]]> http://www.getinspiredproject.com/2011/02/05/gain-insight-as-we-explore-these-questions-with-an-amazing-array-of-individuals-on-the-get-inspired-project-boomers-%e2%80%a2-what-does-inspiration-mean-to-you-%e2%80%a2-how-do-you-put-that-into-pra/feed/ 0 http://www.getinspiredproject.com/2010/12/22/kicking-off-the-new-year-of-the-get-inspired-project/ http://www.getinspiredproject.com/2010/12/22/kicking-off-the-new-year-of-the-get-inspired-project/#comments Wed, 22 Dec 2010 21:25:56 +0000 deb http://www.getinspiredproject.com/?p=3427 We are so excited to kick off a brand new year of the Get Inspired! Project, and we are looking forward to interviewing everyone!

This year the Get Inspired Project! will be spotlighting your interview in audio and text format (as before) with the difference being that instead of showcasing 7 days of interviews, we will showcase 5 days and rotate the interviews on the weekend.

The interviews are conducted by Toni Reece and will be 15 minutes in length revolving around these four questions (with clarifying questions in between – depending on your answers!):

• What does inspiration mean to you?
• How do you put that into practice?
• What is your greatest life lesson?
• What do you want your legacy to be?

We are also adding a new component to the project – after we record your 15 minute interview, we would love to record your answers to two additional questions:

• How would you define success?
• What are the secrets to your success?

Your recorded answers to the success questions may be selected for multiple showcase opportunities that we are launching in the New Year!

LOGISTICS:

We interviewed 365 people last year and the logistics were sometimes a bit daunting, so this year we are going to use Tungle (an online calendar) to do the scheduling.

• Please go to http://tungle.me/tonireece and click on the green Schedule a meeting button at the top of the page. Although the interviews are 15 minutes, we want 30 minutes with you so we can get to know you a bit before each interview. Please be patient as we work out the scheduling bugs! We are committed to a kick off date of 1/1/11.

• In the location box of the meeting request – please provide your phone number. Toni will be calling you for the interview – that way there is no cost to you for long distance. In the message box, please state your permission to record your answers to the success questions.

• By email or at the time of our interview, please provide any referrals of others you may know (all around the world) that may want to take part in this global inspiration project.

If you have problems with the scheduling process, please contact us.

We are committed to creating an inspiration movement, a legacy of inspiration, and we are thrilled that you are taking this journey with us!

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GetInspiredProject.com

Britt-Marketing.com

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BoomerGenerationRadio.com

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Toni Reece: I am absolutely thrilled to have my two favorite people in the whole world on the very last day with me, and hopefully … well, who knows what’s going to happen!  But I would like to introduce to you my two boys, Jesse and Madison.  Hey guys!

Jesse Cronan and Madison Reece: Hey!

Toni: All right.  We’ve got Jesse, who is in the UK right now, and Madison who is in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and they’ve agreed to be part of the last interview of the very first year.  So thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate you doing this.

Madison: Hey, no problem.

Jesse: Anything for you, mom.

Toni: Thanks, guys.  All right, so when you guys think about inspiration, who do you inspire and how does that happen?  Who wants to go first?

Jesse: Thanks, Madison.  Yeah, I’ll go first.  For me personally, sometimes I don’t even know if we know that we’re inspiring someone or not, you know what I mean?  Like we might be just in our own world and through what we’re doing in our own world, we can just inspire people, but you know, a lot of the time I don’t actively go out and be like, “Oh, I’m going to … you know, this guy looks … this guy  passed me on the street – he looks like he could use some inspiration.  Hey, buddy!”

I don’t really look at it like that, but I have like a certain moral fabric that I try and adhere to and hopefully people see things that I’m doing, like how I’m living my life, and maybe gain inspiration from that, or musically – because I do art and music.  And if someone gets inspired by that, then it makes me happy and hopefully makes them happy.

Toni: So it’s really about how you life your life, the examples that you set, and you don’t purposely go out to inspire, but you think it might happen just by somebody kind of seeing how you’re living your life?

Jesse: Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Toni: Okay.  How about you, Madison?  Who do you inspire and how?

Madison: I don’t know if I necessarily specifically inspire any one person in general, but I can say that as of now at least I know that I do inspire a set of individuals that I work with that I definitely have an influence – hopefully positively – on their life.

Just on a day-to-day basis, I’m like Jesse – I don’t really go around and try and spot the Debbie Downers and, you know, try to inspire them to do things more positively, but I would say that if there are people that are in need of or in a troubled situation, I would say I definitely do what I can and just try and lead by example.  So I agree with that.

Toni: And so the work that you’re doing, Madison, what is … Jesse said that he is into art and music.  Just so that you can tell people that are listening, what is it that you’re doing right now in your work?

Madison: Well, I work with adolescents who have behavioral issues because of emotional problems in their past.  Kids that have troubled home lives and poor situations, and there’s nothing that they can really do about it because they’re in a point in their lives that they don’t have the ability to do that.  It’s nice to be able to, you know, have the ability to … somebody that’s listening, people that need it, and whether I’m doing it to the best of my ability or not, it’s just … it’s nice to be able to positively influence these kids that don’t necessarily have a role model in any way.

Toni: Okay.  So when you guys think about how you might help somebody else to explore their own potential, have you ever experienced that?  Or have you ever had anybody say to you, “You know what, because of watching you, this is what I learned.  This is what I was able to do.”  Jesse, how about you?

Jesse: Well, I’d say the area that this might happen most in for me is if I’m doing anything musically with other people, because that seems to be where this might happen the most in my life.

You know, like there’s been certain people who see how I’m making music or going about art a certain way, and they’ll be like, “Oh, that’s pretty cool – where did you learn how to do that?” And they’re like, “What’s that?  How do you actually do this?”  Then I’ll just … just because you know how to do something … there’s certain musicians I’ve noticed that don’t like to show their secrets, you know what I mean, because they’re afraid that once someone knows how to do something, it’s like competition kind of.  You know what I mean?  Like, “Oh, well, I don’t want this guy learning all the tricks of the trade.”

I think you should just share.  It’s nice to help people out to see where they can get to, you know what I mean.  And for them to say that you directly inspired them to make this, that’s pretty cool, you know?  That’s kind of … I think that inspires you back in a way because, it’s like “Oh, wow, awesome!”  People helping people out.

Toni: Isn’t that part of really why you would be into music or into art is part of the reason that you want to be able to inspire and share?

Jesse: Yes.  That’s a great thing about music.  It’s like you can share it with anyone.  As long as you know how … even if you don’t know how to play an instrument, you can sit down with people and just bang on stuff and it’s fun.

Toni: Right.

Jesse: To just help people out in that area is good.

Toni: Madison, how about you?  How do you think by the work that you do – and I know that you have worked with kids many, many times in many capacities – how do you think you might help them to explore their potential by something that you might have done or demonstrated?  What’s happened with you?

Madison: I don’t know … I think the big thing, especially with working with youth and adolescents and being, you know, closer to that age than maybe most people would be that are working with them … I don’t know.  It’s really a lead by example.  A case-by-case, lead by example kind of thing.

It’s definitely … it’s definitely the type of thing that you … because there’s been plenty of times where I definitely made the wrong choice or did the thing that probably wasn’t the best idea at the time, and to use those examples that I have in my own life – and there’s probably going to be plenty more – but to use those examples and kind of use them as guidelines to direct people towards the right path and kind of show them that making a simple choice, a simple easy choice … not going down the wrong road or being around the wrong people can really make a huge difference in how their life actually takes place.

Toni: Wow.  So okay guys, what inspires you?

Jesse: Do you want to go first, Madison?

Madison: What inspires me?  Yeah, sure.  Sure, Jesse, I would love to go first.

Jesse: All right.

Madison: What inspires me?  I don’t know, I would say just the … to be truthful, I would say my family is definitely the biggest inspiration that I have.  My immediate family.  When I say that, I mean … you know, for example, you, Mom, and all the hardship that you’ve gone through and still go through and all the negative things that have come about and negative things that people say and do, and all the people that turn their back on you, yet you still hold true to your values and beliefs and what you want to do, I think is extraordinary.

