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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Karen, for joining us today on the Project, and before we begin, can you introduce yourself?

Karen Kramer: Sure.  My name is Karen Kramer, and I’m a wife and mother of two.  I’ve been in the marketing and communications field for nearly three decades – I don’t like saying it that way, maybe I need to rethink how I put that, but …

Toni: Oh, just for a bit.

Karen: Yeah.  Three years ago I received my certification in life coaching.

Toni: Okay, congratulations.

Karen: Thank you.

Toni: So Karen, when you think about that word inspiration, who do you inspire and how do you do that?

Karen: You know, Toni, when we originally talked about this, just talking about this interview, I think I might have even mentioned to you, oh my gosh, what a profound question because I think that many of us don’t even think about who we inspire.  We just do things the best way we know how to do it, and we give advice and we offer our support.

So thinking about this, I would like to think that I totally inspire my children.  I know that I do my daughter who is in her fourth year of college and 21, a little bit more insightful than my 18-year-old son just with the fact that she listens.  I’m able to share with her some of my experiences so that she doesn’t make maybe the same mistake.

And I know that it’s important to make our own mistakes because we only learn from that, but she’s getting to the point now where she has her friends at college calling me when there’s a challenge or something going on just to kind of talk them through it in a very relaxed and supporting way.  So that’s kind of my proof that I’ve offered a little inspiration to her.

Toni: So it’s through listening, your daughter listening and following your example and so forth that you believe that that’s where the inspiration goes.

Karen: Yes.

Toni: So what about in professional life?  Do you believe that there’s people that you’ve inspired along the way?

Karen: Oh, yeah.  As I said before, I’m a life coach, so just from my coaching practice I have seen so many things happen, and what happens … I mean, these people are doing it on their own, but it’s just pulling out what is best in them that they don’t see.   I feel that that’s an inspiration; just talking things through, having people say some things out loud, and just listening on my end — whether it’s through my business or friends or family –  just listening.  And so often people figure it out on their own, just saying it out loud and just knowing that they have an ear.

Toni: Right, right.

Karen: So it kind of happens day in and day out throughout.  I am such a people believer.  There’s something very, very special about everyone, and sometimes you gotta look a little bit to find that.  It can take a little patience, but everybody has something to offer.  And unfortunately when you look at yourself, very often that just gets pushed down a little bit, and it’s just bringing that out and, in turn, that is inspirational for me as well.

Toni: What do you think you do to help explore the potential in others?

Karen: Well, you know, sometimes it’s listing and naming all the good things about a person, about a challenge, about a thing — whatever is bothering them or worrying them — and then just bringing it into perspective.  And what I like to do … through all the years of experience and my making mistakes and learning finally has come wisdom.  It’s taking a bird’s eye view of a situation and bringing it down to baby steps and looking at it — even if it’s a day or two later than when something happens so that the emotion is out of it, the anger is out of it, whatever it is that you’re feeling, and seeing it for what it is — and then breaking it down and taking things into baby steps so that you see “Oh my gosh, I can do something about this, and I don’t have to do it all at once.”  Go on …

Toni: No, no, no … so I’m hearing that as far as exploring potential in others that it’s almost like you allow people to put a name to what’s troubling them, to be able to say it out loud, put it out there, put a name to it, describe it so that unraveling can begin.

Karen: Exactly.  You know, it all comes down to just knowing your gut and trusting yourself and allowing yourself to trust yourself and giving yourself permission to do that.  I mean, we all have choices and discovering what those facts … lay out the facts.  Now you can make a choice whether or not you want to do something about what’s laying in front of you.

I read a very interesting article just the other day about happiness, and a psychologist has written an article about a happiness set point.  I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but it’s so intriguing to me because what he says is that 50% of our happiness is genetic.  We just get what we get — 10% is conditional – it’s life.  Life happens, up and down, stuff happens.

But the other 40% is totally and completely controlled by us, each and every one of us.  You have 40% of your happiness, and you can decide what you want to do with that.  Do you want to be happy or don’t you?  Do you want to look at things positively or not?  Do you want to seize the opportunity?  Do you want to look for the little things that happen?  And that, to me, just laid the whole … puts everything in perspective.  We’ve got 40% that we can work with.

Toni: That’s pretty good – that’s a pretty good percentage, isn’t it?

Karen: Yes it is, yes it is.

Toni: Well, so Karen, what do you need to be inspired?

