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

Karey Thorne: You mean a little bit about me?

Toni: Absolutely.

Karey: Okay.  Well, let’s see.  I have a background in counseling, so everything kind of stems from that, and then I taught for a  number of years in high schools, a class called Peace Jam or Peace Studies, which was very much looking at how do you do life, and cause and effect, and that sort of thing.  And what I’m doing presently is – I did a lot of service learning when I did that also, so a lot of service projects that would be integrated into curriculum and things like that.

But what I do at the moment is I have a nonprofit called Heart to Hands, and it’s basically a leadership class for ages 16 to about 30.  And I go to 30 because I’ve had so many students from the past who are like “I want to take that class, I want to take that class.”  So they’ve just kind of … I have a whole group of students who’ve kind of continued with me from their high school years, and so that’s why I go up into that age group.

And so anyway, so we meet quite regularly, and then we do service projects, and those service projects can be internationally or they can be locally, and it sort of ties into what we do in leadership is look at everything that disturbs you externally is a reflection of unresolved things inside of you internally.  So how do you learn tools to begin to resolve these things inside of yourself?  And then we use the service projects to go out and try it on, like “How does this work?  Where are you challenged with this?  How do you work with it?”

Toni: Oh, that’s fantastic, and it’s a great lead-in to the first question, which is, when you think about inspiration, who do you inspire, and how does it happen?

Karey: Well, I would say I inspire … I inspire a lot of people, but I particularly seem to be able to inspire this age group.  I work pretty well with high school … well, with young adults I would say is kind of my … that’s where I focus, I think probably because it’s most interesting to me.

And how I inspire them … I think … I think it’s really through seeing their potential and respecting them, you know, listening deeply to them and really being like “Wow, I see who you are.”  You know, it’s like deeply seeing them, and then in that reflection, they start to see themselves and start to see themselves in a deeper capacity.

There’s a whole lifting that starts to happen with that, and I think at the base of it, it’s seeing the beauty and the potential inside of humanity, inside of them, and them seeing that that seeing kind of wakes it up inside of them.

And so it’s kind of … it’s kind of a … I think it’s a …  I don’t quite know how it works, except for that it does, and I know that it comes out of loving and respecting and hearing them, and then probably growing the conversation, you know, like lifting the conversation, like “Oh yeah, this” and “Oh yeah, this” and then the conversation continues to lift.  And in that, everybody walks away inspired, including me.

Toni: So how do you think then that this helps them to explore their potential?

Karey: I think it starts to awaken them to themselves.  I think somebody seeing them and valuing them and hearing them starts to cause them to say “Well, what is going on inside of me?” and “Oh, I didn’t realize that this would be taken seriously” or “I didn’t realize that I had something to offer.”

One of the things I found in working with children over the years is – or young adults – is that really the greatest thing that we have is what we can give.  We always look at needing to give something … you know, the people that are having the difficult time, they need something, and so we should give them something.

I found that actually the deeper truth is if you can find a place where they can give something to somebody else, then they start to come alive.  They start to find their value.  They intrinsically know that they have value to another, and I think that’s just so core to being a human being that I think I seem to … that seems to be what starts to happen is they realize that they have a gift that they can give to others.  And the more truthful and authentic they become inside of themselves, the more real their life starts becoming and the more they start affecting others, and so then they become inspired.

So it’s like … it’s like waking up the gifts that are inside of them, you know?  And there are different things for every single human being, but I think at the base of it it’s this … it’s this seeing of another, you know, and recognizing and honoring that.  I think that’s probably the core of it.

Toni: It’s interesting, because there are certain words that come out for me when I’m doing these interviews with people, and I wrote down the word experience, and the experience is almost … it’s happening in almost a 360 kind of way.  That’s what I’m hearing you describe.  It’s your experience that you’re using to help awaken the experience of the kids or the young adults – they’re having an experience, and they’re paying that forward in the service.

Karey: Exactly.

Toni: And so that’s pretty cool, the way that’s happening.