Jesse, for you to be in a situation where you were traveling the world, doing amazing things, and then to just realize that maybe it’s time to get out and do your own thing, and to have the balls and the desire to do that is, I think, amazing.

My dad as well.  It’s the same thing with you, Mom.  The things that’s he gone through and the disappointments that he’s faced, especially over the past couple of years and just the way that he handles himself and the fact that 99% of the time he has a smile on his face and he does … he cares about what he believes in, and I think that’s what’s important.

So to see that if everyone in my family can succeed despite everything that they’ve been through and all the nonsense that they go through, then there’s no reason that anyone can’t.

Toni: Thank you, Madison.  Jesse?

Jesse: I definitely agree with Madison on the family part.  He pretty much nailed it on the head, so I won’t go back into that.

It’s funny, because you can get inspiration pretty much anywhere if you have your eyes open, you know what I mean?  To use – this might be a little cheesy – but in American Beauty, the guy who tapes the plastic bag just floating around and to him, it’s this beautiful movement and it’s kind of like just chaos caught on videotape, the wind just randomly pushing this bag around.

Some people would look at that and think, you know, “Wow, you taped a bag – you’re an idiot.”  But to this person, it was beautiful.  I have to say sometimes things like that randomly happen to me.  Different people you meet – like, you know, for me, meeting people from different parts of the world is really inspiring because it’s like, “Wow, things are so different where you are.”  It’s like, I love finding out the little intricacies that make up different people and different places and connections that you can make with people and places and experiences and all that crazy shit.

Madison: Well, I definitely … I don’t know if I can interject – I just may agree with Jesse also on the … you can be inspired by anything.  I mean, it doesn’t even have to be a person, per se.  You can be inspired really, I don’t know, just by anything.

I mean, if you look through the Project itself and all the people that are inspired by so many different things, whether it’s family or desire or nature or plastic bags, people are definitely inspired by all sorts of things, and it’s just … it really comes down to what you value and what you believe in.  And if you can find things to be inspired by that, then I think that it’s pretty awesome and pretty easy to come by if you believe in the right things.

Toni: That’s amazing, too – and you’re right, there’s so many … it doesn’t matter what it is, and that is what has been the beauty of this Project.  And that’s why we want to continue the Project, because it could be the most ordinary thing that is just the most extraordinary.  It all is about your perception.  So it’s really amazing.  It’s really amazing.

So guys, what are you doing now to continue to explore your own potential so that you can continue to be inspired?

Madison: Jesse, you should take that one first.

Jesse: You know what, I think I will.

Madison: That’s a you question.

Jesse: For myself personally, like I said with the first question, I try and keep a certain moral fabric about myself.  And sometimes I don’t always live up to that because I am human and, you know, I mess up, but I try and keep my mind sharp.  I try and keep pretty up to date on current events just so I know what’s going on.  I like to know what’s going on in the world.

I like to do yoga and keep my mind and body limber.  You know, just stay mentally, emotionally, physically fit, and just be ready for anything and just always be practicing and working towards the next thing or the next … just working on things that I need to get better at as a person, musically, and all over.

Toni: So for you, it’s really just kind of keeping yourself centered and your head straight and your body healthy so that you can take advantage of all the things that you want to do.

Jesse: Yeah, and like if you … it’s really hard to go out and help others if you’re not in a good place yourself, you know what I mean?

Toni: Absolutely.  Absolutely.  Madison, how about you?

Madison: Well, what Jesse said definitely makes a lot of sense, and I believe in that, too.  I mean, obviously, I’m not musically talented by any means so it’s not necessarily music, but to keep your mind right and just try and stay on a path that you’ve taken.

I think a big thing is, is that if change does happen, you just have to roll with it and continue to value everything that you value, and once … especially now because in the next three months, I don’t have really a selected path that I’ll be taking.  So to stay inspired for me right now is just to really realize that anything that I want to do, you know, obviously, I can do, and …

Jesse: I think … oh, sorry.

Madison: No, go ahead.

Jesse: I agree with Madison.  I was going to say, I think a good word here to use is being flexible or having flexibility, because if you’re rigid and if you’re standing steadfast and stuff, a lot of stuff could come your way and you might not be ready for it because you’re standing so like firm and stuff.  But to be flexible, you can kind of like bounce off things and move around in your own way.  Life might be a lot easier to deal with, if not more fun, you know what I mean?

Madison: Right.  Flexibility is huge because, you know, at the end of the day, especially, being 22 years old and for you, Jesse, 27, I mean we’re young enough now to where there’s endless possibilities just based on how motivated you really are.  I mean, you can talk a big game and you can say that you want to do all these things and blah, blah, but not many people would pack up and go to Europe and do that and if that’s what they want to do, and not many people would stick with something for so long until it clicks and until it works.

It’s the kind of thing where you just have to keep your mind open, and you just have to stay on your toes and be ready for anything that comes your way, and you know, have the inspiration to – whether it’s positive or negative – to be able to handle it, and go about things the way that you were raised to handle them.

If it happens to be a positive thing that comes your way, then jump on it and do what you can and do it to the best of your ability, and you know, if it’s negative, then that’s where the inspiration I guess really would take effect, because that’s when you need to understand that everything that happens … it is cliché to say that everything happens for a reason, but in many aspects it’s kind of true.

If a door were to close on you to have the flexibility like Jesse said to, you know … if a door or a window of opportunity were to close or you realized that it’s coming to an end to be able to handle that and move in and make the best of a bad situation, I think, is huge.  And to be inspired to do that is definitely something that if you have the ability to that, there’s no reason why you couldn’t.

Toni: I think what both of you said is absolutely true, because there’s a lot of people that are inspired every day, and then there’s a lot of people who just don’t see it; they’re not aware.  So I think awareness is the first thing.  The awareness that “Okay, I have a choice here.  If I want to, I can, you know …” and I think that that awareness is huge, and being flexible enough and working towards it.  So I think you’re both right on.  Is there anything else that you guys … anything you want to add before we close the interview?

Madison: Well, I guess, it must be noted that we are the last interview, so I think whether it gets transcribed on there or not, that there needs to be a congratulations to you, of course, because …

Jesse: Yeah, you made it.

Madison: Yes.  You did it.  This is the 365th interview.  Congratulations.  That’s absolutely awesome!

Toni: Thank you.  Jesse, how about you?  Anything you want to say?

Jesse: I agree with what Madison said.  I mean, let’s see what the next year holds for everyone and keep chugging along.

Toni: Absolutely, and you know, I have to say that – and this isn’t being cheesy and this isn’t for … it’s coming right from the heart – but everyone who has followed this Project from all around the world, the emails that we’ve gotten, the response that we’ve gotten, I have learned so much from every single interview.  And to have both of my children on this last day of this first year means more to me than anything.

I hope all of you out there who have listened to these two incredible human beings that also can hear just how great it is, and we all have our struggles and we all have our challenges, but I’m inspired by my kids and I just cannot thank you both enough for … really, for doing this, for inspiring me, for taking your time, and just being who you are, both of you.  Jesse and Madison, thank you so very much.  I love you both so much.  Thank you for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.

Madison: Of course.  I love you too.

Jesse: Thank you.

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Ken, for being part of this Project, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Ken Foster: Hi, this is Ken Foster, and I’m an author, speaker, and coach, and I work with individuals that want to grow their businesses and grow their lives and put a lot more money in their pocket.

Toni: Well that sounds like a good thing!  So Ken, the first question of the Project is, who do you inspire, and how does that happen?

Ken: You know, I inspire my granddaughter.  I inspire my wife.  I inspire individuals that have an open mind and they’re at a place in their life where they really want to start to understand the principles of how this Universe works.  They want to take their lives to a new level.  They see other people living extraordinary lives, and they want a piece of that.

Everybody’s not a superstar.  I don’t work with the superstars all that much, although some of them come my way.  But what I do is I inspire individuals that are pretty much just ordinary people like myself who want to live extraordinary lives.  So they come from all walks of life, and they’re all individuals that are looking.  There’s a calling in their soul.  There’s a calling inside of them.  They know there’s more for them.  They’re not sure where it is.

