Day 61: Maimah Karmo

November 30, 2009 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“A lot of the times when I talk with young women who are in treatment, I really just connect with them — not as Maimah or as a survivor or a woman or a mother — just as a spirit, you know, as me; who I really am in my higher self.  And … it’s really beautiful, because you connect on that level of this existence in your energy, and that’s when you can find truth, and that’s where healing starts.”

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Toni Reece: Maimah, thank you so much for agreeing to this do this interview today, and before we begin with the questions, can you please introduce yourself?

Maimah Karmo: My name is Maimah Karmo.  I am the founder and CEO of the Tigerlily Foundation.

Toni: Okay, and what is the Tigerlily Foundation?

Maimah: Tigerlily was created to educate, advocate for, empower, and provide young women between the ages of 40 and under with hands-on support before, during, and after breast cancer.  I founded Tigerlily while I was undergoing treatment for breast cancer about 3-1/2 years ago after being initially misdiagnosed and told I was too young to have breast cancer and then finally being diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer.

Toni: I can only imagine with what you’ve been through, but then what you have set up.  Maimah, when you think about the people that benefit from your foundation or even you personally and you come at that word inspiration, who do you inspire and how do you think you do so?

Maimah: Who do I inspire?  I don’t think of it often in that manner.  I think about … actually I do think about it, but not with those words, because I think allowing people … inspiration means divine breath.  And breathing people into their awareness, breathing knowledge into their sphere, their world, reading empowerment and sharing information that could save their lives.  For me, that’s what’s really important, so my goal is to inspire young women, to inspire their mothers, their fathers, their families.

Everybody in the world needs to be aware of this issue and to be aware of the power they hold to save a woman’s life by being educated about the issue of women getting breast cancer under 40 and becoming advocates for the cause.  I answered your question in a roundabout way.  I would say I inspire women and men and children and just anybody I can touch through my work and through my advocacy.

Toni: And so that’s who you inspire; and how you do that is by providing information and education?

Maimah: Yeah, providing information, education, and honestly I think sometimes just being who I am.   I think it’s really important to show up in life.  I think we all have the potential to show up, and the more you do that, the more you can help people.  And so providing the tools is one thing, but being open to people with energy and to sharing with them and to loving them and to honoring them through all their different phases of life is really important as well.

Toni: When you’re working with people and you are showing up, as you say — which I just love that term — what do you think that that does to others to help them explore their potential?

Maimah: It allows them to be who they are.  People go through life and they experience challenges — whether it’s illnesses or they put up a façade, or whether it’s the idea that life is hard — all these people have these preconceptions about life.  And when you show up in actuality without your façade, without your preconceived notions, without your doubts and fears and actually just show up in what I like to call spirit form, just being your true self, it allows people the space to be inspired, to be touched … for them to be authentic with you as well and to open up, because a lot of the women that we’re helping, they’re going through a really challenging time.  They’re afraid.

And when you can be present with them and show up in an open space and not have any ideas about feeling pity or feeling fear or what you want or desire from them, you just show up and you share that time and space with them, the amazing, the beautiful energy that can be created with women as well as their families, I think, is so important to be with people – really be with them.  Not be with them just in a physical sense but to be connected with them in spirit.  And that is actually one of the most important steps to helping to heal people, and it allows them to heal.

Toni: I want to make sure that I capture that, because that is incredibly important.  Can you please repeat what you just said, which is one of the most important things that people need to heal is to do what?

Maimah: It’s to show up and be present and connect.  What I’ve learned about illnesses and disease is that people carry so much around themselves and in themselves, spiritually and energetically.  And when you show up and you’re free of your own thoughts, your own desires, your own prejudices, whatever it is, fear, whether it is not feeling pity for them or you just actually show up and spiritually you’re there, connecting with their spirit and their energy, it allows you to have an open and pure place to connect and to share.

And from that place, you can inspire the individual to look at different perspectives than they already have and inspire them to think about “What if” and “How can I” or “What could be different?”  A lot of the times when I talk with young women who are in treatment, I really just connect with them — not as Maimah or as a survivor or a woman or a mother — just as a spirit, you know, as me; who I really am in my higher self.  And what it does is … it’s really beautiful, because you connect on that level of this existence in your energy, and that’s when you can find truth, and that’s where healing starts.

Toni: When you think about inspiration for yourself, what do you need?  What do you need to be inspired, to stay inspired so that you can continue to do this work that you’re doing?

Maimah: Well, first of all, there’s two things.  My daughter, Noel.  She’s 6 years old, almost 7.  Since she was born, my entire life has been different, and she is just a beautiful soul, a wonderful little creature, I love her … she inspires me every day just by her being who she is.  She inspires me to be connected with the Universe, to be connected to myself and with her, and she inspires me because children are pure.  You don’t see judgment; they just see love.  Every day she’s teaching me something new.

Also, God inspires me.  Love inspires me.  Knowing that there’s a higher power that I am a part of that is in me and around me and that’s connecting all of us inspires me to know that, even if there’s something that’s challenging or that there’s a path that I want to go onto and I can’t see clearly ahead, there’s a higher power that’s guiding me in that.  Once I tap into that energy, nothing can go wrong in the sense that nothing is right or wrong.  It’s just discovering life.  And so, I would say my daughter is my biggest inspiration, and then her and God and the Universe and the powerful energy that we all share that’s life.

Toni: Are there any particular tools that you may reach for as well, or methodologies in addition to the two that you stated, that help you to be inspired?  When you know, “You know what I need?  I need a little bit of inspiration here myself.”

