.

.

Right click here to download…

.

Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Mary, for agreeing to part of this Project, and before we go into the questions, can you please introduce yourself?

Mary Bradford: Yes, my name’s Mary Bradford.

Toni: And Mary what do you do?

Mary: I’m an inspirational author and teacher.

Toni: Oh, fantastic, well then you’re at the right place.  Well Mary, when you think of that word inspiration, who do you inspire and how does that happen?

Mary: Well basically, Toni, I inspire people that I feel in need, that they have need to be inspired in some way for their life.  Everyone has trials and tribulations, and sometimes we just need to nudge them through them.  And to me, that’s very inspiring because there are people in this world that come to me and say “Well, if it weren’t for what you said to me, I wouldn’t have gotten through today.”

Toni: Wow.

Mary: Yeah, so …

Toni: So how do you do that?  How are people inspired by you, Mary?  What happens?

Mary: I’m very good with my words, and I also have a lot of compassion, and I believe that that plays a big role in inspiring people.  When you’re compassionate toward a person, they tend to understand what you’re trying … the messages that you’re trying to get across easier than if you’re, you know “Okay, hello, how are you?”  You know, that type thing.  So I basically try to dig deeper than the normal person would do that.

Toni: Is there a lot of empathy that someone would experience from you as well?

Mary: Yes.

Toni: When you are working with people, are you, you know, let’s say that I’m having a bad day today and I’m looking for a little inspiration.  How would I find you?  What would I find when I did find you?

Mary: When you find me, you most likely would be via Internet, and you would just basically tell me what’s going on, and I would help you come to a conclusion of what the situation is that you needed.  Say … I’m working with a girl right now whose father just passed away, and she’s had one death after another, and it’s a very difficult time for her.  So what I’m doing is I’m coaching her along each day.  Day by day she comes to me and asks me “What would I do about this, what, you know, would I do about that,” and I explain to her through my own experiences what I have done, and it brings people to a better state of mind that way.

Toni: Well, the better state of mind, I think that’s a great lead-in to the second question of the Project, which is how do you help others explore their potential?  So if I’m inspired by you and it takes me to a better state of mind, what else happens that may help me to explore my potential?

Mary: What happens is I always give messages inside of what I have to say, and I always ask people just to … to pay close attention to what I’m saying, because I always leave messages with them, and they’ll find an “ah-ha” moment maybe about three or four hours after we’re done with our conversation.  And they hang onto the words that I say, and then they do come back to me and tell me “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe what you said was so right on,” you know.  There are incidences where I’ve left a person with a thought that, you know, they never would have thought about.

Toni: Wow.  Can you give me an example of one of those?  Is that possible?

Mary: Yes.  For instance, I have a girl who wants to commit suicide, and I leave her with a thought of if she did that, there would be a rippling effect to everyone that loves her, and would she be willing to leave people in that state on her own self and is it to her advantage to go, or is it to her advantage to stay and possibly some day be an inspiration to others.

Toni: Okay.

Mary: Through her attempts.

Toni: Wow, that’s pretty powerful.  What inspires you, Mary?

Mary: What inspires me?  Basically everything from a bird chirping to watching an older person doing their everyday chores and things like that.  Everything inspires me.  I am an artist, and I feel that through my art I’m a little bit more aware than everyone else.  I will stand in front of a flower and be completely inspired.

Toni: Do you tend to reach for the same tools or, I don’t know, methods when you’re looking for a little inspiration for yourself?

Mary: No, no.  I always find it everywhere.  It’s almost like I’ve been inspiring people for so long that inspiration seems to come to me.  It’s being drawn to me like a magnet.

Toni: Have you always felt that way, Mary?  Was it always a passion of yours to ignite that inspiration in others or to help them be inspired?  Was that something you just always knew you were going to do?

Mary: Yes, it is something that I always knew I would do.  Even as a child and actually a teenager growing up, when I could feel the energy shift in a room I would say “Okay, it’s time to leave” and everybody would look at me, and we would leave the room and the next thing you know trouble would start.  So I knew that it was, you know, something that I really wanted to do to help people understand that they can connect to themselves and they really don’t need other people to inspire them, even though we do that.

Toni: Was there a moment when you just knew that this was something that you were meant to do?  Was it a defining moment that you thought “This is what I’m going to do the rest of my life?”

Mary: Well, actually yes.  I had a long bout of … I walked a long bout with my father who had colorectal cancer, and when he passed away, I decided that I would share my story, and it was a very inspirational story.  He told me that the last thing that he wanted to do before he passed away was to walk his baby down the aisle — and that’s to be, you know, married — and my father did that and passed away a month to the day of my wedding.  But I found that such an impact on my life that I decided that I was going to be an inspiration to others.

Toni: Oh, okay, so really it was using that emotion almost as a jumping point for you.

Mary: Right.  I pretty much grabbed hold of the power that my father had and the intense will to live that he had, and I just basically grabbed hold of that and used that as my anchor for inspiration.

Toni: And what do you do now and in days to come to explore your own potential so you can continue to be as inspiring as you are for others?

Mary: I think it naturally comes to me.  I’m like … how do I say this … basically I wake up inspired.  When I wake up, I start my day, I always thank the Creator for helping me through yet another day, and I feel that comfort in the morning.  What I do is I spend a little bit of private time, and then I go on with my day, and it just takes me.