Sometimes they come to me – individuals that I inspire – they’re at a place where they feel like there’s a ceiling over their capacity to grow in their business, in their life.  Sometimes it shows up … a lot of times with money with me.  People come in.  They have a block, you know?  The economy crashed and now all of a sudden they’re thinking, “Gosh, I guess I’m never going to have enough money anymore.  My bills are always never going to be paid, or my business is going to stay stuck.”  I help people really get unstuck and inspired – those that are willing to do the work.

Toni: How do you believe your work helps people to explore their own potential?

Ken: My work helps individuals get to know themselves first.  My work has to do with introspection.  Introspection is an art of using powerful questions to go within one’s self to be able to bring forth the understanding, the wisdom that lies right within each of us.  What I’ve found is a lot of people don’t ask the right questions, so they don’t get the right answers, because the answer is in the question that we ask.  So when people start to go within, they start to learn a lot more about them.

Then we start to look at core beliefs.  What are the beliefs that a person would have to have to be in the situation that you’re in now – I ask people that – and we look at those core beliefs.  Then we look at the attitudes, you know?  What is inspiring you?  What is taking you to the next level?  What’s stopping you?

Then, I help them to set up action plans.  A lot of times, we just go back to basics.  A lot of people know what they need to do, but they’re not doing what they know, and so I help them to look at what’s working in their life, what’s not working in their life, and then to be able to bridge that gap and to start to empower them to take back … to claim back their power.  Their willpower.  Their “won’t power.”  Their power to manifest their dreams.  That’s what I do, and I love doing it with people.

Toni: I love the willpower and “won’t power” – I think that’s fantastic.  A lot of people talk about willpower – very few talk about “won’t power,” so I think that’s great.  So Ken, what inspires you?

Ken: What inspires me?  A good book.  I’m inspired when I meditate, when I quiet the mind and still the thoughts of the day and I hear the voice within me speaking the wisdom that helps me take my life to the next level, time and time and time again.

My grandchildren inspire me.  I love my grandchildren.  They really inspire me.  Also, I’m inspired by my spiritual teacher.  I have several, but the one that has inspired me the most is Paramahansa Yogananda and his teachings of how to live life on life’s terms.  I am inspired by just walking in the forest, just being in nature.  Nature is so beautiful to me, so I’m inspired by that.

The other thing that inspires me is when I’m going out for a run or riding a bike.  I do a lot of mountain biking.  I’m inspired in nature constantly.  I’m inspired when I can help others to be all they can be, to really bring their dreams, their gifts, their talents into the world, and help them to stop living the life of unknown fear, where they’re in a place where they don’t even know they’re fearful, but they’re not taking the risk to move forward.  And then I see a person and their life all of a sudden just with one phone call or one thought or one idea, and all of  a sudden they shift and they’re in this whole completely new place, and their life starts to work again.

I remember a story of one fellow that came to me, a very well known radio show host.  His money was … he didn’t have any.  He was running out.  Bills were coming in.  We made one shift for him, and he created $10,000 additional income in the first month, and it’s continued to go up every month since then for many, many months.  So things like that really turn me on, and I think it’s when clients are … when I help inspire clients and friends and family, that just inspires me, too.

Toni: Ken, have you always shown up to the table this way?  Did you always know that this is what you wanted to do?

Ken: Absolutely not!

Toni: So how did that happen?

Ken: Yeah, my story is … real quick, I started out in sociology and psychology in school.  I thought that was going to be my path until somebody said, “You can’t make any money with that!”  I thought, “Okay, I better go into business,” which I did.  It took me … it skewed from where I was really supposed to be, I believe, in life, but it took me on a path.

One day I woke up, and I heard this little voice say, “You’ve got to feel the pain to make the change.”  I went to a therapist that I was in therapy with because nothing was working in my life, and I told him that story.  I said, “I keep hearing this voice.”

He was a wise man.  He said, “Ken, you’ve got to follow that voice.  I can’t do anything more for you.”  As I walked out of his office, I thought, “Am I crazy, or is he crazy?  He wants me to listen to some voice?”

But I started to ask new questions.  I started to go within, and I started to take out the layers of ego and the layers of beliefs that were just absolutely ludicrous that I had been given, you know, as a child, and through parents and teachers and what have you.  And as I started to ask, “What’s the truth?  What’s the truth here?  What’s the truth about me?” life started changing and unfolding for me in ways that it would take us hours to talk about here.

Toni: That’s amazing.  It’s just so incredible the stories that come from people like yourself that really … once you became aware that there was something different you were meant to do, that you had the courage to go towards that – and that has been an unintended outcome of the Get Inspired! Project, and people are asking that question all the time – how did you take that first step?  How did you know that you were brave enough to go there?

Ken: It was really easy for me.  I was in a lot of pain, and pain is a great motivator of men.  I was fortunate to have some really good coaches and mentors along the way that pointed that out to me and said to me that life is not a playground – which I thought it was – life is a school.  Sure, we get recess, we get time off, but we’re here to predominately learn and evolve ourselves.  Evolve our soul and evolve our character.

When I got in touch with that, I heard it in many different ways, and I can articulate it very clearly today.  But when I got in touch with that, my life started to change, because I started looking at the results I was getting in my life.  I started looking at what was working and what was not working, and daily asked myself what I can do to improve what’s not working in my life.

For instance, one of the questions I still ask every single morning is what can I do to make my wife Judy’s life better today?  I ask that question.  Stephen Jobs of Apple Computer asked a question for over 25-30 years; he still asks himself the question every day.  He asks, “If I only had 30 days to live, would I be doing what I’m about to do today?  Would I want to do what I’m about to do today?”

So when we ask powerful questions, when we get in touch with what’s working and what’s not working, we can transform every area of our life.  We are powerful beings.  We are all children of the most high.  We can make changes, as long as we’re willing to stop the pain and start looking at ourselves.

Toni: Thank you for being so honest.  Ken, the final question of the Project is, how are you continuing to explore your own potential?

Ken: I stretch myself.  Right now, I’m in a new mode for me.  I’ve been a speaker for many years.  Today I’m putting myself out into the world in many new areas.  For instance, this coming week I’m speaking with Chris Howard of Arvee Robinson and a fellow by the name of Joe Nunziata up in Orange County.  You can see that at … one of the websites I didn’t tell you, it’s premiercoaching.com/change.  So people who have an interest in seeing myself and some of the top speakers in Orange County, California this week, they can see that.  So that’s it, man – speaking is stretching me like crazy!

Toni: Well, you have a very powerful presence by phone; I can only imagine you in person.  I think that that must be pretty incredible to witness.  What else are you doing that will just take you to the next step?  Are you still going to be doing coaching?

Ken: I coach weekly.  I have group coaching.  We also have individual sessions.  In fact, one of the things that’s happening is the economy of course shifted for everybody a couple years ago, so I also shifted my coaching programs, and I’ve made it very affordable for individuals to come in and experience the coaching with me.

In fact, if they go to my website – premiercoaching.com – right now, they can get a month’s worth of coaching with me for $97, and it’s not so much about the price – it’s what you get out of it.  You know, if you’re in a place that you feel stuck, you feel like you really want to take your life to the next level – maybe you’re living an extraordinary life in certain areas and not in others – that’s what I do.  That’s my gift to the world.

So I continue to do that, and what else have we got going?  We have a large teleconference coming up where I’m speaking.  We’re bringing 50 speakers together in the month of November, so we’ve got a few things on the plate.

Toni: It sure sounds that way.  And for just being part of the Get Inspired! Project in our final days, we are thrilled that we took time out of your busy schedule to be part of this, Ken.  We can’t thank you enough for that.

Ken: Toni, the work you are doing is absolutely phenomenal.  Keep doing it.  Keep bringing amazing guests to the world.  You know, we all need a voice.  I know there’s a lot of folks that are listening to this right now that are thinking, “Gosh, I can speak like Ken Foster – I should be out there.”  Absolutely you should!  Call Toni and get on her show!

Toni: Thank you so much.  Take care, Ken.

Ken: You too, Toni.  Thank you so much.

