Balance Magazine - Personal Growth For Women

Spotlight - The Magic of SARK
Whimsy, Grace and Laughter
By Liz Sterling

SARK is an acclaimed author, speaker and teacher, and was featured in the PBS series, "Women of Wisdom and Power," as well as a documentary film titled, "The World According to SARK." She is a periodic guest on National Public Radio, and her own "Inspiration Line" has been inspiring people for more than ten years. Her company, Camp SARK (www.CAMPSARK.com) has produced more than 200 products to inspire creative living, such as cards, posters and calendars. Camp SARK has also distributed "Creative Tool Kits" to teachers across the country. The Camp SARK message board "Lounge and Chat" is representative of the many succulent wild women groups and kindred spirits around the world.

SARK…Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy confesses, "I am often imbalanced, overwhelmed and engaged in dialogue with my inner critic who I call The Pusher, a term I learned through the work of Hal and Sidra Stone, founders of the voice dialogue process. Our inner critics have gotten out of hand, but deep inside, I now know our inner critics are really allies. Every day I deal with this…I work with what I have."

During our interview, between SARK’s storytelling, laughing and sharing, time just slipped away. Just look at the border of this article. It’s lighthearted, fun, colorful, liberating and so is she. So you would imagine this is who SARK is. But as I learned in the time we spent together, SARK is much more than you see on the surface. SARK transformed her pain and agony into art and inspiration. She is relentless in her pursuit of self-expression, self-acceptance and honesty. Author and artist of eleven books, including the best-seller, Succulent Wild Woman, SARK strives to translate her passion into creativity. Her 12th book, Make Your Creative Dreams Real, Especially for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, Avoiders and People Who Want to Sleep All-Day, will be released in the winter of 2004. As in all her inspiring and imaginative books, SARK shares her own process of exploring who she is and how she responds both to life’s challenges and its kaleidoscope of pleasures.

It’s so natural for us to put people on a pedestal, so I asked SARK what her experience has been with people expecting her to be perfect. "I have learned to deal with projections," she tells me. "Many people need to escape by elevating others. It’s easier to not look at what we are doing if we elevate others. People think that I do everything myself, but it’s not true anymore. I am a recovering perfectionist and I’ve learned to be teachable. I was stubborn—thought I knew it all, but now I listen quietly and do less. My ‘Pusher’ will have me do more and get less done. With the incorporation of my meditation practice, my relationships, my support team, business coach, healer and my capable virtual assistant (www. assistu.com), I am continuously balancing all areas of my life."

SARK is a woman on a mission with a vision. She says, "If we have a vision and want to share that vision with the world, we are required to have support. It’s not physically, mentally, emotionally or psychically feasible to do it by yourself and, we will not do nearly the kind of job you want to if you attempt it all alone. Plus, we will feel out of balance and if we are out of balance, most likely, we will fall into reactivity. This is when we react to situations, responding with a knee-jerk approach. The principles of objectivity allow us to calmly observe the situation, take a step back and a step away, so we can use our measured, linear mind to objectively see the whole situation. You see we have choices. Years ago, I made a decision and a choice. I was living as a victim, as if someone was doing something to me. I was flying blind in my life, crashing and burning. As an incest survivor, I was hiding, avoiding, living less than a half-life, careening around and dealing with many addictions and an overall dysfunctional environment. Life was like a pinball game and I was the ball moving from one dramatic event to another. I made a clear decision to change my mind and my role by using role models, mentors and teachers."

Role Models
People you observe who live the way you would like to live. You don’t need to know them nor do they need to know you. SARK’s Role Models: Maya Angelou, Martin Sheen (from West Wing) and Mr. Rogers, a role model for her inner children.
Mentors
Mentors are individuals who become active in your life. Mentors offer frequent or brief contact. SARK’s Mentors: May Sarton, author of Plant Dreaming Deep and Journal of a Solitude; Cheryl Richardson, author of Take Time for Your Life and Maya Angelou, who wrote the below poem for SARK’s book Transformation Soup. Laughing out loud, SARK squealed with delight as she recalled listening to Maya Angelou read this poem, left for her on voicemail.
I’m head over heals and over the moon,
No work of SARK can come too soon.
I’m laughing out loud, that’s what it took,
I hope everybody will buy this book.
Teachers
Can be either aware of being a teacher or not. Often you will find teachers through books and classes. More formal than mentors, teachers fall into the category of services we pay for. Coaches also fall into this category.

SARK told me she began with a coach three years ago. Because of her commitment, she says, "I have gotten the incredible knowledge that I can be my own support on an ongoing basis. I got stronger, and I can even leap tall buildings in a single bound" …lots of laughs and giggles. As she says, "Don’t I sound like superwoman? "Personal and business coaching overhauled my eating habits, my relationships and helped me reevaluate how I choose to spend my time. I looked at what overwhelms me and what I bring to the world. The biggest thing I’ve learned from my work and my recovery is to insure that my foundation is solid. Self-care must come first. If you bring things to the world without self-care, you will be spanked."

So what has changed, I ask and SARK tells me, "I am accepting how I am instead of trying to be something else. I live out of my creative cove, and move fluidly in and out of roles. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It, (written by Michael E. Gerber) is a wonderful book. He teaches us about our three parts. Each of us has a Technician, Manager and Entrepreneur. But the problem is we have a "Wildly Out of Control" Technician, an "Abdicated" Manager and a "Furious" Entrepreneur who’s not getting heard. I spent a year working on the E-Myth program and learned to get in touch with my manager."
As the interview ends, I ask SARK how she perceives what she has brought into our world? After acknowledging that this is a big question she pauses and says, "I have brought my spirit to the world. I made my inside spirit go out for others to share. It’s in each of us…it’s the essence of all of us. We are intrinsically lovable and perfect just as we are, yet we get lost, blocked and forget. The most important thing we can remember is that we’re loaded with gifts, joy and incredible stuff."
The magic of SARK is that she is able to laugh at her problems—sometimes at the time, sometimes in hindsight. She may take everything with a light touch, but she is never afraid to look at the truth of herself, and encourages all of us to have the strength to do the same…live fully and appreciate everything! My wish for every woman is to read one SARK book this summer.