Karen: You know what inspires me, Toni?  All the little things.  All the little tiny … you know, someone opening a door for me because my hands are full or someone smiling or seeing someone help someone else.  Just any little bit of support helping anybody is such a good feeling.

And I could be having a down day, and you go out and someone just does something so small, and that person has no idea how they just brightened your day.  And I remember that going into every day.  I remember that, and I try to do that.  I try and instill that in my kids to do that but, again, it comes from all these years of experience which have turned into wisdom, so …

Toni: And I heard the word kindness.  I mean, that’s the way that you’ve … that’s the word that I believe you defined that inspires you, which are those little things and people doing things for each other, and so it’s the acts of kindness that seem to really inspire you.

Karen: Absolutely.  By one another; just seeing it from one another and the amount of support that we can give one another just through that just amazes me every day.

Toni: Are there tools or methods that you tend to reach for when you know oh man, you know, “It’s time for me to fill myself up; I can feel it, I can use a little inspiration right now”?

Karen: Yeah, yeah.  Long walks.  Some inspirational readings.  I have something that I read from time to time.  Friendships.  Friendship, girls night out, anything to do with friendship and support.  I think that is so very, very important that we need to have an outside support system, women and men.  And unfortunately, not too many men do that, but I gain so much energy and laughter from my friends.

And all of a sudden what I was maybe really kind of worrying about or needed a boost in something or know that there’s something else out there – what is it?  All of a sudden I feel a little bit more light, and the next day my proof might be right in front of me, and there it is.

So definitely friendships, time alone, a little soul searching, being honest with myself, writing things down, and the ultimate — and I’ve done this — is heading to the ocean because the ocean never stops changing and it’s a crude, rude, sweet reminder that life is always changing and roll with it.

Think of ways that we can make it work for us.  Instead of yearning for the past — what was — it isn’t anymore, so we just need to look at things a little differently; and that is always a huge reminder for me.

Toni: So how do you continue to explore your own potential so that you can continue to do the work that you do or to be inspired the way that you are?  What is it that you need to do to explore that potential?

Karen: You know, very often it’s just being around other people.  Coaching clients, I have learned so much from them, maybe sometimes even more.  I’m learning more from them than they’re even learning from me, or that they have no idea what they’re sharing with me.  That can take me by leaps and bounds.  The little things, again.

It’s being open to something like “Oh, I never thought of that, and I need to.”  It brightens up the moment.  It brightens up the next day.  Being aware that any door can open, and even if it’s ajar –and it probably will never be more than ajar, because it’s up to us to push it open and walk through.

Stepping out of that comfort zone is always difficult, but it’s the only way we grow.  So I will make a list of things that I need to change for me and then, like in little baby steps, decide how I’m going to do that and then do everything I can to do that.  So I don’t know if I even answered your question there.

Toni: No, you did.

Karen: There are so many things that pull together that inspire me.

Toni: Well I think you did a really good job at putting that in perspective, that what inspires you are these random acts of kindness –s or not even random — but the acts of kindness and then how you take care of yourself with the long walks and the readings that you do, but also the support system that you put into place and that’s around you.

And that you explore your own potential by again learning from, most likely, the support system that’s around you and learning form the people that you work with.  And I think, you know, that may tie very nicely back to how you explore potential in others which is helping them, as well, using your wisdom, your experience that you’ve gained from this support system to give permission to others to deal with the facts and move forward.  I think … that’s what I heard you say.

Karen: That’s very good.  I’m so glad that you heard … I guess to kind of … there’s a few things that I tell the kids, I tell friends, when it comes to it — although never quite always in this order — but you know, there’s always something special in someone, and there’s always two sides to every story and you owe it to yourself and to whoever that you’re listening to to know that and to learn that.

Trust your gut.  Your happiness is up to you.  You choose to do with it what you want, and if you choose not to be happy, then that’s on you – it’s no one else’s fault.

Toni: Well I think you said it brilliantly at the very beginning of the interview which is that you are a people believer and that is what you’re trying to … the message that you’re trying to teach your children as well is to be a people believer, and that’s awesome.

Karen, you’ve given a lot of insight into such a short amount of time for this interview, and people that are reading and listening to these interviews from all over the world … some of the interviews people will go “Yeah, I can relate to that” or “Wow, I’m going to try that”, and that’s been what you’ve been part of today.  And for that and everyone here at the Get Inspired! Project, we thank you so much for being part of this today.