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For more information about Ken Foster:  premiercoaching.com

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

Tammy Gunn: Yes, for sure, and thank you for inviting me.  It’s fabulous.  My name is Tammy Gunn.  I’m one of the cofounders of a company out of Toronto, Ontario, called Up 2 Big Stuff, and what we do is we recognize global youth achievements around the world.

Toni: Fantastic.  Now, this will probably be a pretty easy question for you to answer, Tammy, but when you think of the word inspiration, who do you inspire, and how does that happen?

Tammy: Oh, when I think of the word inspiration, I think of teens, young people, their parents, people who have seen teens and young people out there in the world creating things like … who do I inspire?  It’s hard to say in the sense of how much they inspire me, but that’s really who we target to inspire, and have them just come alive, you know, like those things that just light them up.

So how we actually do that is through Up 2 Big Stuff, we’ve created a website.  You can go to up2bigstuff.com, and it’s really an essential platform for people to use to see and read of other youth that are up to big stuff and taking on things that you may not see in the news that are actually happening, but there’s these teens and young people that are out there doing this.  So that’s one way that we look to inspire.

Also, we’re working currently with a production company on a television show that would really feature some of these young people and teens that are doing really amazing things and seeing how they can support other teens.  I don’t want to give away too much yet, but it’s definitely going to be a place for teens and young people to really see what’s possible and maybe give them an opportunity to go like, “Hey, I can do that too.”  Like it’s not so far out of reach.

Toni: So it’s not only what you’re focusing on your website and the stories, but it’s putting a face to those stories and having them tell their stories on camera – is that part of the great plan there?

Tammy: Yeah, absolutely.  Absolutely.  It’s one thing to see it in the form of on a website, and it’s another thing to really get the reality of it.  Like, “Oh, these people really exist.”

Toni: Right.  How exciting that must be.  When you think of the work that you’re doing, Tammy, how do you think that it’s helping others to explore their own potential?

Tammy: Well, some of the things that have actually come up since we’ve started doing this were some of the young people that are featured on our website.  I’ve gotten emails from different young people and teens now that have said, “Hey, you know, I’m so happy that I found that, and I found this other person that was doing like ‘X,’ because it’s inspired me now to actually look at, hey, I have a dream and I could live it too.”  And so then it’s really like having them be lit up to take it to the next level.

Toni: So really it’s the examples that they’re setting.  It’s the trials and tribulations that one might be going through that someone’s already been through and came out on the other side of it.  Are those the types of examples that you are getting?

Tammy: Yeah, absolutely.

Toni: How did you become involved in something like this, Tammy, that would bring such a focus to teens and that mentoring piece of it?  How did it happen?

Tammy: Well, I’ve been working with children for about four years.  I’m just really interested in how they develop, and you know, what’s out there for them.  I remember about a year-and-a-half ago, I was watching TV.  I was watching the news, and I kept seeing these stories of teens like not shed in a positive light but different negative things that were happening.  I’m thinking, you know, there’s always a flip to everything, so there must be some kids out there too that are doing some pretty amazing stuff.

And so I started Googling around and searching, and I got so inspired by what I found.  Like a 16-year-old who is working in cancer research already, and her science project is winning amazing awards for what she’s up to.  A young gentleman who is a poet actually here in Toronto who is just like … his words are just like impacting people around the world, and I was so moved by what they were creating.

I was speaking with a friend of mine who is now the cofounder of Up 2 Big Stuff as well, and we had done like a morning call every single day, and we had been talking about wanting to do something really big and be able to give back.  Through that conversation, we really realized we were both walking on the same path of wanting to make a difference with youth, wanting to have them have a voice out there, you know, really having them shed in a light that shows like, hey, these are our future generations and we can impact them positively and give them a place where they can just excel.

Because really, they’re our future governments, they’re our leaders, they’re the people that will find the cure for cancer or for AIDS or anything such as that.  They’re just really going to bring one community together.

So that’s where we came up with Up 2 Big Stuff, because teens and young people, let’s face it, they’re  up to big stuff!

Toni: They certainly are.  We had an example of that on the Get Inspired! Project of a gentleman just very … it sounded like, “yeah, guess what I’m doing?” and you ask him, “So what do you do?” and he said, “Well, I help bring clean water to underdeveloped countries” and he’s nineteen years old and has been doing it since he was six!

Tammy: Yeah.  Phenomenal, isn’t it?  What is our excuse as adults?  That’s what I have to say about that.

Toni: So Tammy, what inspires you?

Tammy: Oh, what inspires me?  You know, where it really starts though, what really inspires me is my mom and dad.  They told me “You can do anything you put your mind to,” and literally, like I have been living through that.  My mom and dad are like … they’re just the coolest, and being able to bring that to young people and teens … like what really inspires me is being able to give them that, and then knowing … like I said, knowing these are our future generation leaders, and they’re the CEOs of companies that are going to build things we don’t even know about.

Who I am inspires me to be able to give back to them, like to give them the space for that, and just to see all of the wonderful children that are out there and growing into young adults, and what they’re creating, it just … it gives me shivers when I think about what’s happening out there.

Toni: And so for you, it’s a frame of mind, isn’t it?

Tammy: It is.  Yeah, absolutely.  It all starts with our mind.  What we believe, we can achieve.  And the more positive influences that we provide as adults for younger generations, the better the mindset is.  Moving forward, we can instill that in our children; like whatever you believe you can achieve, you know, whatever you think you can do, you can do it, and just really give them an opportunity to be self-expressed and be inside of that conversation.  I think that’s really where inspiration takes place.

Toni: When you find yourself needing to be inspired or you’re looking to build yourself up a bit, are there tools and resources that you tend to reach for on a regular basis?

Tammy: Yeah, I read.  I read a lot.  When I’m looking for inspiration, one of the most important things that I do is I turn to looking for quotes.  Quotes from great leaders, as well as looking for, you know, different books that I’ve read like The Alchemist or Philistine Prophecy or The Element by Ken Robinson.  All sorts of different avenues I use to really get inspired.  Listening to music.  Music is a great inspiration for me as well.

Toni: What kind of music do you listen to?

Tammy: I have a very wide array.  I love jazz, I love blues, I love the pop music.  One of my favorites – this is going to sound very funny right now – but one of my favorites is a song that actually my friend sent me that is off Sesame Street, and it’s called, “What I Am” by Will.i.am from Black Eyed Peas.  It is literally like 1 minute, 53 seconds, and if you are not smiling by the end of that and inspired to just like go out there and just make stuff happen … I don’t know …

Toni: Shame on them, then, isn’t it?

Tammy: Yeah, exactly.  Exactly.

Toni: Oh, well it sounds as though you are doing some amazing things, and I would hope that those that you are inspiring are carrying that forward as well and inspiring others.

Tammy: Oh yes, thank you.  Yeah.

Toni: Now, how are you exploring your own potential?

Tammy: My own potential … this has been such a journey over the past year, you know?  I really take into account like doing my own professional development of course, working on myself, reading lots, meditating, looking for and creating – all the time – from absolutely nothing.

Like really … exploring my potential would be always saying, “anything is possible,” even when it looks impossible, and just living from that.

Toni: That takes a lot of courage.

Tammy: You know, I say it, and I can honestly say, there’s moments where it’s scary to really look from there and to be able to do that.  But you know, at the end of the day if you look from “anything is possible,” it’s like that opportunity to really impact and make a difference, where you may not have thought you could actually do it.

Toni: Tammy, there are a lot of people that are following the Get Inspired! Project, and they may want to also step inside of that thought, which is “anything is possible,” but it is scary.  So what advice would you give people that might be at that place?  They’re taking that first step through the door of “anything is possible” – what would be the push that you would give them from behind?

Tammy: I would really let them know, it’s literally one step in front of the other.  It’s just like climbing a mountain.  It’s going to look like a mountain, and as long as you continue to take every day taking one step forward, there’s nothing you can’t achieve.

Toni: How does that thought process then tie to what you’re doing with these children?