Karey: Yeah, yeah, yeah … no, that’s a nice way of putting that.  It’s like … it’s like waking people up.  It’s waking them up to themselves and getting them excited about themselves, because they see that somebody else sees them.

Toni: So what inspires you?

Karey: Oh, goodness.  Beauty really inspires me.  Nature; you know, a sunset, clouds, that kind of thing.  Truth.  Truth is really big for me, because it like moves me deeply when I do that.  The resiliency of the human spirit, just the depth that’s actually in us.  And when I watch somebody in a difficult situation and how they come forward with a new understanding, that’s just so exciting.

Or I guess the other thing would be is when things connect.  You know, like when you’re in a classroom and you’re going … it’s like when you see two minds come together and connect or two beings come together and connect, and there’s like an “ah-ha” moment, you know, and everybody goes “Whoa!” and then you’re off to the next one.  Those connection places are really inspiring for me.  I love to … it’s like a crescendo.  It’s like “Ooh, we hit it!”  Then we just keep going.  We just kind of keep lifting.  So for me, those are the really inspiring times.

Toni: When you reach a day that you may seek for inspiration more than the previous day — or it could be an hour, you know, of the day, but you’re looking for inspiration — are there go-to resources, tools, that you tend to reach for on a consistent basis?

Karey: Yeah.  For me, it’s really when I’m in my loving.  That’s the key for me.  When I’m connected and I’m in my loving, everything’s exquisite, and it’s like probably inspiration happens all around me all the time.

So for me, the things that I do to get there are I’ve got a whole set of books that I read that I, you know … kind of just like every night I’ll read something, you know, about that that just inspires me and lifts me, that reminds me of truth.

I’ll go for a walk.  I’ll meditate.  I meditate every day.  That’s a really consistent practice, and that’s just like my gift to myself.  And I’ll pray, too.  I really will.  I’ll walk and I’ll pray and I’m like … just get in this great state of loving, and it’s pretty magnificent.  So for me it’s getting connected to the loving.

Toni: Can you define that?  Before … I love the way you said here’s how I get to it, but for those of us who may have a different definition of that, what’s your definition of “I’ve got to get to the loving”?

Karey: Well, it’s like, I think ultimately that’s what we are is love, ultimately, and so it’s like, when I can wake up this state of loving inside of me, it’s like I’m just loving and blessing everything.  It’s like “Whoa, that rose!” or “Wow, that cloud!” or “Oh, this face in front of me!” or “Oh, that student!”  It’s like I see the beauty in everything when I have love awakened inside of me.

It’s kind of a mysterious thing.  It’s like … it’s something that I have to remind myself of.  It’s something that I know lives in the heart, you know?  I know that’s where it generates from, basically, but it’s this state of just seeing everything in beauty.  It’s like everything is just, wow … it’s like a state of being and it’s like I love everything.  I love everything when I’m in that state, and there isn’t anything that comes in front of me that I can’t love when I’m in that state.

Now of course, I’m not always in that state, so for me, it’s if I can live in that state, then, oh, there’s just … it’s exquisite.  But it’s kind of hard to describe, now that you ask me.  It’s kind of like, well, how would you talk about that?

Toni: Well, it’s so important.  It’s a key component of where you draw inspiration from.

Karey: Yeah.

Toni: There have been many, many ways of describing the state that you’ve described and you’ve labeled it as a state of loving, and it’s just … it’s fascinating to hear the different definitions of that, and I’m wondering if it’s hard work to stay in it?

Karey: Actually, it’s really easy when you’re in it.  You know, another word for it would be like living love.  It’s just alive inside of you.  It’s just alive inside of you, and the more you’re in it, the more it generates more of it, you know?  It’s like it’s a self-generating state in a way.  What did you ask me?

Toni: Are we out of it now?  Is it hard to stay in it?  That’s what it was.

Karey: Right.  When I’m in it, it’s really easy to stay in it, and I find that the trigger points where I get taken out of it is like if I go into judgment about something, if I become critical of something, if I think something shouldn’t be a certain way.  Those are the places where I know I exit it.  Of course, I don’t realize that I’ve exited it, you know, initially, but it’s almost like being in a state of acceptance, I find, that then I can be in a state of loving.

