Day 60: Christine Mason Miller

November 29, 2009 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“I just think it’s easy to look at someone’s success and forget that they started somewhere as an unknown, not knowing what they were doing, making mistakes.  Everyone started somewhere.  No one just wakes up and is a celebrity or a famous artist or a successful writer or whatever label you want to attach to it.  That doesn’t happen overnight.”

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Thumbnail on home page: Original art by Christine Mason Miller

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Toni Reece: Christine, thank you so much for joining us today, and before we begin the interview, can you please introduce yourself?

Christine Mason Miller: Absolutely, and thank you for having me, by the way.

Toni: You’re welcome.

Christine: My name is Christine Mason Miller, and I’m an artist and writer in Santa Monica and the author of a book called Ordinary Sparkling Moments.

Toni: I love that title!  Christine, let’s go right to the very first question of the Project which is, when you think about inspiration, who do you inspire and how do you go about that?

Christine: I think I inspire my friends and my family and people who have read my book and read my blog, and I think the main thing that inspires people is that I’m willing to pursue my dreams and ideas and visions creatively and in my life.  I really work hard to create a life that is meaningful and that is based on a certain level of integrity, and I think that’s what has drawn people to my work and my writing and my blog.

Toni: How does your writing and blog help inspire people?  What messages are out there?  Is it around how you live your life, or is there another way that you believe in addition to that that inspires them?

Christine: I think the main thing that people are drawn to is that I share a lot of personal experiences, not in a sense of hanging out all of my dirty laundry and sharing every detail of my life, but what I strive to do is share an experience or a situation and what I learned from it.  Usually the specific details of something I’ve gone through aren’t necessarily important.  What’s important is how I dealt with it and what I learned from it and what I took away from it, and I think that is what people appreciate.  It’s almost as if … it’s like the more personal the story and experience, the more universal the wisdom gleaned from it becomes.

Toni: That’s absolutely … We’re finding that true every day with this Project and all of the wonderful people that are coming to the table sharing all of this wisdom with us as you’re doing today.  When you are writing this and telling your personal stories and how you dealt with things, how do you think that someone might translate that to help them explore their own potential?

Christine: Well, like I said, I think it has to do with people seeing something in themselves in the story that I tell.  And what I really always want to get across is I’m not trying to stand up and say I’ve got it all figured out and here’s all you need to know, and it’s so easy as A-B-C to create a meaningful life; I talk about how difficult it can be, how messy it can be.  I’m really honest about that, and it’s not that I’m trying to tell people what to do as if there’s some magic formula.

I’m trying to share my process, and I think that makes it a little more palatable to people rather than me claiming to be some kind of expert who has all the answers.  And it’s not that I have all the answers, it’s that I’ve worked hard to try to find my own answers.  And what I want people to realize is that they have the answers for themselves within their own hearts, within their own lives, and it’s just about being committed to that path in your own way.

Toni: It’s almost to me, I’m writing down … there’s certain thoughts that come to my mind when people are talking through these interviews, and the word that I just wrote down was “experience”, and it seems as though you are putting … really, really being brave to share and put a face on the experiences that you have had so that people feel safe, knowing that other people have gone through these trials and tribulations and that they are not alone.  Does that sound like it’s pretty close to what you think might be happening?

Christine: Absolutely.  I find, especially with my blog, the entries where … it never fails, I’ll feel a little bit nervous like, “Ooh, am I sharing too much here, am I being too honest?”  But those are the entries that get the strongest responses, and people really appreciate that I’m willing to call it what it is and to say out loud “This is what this experience was, and this is why it was wonderful or difficult or challenging”, and I’m not afraid to just call it out.

Toni: Now let me ask you, as far as your own needs for inspiration, how do you stay inspired to be brave enough to put that out there, to do the writing that you do, to help people pursue their dreams in a creative way?  When you’re seeking inspiration, where do you go for that?

Christine: I look to a lot of other writers and artists or anyone who has created a life that’s meaningful to them and lives their life on their own terms.  It’s not so much about, “Oh, just because you’re an artist you’re going to inspire me”; it’s about a certain level of passion and courage and willingness to go farther than you think you can in whatever work that you’re doing.

Toni: So they don’t need to be an artist or a writer for you to derive inspiration from them?

Christine: No.  That’s usually who I’m drawn to just because that’s what I do, but there’s people who do all kinds of things that blow me away.

Toni: And so when you’re in that “looking for inspiration mode”, are there any tools that you reach for?  I know that you say you look for the inspiration in other writers and artists and people that are actually living their life to their fullest passion, but are there tools that you might reach for?  Are there things that you do that you go, “You know what, I need a little quiet time or I seek this to be inspired?”

Christine: I would say the main thing is travel.

