Joy Creative Group

 It’s the eve of the Pisces New Moon, 3/2/2022 as I sit down to write this. Thoughts and ideas move through my brain frenetically but also peacefully, asking nicely to get out on paper. This is somewhat of the opposite of my initial plan of just resting and releasing, which I like to do during the final, dark waning stage of Ms. Luna’s lunation.

But as we know about creativity, you never know when it’s going to hit and when it does, you need to follow it or soon it will all be gone from your consciousness. This has happened a few times recently when I got inspired to share something big and get it down on paper, but I’d be exhausted at the time, promising myself I would do it as soon I got more rest and could focus. But then I would get the rest, have my home cleaned and all the other things lined up “perfectly” to write and the spark would be gone, and I just couldn’t find those fluid thoughts anywhere- at least for that topic or enough for it to flow and to co create. You know that juicy state where you are dancing with the universe. I don’t know it too intimately yet, but I have had some tastes and it is so delicious.

I am 43 years young (that is a story for another post) and only heard the word creative applied to me when I was about 34 living in Manhattan. I was doing deep healing work with a shaman at the time if that’s what you could call him. We were having a session and he said something about how creative I was. I was kind of stunned, I remember exactly where I was in my apt when I heard it and I was like “You mean everyone is creative right and I am included in that?” He seemed surprised by my question and even stopped to ask Spirit the question again, he said “No it’s you. You are extremely creative” “Hmmm, interesting, I thought” Resourceful YES. That I knew I was. I could problem solve and figure most anything out, in the worst of situations too (except when it came to technology) . Resourcefulness was a trait I have had since childhood, which I later learned is quite common for sensitive children as a way to help them navigate the intensity of the world. And when I stopped working in corporate in 2008 and said goodbye to my high paying salary to start helping and building startups, I quickly became resourceful with clothing, art, furniture, and all material “things” as I just became a fantastic thrifter and sale shopper with a great eye for beauty and quality and that resourcefulness trait has continued to strengthen in every area of my life since then.

But creative, me? That was something reserved only for the artists, the designers, the dancers, the singers, the musicians, the poets, certainly not anything I related to myself at that time. But something deep inside me opened that day and looking back must have subconsciously pushed me towards moving into and discovering my own creativity. So much so that I named my company Joy Creative Group in 2015 just a year or so later. At that time, Joy Creative Group, meant a group of creative collaborators, all showcasing their unique talents. That became a mission of mine early on, to celebrate other incredible women often behind the scenes, but instrumental in some amazing projects.

I had at this point developed some wonderful and really respected friends in the industry due to my experience growing some of the most sought-after brands in the natural beauty space. We all really supported each other as our careers individually started to take off. That was my intent of JCG, my first movement into my creativity, collaboration. Wow, the starts and the stops of this process.

This is the story of about an 8 ½ year journey from then until now. I may share and probably will share some earlier experiences as well with you here. But for this moment, this night, the past 8 ½ yrs. seems most important as I explore with you, the path I chose to reclaim all these fragmented parts of myself never able to be seen or felt so clearly as they are until now.

Many call this one’s path towards “wholeness” One of my favorite mentors says “Existence should be ecstatic, by nature of the word existence” I don’t think I have ever heard a phrase more beautiful or more worth doing the deep work for and why starting this now with the intent to get it live around this year’s Spring Equinox, the astrological start to the new year of 2022, In the most wild and precious time on earth, (paraphrasing Mary Oliver) seems so profoundly important. It only took me 8 yrs. and 19 days to get it started. Yes, good things take time. Oh, do they ever…

Thanks for being on this journey with me now. I have been through the ringer in this incarnation and yet in the past few years, doing the excruciating, soul crushing, often terror induced, “Am I going to make it? Can I go back?” completely isolated and alone type of work has brought on the other side of it so many moments of incredible JOY. JOY so big and so profound that sometimes I have to ask myself, “is it possible to feel this good, this whole, this complete, this strong?” Truly like I have unlocked hidden secrets from the universe and it really all was part of something bigger, a master plan that has inspired my mission.

And since Keri JOY is my given name. I believe it truly is my birth right for this experience to be magical, as it is all of yours too. My goal with sharing more of my story is to get people to a place where it doesn’t need to be as hard or as challenging as it was for me. I have done the tough work, and it has taken me many years, but a big part of me believes this has happened, so you don’t have to.

Welcome to the JOY Guide. I am here, alive, in love and I am just getting started.