In other words, if I just accept reality the way it is, I’m in great shape.  It’s only when I start to, you know, have a little argument about that, like, “Well, it shouldn’t be that way” that I then step out it.

Toni: So what are you doing now to explore your own potential so that you can live the life that you want to live and do the work that you want to do?  What do you do to explore that potential?

Karey: Boy … you know for me … this is going to sound really strange, but it’s like I continue to surrender.  It’s like surrendering, it’s like letting go of my ideas about how it should be, and like letting kind of like a bigger sense of what it is kind of overcome me.  And that surrender can be really scary at times, you know, because it’s like how you know yourself.  And so, it’s like … it’s like, who are we if we give up those definitions, you know?  Who are we if we really start to give up those points of how we’ve known ourselves?

Toni: Is that what you believe has to happen in order to explore your potential?  You have to surrender that?

Karey: In a funny way, I think yes, because I think there’s … see, I look that there’s a … like there’s a … there’s something, there’s a mystery yet that I still don’t understand that I’m walking into.  If I try and control it with my mind, I’m trying to manipulate it and make it a certain way, because you know, I think the outcome should be this way, then I’m kind of out of that state.  Whereas if I surrender, and it’s like I just let the next reality open up in front of me, then I’m in an unknown space.

So for me, it’s been a funny thing.  It’s like almost giving up control.  Like, I really don’t know.  And so, more and more … oddly enough, more and more of myself shows up as I surrender, so it sounds really strange.

Toni: No, no, it doesn’t.  I just want to clarify.  So it’s really not surrendering your destiny; it’s surrendering the control that you have over it.

Karey: Right; that I have any idea what that is.

Toni: Right,  okay.  And so, do you seek any type of resources?  Do you educate yourself in areas?  What do you do so that … it’s almost like, I’m thinking, if it were me, which I love this, but if it were me, I’d be going “Okay, well maybe I need to learn a lot about a little, or a little about a lot, so that I’m ready when it comes.  I mean, I want to be ready just in case.”

Karey: You know, it’s funny.  I’ve almost had to give up not knowing to pursue this.  It’s like, I don’t know, you know?  And I think maybe that’s what’s exciting about the work that I do and the world that I live in, is that I don’t walk in with a lot of ideas about where something’s going to go.  I let it kind of inform me.  And so every single class I’ve ever taught, every single group I’ve ever done, it’s completely different because of who’s there, and they kind of create … it’s all created together.  I don’t really understand what it’s going to be, you know?

So I don’t go in with like a prescribed idea.  You know, I may have a sense of “Well, it went this way last time and it went this way this time” but I mean, it’s like a new creation each time, and I kind of like that.  I kind of like that, because it’s very adventuresome.  It’s a little risky.  It’s a little scary, you know, but the beauty that comes out of that, I’ve really begun to trust, you know?  So it’s like, just step up and be 100% present there, and see what happens.

Toni: And what a wonderful gift then that you transfer to the students that you work with, because you’re experiencing the same thing you’re asking them to do.

Karey: Exactly, exactly.  So it’s really … if I were to look at it, my focus would be transformational learning or education.  It’s like, how do you do that?  How do you just trust that just as you’ve become deeper and deeper inside of yourself, that the perfect right thing comes out of your mouth, the perfect right situation arises, you know, that you can begin to … you can begin to live in that sort of state.  It’s pretty interesting.  It really inspires kids, because I’m not telling them what to do.  I’m like “Let it wake up inside of you, and then you live from that place.”

Toni: Well, Karey, your interview has been wonderful, and it’s been filled with a lot of insight and laughter and great value, and we thank you so very much for taking your time to be part of the Get Inspired! Project.  And we will have a link at the bottom of the transcript as far as how people can see what you do and learn a little bit more about you, but for showing up today, we cannot thank you enough.

Karey: Thank you for doing this project.  It’s very inspirational.