Toni: Travel?

Christine: Any kind of travel; just getting out of my comfort zone, going to a new location or even a place I’ve been to before because it’s always a different experience.  Travel absolutely; that’s one of the hugest sources of inspiration for me.  It’s inspired so much work.

Toni: Do you have a favorite place that you travel to?

Christine: Gosh, there’s so many.  I love Tokyo, and I’ve been very fortunate; I’ve gotten to go there a few times with my  husband because he has to go there for business at least once a year, so that’s always a fun place to go to.

Toni: When you are surrounding yourself in a community of creative people or you’re doing this travel and you’re re-inspiring or inspiring yourself, how do you think, then, that translates into or helps you to explore your own potential?

Christine: I think the main thing is seeing examples of how other people live their lives and how things are done differently around the world, and just an awareness that there’s so much going on all over the world at any given moment and to just keep in mind that there’s still so much out there.  I feel like I’ve been able to travel a lot and do so much, but it’s still just the tiniest little grain of sand compared to everything that goes on in the world.

So I think it’s just a willingness to keep seeking and exploring and being inspired by things all over the world and always having my radar open for that.  I might see something that inspires me on a walk to the grocery store.  It doesn’t have to involve getting on an airplane and traveling across the ocean; it can happen in my own home, in my own neighborhood, reading the newspaper.

Toni: And then what does that do for you when you read that story or you see something that strikes you and inspires you?  What does it inspire you to do?  What action do you take from that inspiration?

Christine: It inspires me to keep pushing myself and pursuing what I want in life and not taking for granted the life that I have and that I’m healthy — and there’s so many amazing things in my life — and to keep staying present and staying in the moment and pursuing as much as I can while I have the opportunity to do it.

I think the main stories that inspire me the most are the ones where people … it’s kind of, you know, rags to riches sort of stories – I’m oversimplifying – but the stories where people have had to overcome all kinds of obstacles or traveled some kind of arduous journey to get where they wanted to go.  Those stories remind me to keep taking advantage of the opportunities that I have and, like I said, my health, and the fact that I can travel and do these things; to just not ever take for granted that I’m able to do this.

Toni: It’s really amazing when I listen to people speak on the Get Inspired! Project and, listening to you today, I’m hearing it absolutely come full circle that the inspiration that you seek being around writers, artists for your creative passion but also knowing that maybe there’s some trials and tribulations that people went through in order to get to their purpose to live the life they’re living now.  And you seem to really be inspired by those examples and that, in turn, seems to be what you’re doing for others, that the people you learn from, you’re transferring that to the people you’re inspiring.

Christine: Yeah, I think it’s really easy – and I’m absolutely guilty of this – I think it’s really easy to look at another person in whatever “successful situation” they’re in and think “Oh, that must have been so easy for them, and how great for them, and everything must be just perfect in their lives” … and no one gets to be successful without working hard, I don’t think.

I just think it’s easy to look at someone’s success and forget that they started somewhere as an unknown, not knowing what they were doing, making mistakes.  Everyone started somewhere.  No one just wakes up and is a celebrity or a famous artist or a successful writer or whatever label you want to attach to it.  That doesn’t happen overnight.

Toni: And how interesting for you and for people who benefit from seeing your work that as you are on your journey and as successful as you are, you are showing warts and all … so those that are successful that we don’t know how they’ve gotten there, you are providing a snapshot into how you are getting there, and what a gift you’re giving people.

Christine: Thank you.  I hope so.  I always hope that the honesty I share is ultimately uplifting and encouraging.  It’s not about putting a dark cloud on the truth of making a dream real and making it seem really hard, it’s about just telling the truth.  Because I think otherwise it can be, like I said, too easy to look at someone and go “Oh, well, they’ve got it all figured out and that just must have been so easy”, when really it’s not.  And the good news about that is that I feel like if I could figure certain things out, anyone can.

Toni: Like I said, you’re putting it out there, warts and all, and I think that’s amazing.  Some of us might have bigger warts!

Christine: I mean, it’s true.  When I started my greeting card business in 1995, literally, absolutely every single thing that I needed to do for the business, I did it wrong the first time.  Everything, everything!  But that’s how I learned.

Toni: Absolutely, absolutely … I think there are so many stories that people could tell, that it’s just a collection itself of the bumps along the way, and that’s what you’re bringing to life and sharing this snapshot and your perception of how you inspire.  But what you need for inspiration has been a very valuable lesson for this Project and for people who are going to read and listen to your post, and for that I thank you so much for being  part of this Project, and I hope we see more of you in the future.

Christine: Thank you so much.  Thank you again for having me.

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For more information about Christine Mason Miller:  www.christinemasonmiller.com

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