Tammy: It definitely is a huge part of what I’m doing with the children is through working on workshops or developing a workshop phase, and it’s literally around that.  It’s literally like let’s create … like, “Let’s really look at and break apart what it is that you really want to do that would make a difference for you in the world, if that was actually happening in your community or in the world, and then let’s look at it step by step and walk together and really being in communication with people, using your communities, like literally one step in front of the other.  You can make it happen.”

Toni: Fantastic.  What a great piece of advice to leave the interview with as well.  And it is just fascinating what you’re doing and the achievements that you have created, not only for yourself, but for the people that you’re trying to serve, and I think that that’s pretty amazing.  We cannot thank you enough for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.

Tammy: Thanks, Toni.  I really appreciate being  a part of such an inspiring group of people.

Toni: Thank you.  Take care, Tammy.

Tammy: You too.

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For more information about Tammy Gunn:  www.up2bigstuff.com

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

Mark Bergel: My name is Mark Bergel, and I’m the Founder and Executive Director of A Wider Circle.

Toni: Can you tell us what A Wider Circle is, please?

Mark: It’s a nonprofit organization that helps children and adults to lift themselves out of poverty.  We provide all the basic need items families may have from beds, dressers, tables and chairs, to dish sets, pots and pans, and nonperishable food.  We provide that all free of charge for anybody who comes into our midst, and we also provide educational programs.  We have workshops on stress management, money management, job skills, nutrition, and general life skills.

Toni: Well, I think this next question will be pretty easy for you.  When you think about inspiration, who do you inspire, and how does that happen?

Mark: I would say first my real mission in life, my job and life if you will, is to inspire those who are not in poverty to get involved and make it a priority to help everyone to have the opportunity to live well.  So underlying all of the work I do really is to try to inspire those who have all that they need or have all the basic need items, I should say, and who have been given the opportunity to succeed or to live well – to inspire them to think about others and to think about their lives as being much bigger than just themselves.

Toni: Mark, how do you inspire people to think that way, to think differently, and to even really know that you are there and what you’re about?

Mark: I think we exist much differently than we think we exist.  In other words, the lives that we all tend to lead are much smaller than they may truly be.  In other words, we restrict our compassion to those few nearest us.  We define ourselves as maybe being 5 foot, 8 inches, or 5 foot, 10 inches, or 5 foot, 3 inches tall, when if we really saw how we existed in this world, we would see that we’re intimately connected to others, that this is a web of life, that it’s only again a matter of perspective.  It keeps us from seeing how we truly exist.

So, taking that picture and showing how any woman who is at a corner in need of money or begging for food, that has to be seen … that person has to be seen as each of our mothers.  If we can see anybody in need as being our mother or our father or our brother or our sister or our child, then I believe it’s the first step in understanding what is possible in our lives, and that is really the question and the statement for which I live – what is possible?

Toni: How do you help other people to explore their own potential?

Mark: In a few different ways.  I’ve obviously been fortunate to have been exposed to some great writers and to some people who have lived extraordinary lives, and I try to share the wisdom that I’ve learned with them, whether it’s in presentations or day-to-day conversations, or however it is that the word can be spread.

So I’ll find myself just as easily one night in a shelter for women who are escaping domestic violence, and I’ll be talking about stress management and meditation and how we can create a different life just by seeing it and visualizing it every day.  The next night, I might be in a group where there’s 50 people who have, you know, funds to give to an organization, and it’s the same thing, trying to share with them that we need to see our lives as being bigger than just the day-to-day lives we currently live, and to understand that there’s tremendous opportunity we each have every day to create the kind of change that will give every kid a chance to succeed and every mom a chance to live well.

So every day I’m in a different environment, where as long as I am committed to this mission and I keep the vision kind of clear in my head, then, you know, there’s several ways to inspire folks.  But I believe people really want more meaning in their lives, and so my job is to try to help them find it.

Toni: What really interests me about this is not only the gratification – and thank goodness there are people like you and organizations like yourself that you have created to help people – but what I really like is the dual purpose that’s going on, and really keeping that dual purpose forefront; and that’s one, the purpose of obviously who you serve, but also the inspiration and potential that you provide in others who are serving.

Mark: Well, there’s … it’s human connection first and foremost.  That’s why poverty endures, because there’s not enough human connection.  When we increase the sense of connection in our world, then poverty doesn’t have a chance.

There are so many more people who are not living day-to-day without their basic need items.  In other words, most of the people have what they need, so if those folks can just say, “All right, I got mine, now I’m going to help other people to make sure they have their opportunity.”  And that’s all it takes.

So, we can see that the mathematics are very simple.  For every three of us who have it, there’s one who doesn’t.  So if I had a sister and two brothers, and one of them was in need, the three of us would make sure the one had everything they need.  That’s all we have to do – take that model and expand upon it.  That’s it.

There’s a lot of things that can get in the way of seeing things like that, and so to the extent that we can, like a sculptor, just chip away at what keeps us from being more connected, and therefore leave us with this greater sense of connection, then we’ll be okay.  Once we connect more to people, we’ll be okay.

Toni: What inspires you, Mark?

Mark: Well, I’ve been fortunate to have been able to get an education, and so in my education I was able to read about people who have lead, again, extraordinary lives, whether it was Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr., or others who said, “This is it.  This is what I’m supposed to do with my life.  Whatever it takes.”  That’s what inspires me daily.

You know, I’m very fortunate to be able to have a life where I can have my spiritual connection, which is of course a very personal kind of connection, dictate every part of my life; then that makes it real easy.  So I like to connect to, you know, everyone around and I think … I’m lucky, I have a lot of people who work on this team as interns and volunteers and staff members, and their commitment inspires me.

Toni: Mark, what has … I’ve been saying this more and more, in these last batches of interviews in the first year of the Get Inspired! Project – what has become this unintended outcome is people like yourself talking about passion and purpose.  Whether they’ve come up on it by accident and realized it, or it was an evolution.  How did this happen for you?  Where did the passion come from to fuel this purpose?

Mark: Well, it was both.  It was always there, and then it was one moment, if you will, and it was when I was volunteering and I found myself in the apartment of a grandmother and a mother and two kids.

The grandmother reminded me of my own grandmother, who at the time was my best friend.  She was still alive, and she was 80 years old.  This woman, who had oxygen tubes in her nose and a walker, and her daughter was in very poor health and her grandkids were in poor health, but I connected with her the most and was talking to her for several minutes, and then she told me she was 35 years old.

And I just thought, that’s just unbelievable that poverty could leave people in that condition at such a young age.

So I left that apartment and I started driving down Georgia Avenue in Washington, D.C. and just pulled over to the side of the road and said, “That’s it.  It’s so easy for us to end poverty for a family like that” and for every other family that I saw all around me the day I was volunteering.  So that was my “ah-ha” moment, if you will.

Then when I thought about whether or not I should give up everything and commit to this life of service, I just cried and cried and cried, because I knew that was what I was supposed to do.  So it took me a while, but I think probably the seeds were always there.

As I think back on my life, I always felt very strongly about inequalities and how it made no sense that we would live day-to-day allowing those inequalities to endure.  Finally, at age 38, I had a moment where I could say, “Okay, everything else stops.”  That’s what I’ve done.

So it’s really simple for me once I found that, and I cried many, many nights because I just … it was kind of a big step to drop everything else and make this my only priority.  Fortunately, I had the space personally to be able to do that, and so I did.

Toni: I think the lesson here that I’m hearing, and I know that people who are listening to this interview all over the world, you know, they’re wondering, okay, here’s another example of someone who recognized what that was they were meant to do and had the courage to walk through the door.

Mark: Well, you know, I think when you’re lucky enough to do it, a lot of people do say it takes courage, but I think it just … you know, you’re lucky to have it.  You’re lucky to realize it, and then to have the personal space in every way to be able to make that commitment.

But then it’s really just about keeping your life simple and saying, “Okay, I’m going to live simply because I know that my life can affect so many others, and that everybody I touch can affect so many others as well.”  But I’m fortunate to have been able to have found that.

Toni: Right, right.  Well, the final question of the Project, Mark, is what are you doing now to continue to explore your own potential?

