Day 98: Cynthia Morris

January 6, 2010 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“Making something — whether it’s your authentic life path or writing a book or building a business — it requires a huge leap of faith because what you’re doing is you’re making something out of nothing.  You’re bringing an idea from out of the ethers down into reality …”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Cynthia, for agreeing to be part of the Project, and before we begin can you please introduce yourself?

Cynthia Morris: I’m Cynthia Morris.  My company is Original Impulse.   I’ve been working to inspire people to live and create with more joy and ease.

Toni: When you think of the word inspiration, how do you inspire people?  Who do you inspire?

Cynthia: Mostly it seems that I inspire women who are looking to live life in a more creative and authentic way.  And by that I mean either they want to do something different than they have done or that maybe their family has done, or they want to express themselves through an art form — writing and other creative mediums.

Toni: How you go about that?  How do you tap into someone to inspire them to move into doing something different?

Cynthia: Well, basically I try to serve as a model for people to create in their own way.  So for instance, I regularly scare myself with things that seem just a little beyond my reach but that I really want to do.  I find that that is always a good sign when you have an idea or something you want to do, and if it’s scary — and not in a safety way that it’s going to put you in harm’s way or anything like that, but when you’re frightened — that’s always a good sign that there is something there for you.

So I try to learn and create in that way.  Mostly I am inspiring through my writing.  I write my blog, the Original Impulse blog articles about the creative process and how to facilitate that.

Then, in 2008, I did kind of a radical change for my life — and I planned this for several months — but in May 2008, I pretty much packed up my entire life in Boulder, Colorado, and got rid of mostly everything and took off for Europe.  I ended up being there for a year, running my business from my computer and traveling and living in different countries in Europe.

That was my way of … I really wanted … and I posted about it at my blog JourneyJuju.com.  And I did that because I wanted to prove in a real-time, real-life way that when you take the creative life as Julie Cameron in The Artist’s Way says, the net will appear.  I wanted to show that rather than just say “Oh, that’s true, and you should go for what you want to do because you should.”  I wanted to really demonstrate that and it worked really well.

I had a great year.  I learned a lot about myself and what’s important to me.  I made a lot of new friends in Europe and connections and continue to be in touch with them.  I hopefully inspired some people to make their own creative leaps, whatever that looks like.

Toni: If people are following you on your blogs or listening to this interview and they hear how you’ve inspired others by setting this example really is what you’re saying, and knowing that it’s okay to be scared but to move forward, that something’s happening there for others, how do you think that helps them to explore their potential?

Cynthia: I do believe that we need role models for creative things.  There are a lot of models for living according to the cultural standard.  There are expectations about what we should be doing, by what age, and how we should do it; and for creative people, there are a lot of us who don’t fit that mold.  We never have, and we never will.

I believe that creating can be difficult.  We can often encounter our inner blocks to our creativity because we’re trying to do something that hasn’t been done before.  Making something — whether it’s your authentic life path or writing a book or building a business — it requires a huge leap of faith because what you’re doing is you’re making something out of nothing.  You’re bringing an idea from out of the ethers down into reality, and I believe we need models for … that it can be done.  Not that people are going to follow my path in a specific way, but they will see that I’ve done it, that I’ve taken a leap, that it’s been safe, and that I have been rewarded.

I’m always looking for those people who are living a life of adventure and daring and noticing that what does it take them to get there, how did they do it?  Who inspired them?  It seemed very essential to me that we have role models for adventure and daring.

Toni: Well, that  leads me into the next question.  What do you need to be inspired?

Cynthia: Well, I love exactly what I offer for other people and try to share with other people.  And what you’re doing here, Toni, is you’re sharing models for inspiration, and people are drawing courage and sustenance from hearing other people’s stories.  That’s where I get it as well.  I love to read books and blogs.  I love following blogs of people who are doing interesting things, people who are connecting with others.

One of my greatest sources of inspiration is the TED.com conference.  This is a conference that is now global, offering videos of people presenting a range of topics – technology, education, and design – and I like that because they are addressing the world’s problems, and they are talking about what is needed, and they are sending forth calls of action to help inspire people to help solve the world’s problems.

I need to hear what other people are doing in a proactive and creative way.  I need to be in conversation with other creative professionals, artists, creative business people.  Hearing what other people are doing absolutely fills my inspiration well.

Toni: You mentioned that there are also books that you reach for.  Are there other kinds of tools or techniques that when you’re there and you’re like “I need to be inspired” or “I’m looking for inspiration, I have to fill myself up.”  What else do you find yourself seeking?

Cynthia: I really fully believe that when you’re trying to solve a problem or gain a new understanding or depth of understanding about something, one of the best ways to do that is to get away from the problem and stop looking at it directly.

What I do is I go outside and get into my body.  I love taking walks.  I bring my notebooks, and I listen to music, and I almost always get an idea of inspiration.  The same with riding my bike or dancing or yoga.  I find that having a strong relationship to myself and my physicality and moving my energy in my body that way always sparks an insight, and I love that.