Toni: Well you are quite welcome.  Take care of yourself.  It’s been a pleasure.

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For more information about Karey Thorne:  www.hearttohands.org and www.mystery-school.com

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Jason, for agreeing to do this interview with us, and before we get into the questions, can you please introduce yourself?

Jason Parker: Absolutely, and thanks for having me.  My name is Jason Parker, and I am a professional musician, jazz trumpet player from Seattle, Washington.

Toni: Fantastic!  So Jason, when you think of the word inspiration and what that means, who do you think you might inspire and how would you do that?

Jason: Well, you know, that’s a tough question to answer, and I’m not sure it’s for me to say who I inspire.  But I can say that my goal is to live my life purposefully and joyfully with intention and always in service of my passions and something a little bit larger than me, I guess.  And if that ends up inspiring people, I think that’s fantastic.

It’s easier for me to talk about what inspires me, and I think that answer is also maybe part of the answer to your question, because I like to think that whatever I take in as inspiration I can maybe turn around and send back out into the world.  So I always look to surround myself with people who are passionate and creative and living the life they want to live and living joyfully interested in communication and collaboration, which is something that then forms my art from the core.

I mean, that’s what it is to be a jazz musician is to try to communicate something in a collaborative way with band members, try to communicate between the band members and also try to communicate something out to the audience that’s listening.  So that’s what inspires me.  Musically, when we’re onstage and everybody is focused on the moment and focused on each other and sending off that vibe into the audience, that’s what gets me most inspired professionally.  And personally, I think that it’s just people who are living that life that I described earlier that I strive to live as well.

Toni: Well let me just ask you this.  If you are … Being a musician, I would believe that your music would have an intention to possibly inspire others.  Have you ever been given that feedback, or would you hope that your music would inspire others?

Jason: Sure.  You know, I think in all art forms what you’re trying to do is communicate something of your own emotions to your audience and that can take many forms, inspiration certainly being one of them.  We do get feedback on a regular basis.  My band, in particularly, really brings everything they’ve got to the performances.  And it’s not only a musical experience, it’s a visual experience, and it’s an emotional experience as well.  And in that sense, I think that we do inspire other musicians to sort of bring that kind of passion and joy to their performances, and I think we inspire the non-musicians just by the mere fact that we kind of hit them hard emotionally.

I think one thing … I always say this about myself; all artists are self-deprecating — and so take this with that in mind — but I’m certainly not the best trumpet player in the world.  I strive to be the best trumpet player that I can be, but by no means am I the best in the world.  But I think what I’m particularly good at is putting together a band that shares that common passion and the desire to put that passion out there for all the world to see 100% of the time.  That’s what we hope to bring to each and every performance, just putting that out there and letting people see it; not only letting people hear it, but letting people see it and letting people feel it in as many different ways as we possibly can.  We’re hooting and hollering and egging each other on and smiling and laughing, and that kind of display of joy and passion is what I’m after at all times, and that does inspire people, both musicians and non-musicians.

Toni: Well that takes me into the next question, which is how do you think that that inspiration might help explore potential in others?  And you know, at the beginning you thought “Well maybe I’m not sure that I inspire”, but listening to you, there’s a lot of inspiration going on and a lot of creating an experience for not only the people in your audience but fellow musicians.  And by experiencing that focus and that passion and that joy, I would imagine that that also translates into helping others explore their potential in that music industry.  Would you agree?

Jason: Yeah, absolutely.  I mean, we play very often at a club that is near the University of Washington, and so we get a lot of students coming out.  And I really love the fact that this club is sort of tied into the University in some ways because it allows us to bring our experience and what we’ve learned and what we feel is important to the stage and let the young guys see it and feel it and experience it.  I’m aware of that when we play, for sure.  I think we’re all aware of that.

And my band as a trio leads a jam session there that’s sort of a nontraditional jazz jam in that they don’t really call standard tunes.  They are not playing “Autumn Leaves” and “Bye, Bye Blackbird.”  They just get up and play from their hearts and they play with their passion.  And it’s great, because you see these 19-year-old music students come in with their horns, and they’re ready to play their song that they’ve worked on, and they sort of sit in the back with their jaws open, watching this band just making music out of nothing.  They may not get up that night and they may not get up the next night, but maybe the third time they come back they’ll get up on stage and blow a few tentative notes.