Mark: I think, you know, I fall down so many times each day, and so there’s a couple of great sayings.  “Fall down eight times, stand up nine.”  That inspires me every day because I make so many mistakes.  But I think it’s continually questioning what we’re doing and what I’m doing.

Then, I have to be authentic.  So when I tell people there’s no limit as to what they can accomplish in life, I have to go right back and say, “Okay, there’s no limit as to what I can accomplish in life.”  The end of poverty, or ending poverty, sounds like it’s an idealistic or even naive personal kind of mission to have.  But when people, you know, protested for civil rights, women suffrage, all the great causes throughout history, always when the person started out and said, “I’m going to make that happen” other people said, “You can’t.  That’s just the way it is.  There are no equal rights.  Women can’t vote.”

It’s the same with poverty.  And so what allows me to explore this potential to end poverty is I think seeing what’s happened in the past and knowing that if we’re fully committed, if I’m fully committed, there’s no limit as to what can occur.

Toni: I really like that, I really do.  You’ve zeroed in on poverty as far as where that starts, but yet, when you’ve explained at the very beginning of this interview how far that outreach is as far as even education and workshops and so forth, there’s much more going on here than trying to help someone out of poverty.

Mark: Well, it really is about living to our full potential, and when you do that, you realize that it just doesn’t stop.  You can just keep going and keep going.  And what one person can do and then five people can do, and then ten people … it’s just limitless.  And that’s what we’re trying to build here, and that is the life to which I’m committed for sure.

Toni: Wow.  This interview has been amazing.  I am so grateful that you have shown up and you’re on the grand finale of the Get Inspired! Project.  Mark, just for taking time out of this wonderful work that you’re doing to be part of this Project, we cannot thank you enough.

Mark: Toni, it’s my pleasure.  I appreciate your reaching out.

Toni: Thank you, Mark.  Take care.

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For more information about Mark Bergel:  www.awidercircle.org

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

Aimee Yawnick: Hi.  My name is Aimee Yawnick, and my company is Core Growth and Development.

Toni: Well thank you Aimee, and when you think of the word inspiration, who do you inspire, and how do you think that happens?

Aimee: Well, women.  That’s the first thing that comes to mind, and then heart-centered women.  Women entrepreneurs who are by themselves building a business that they’re truly passionate about and the only thing that’s missing is that they’ve lost their connection with themselves.  So those women in particular are who I am attracted to.

Toni: What does the – I don’t know, to coin a different phrase here – the inspirational transaction look like between you and women?

Aimee: It’s an energetic transaction.  It’s an opportunity to help them build and strengthen their relationship with themselves and really connect with their inner wisdom.

I believe that there is a place deep inside of us where at one point before we started this journey called life we stored all of the answers and solutions to all the challenges and problems that we would come up against in this lifetime.  We just tucked that away somewhere deep inside of us, and that’s our inner wisdom.  By reconnecting with ourselves, we gain access to all of that information.

Toni: So that leads beautifully into the second question of the Project, which is, how do you help others to explore their potential?  So can you spend just a little bit of time on that?  How does that happen?

Aimee: Yeah, well, through my experience of reconnecting with myself and understanding about this place inside of me, my inner wisdom, I actually created a system – a guided system for women to use to explore the fastest pathway to get to that inner wisdom.

My clients reestablish their relationship with themselves to get to know who they are, what her values are, what her goals are, and her deepest desires.  By creating a loving, healthy relationship with herself, my client builds a strong foundation for every other relationship in her life, but it must start with her.  That’s the foundation.

Toni: So really, it’s … I’m visualizing this connection, you know, that the person that you work with is at the center and the core, but that there’s many multiple – almost like a spider web, so to speak – and so you work with that core so that all the rest of it is healthy.

Aimee: Yeah, and I love that you use the word “core.”  Core Growth and Development is the name of my company, and that’s exactly how it works.  You have to start with yourself in order to make the impact on your other relationships.  Usually it’s with a business that inspires somebody to come to me, but we always wind up talking about the other relationships in their lives.

Toni: How do people realize they need to work on their core?

Aimee: Oh, it’s a feeling that has been growing.  It’s actually an emptiness, a disconnection that’s been growing over the years, and what I’m finding is it’s any one of these things:  It’s either they’ve lovingly committed to raising their family for several years and now their children are growing up and they’re hanging out going, “Hmm … now what?  Who am I?”

Or, they’ve been in a career that hasn’t inspired them for many years and have had enough and they said, “Okay, it’s time for me to move on, and what does that look like?”  It has to start with themselves, again, to find out what their values are and what really inspires them.

Or, they’ve been in a bad relationship, and they see that it’s time for them to focus on themselves.  So creating … again, it always comes back down to creating that strong, loving relationship with themselves.

Toni: Amy, what inspires you?

Amy: Witnessing other women make this connection.  Like really, when a client, her eyes open for the first time again, I guess.  Reawakening her love for herself and really owning that with all of her imperfections.  Owning her value and her beauty.  I had one client say, “I am a force to be reckoned with.”  That inspires me.

Toni: When you find yourself possibly on this journey needing a little inspiration yourself as far as maybe one day is not going as well as another – I don’t know that you have those days, but in case you …

Aimee: Oh, yeah.

Toni: … in case you do, are there tools and resources that you find yourself reaching for on a consistent basis?

Aimee: You know, it’s the tools and resources that I teach my clients.  The one thing that has been so powerful for me is to write to myself, to talk to myself – to do it in a journaling format so I actually have a conversation on paper with my inner wisdom.

So it goes something like, you know … I put my initials, AY, and I’ll ask a question, and then I’ll write IW and my inner wisdom will answer it.  That has been so helpful to me.

I have conversations with my gremlins, too.  You know, the voices in my head that tell me that I can’t, and I ask them, “Why do you tell me that I can’t?  Why are you telling me this?  Why shouldn’t I go for this?”  I just have this conversation with myself and I learned so much, and you know, it’s moving through the fears, moving through the doubt.

Trust, faith, and surrender have been three things that I continuously remind myself that I must have, that I am always supported, I will always be taken care of.  I need to let go of the wheel and just surrender to the process.  I call it the “magic behind the curtain.”  There’s so many unseen resources around us, and if we just allow them to help us, you know, it would be an easier ride, but sometimes, you know, we make it more difficult for ourselves.

So if I remember to have faith, that I’m always taken care of, I’m always loved, and to trust that my inner wisdom will guide me in the right direction, and then to let go and surrender, it usually gets me moving again in an inspired way.

Toni: Have you always shown up to the table this way, Aimee?

Aimee: No, ma’am.

Toni: So what happened?

Aimee: So we were having a brief conversation earlier, and I had mentioned that a coach of mine had given me an encouragement to turn myself inside out.

I was very much in a dark place most of my young adult years.  I had many, many failed relationships.  And when everything fell apart, I had a moment where I said, “Well, of all these failed relationships, what is the common denominator?” and I realized that it was me.

So if anything was going to change in my life for me to have a different relationship with anyone, I was going to have to do some changing on my side.  Through that process of learning and growing and exploring who I was, I actually came up with this system that I use with my clients, and it has literally turned me inside out so that my vulnerability is more available on the outside.

Where I was once told very often that I was an unapproachable person, I get the opposite effect now, which is very heartwarming and makes me feel that I’m living on purpose.

Toni: Thank you so much for sharing that, because there’s people that are listening to you and will read your transcript, and really, it is so helpful to understand what happened.  Were you always like this?  Were you not always like this?  Was it something you always knew?  What did you learn?  And so by sharing your story will be so helpful for others, so we thank you for that.

Aimee: You’re welcome.

Toni: Aimee, how do you explore your own potential?

Aimee: By facing my fears, by never giving up, by stretching myself to get beyond my comfort zone.  My first career was in the health club industry, so I often compare my personal growth and development to exercise.  When you exercise, you know, it has to be consistent, and you will often feel soreness, especially when you do a different exercise, a new exercise, but you won’t grow and become stronger unless you add a little bit more weight.  You push yourself a little bit farther.

So that’s how I see personal growth and development is you have to go that extra step that feels uncomfortable, to stretch yourself just a little bit further than you might if you were just kind of maintaining the status quo.  So every time it feels difficult, it’s like that’s good – go just a little bit further than that, and there’ll be a learning opportunity, there’ll be a growth opportunity, and always on the other side is something wonderful.