Karen: Well, thank you so much.  I enjoyed talking with you.

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For more information about Karen Kramer:  www.AllAboutPossibilities.com

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Toni Reece: Thank you so very much for agreeing to be part of this project, Ken, and before we begin with the questions, can you please introduce yourself?

Ken Robert: My name is Ken Robert, and I created a website called mildlycreative.com; and I write about my little creative journey on there.  The tagline is “leading the life of quiet inspiration,” and it’s just about how I have begun just to explore things I wanted to do and try things out and then see where it led, and that’s how the website came about.

Toni: I love that saying, “quiet inspiration.”  And saying that quiet inspiration and in what you do Ken, or even in your personal life, when you think about inspiration, who do you inspire and how do you do that?

Ken: Well, I think the people that I hope to inspire — I mean based on lettters I get and what I have in mind when I write posts for the blog — is I’m trying to inspire people who …  Imagine if someone is reading a novel or a poem or they’re listening to music and they think to themselves, “How do they do that?  I’d like to know how to do that.”  I want to inspire them to give it a try.  And the way that I do that is by giving them permission to be bad at it and to be a beginner and just start things and not finish them.  Because I think there’s a focus about having goals and a mission and a plan and getting things done, but we don’t spend much time encouraging people to explore things.  And so that’s what I try to do on the blog.

Toni: I see, so basically by writing, through your writing, you are trying to give other people the permission to start something, stop something, but to experiment along the way, to maybe not focusing on the end game so much?

Ken: Yeah, because one of the things …  How it all began for me was I knew I wanted to do something creative, but I would get kind of panicky because I have all these ideas and I didn’t know how to implement any of them, and I thought you had to have a plan.  And what I began to do was just kind of get quiet and ask myself, “You know, what am I interested in doing right now at this moment?”  And I would kind of sit and wait and listen for the answer, and it might be, you know, I wanted to try an electric keyboard.

And so I went and bought this Casio keyboard at a local store, and I sort of played with that.  I wasn’t going to become a piano player, but I think what I’m trying to say is like, for instance, when they talk about Itzhak Perlman, the great violinist, and how many hours he spent to become a great violinist, is like 10,000 hours that he figured out to play the level he does.  And I think people look at that and they say, well, I don’t have 10,000 hours to spend, so I’m never gonna pick up a violin.  And if they’re interested in the violin, they don’t have to become Itzhak Perlman, they just have to be whatever it is they’re going to be with it, something that entered into their lives.  You know, everything doesn’t have to have an end game.  It can be just something for enjoyment or can feed some other aspect of your life when you enrich yourself, so that’s the idea.

Toni: Building on that thought, do you think that that also helps people to explore their potential, if they’re given permission to be bad, if they’re encouraged to explore?  Does that also help them with possible potential?

Ken: One of the things I talk about is do something daily, and before I had mildlycreative, I had a blog called Ken On Paper — which is how mildlycreative came about — and I had it and I wrote a thing called “Why bother writing?”  And then I didn’t write anything for 8 months, and then one day I said, “Well, what would happen if I wrote at least a sentence and posted it every day?”  And I called it the 365-day Experiment and it didn’t go for 365 days, because about day 90, I had ideas of what I wanted to do and that’s when I started to create mildlycreative.com.  But I would not have known that if I hadn’t explored that “what if” question, and as a result of sitting down and just …

It wasn’t a whole plan, it was just “Let’s see what happens,” and by doing that I think my writing got better and then I got the blog, and I started to draw, and I started to write poetry, and I started to do all these different things that I would not have done if I hadn’t just simply allowed myself to follow my curiosity.  And so that’s what I try and get people to do is, instead of …

I think we look around and see what other people are doing and say “I need to do something like that,” or “I need to figure out exactly what I’m going to do and have a plan for it.”  I think by giving them permission to just explore and to do something daily, just some small thing and see where it leads, at some point you’ll find out what it is you really want to do and then you can start setting the goals.  I think that is where you find your potential is by following what it is you’re interested in and what’s grabbing your attention and then doing something with it.

Toni: And if we’re not allowed to take that time to find those things that we’re interested in, how are we ever going to understand where our potential is, or that could lead to another road of a talent we didn’t even know we had.

Ken: Right, or an interest we didn’t even know we had.

Toni: Right.