And then, you know, over the course of weeks or months, we can see these people sort of getting the idea and being inspired by this kind of playing, because it’s not the kind of playing that they’re being taught in their school.  It’s more of a playing from your gut, and that’s something that takes most people a lifetime to learn, and we’re all still trying to get to that point.  But it’s fun to see these young cats come in and sort of get their minds turned around to this kind of way of playing.  It’s exceptional to see that.

And not only that, but I think that the way that I run my business as a business.  You know, a lot of musicians are so concerned with the artistic side of things that they neglect the business side of things, which is why there are business managers and lawyers and whatnot.  But these days, I think a lot more people are sort of tuning into the fact that you’ve got to run your own career and you’ve got to run your own business, because the days of the major labels throwing giant amounts of money at bands are pretty much over.  It’s time that we need to step up, and that’s one thing that …

Another way I sort of, I guess, try to lead by example is by showing people that it can be done.  I mean, I’m just one person running a business.  I’m making music, but I’m also running a business.  And it’s become a very successful business, and I hope that particularly the young people, as well, they see how we go about promoting and marketing ourselves, how we go about being professionals and doing everything that it takes to be a professional.  And then that way maybe we can get some of these guys coming up the ranks thinking about the other side of the music business.

Toni: Well, I’m hearing a whole lot of exploration here and whole lot of inspiration that you’re providing to the fellow musicians, to the students.  And I’m hearing that you’re also not just inspiring those students, particularly that are sitting in the back of the room, to think “I can do it” as well, but you’re also showing them by example the bricks and mortar that it takes to run that business, not just get up and play.

Jason: Yeah.  There’s a lot of people who can play their instruments in the world.  We all know super, super talented artists who are not making a living with their art.  And there’s certainly a number of different reasons why that doesn’t happen, but I think one of the big ones is that artists oftentimes sort of feel put out by having to concern themselves with the finances and the business end of things.  And I’m happy to see that more and more that’s changing and that there’s so many artists out there who are trying to teach and inspire other artists to spend at least some, if not equal, amounts of time on that side.

I mean, I think there’s times in my career where I’ve spent much more time on that side and much less time practicing my art, but that’s what’s gotten me to the point where I am now.  I’m an artist who’s making a living, and I don’t take that lightly.  And I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to do that, but I don’t feel lucky because I feel like I’ve put in an incredible amount of work to get to that point; and it’s been work on my instrument, and it’s been work off my instrument; and that’s the new model.

There’s a lot of talk these days on the internet in the music blog world about how the music industry has changed and there are all of these different models, and everybody is trying to figure it out.  We’re sort of in this Wild West phase of the music business where there is no one model anymore.  And everybody’s trying everything they can, particularly using the internet and finding ways to connect with other artists, finding ways to connect with potential audience people, finding ways to do things for ourselves.  It’s like we’ve taken it back from the Music Industry with capital M and capital I.  And you know, I think that’s only good for musicians, and it’s only good for music lovers because now we’re making our own decisions.  It’s a beautiful time.

There’s a lot of people out there who tend to look at it sort of negatively and like “Well, I don’t know I can do this.  There’s too much work, and without the labels I don’t know how I can get tour support and marketing support and all this kind of stuff”, when all the tools are there and it’s changing every single day.  I would say literally four to five times a week I come across a new model that I’ve never seen before that somebody is doing and make it work.  Whether it’s broadcasting live concerts from their studio via UStream, or putting free music out there via Bandcamp, or setting up tours completely on the internet, getting sponsorships.  It’s just incredible the amount of resources and the amount of different methods that are available to us right now.

To me, it’s like the best time in the world to be a musician.  I see nothing negative going on right now, because we have complete control over our careers, and we have complete control over our lives; and I don’t see how that could be a bad thing.