Toni: And I would imagine that absolutely translates into your work that you do as well, doesn’t it?

Aimee: Absolutely.

Toni: It does come full circle, doesn’t it?

Aimee: Mm-hmm, oh yeah.

Toni: That’s fantastic.  Well, Aimee, we cannot thank you enough for being part of the Get Inspired! Project and just your honesty and your professionalism – those two married together gives so much value to those that are listening to just even a short interview, that I can’t imagine what happens when they’re in front of you for an entire session.  So thank you for that today.

Aimee: Thank you for the opportunity, Toni.

Toni: You’re welcome.  Take care, Aimee.

Aimee: Thanks.

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For more information about Aimee Yawnick:  www.coregrowthanddevelopment.com

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

Nancy McCullar: Hi.  My name is Nancy McCullar, and I’ve been a social worker for 20-25 years.  I am the Director of Human Resources at Human Works.

Toni: Well thank you for being here, Nancy.  When you think of that word inspiration, who do you think you inspire, and how does that happen?

Nancy: Immediately what comes to mind are my two sons.  I’ve been a single parent raising my two boys since the youngest was two, and they’re now 25 and 30.  Both my boys tell me that I’m their inspiration.

Toni: Oh, how nice!

Nancy: Yes, it’s really an honor, and I think why they say that is that no matter what has come my way, I just pick myself up and handle it, and that has really been a role model for them.

When I heard the question, I also thought of several people at the different places that I’ve worked, and people have come up to me and said that I’ve inspired them.  And when I ask them why and how, they say it’s because I’m a full person.  I’m … all of me is in my job, or all of me is in a relationship.  There’s not … I’m not one-sided.

Toni: So they get you at 100%.

Nancy: Yes, yes; and they’ll say the same thing, that I just handle what life gives me, and I don’t complain.  I just take it and … you know that poster, “when life gives you lemons, turn it into lemonade” – that’s been my life, and it’s corny, but that’s what I do.

Toni: How do you think that you might help other people to explore their potential?

Nancy: Well, I do it with my kids, I do it with people at work, and that is that I listen very, very well to what people have to say.  And usually people aren’t aware of their own strengths – especially shy folks or people who haven’t really explored themselves.  All I really do is reflect back what I’m hearing as their strengths and really encourage them, and all it takes is a few cheerleaders and somebody might be willing to take a risk and try something new.

Toni: Absolutely.  Do you think that’s how people explore their own potential, by trying something new?

Nancy: Oh, yeah.  I don’t know how you would do it otherwise, because otherwise you’re staying inside a box.  You’re staying inside that which is very, very comfortable, like a nest.  And the only way to really find out what you have is to take a risk to explore beyond that which is comfortable.

Toni: Nancy, what inspires you?

Nancy: You know what, the first thing that pops into my head is Harriet Tubman.  I read her biography when I was 11 years old, and it made a mark on me, because here all these years later I still think I’ve lived my life like Harriet Tubman did.

One of the things that I remember most about Harriet Tubman … of course, she was born in slavery and she escaped, but once she escaped she went back and tried to rescue others, and really … you know, she was stabbed, she was left for dead many times, and she just kept on going back and finding others for freedom, and that’s really how I live my life.  I don’t mean that I’ve taken people out of slavery, but people sometimes get trapped in their fears, and that’s just what I like doing is helping encouraging people to take risks and to find out who they really are.

Toni: How did you come to the table that way, Nancy?  Were you always that way?

Nancy: I have an uncle who says that I’m very unusual in that I was more … he said even as a child, I was more afraid to stand still than I was to take a risk, and that I get very nervous if I have to do the same thing over and over and over and over – I think, “Okay, I’m missing something.”  Probably, if you think about an internal dial or internal setting, mine is set on not standing still.

Toni: What do you find yourself reaching for when you have a day that you’re looking to be inspired more than another day, when you need to kind of fill yourself up a little bit?  Are there tools and resources that you reach for on a consistent basis?

Nancy: Oh wow, what a question!  Yes.  And mostly, again, the book that popped in my mind was The Women’s Retreat Book, and that’s a book that really is all about how to take care of yourself when you’re feeling depleted.  The book is really cool because it says, “Feeling lonely?  Here are some things to do.  Feeling not centered?  Here are some things to do.”  I know actually so much of the exercises in it, I don’t even need to look at the book.

Sometimes it’s about getting reconnected with nature.  Sometimes it’s about taking a really good nap, and other times it’s about making a list of the things that you’re avoiding and just, “Okay, we’re going to do this then.”  It just really depends on what has stymied me on that particular day.

Toni: So there are resources that you can get in this particular book that say, you know, this is what I think it is today, and it will help you to get past that?

Nancy: Yes.  It’s not like … it’s more … you know, if you’re stymied and not inspired, it’s because there’s something stuck inside, so it’s really more about how to get more in tune with yourself.  And for me, many, many, many times it’s taking a walk in the forest or taking a … nature.  Nature always does it for me.  Being in a garden or whatever.

Other times it might be … I just … I get rattled if … I’m not a clean freak at all, but I get rattled if my home isn’t clean.  So sometimes when I’m thinking things through, I’ll clean, and by the end of the day I’ll go, “Oh, I know what I’m going to do about that!” because it’s processed unconsciously.

Toni: That is what’s so great about the Project, because there are people who will be listening to you all over the world, and it’s really been interesting to hear what other people do when they need to fill up that inspiration bucket.  So to talk about tools and resources that you use, maybe something that someone else hasn’t seen, so that sounds like a really good tip for people out there.

Nancy: Good.

Toni: What do you do now to explore your own potential, Nancy?

Nancy: Well … so recently I was unemployed and in that I … I have little tricks that I do when I’m at a loss for where do I want to go next, and one is that I signed up for an online course in writing blogs, because I’d always wanted to do that.  So I thought, “Oh, now’s a good time to do that.”

I started painting one bedroom.  I guess … I guess then the answer to your question is I get involved in projects that take me beyond worrying about myself and start … I learn something new in doing that project.

Toni: So really it is … for you, it is a common theme that there isn’t a whole lot that you do for yourself as far as you are always looking on how you can learn to do something different, or what’s it going to take so that you can get back out there, and how can you continue to help people.  That’s what I’m hearing from you.

Nancy: Oh, oh … and if my therapist was listening, she would say, “What?  She didn’t learn anything?”  She would say that the main thing … that you’re absolutely right, that I’m geared to getting out there and learning more and helping others, and therefore what I always have to be aware of is am I taking good care of myself?

So the piece I left out is when I found out I was unemployed, the very next day I made this great breakfast for myself that I only make for myself on the days that are really the pit days – and so maybe once a year I make this complex breakfast – and that’s one of the ways that I take care of myself.

I put on music that I only use on the days that I’m feeling the worst, and that’s the way I take care of myself when I’m truly, truly, truly at a loss.

Toni: So you do take care of yourself.

Nancy: Oh, absolutely.  I couldn’t handle what I handle without taking care of myself, and I’ve gotten better and better and better at it.

Toni: Oh, that’s fantastic.  What great advice that you’ve given, and how you inspire and what you’re doing now.  I think it’s just really wonderful to hear it from your perspective, and we wish you the greatest success in this new career that you’re embarking on, and thank you so much for taking your time to be part of the Get Inspired! Project.

Nancy: It was fun.  Thank you for asking me.

Toni: Oh, you are quite welcome.  Take care, Nancy.

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

Serena: This is Serena.

Kiley: And this is Kiley.

Tess: This is Tess.  And we are Truth on Earth.

Toni: Well, welcome to the Get Inspired! Project.  For those who are loyal listeners and followers of the Project, we have done a dual interview, but we haven’t done three, so this should be quite fun today.  So thank you all for being here.  Tell me a little bit about Truth on Earth.

Kiley: This is Kiley.  Truth on Earth – we are a social action rock band, and we write songs about major world problems and potential solutions such as homelessness, child abuse, starvation, women empowerment, racism, equality, freethinking, factory farming, and many other serious issues.  We also give 70% of our profits back to organizations that support the causes we sing about.