Ken: I didn’t expect to write …  I don’t want to give you the impression that I’m a great poet, but I had no intention of writing poetry when I started to write that blog.  As I started to explore things, it came up one day and then I picked up a book of poetry and I started writing on my journal in verse.  Everything I was writing was in verse, even if it wasn’t great verse, it was in that style, and I found a new thing that I enjoyed doing … and some people enjoy reading.  But without that exploration, I would never have discovered that.  If I had said, “This is who I am going to be, and this is who I am and this is what I’m going to do” and didn’t allow myself to do a little wool gathering, I wouldn’t have known that about myself.

Toni: When you are in that spirit of exploring for yourself, what do you need to be inspired?  What do you find yourself reaching for or doing when you search for inspiration?

Ken: I talked about like curiosity, but I think of three things; one is that right there.  I’ve tried to be …  I went through a long time not feeling very motivated, and I think I was trying to be motivated by things that people were telling me I was supposed to be motivated by, because they were motivated by them.

For example, I applied for a position once, and I took this test and the recruiter said – these were his words – but he said, “Man, you couldn’t have scored higher on this test.  It shows you being visionary”; you’re this, you’re that.  He said “There’s only one problem.”  And I said what was that?  And he goes “You’re not very externally motivated.”  And I said “What does that mean?”  And he goes, “Well, basically it means you’re not motivated by money.”  I almost thought that was a weakness, but it’s just the way I am.  So to be inspired, I just follow that curiosity.  When I latched on to that, I realized that was my motivator.  That was my motivating factor.  That, and I have to connect to other people somehow.  I couldn’t be by myself all the time.

The blog is a great way for me to connect with people.  People leave comments.  I use Twitter.  Getting that little feedback and support, that keeps me going.  And then when you explore things like …  I draw, and a lot of my drawings are really horrible, but every now and then when I draw something I go “That looks pretty cool, that turned out really good”, or I write a poem and I end up reading it myself 10 times and I really like this.  That little buzz you get from when you either accidentally or purposely create something that you’re really pleased with, that’s another inspiring thing.

Toni: It’s interesting because what I’m hearing is the recognition.  You know, you spoke about giving permission earlier and that’s what you believing that you’re doing with your writing and your blog and the mildlycreative.  However, you also give yourself permission to look at something that you’ve created and go “You know what, that was pretty good!”

Ken: Yeah.  And I told some people yesterday, the difference between me today and 2 years ago — before I started doing things like this — is that being bad no longer bothers me because I built enough trust and confidence in myself that I can say I know I can get better.  I’ve gotten better at half a dozen things, so if there’s something that grabs my interest, I know I can get better at it because I’ve already had that experience.

Toni: So you’ve created that baseline.

Ken: Right.

Toni: When you’re doing this type of work and the curiosity and the connecting with others and so forth, what do you do to continuously explore your own potential?  The curiosity definitely would play a role in that.  Are there tools or techniques that you go reach for that help you to explore that potential in other areas, or maybe in the area that you’re already in?

Ken: I kind of alluded to this when I said that by having gotten better at some things, I just realized that I could get better.  And I think that what that does for you is you might …  I think in the beginning you might try out things that you’re interested in, but they’re not your biggest interest, they’re not the big desire.  But that big desire is still too scary, so you’re trying the things that are kind of like almost there.

I don’t know if that makes sense or not.  And at some point, when you’ve had enough success with those things, you say “Okay, I think I’m going to tackle this big idea.”  And so your potential develops by being able, or working up the courage to tackle things that are really scary to you.

You know, there are things that you’re really afraid to fail at because you want them so bad, and for me, you know, I just recently have been really getting interested in fiction because that’s what I always wanted to do since I was a kid.  And now it’s like “Okay, I think I’m going to tackle that.  I think I’m going to try and solve that mystery and work my way into writing fiction as well.”  But I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t had some even small success at the other things I tried.

Toni: So it’s really taking those baby steps that are building that courage in order to move out of that comfort zone.

Ken: Right.

Toni: Right, wow … so do you think that by you doing that and taking those baby steps, connecting with others, having that courage to try and maybe not do as well as you thought but create that baseline for yourself, is that then transferred or rather translated into your blog that you post as far as how you might believe you’re inspiring others, by your own journey?

Ken: Yeah, that’s what I share in the blog is what I’m going through, what my thoughts are, and you know, I don’t ever say that I’ve got all the answers.  I say maybe it’s the same for you.  Maybe you’ve been through this.  I try this, and this works.  You know, sometimes I say “Here’s what I’m trying to do” and then a week later say, “Well, that didn’t work for me; it might work for you.”

