Raising my spirited child, photography, and blogging all connect me to the deepest marrow of life – creation, stillness, consciousness, God, Goddess… so many names for the same river of life.  They each require me to take pause and step of of the daily hustle”.

 I can identify with JJ’s statement that some daily solitude makes her happy, more connected and more available and open.  She shares with us some of what she does in those moments when she experiences some daily solitude:

 “My first instinct in a solitary moment is.. to connect!  I think many mamas may relate to how much I do miss regular adult contact.  Once I reply to emails/phone calls, etc, I usually open up my little desk under the window, gaze out at the lake, and delve into something inspirational.  Either something I’m creating, or literature on spirituality, or currently, Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit.  I also love to order my home.  It’s a small home, but as we did not live by ourselves as a family for a long time, I relish things like washing my dishes and caring for our space.  I also tend to spend time preparing the environment for my 2 year old – seeing her interest and delight in new things also keeps me connected to my inner child! I wish I could say I exercise in my free time”.

If you would love to read more about JJ and share her experiences in ‘finding a meaningful path in an instant-karma world’, please do visit her blog The Marrow Of Life.  If you are a phenomenal woman and would like to share your story - please do get in touch!