Toni: Wow.  And what is your website?

Kiley: Our website is truthonearth.com.

Toni: Okay.  Thank you very much.  Now, I’m going to – I’m sure you guys will tell us who’s answering the question, or if you’re going to answer it together, I’m not sure – but when you guys think of that word inspiration, who do you think you inspire, and how is that happening?

Serena: This is Serena.  We really hope to inspire young and older people alike.  We have a lot of people from all walks in life and various ages contact us and tell us how much we inspire them to go vegan or to get involved or to quit any substance they’re abusing, or to just make a better … you know, make a difference in their life to make it a better planet for future generations.

And, you know, we hope to do this with our music.  That’s why all of our songs are about a problem in the world, because we want to inspire people to take action against these problems and make the world a better place.

Toni: Give me an example of one of these songs and what you’ve done to inspire others.

Kiley: This is Kiley.  For example, we have a song called “Some People” which tackles the issue of substance abuse.  And when we perform “Some People” at our gigs, we’ve had so many people come up to us saying, “I used to have a substance abuse problem” or “My parents, you know, they had this problem,” or “Someone in the family or friends have this problem” and it inspires people to get on the front line and make this problem stop, whether it’s in their community or starting a website to post information to educate other people about it.

We also have this with our song called “Factory Farm” which is synched from the perspective of the animals in factory farms.  Thousands of people … it’s amazing … they have written in to us from all over the world telling us that they have gone vegetarian or vegan after watching our music video for “Factory Farm” because all of these issues … people really don’t know necessarily how big these problems are or what is really going on, so they’re learning about the truth that we sing about.  It really enlightens a lot of people, which is really cool.

Toni: Oh, it sounds amazing.  How do you ladies think that you help people to explore their own potential?

Kiley: This is Kiley, and again, we are inspiring people in reaching their own potential because we’re teaching them about the truth that our songs are about.  We have a song … we have a song called “Calling The Nation” and it tackles the issue of climate change.  Other people know it as global warming.  A lot of people are trying to get involved with making it stop but don’t necessarily know how.

Tess: This is Tess, and it really shows people that it’s easy to take action and get involved in making the world a better place because if we don’t do something now, then there won’t be much of a planet for future generations to inherit.

Toni: Absolutely.  This is really amazing, ladies, what you’re doing.  What inspires you?

Tess: This is Tess, and what inspires us a lot is when we travel in our RV and such, we see a lot of the problems firsthand that we write about, and it inspires us to really get involved in that and take action and start being part of the solution and not the problem.  Because instead of fixing it and being part of the solution, a lot of times people are just living the problems.

Toni: It’s interesting.  I just finished an interview with a gentleman who is … really interesting that you just said this – they serve people who are in poverty.  And the hardest thing for him to do is find people who are not in poverty to help those who are.

Tess: Yeah, poverty is a huge problem these days, and I think there are people out there who realize how big of a problem it is, but a lot of people still don’t realize how common it is.

Kiley: This is Kiley, and we also have a song called “Where Will You Sleep Tonight?” that covers the issue of homelessness.  Even like in the city of L.A., there are over 80,000 homeless people, and most people wouldn’t know that the average age of a homeless person is nine years old.

So when we write about these songs and people hear them, it’s amazing because we’ve seen that it awakens something in people to such an emotional level that they want to be involved in making positive change.

Toni: How did you guys get together to do this?

Tess: This is Tess.  We’ve been singing and performing since we’ve been … well, since I’ve been three, and we’re sisters, and our parents have always had us doing music, whether it was playing the piano or learning a new instrument, or Dad teaching  us harmonies when we were little kids.  As we got older, we just decided to, you know, kick it up a notch and really take things to the next level and start making a big impact on the world.

Toni: Wow.  Do you get to see the impact that you create?

Kiley: We do, every single day.  This is Kiley, by the way.  And that’s been the really incredible thing for us to experience is that not only seeing these problems, a lot of them firsthand by, like Tess said, going around in our RV around the country, but also seeing other people’s responses to them, which has all been positive, which is just so amazing to us.

Toni: How do you guys stay inspired?  When you reach a day that you may need a little inspiration more than others, do you guys tend to reach for tools and resources on a consistent basis that kind of keep you inspired?

Serena: This is Serena.  Yeah, I mean, even if you turn on the TV on any channel, you’ll see what is going on in the world, and … or going on the internet or reading the newspaper.  But we also stay inspired by … we actually … we all meditate every day and that really helps us to stay grounded and to know that, you know, we are making a difference.  And it keeps us going to know that there will be a change in the future if we keep on our path.

Tess: This is Tess.  Also, we actually … we stay away from a lot of the negative news and stuff because it’s just putting more negative thoughts.  We actually look at all the amazing things going on in the world, and then we just look at one problem and do a lot of research on it, and we get really inspired because it’s just what we feel our life’s mission is about.

Toni: Absolutely.  So who writes the songs?

Tess: This is Tess.  Me and my sisters, we write them together.  It’s a collaborative  process.

Toni: Okay.  And do you each play an instrument as well?

Kiley: This is Kiley.  Collectively, we play about 12 instruments.  We all three sing lead and harmonies, and we’re all very involved with the recording, producing, engineering, arranging.

Toni: So ladies, what do you do now to explore your own potential to even have the outreach be even further?

Serena: This is Serena.  We all have goals we wish to reach in our life.  We all have … we all believe we’re here on a mission to make the world a better place.  Every single day we’re marching toward our goal of hoping to win a Grammy next year and hoping to host musical guests and the guest host, and, you know, just making the world a better place.

We also all have different goals we want to reach in our life, such as Kiley wants to have a café, I want to have a fashion line, Tess and I want to have a vegan beauty product line.  We all have so many goals in our life that every single day we’re just focusing on them to achieve them.

Kiley: And this is Kiley, and right now we are nominated for three L.A. Music Awards, and we will be performing at Paramount Studios.  We have two of the three votes needed to be nominated for a Grammy next year.  So that’s also what we’re working towards at the moment.

Toni: Well good luck to you on the awards.  Where does the other vote come from?

Kiley: Thank you.  Well, it comes from another person in the industry.

Toni: I see.  Okay, okay.  Fantastic.  Well ladies, it’s just absolutely amazing what you’re doing and what great examples you are to artists in general, to those who want to make a difference.  And gosh, you know, I don’t know what you guys think about this, but I’ve heard lately that there is a ground swell of people who are saying – and this is a really dear friend of mine just said this to me lately – “Not all of us can be rock stars, but the average Joes just want to make a difference.”

Well, here you guys are rock stars and you’re making a difference.  What would you say to those average Joes?

Serena: You know, just keep on your path.  It doesn’t take that many people to make a difference, and if enough people are motivated to, you know, help out and to be part of their community or anything they can do, it really makes a difference.  And everyone is a rock star, and everyone can do whatever they put their mind to.

Kiley: I would just like to interject something, too.  This is Kiley, and we believe Gandhi was one of the greatest spiritual travelers that ever walked the planet, and Gandhi proved the best path to peace was through truth and nonviolent protest.  Gandhi was one person who made so much change, so we’re carrying on Gandhi’s mission with our music.

Tess: And – this is Tess – back to your question – well, using The Secret, the Law of Attraction, it doesn’t take a lot of people to make change, and we know that in our lifetime we can make a huge amount of change in the world and make it so that there’s actually a planet for future generations to have.

Kiley: And to inspire others to do the same.

Toni: This has been a complete joy for me to interview you guys, and I am so thrilled that you’ve agreed to be part of the Get Inspired! Project.  And I know there are going to be many people who are going to be checking out your website after listening to this transcript and also reading the transcript.  So thank you so much, ladies, for doing what you’re doing.  You’re very easy to interview, and we appreciate very much for you guys showing up today.

Kiley: Thanks for having us.  We had a great time.

Toni: All right, ladies.  Take care.  Good luck!

Tess: Thank you.  You too.  Thank you so much.

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For more information about Truth On Earth:  www.truthonearth.com

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