But I think I’m just trying to be honest and let people see this guy kind of flip-flopping around, trying to find his way, and that’s how — by doing it out in the open — I think that allows people to say, “You know, I can do that too.  I can take chances, I can take risks, and I can screw up and pick myself up and start over again.  This guy’s doing it on a stage, on his blog in front of everybody.”  So that’s the idea.

Toni: Well, Ken, I can tell you that the words that I said I love early on in this interview “quiet inspiration”, it’s a very gentle way that you have of the exploration process that you spoke about all through this interview, which is exploring and experimenting and working towards your own potential and hoping by either making it or failing at it or having the courage to go through it and taking those baby steps, what a message that you are giving to others.  And I can only imagine how inspired people must be by your writing and by watching your journey and how honest you are.  And just this snapshot of time that you’ve given us in these 15 minutes has been an inspiration to me, and I know others are going to benefit by this interview and learn from it as well.  So for that, I truly thank you.

Ken: Thanks, Toni.

Toni: Thank you very much for your time today, and good luck to you, and I hope we speak again soon.

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For more information about Ken Robert:  www.mildlycreative.com

Home page thumbnail image from original art by Ken Robert.

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Toni Reece: Todd, thank you so very much for agreeing to be part of the interviews and the project, and before I begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Todd Williamson: Sure, my name is Todd Williamson, and I am a co-owner of OmBase; it’s a yoga studio in Portland, Oregon.

Toni: Okay, well thank you, and I’m sure you have a lot of people that you inspire through the services that you provide.  And that leads us into the very first question for the project, which is, when you think about inspiration, who do you inspire, and how do you think you might do that?

Todd: Well, I thought a lot about the question, and I think the question is really interesting.  I find inspiration to be really contagious, and so whether I inspire somebody or not, for me it’s more important for me to be inspired, because if I feel inspired, I know that it’s going to be contagious and the people who are needing to be inspired will be inspired.  I’ve heard from different people, they get very inspired that I know that when I feel the inspiration myself, and then, you know, you see something switch in them.  You see the light go on and they might not necessarily be inspired to do more yoga, but they might be inspired to go, I don’t know, live their life differently which, for me, is the real yoga, the big picture.

So, it’s an interesting thing, because inspiration really weaves in our language; inspiration is about breathing, so I talk a lot about breathing and how your breath … you can’t breathe for the future, you can’t breath for the past; you really only breathe in the moment so when you fully breathe, when you allow the breath to embrace and infuse itself, it’s like the cells themselves are inspired, literally, and they’re almost compelled, you might say, to move into an affinity, more energetically in affinity with the moment, with now.  And I find when people dare to do that, regardless of what the pose is on the outside … but when they do that on the inside, everything changes and they see everything differently.

And so for me, that would be more how I would sort of relate to whether they’re inspired or not is that are they daring to just kind of let go and move into that place where magic starts to happen?  That to me is what I get to see basically on a daily level, which I’m really grateful for.

Toni: So basically you are inspiring others by the actual definition of the word, from your definition, which is breathing.  And so you are inspiring others by having them — by the yoga that you’re teaching — breathe differently, breathing in the moment differently.  Everything that you just said is really inspiring others by what you teach.

Todd: Well, in essence that’s right.  The breathing can be very mechanical, but what I find is, it just takes one.  And when you’re doing something with other people and one person courageously aligns themselves in a way that is more in affinity with, let’s say, the creative life force or whatever words you want to use, that action of them making that switch inspires everybody in the room.   So everybody might be going along doing some kind of mechanical breathing, but for me it’s more important that they come into their most natural breath, which is a gentle breath, but not a breath that’s contrived to be gentle.

So it’s really learning how to get out of the way, because I feel as though my experience is showing me more and more that inspiration — being inspired — is literally is most … well, it’s like your innate state; so touching that again brings you back into discovery and you see things new.  So it’s really quite remarkable, and it can happen; there are lots of doors in.  Breathing is just one way, meditating.

There are lots of ways that we access it, but I try a few different doors every class and however we start to get there, we always kind of end up in that same, like Rumi says, in that field beyond concepts of right-doing and wrong-doing.  We’re just all in that place, and that’s where we hang out for the whole class regardless of what we’re doing on the outside; inside, we’re kind of all communicating and coming together and communing and then they go outside with that inspiration and affect the world, which is fabulous.

