Meet Saundra Dunn

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Saundra Dunn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Saundra, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

To know and be known. This is the heart cry of every human; though it is incredibly difficult to find one we can truly connect with in safety and vulnerability. I was one of the fortunate to find this kind of friendship. We spent hours on end with each other – never tiring of the others’ company. We were building dreams and goals and life together. Little did I know it would end abruptly. The thief named Death came in the night and stole her life away. I know death is not final and she is enjoying Heaven now. I, however, was left with the taste of death in my soul. And this – this is where I found myself left with little option. I could end it all, or I could find a way through. I was unwilling to leave the earth behind because the pain of this death was so deep and harsh I did not want to leave others behind to feel what I was feeling. I simply would not give others my pain so I needed to carve out a whole new journey for this new life. The requirements of learning how to come back alive after so deep a loss was my lesson in resilience.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I have been graced with the privilege of building a life filled with variety. I coach, I teach at my church, and probably my favorite – I create. I create furniture from pieces I find or take apart and rebuild. I create crocheted pieces, art pieces, and home designs built around people’s identity and life story. I do home design this way so as to help people remember who they are and what they bring to the world. I love taking anything old, ugly, or worn out and giving it new life. I believe I’m made in the image of the One who created me and because I am made new I love making things new! I feel strongly about leaving this sweet planet better than it was when I came. While I recognize I cannot do that with the whole planet, I can do it in my small part. I’m currently working on building walnut raw edge side tables, benches, etc. I’m writing a book titled “Lessons from Alice” (built on the 2010 movie, Alice in Wonderland) which is all about how I moved through the grief of my Brooke passing away. And of course I’m coaching several clients in developing their own hearts in the area of identity. I have a deep passion for making things new (as I stated earlier) and this includes people and their hearts.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

First and foremost I would not be where I am, likely would not be alive, if I did not have a relationship with God – I call him Father often because he is that to me. This is primary to do life – it’s too stupid hard to do without him. After this I believe the needed qualities are vulnerability, forgiveness, honesty, and hunger. We must be vulnerable – meaning we must see where we are weak, where we are strong, and what we need to work on. We must be forgiving of ourselves and others or we will just be bound up in our own bitterness, anger and hatred. These things imprison us. We must be honest – this goes along with vulnerability and it takes tremendous strength. Finally, we must hunger. We need to hunger for hope, life, truth, grace, strength, understanding, knowledge, etc. If there is no hunger, there will be no moving forward – no growth.

Consider seeking out a mentor, building a relationship with God, choosing to become vulnerable, honest, and hungry. Do this in some journaling or if you hate writing maybe think about getting in your car alone and imagining God or your best friend in the passenger seat. Have a long, real, and deep conversation out loud with them there. If you don’t like journaling I have found this to be a great tool.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

I have and do accomplish much. One thing I struggle with and have now for a fair bit of time is self-discipline. I have no issue being disciplined with diet, with creating, with writing, etc. I love doing the things I love doing. My discipline is lacking in the area of physical discipline. I despise the gym and working out. So while I have learned lots of things and have discipline in most areas of my life this is one challenge I have not YET overcome. But…. I will. I hope. smile.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.storyfuldesigns.com and www.saundradunn.com
• Instagram: saundradunn1

Image Credits

All photos were taken by me or by KDM Photography