Toni: No, it doesn’t sound that way, and also, other musicians that have been in the game for a while can benefit, and those that are coming into the game are going to benefit from that.  You’ve touched on it briefly as far as what inspires you, which is the creativity, people living to their passion and really getting that passion and experiencing it.  But are there certain tools that you seek out when you need to be inspired?  What do you reach for?  What do you do when you need to be inspired?

Jason: Yeah, there’s a couple things I’ll do.  I’m a trumpet player, so I spend a lot of time playing the trumpet obviously, and sometimes I get stuck in ruts and I need some sort of non-trumpet inspiration.  So musically, I’ll turn to the piano, and I’ll play piano for a while or I’ll play some guitar, because just the act of making music on a different instrument makes you think different ways and makes you do different things.  All that stuff helps.

I tell my students all the time that any musical experience you can have will benefit you as a musician.  So you know, I love to play the drums, even though I’m terrible at it.  I can’t play the drums, but I sit down at the drums, and I bang around for a little while or I’ll play some stuff on the piano.  So musically, just sort of getting out of the trumpet and getting onto other instruments really helps a lot.  I tend to listen to incredible amounts of music, and that’s always very inspiring.

And sometimes I just need inspiration that doesn’t come from music, and I’ll take a walk around my neighborhood, or I’ll go to Green Lake and sit by the water and just stare at the ripples in the water.  I read a lot of nonfiction books, a lot of music stuff.  I’m a little bit obsessed.  At any given time, I’ll be reading a book about a French horn player and John Coltrane and Dan Levitan’s books about music and the brain, or I’ll turn to the great of teachers in the world like Thich Nhat Hahn or Pema Chodron or Byron Katie.

I love to just soak up other people’s thoughts about inspiration and other’s people’s thoughts about how to live an authentic life and be in the present moment.  I think that’s what it is.  When I’m most inspired, it’s when I’m not thinking about the past and I’m not thinking about the future, and I’m firmly rooted in the present.  Any activity that can bring that sort of presence to me is what’s going to ultimately lead to the inspiration that I need.

Toni: The final question then for you would be using all of these tools and the music you reach for or the books that you read and being in that present moment, really working hard at that, how would that help you explore your own potential?

Jason: Wow … you know, again, I think that it’s really … My potential, I’m 100% certain, lies in being in that present moment, because when I’m worried about the past I’m not living up to my potential.  When I’m worrying about the future, I’m not living up to my potential.  These things can be weights that drag you down, drag me down.  So it’s getting to that moment that really allows me to open up, and I feel like when I’m open that’s when the potential is there to live my best life.

And so, I think that’s why I gravitated to music at such a young age because it’s such an act of the moment.  Certainly there are times when I’m playing the trumpet and my mind is wandering.  And I’ve recently had quite an epiphany about that after not playing my horn for a few weeks and coming back to it and really getting immersed in the sound, which of course then immerses me in the present moment.

When I’m really focused on the sound that I’m making and the sound that’s coming out of the horn, I can’t possibly be thinking about anything else.  And that’s what drew me into music I think originally, was just that it blocks out all those other things in life, and it allows me to be in that space where everything opens up.  And it’s only when I’m open and I’m allowing things in that I’m able to put things out, and that to me is where the inspiration is and where I can get to my fullest potential is when it’s coming in and going out in a big circle.

Toni: I think that is a phenomenal way to put that.  I love that; allowing things in, in order to put things out, and that music is an act of the moment.  That is absolutely fantastic!  The wisdom that you have put forth in this interview with your experience as a musician,  how that’s impacted your life and you’re impacting others – students, fellow band members, musicians, and the audience – has come full circle in this interview and I know there’s going to be many people who are going to learn and benefit by this, and for that I thank you.  Thank you very much for giving us this time today.

Jason: Thanks, Toni.  It’s great to talk about these things and, you know, just finding new ways to express them is always a wonderful thing too, so I appreciate the opportunity.

Toni: Well thank you so much, Jason, and hopefully we’ll speak again soon.