Toni: So when you talk about what you do to help others explore their potential, it’s that discovery from moving from the mechanical to the natural, and I would like to know a little bit more about that because I would assume that that is the way that you help people to explore their potential.  So can you give us some ways that you do that?  You said one way is to help them breathe, but there’s other ways.

Todd: Well, I use a combination of things, you know — and it’s really kind of experiential — but I use sound, I use movement, guided meditation, I use all those things.  But I find in our culture, in particular, we’re very comfortable at being in our head or hanging out in our head, trying to understand things.  And when you’re doing that, I find that you stay there instead of dropping into the heart which would be the more natural place or the place where you have to find your inspiration.  The heart is in the moment; the head is always about the past, the future, all over the place.

So it’s really trying to give people permission, first off, and feel safe enough to do something different, to do something which may feel like letting down their defenses, letting down the things they are holding on to, the things they believe keep themselves safe, the things they cover themselves with, all the different personas, all the different everything.  And as they start to uncover, they start to discover more and more about themselves.  So there are lots of different ways.  You might start with something familiar, something more mechanical, but the invitation is to settle into familiar without having to settle for the familiar.

So a lot of times it might sound semantic, but as you’re doing it around other people doing the same thing, you naturally, automatically start to mimic and match their energy, and you find yourself literally feeling different.  And it make take a while to connect the dots to realize how you’re doing what you’re doing and, for me, there really is no recipe because if you follow a recipe, oftentimes that’s going to come back to the mechanical.  So it’s really more something you intuited, something you tuned into and really connect to that inspiration is something that … it’s just happening, it’s coming through you.

That’s, to me, like the wave connecting to the ocean.  It’s that point where you realize, hey, I am connected to the ocean, and I’m a wave and the wave is animating me.  The wave is moving me.  You’re a unique expression of the ocean, but you’re part of the ocean; you’re not the whole ocean, but you’re part of the ocean.  So all those things, it’s doesn’t have to be that kind of revelation, but it’s enough to just get out of the automatic stuff that you … away from mechanical stuff, which seems odd because a lot of the yoga can seem very mechanical.  So it’s using a tool a different way, is basically what I like to explore.

Toni: That’s really interesting, and one point of clarification if you could do for me, which might help the readers or listeners of this interview … you made a statement, you said that you go into the familiar but you’re trying to get them to settle for the familiar.

Todd: Well, okay, so basically it’s feeling the difference between settling into something versus settling for something.  I don’t believe we’re ever being asked to settle for anything, because when you’re settling for, you’re really moving outside of your integrity; you’re moving outside the moment.  And so when you’re not in that alignment, when you’re settling for something, you’re perceiving it through filters, your definitions, beliefs, concepts, and so forth.  You’re compromising, you’re acquiescing, and I don’t think that’s the same.

To me, it’s dramatically different if … I call it this way; dropping from your head into your heart, you’ll naturally feel yourself start to settle in and sink more deeply into like the wave, sinking into the ocean.  You’re sinking into more of you.  You get a feeling of more You – the capital Y- You – as opposed to trying to configure or align yourself in some way that seems to be more acceptable for something external to you, some purpose or some person or some circumstance.  So it’s really about tuning in and working from the inside out, and you do it with the breath, you do it with movement, you do it with awareness, all these things.  It sounds very similar and it can be a semantic clarification, but experientially it’s dramatically different.

So, when I started this practice and I started really looking into it and was honest with myself, I was horrified to notice that most of what I did during the day was settle for this, I settled for that, and it was not comfortable, and so learning how to be differently and not settle for, but not be obstinate; it’s just that tuning in.  It’s a listening and then dare to be moved; allow yourself to be moved, to be inspired, which is not operating from your head.  That’s the obstinate part.  So it’s not sticking in your heels and “I’m never gonna do this.  I’m not gonna compromise”, it’s tuning in and being malleable, being flexible, feeling the movement that’s coming through you and daring to move in that way, so that you’re moving with everything around you, not against it, and you’re not trying to contrive it and control it.  There’s a subtle difference, but it’s very dramatic.  Did that help a little?

Toni: Yes, you did, you clarified it beautifully and thank you.  If we go to … with everything that you’re doing, Todd, and the work that you’re doing and living actually in inspiration and so forth, what do you need to be inspired?  How do you keep yourself inspired?