Maimah: Yes.  Well, what I do is … my entire life is surrounded by people and things that give me peace and harmony and love and beauty.  So I think it’s so important for us to heal ourselves, to love ourselves first of all — and people use that word very loosely — but really love and honor yourself the way that you’re supposed to be, and honor yourself in every moment and every day.

And what that means is, from the moment you get up, realize that you’re an amazing, powerful, strong, beautiful person and love who you are, where you are in life.  And do the same for your friends and family, and allow them to love you as well.  I surround myself with flowers and crystals, and just pretty little trinkets and things and music; and every part of my life is how to contribute peace into my life.  And so, I think it’s important to have an environment that’s conducive.

I meditate all the time.  I pray all the time.  I’m always trying to make sure I’m taking my deep breaths and breathing in energy and breathing out things that I don’t desire.  Taking care of my body is important.  I think I just look to every moment for inspiration, and I look to the possibility that it may not be in the form that I expect  but to be open to the possibility that the Universe and other people that are in my life will provide me with experiences that are going to help me to grow along the path that I’m supposed to be growing on, and then, in turn, allow me to give back to others in a more powerful and meaningful way.

Toni: Well, let’s look at that for a second, because that’s the final question out of the four, which is, when you look at everything that you stated right now that feeds your inspiration that you need to stay inspired, how does that then translate into you always exploring your own potential and moving in different directions?  How does that happen for you?  What do you need to explore your own potential?

Maimah: I would say the thing that’s most important is silence.

Toni: Silence, did you say?

Maimah: Silence, quiet; yes, mediation.  And when I say that … I’ve told people that before, and they think the world is so noisy; and it’s not just finding quiet when it’s quiet, it’s finding silence in the moment of life when things are busy and chaotic around you.  So I try to find stillness within myself and peace.  And when you can find that, circumstances and things that happen around you don’t rock your life so much.  They don’t rock the boat because, at the core of you, you’re still and you’re quiet and you’re at peace.

So I think what I talked about a moment ago, meditation, is really important; and looking within myself to always be better and see how I can improve myself and peel off the layers of myself that I don’t even know about yet.  So I think being quiet, meditation … I’m a very glass-half-full person looking at life from the positive angle and looking what I do have and what we all do have versus what we don’t have.  And recognizing the beauty in every moment in all people are ways that I can keep balance and keep spiritual and keep focus.

Toni: When you are doing all of this work in inspiration and exploring your own potential and knowing what you need, how does that then translate into your foundation and what you do for others?  Is there a direct connection between what you do and how you focus to how you help?

Maimah: Yeah, it is; and it’s really interesting because people often ask me, you know, “How do you do all this stuff, being a single mother and running the Tigerlily Foundation” and all the projects I’m a part of.  But I think that when you’re able to find balance, really things don’t overwhelm you.  And even if they do overwhelm you, you kind of can take a step back.  You can see it immediately.

I never really started out … When I began the Foundation, I didn’t have a plan.  I prayed to God, I was going through breast cancer treatments and pretty much my life was falling apart, and I was in the lowest place in my entire life that I could ever have been.  I was bald, I was sick, I was tired, I had to work while I was in treatment.  Everything that I worked for my entire life was falling like dominos, and it was chaotic, and I was spinning in the chaos and being pulled down, sucked down emotionally.

Then I came to a place where I just kind of was alone – physically alone – and I felt spiritually alone and then I had to connect with God and just ask Him, “What do I do with this experience?”  And I prayed that if I did survive, I would use my life to help other women around the world; and then I prayed that He would reveal Himself to me, not in terms of “Show me yourself as a physical form”, but just “Show me yourself in my spirit.  I want to be connected so that I can use my life the way I’m meant to use it.”  And the next morning, my life was different.  And so it’s been very powerful for me the past three and one-half years to be connected with God and the Universe and being open.  And being open allows me to … I would call them, I have these feelings about things, and I just follow them.

So I think when you’re connecting with your higher power in tune with what you’re supposed to be doing, then you don’t need to have instructions from individuals. And things in the world don’t navigate your path because you’re in tune with a higher energy; and that is what propels me to create and continue to grow the Foundation.

Everything that we do, all the programs that we have in place and the people that we’re supporting and the work, the growth of it is … I would say it’s not of me because I’m not able to do all of it; but I do do it because I’m kind of connected with God in a different, crazy way.  I don’t know how to explain that properly without making people think I’m crazy, but I’m just open to what I have to do and then the feelings come, the vibrations come, and then I execute the work that I feel is important to educate young women, educate young families, and to hopefully help save women’s lives.

Toni: Well, I think you’ve explained it beautifully, and the fact that you have shared who you inspire and how plus what you seek and need for your own inspiration and how that all ties together with what you’re doing for yourself but also for others.  And in that showing up in such a big way as you said – there’s a lot of inspirational nuggets throughout this entire interview that you’ve given — and I’m in awe by that and full of gratitude.  I cannot thank you enough for sharing with us a snapshot of your life and what you’re doing, and we will put Tigerlily Foundation on the Get Inspired! Project page so that people can find the link and come to you for additional information if they need it.  Thank you so very, very much for taking part in this Project today.

Maimah: Thank you; I’m honored to be a part of it.  I think what you’re doing is beautiful, and I’m honored to be a part of it.

Toni: Thank you.  Take care of yourself.

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For more information about Maimah Karmo:  www.tigerlilyfoundation.org

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