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For more information about Jason Parker:  oneworkingmusician.com

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Toni Reece: Good morning, Barb, and I really appreciate that you have agreed to participate in this Get Inspired! Project and before we begin, can you introduce yourself?

Barb McMahon: Certainly.  My name is Barb McMahon, and I’m a blogger.  I have two sites.  One is called Happy Simple and the other is Strapped for Daily Photo.  I really enjoy writing; I like photography and just getting out and meeting people.

Toni: Great!  Well that leads us nicely into the very first question, which is, when you think about inspiration, Barb, who do you inspire and how do you go about that?

Barb: You know, I’m always surprised to find out that I have inspired anyone, and certainly in terms of the people around me, it’s always just a really pleasant surprise when someone says “Oh, I’m so inspired” by something that I’ve done or something that I’ve said.  And I think I do it mostly just by being true to myself, doing what I’m interested in and following my own inclinations.  And somehow people are inspired by that.  In my blog writing, I just try to write my best stuff, put my best stuff out there.  If it’s not very good, I wait until I can fix it up and then do it that way.  But I always think of inspiration as a conversation, and there’s two parts to it.  There’s what I do and then it meets a matching spark in someone, or it doesn’t.  And I can only control what I do, and if that sparks something in someone else then that’s fantastic; and if it doesn’t, I don’t take it personally.

Toni: Do you know, do you have a vehicle in place, that you know when you do inspire others?

Barb: I have comments open on my blog, and sometimes people will write in and say “Well, that was so cool, and it’s inspired me to do something.”  But I think sometimes people just take something away, and if they don’t leave a comment then I just won’t know, and that’s fine, too.

Toni: When you’re doing your work and your writing or even in your personal life, when you’re thinking about inspiration and writing your blog or dealing with others, do you ever find yourself in a place where you’re helping others to explore their potential?

Barb: I think I do sometimes and show them how to do something, encourage them to try something.  I was talking to … before I started this interview … that I’m not a life coach and I kind of joke that I’m actually more of a life cheerleader.  I really like to, if people say “Oh, I’d like to try such-and-so,” then I get behind them and say “Yes, you can do this, you can just give it a try, even if it doesn’t work out it’s okay, just give it a try.”  There’s no danger to most of it, you know; it’s give it a try and if it works fantastic and if it doesn’t, well, you’ve had the experience.

Toni: So it’s realizing that experience.

Barb: Um-hmm … and I don’t have a huge ambition for success; I have much more ambition for experiencing things.  And if I can encourage people to let go of success and failure and just experience, then I think I’ve done my job.

Toni: How do you do that?  Is it through conversation?  Is it through … Do you use any particular methodology when you’re working with other people to help them explore and realize that they need to just have the experience and not the success and failure?  Is there an approach you use?

Barb: I think it is just through conversation, and I really try to just listen to them and hear what they’re saying and try to figure out where they are in the process.  And then it’s just very gentle encouragement and sometimes it’s just leading by example.  Like right now, I’m papering my living room walls in newspaper because I want to see what it looks like, and people come in and go “Oh my!  You don’t have to use real, certified wallpaper!  You can just …” And then, that gets them thinking about things they might like to try in their home.  So yeah, leading by example, I think, is huge.

Toni: When you seek inspiration, where do you go?  What do you need for yourself to be inspired?

Barb: Quite a few years ago, I made it a New Year’s resolution to spend more time with positive people.  And it works so well that I just renew that resolution every year, and there are people in my life who … they’re always so positive and so full of energy.  And just having a cup of tea with them kind of gets me going for the rest of the week; and so I try to spend time with them.

If people aren’t available, photography really … a beautiful picture, a great photo of something will get me going again.  So I have some picture books that I look at over and over again, and just sit down quietly and relax and sort of fill back up with that.

Toni: Do you ever reach for any particular tools or approaches when you seek inspiration, when you know that, you know, “I think it’s time for me now, I need to fill up a little bit”?  You’ve mentioned photography and being around positive people; are there any type of tools that you seek out or do you look for certain things?