So, even if you’re not physical like in the words that I described, stepping away from the computer or away from the desk and into the world and doing something that relaxes your brain, that allows new connections and new insights to come is what I recommend.  It’s pretty easy to do; well, maybe not so easy.  Sometimes people have a hard time … sometimes we have a hard time letting go of trying to figure it out.  But I had a really great – I worked myself through this process recently.

In September, I was working on the design for a cover of a new e-book I was writing, and it was scary to me to do this.  I had never really designed a cover.  I didn’t feel I knew what I was doing, but I really wanted to.  I tested my theory out.  I was sitting here at the desk in my studio playing with my art tools and trying to come up with ideas, and I said “Okay, test your theory.  Go out and go on a bike ride.”

I did, and it did open up space and it did give me insights into next steps.  If you can let go of the idea — that you have to control it or figure it out with your mind — and let other parts of yourself contribute, it’s going to be a lot easier, more fun.

Toni: Absolutely more fun, you’re right!  Is there a time that you can remember that maybe you weren’t so brave to take that leap of faith and to talk about being adventurous and being around people that have that sense of adventure and are daring and can take risks?  Was there ever a time that you don’t remember being like that, or was there a moment that you went “Nope, it’s time”?

Cynthia: Well, this is the funny thing, Toni.  I feel that every day.  Every day I doubt myself.  Every day I wonder.  Every day I think “Is this the right thing”, or really, “What are the next best steps?”  And then I can look to the sources I mentioned for inspiration, the others or getting out of my head, and then remembering past times when I have gone forward without knowing or without feeling a sense of certainty.

When I coach my clients, this is a big thing we often want to know.  We want to see a path outlined for us.  We want to have a sense of certainty.  In my experience, there is always a hinge of doubt that we swing on, and I think that that can be used to our advantage.  What I want for people and for myself and those who I want to help create more easily with less struggle is that you can listen to the doubt, but don’t be stopped.

There is always that voice that’s inside of you that’s bigger than the doubt when you can listen to that and say “Ah, I just have a hunch.  I have an instinct that this is the right path to go on.”  And then using that doubt, using your questions to say “Okay, well, what don’t I know?  Who might I be able to get help from or help me brainstorm this or get insight?”

I want to be clear that it’s not that I have become some kind of brave superhero who is just plunging forward without fear.  I have fear around things that I create and put out there all the time, but I don’t let it stop me, and that I think is the big difference.

Toni: That really blends with what inspires you and how you inspire others, but it also leads very nicely into the final question, which is, what do you need to continue to explore your own potential?  One way that you just spoke about is to not stop and let that doubt stop you.  What other ways do you explore your potential?

Cynthia: That’s a great question, and I think that answer is going to be different for everybody because what my work is, is to really help people develop an awareness of their own creative process — what fuels and inspires and encourages their own creativity.

For me, what I know is that I always seem to like to be a little out on the edge, to be reaching for something that feels just slightly out of my reach, and I like that because I love learning.  I need to be learning all the time, and so the things that I undertake force me to learn.

Just some examples:  Years ago I thought “Well, what’s this blogging thing?  I want to do that to share what I’m doing on my creativity tours while I’m in France”, so I taught myself how to blog.  Then, a couple years later I thought I’d love to do podcasting.  “I want to teach myself how to do podcasting.”  The same thing with now it’s playing with making my own videos.

All of those things are out of my reach until I engage with them and start playing with them, and that’s what helps me reach and tap my potential — when I’m learning and trying new things.

Toni: I also … I wrote down a phrase twice, and those people that listen to this Project, the interviews, and follow them, there are certain words that come out when I’m talking to somebody, and I wrote twice now during your interview, “belief without evidence.”

Cynthia: That is the essential nature of making anything, of creativity, is you have to … it’s being blind and going forward.

Helen Keller really inspired me.  The quote on my business cards says “Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.”  I love that, because if a woman like Helen Keller had come from being blind, deaf, and mute, and from that world to become the inspirational speaker and author that she did, if she can do that, what can we do when we have those faculties?  She really inspires me, and that’s a big factor is being able to try things without knowing how it will turn out.

Toni: Absolutely.  I have heard that that’s what you do for yourself, to be inspired, and also explore your own potential, but then I would imagine that that then transcends into what you do for others, and that’s pretty powerful.

Cynthia: Thank you.  I think it’s just … go for it, try it.  Why not?  I do things in a way that sets myself up with little risks.  Like I don’t do the things that put me in really necessarily a lot of physical harm’s way or financial risk.  I’ve got a pretty good cap on how far I’m willing to stretch financially, because that’s important to me to have a certain safety net there.  And so for other people, if you swing out there and know what you need to have a base foundation so that you’re not adding undue stress to your life.

Creating does require a lot of faith and willingness to just try and make a mess and try something again and see how it works.

Toni: Well, I thank you so very much for taking your time today to be part of the Get Inspired! Project, and people who are listening or reading your transcript are going to gain great benefit from it, and for that we thank you.

Cynthia: Thank you, Toni, it’s been a pleasure.   I appreciate being invited to participate.

Toni: Take care, Cynthia, and hopefully our paths will cross again.

Cynthia: Thanks, Toni, bye-bye!

Toni: Bye-bye!

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For more information about Cynthia Morris:  www.originalimpulse.com

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