Todd: Well, you know, that’s a really good question, and I find I’m answering that daily, because I ask that all the time.   I find that if I settle for what works yesterday and last week, it has diminishing returns, so it’s always got to be something new; and I find the thing that’s always new is me showing up really to teach.

And so I’ve been teaching a lot more recently and so I haven’t had days off, and so recently I was thinking, oh, I really want a day off and so I made a day off, I gave myself a day off, and then I was like sitting around thinking well, what am I taking a day off from?  The very thing that really inspires me?  Why would I do that?  Doesn’t mean I have to teach all the time but really looking at what I give myself permission to do when I’m teaching, and then if I step away from that it doesn’t mean … I can step away from the teaching without stepping away from that alignment that we were just talking about.

So here’s where I’m learning more and more deeply, like how do I do that?  So I keep myself inspired by listening to my guides, by being in class watching my students courageously let go of the very things they believe are keeping them safe, keeping them defended, the things that they believe connect into their lifeline; they let go of these things, even for a couple of moments and they change, and I get to see this dramatic shift.  So I find that to be really the most inspiring thing because it’s life-changing.  It changes their life, and so it impacts my life, so that’s what inspires me probably the most, more than anything.

Toni: This is all how it relates to you and work and the people that you are helping to inspire.  How does it translate to your personal development, to how you explore your own potential?

Todd: Well, because it’s allowing me 1) an opportunity to spend more time practicing, time being for practice; it allow me more time practicing tuning in.  So the more I tune in, the more familiar that is for me, the easier it is to tune in more and more of the time; and the more I’m tuning in, the more I feel like my little ideas I get to put out of the way, put them aside, and then I get to live in that place where I’m literally like riding the wave.  I’m being moved, and that’s exciting because that is not just when I’m teaching; it’s when I’m at the grocery store, it’s when I’m cooking, it’s what am I gonna cook, what am I gonna buy?  I’m not answering any of those questions, it’s just bubbling up.

And so it’s amazing, it’s just a different way.  It’s hard to articulate, but it’s a different way of being, it’s a different way of living so that I feel more alive just by doing that.  So it’s through my teaching that I find the main door of inspiration, and it’s hanging out immersing myself in that feeling and wearing it, and then getting a little more brave and wearing it out not just when I’m teaching but out in the world that things start to magically happen.  And it’s not like I’m doing it; it’s just, they happen.  Like the studio just came together and people came out of the woodwork and built it.  I don’t feel like I had to do it; it just happened.  I had to be present, and I had to be open for it.  These things are what happens more and more in my life and that, to me, is an indication of moving into your alignment, or what I would call your divine design.  These things just unfold.

Toni: But again as you said, you have to be ready for it.

Todd: I think everybody is ready for it in a way, but it’s being brave enough to move into having this and be willing to receive and have, which is different from wanting.  So when you get tired enough with things not working or bumping into obstacles — seeming obstacles, all that stuff — when you’re really ready to embrace the change, then you’re really ready to move into having this, your birthright.

And so for me, there it is again, it’s another seemingly semantic difference, but the shift from wanting something to receiving it and having it is very subtle, but it requires this internal shift and this willingness, this permission that you have to give yourself ultimately — and others around you can inspire you to do that — and that, to me, is what inspiration does; it moves you right into your having it, because then you’re not wanting anything when you’re inspired.

Actually, when you’re inspired, time goes away.  You’re literally outside of time.  The past goes away, the future goes away, you’re just in the moment, so that, to me, is what’s lovely about inspiration, and it can be through a piece of music, it can be through any number of things.   I just happen to do it through this vehicle I call yoga.

Toni: Well, Todd, I have to tell you, you have been an amazing interview because you have put a different and a unique definition to inspiration, and it’s not that it’s better or worse than anybody else’s story, it’s just unique and the way that you’ve described it is fascinating.  And I can absolutely validate being in the moment and inspired, as I am, with these interviews, which is a great body of evidence for inspiration, because as I’m interviewing all of you, I am lost in that 15 minutes and time stands still.  And you’ve done that for us today, and I cannot thank you enough for the information that you have given that people will have to absorb and learn and they will benefit from, and for that and the snapshot of time that you’ve given today, I cannot thank you enough.

Todd: You’re welcome, Toni, and thank you for putting this project together.  I was inspired just reading about it, and I think it’s a wonderful service, and I’m really, really grateful for being able to be part of it, so thank you so much.

Toni: You’re welcome.  Thank you again.

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For more information about Todd Williamson:  www.ombase.org

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