Barb: No, I think I know myself well enough by this point that really a cup of tea and a good book is all I really need to be re-inspired.  I mean, if I need to learn new techniques about something, then I just do the research there, and I’m constantly researching, blogging and writing and those sorts of things.  But to just inspire myself, to give myself the energy to keep going, a bit of quiet time with a friend or a good book and I’m ready to roll.

Toni: Well that leads me into — when you mentioned research for your blogs and when you’re working and you’re exploring your own potential — where do you go for that?  What do you need to explore your own potential?

Barb: A lot of it is just the time alone to experiment.  We’re not a very experimental society.  We need to know that “If I do this it’s going to work.”  So I just kind of give myself the little “it’s okay to fail” pep talk and then I just play.  I just play with whatever, whether it’s  craft or even just the photography, or my writing.  It’s well, let’s just try this and if it’s really awful, I’ll just scrap it and nothing will be lost and I will have learned a few things and will go on from there.

In terms of exploring the limits of my potential, scaring myself; doing something that’s frightening on a regular basis is good.  And I don’t mean like bungee jumping or anything like that, but things that take me to places emotionally or just something that, you know, I think “Oh, I don’t want to do this …” well, let’s just do it.  Just do it.

Toni: So you push your comfort zone.

Barb: I do, on a regular basis.  Because otherwise your horizon is just narrow constantly.  So yeah,  just get out there and be a little frightened and make a fool of yourself sometimes.  It’s okay.

Toni: The comfort zone, pushing yourself out of the comfort zone, does that also equate to the experiment?

Barb: I think so, yeah.  Because really, my inclination is to not enjoy, “Well that didn’t work.”  I mean, who likes “That didn’t work.”?  But if you just do what you know, well, you’re not going to experience much, and I’ve realized finally that sort of my over-arching goal in this life is to experience as much as I can.  To travel, to try new foods, to go to those places emotionally that most of us try to avoid.

Toni: Can you clarify for me, Barbara, what you might mean between the difference of experience and experiment; because you’ve used both words, and I’d be really curious to know what the difference is.

Barb: I would have to say that to me, experience is sort of what happens around me.  An experiment is something that I do.  So I experiment in decorating my house; I experiment in cooking or in photographing or in writing.  Whereas an experience is, “I’m here and I’ve kind of removed myself from myself and just see what’s happening.”

Toni: So basically, the experiment that you do — whether it’s in any of these areas — leads to that experience, whether it’s a success or failure by whatever measure you have.  That’s what I’m hearing, that that experimenting does lead to that ultimate experience for you.  And I would imagine that based on your own needs for inspiration and exploration of your own potential, with those two words of experience and experiment, I would imagine that transfers into that spark that you provide in giving others the courage to succeed or fail, to have the experience that you spoke about when you inspire and explore other people’s potential.

Barb: I think so, because we aren’t actually a very experimental society, and people are frightened.  And if I can make it okay for them to try something or to just step a little beyond what’s comfortable, then I’m happy because they’ll be happy to try something to be a little scared and to survive; they kind of go “Oh!  What else can I do?”.

Toni: Right, so it’s helping someone through that comfort zone into that little scary place, you know, out of the panic zone into a little scary place because that can lead to the best successes and the ultimate experience.  And I would imagine using your own methodology to do that in your own life is how you mirror that with others.

Barb: Absolutely.

Toni: I really want to thank you for your interview this morning, Barb, because there are many people that will be listening to this or reading this post ,and they’re probably sitting there also going, “You know what, I need to creep out of that comfort zone into that panic zone so that I can have that experience.”  And I believe so many people will benefit and learn from your snapshot of your experience this morning, and I really appreciate you allowing us to have that snapshot with you.

Barb: Oh, I’m really glad to be involved in this project; it’s very exciting.

Toni: Thank you, Barb; thank you so much for your time.

Barb: Thank you.

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For more information about Barb McMahon:  www.happysimple.com, www.stratforddailyphoto.com

Thumbnail photo on home page by Barb McMahon.

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