It’s almost like you’re being pulled somewhere.  It just takes me to a person that needs me, you know, an animal that is jumping across the street and something that will catch my eye that I can write about, you know what I mean, that people never in this hectic life that we live, they don’t take the time to stop and look at things like I would.  So I put it into paper and into words, and I inspire people that way.

Toni: So really your daily life is whatever comes to you or you see is what you use for that inspiration in order to either write about it, help someone, share that idea, or that thought.  So every day is like almost like a different canvas for you.

Mary: Yes, that’s correct.

Toni: Well Mary, we can’t thank you enough for showing up on the Project today, and we will have a way for people to see what you do.  You did tell me prior to the interview that you also create greeting cards.  Is that correct?

Mary: Yes I do.

Toni: So we will have a way for people to check that out if they would like to, and we thank you for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.

Mary: Thank you, Toni.  I appreciate being here.

___________________________________________________________

For more information about Mary Bradford:  www.krystalkidsgreetings.com

.

.

.

Right click here to download…

.

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

Wendy Fleming: Yeah, Toni, thank you so much, I’m very honored to be a part of this.  My name is Wendy Fleming, and I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, and I do several things, actually, hopefully, that are inspiring people.  I am a counselor, a coach.  I’m also a self-esteem trainer, motivational speaker, and a musician, so all those things lend itself to the art of inspiration.

Toni: Well thank you, Wendy.  When you think about inspiration, who do you inspire and how does that happen?

Wendy: Well, it happens through the clients that I have usually.  I’m a private counselor and then a coach, and I also do seminar work, which is a self-esteem training program that I developed.  I also developed an empowerment session for mostly women, but now it’s including men as well.  And then about 13 years ago, I developed a seminar for welfare recipients and traveled around the state of Michigan actually and gave that seminar to groups and counties for people who are receiving benefits to try to inspire them to learn how to live a bigger life.

Toni: I see.  So, learn how to live a bigger life – is that the main “how” that happens during the inspiration process that you do?

Wendy: I would say so.  I just really love to encourage people to kind of think outside of their own shell – I hate that word box – but outside of their own shell that they’ve created, and step out and see just how much life there really is that could be lived.  I have just always been that way myself and just a real positive thinker, and am just always amazed at how much bigger life can get when you do that.  So that’s always been my goal to empower people to do that.

Toni: Can you give an example of a transformation that might have occurred when you are working with someone or dealing with someone and you inspire them to live that bigger life?  Can you give an example of a bigger life?

Wendy: I think so.  The first thing that comes to mind is in Michigan there was a young woman who was receiving benefits and had two small children, single mom, on welfare for quite some time, and she came through my seminar.  At that point, it was a two-day seminar.  I just really talked to her privately as well about all the potential that she had, and she began to cry in the seminar and said no one had ever in her life told her that.  No one had ever told her that she could just be or do anything, and she said … she told me later that that day, something just unlocked in her and that she began to feel like she could really accomplish many things that she never thought she was going to be able to.

She finished her GED, went on to get a degree, and then to come off benefits altogether.  She actually won an award in Michigan for someone that made, you know, such a huge success, you know, from that program.  And in that award ceremony, she said that it was … the one thing that unlocked it was just one thing that I had said in that seminar, and that was, you know, “Dare to live this big life; don’t keep yourself down.  You’re your own jailer.”  And she just soared.

And so what I always say is … I may not say anything different, it just might be the timing.  You know, you say that when the student is ready to master or the teacher appears, and that’s what I just think that message is.  It’s nothing new under the sun, it’s just somebody actually telling you at the right time.

Toni: Thank you for that.  What a great example.  That lends itself, if not already answered the question, what you do to help other people explore their potential.  And when you think about that question and the work that you do, you know, you did use the word that you “unlock” and you “unblock” – what else do you think happens when you’re helping people to explore their own potential?

Wendy: I love to say that I don’t believe I’m an expert in anything, but if I am really good at one thing, it’s that I’m a great excavator, and that is I can see into people, into what they’re pushing aside and what their talents really are, and what their passions are.  And so I just keep kind of digging and probing and watching and listening and hearing, you know, what they’re very passionate about, and then that’s how they can kind of uncover their purpose and why they’re here.  So that’s what I always say – I’m just a really great excavator, so that would probably be it, yeah, that unlocking and excavating.

Toni: Now, Wendy, what inspires you?  What do you need to be inspired?

Wendy: That is such a great question.  I think the very first thing that came to mind for me is just people.  I love people’s stories and other people’s … but my friends are my greatest support and greatest joy.  I have this just incredible series of friends that span from all across the United States.

The other thing is I’ve been a musician, a performer, for about 34 years.  So I’ve been a singer, and I’ve lived in Japan a few times and traveled all over and sang, so music is probably one of my own great inspirations.  I just love music.  And laughter – I just find that adage is true, that, you know, laughter is the best medicine.  I love to laugh and find humor just in everyday life.  And then also, the ocean and the mountains.  I guess nature; I’m just really inspired by those things.  They really fulfill me.

Toni: Now you said that you’ve always been wired this way to help people, and to be a great excavator.  Have you always known that this was going to be your purpose?

Wendy: I think I did.  I think I knew from a really young age that whatever I did would probably be in the helping field, so when it took off and I started to be a singer, I thought “Well, that doesn’t feel really helpful” until people started saying “Oh my gosh, you just really moved me.”

I’m a plus-sized woman.  I’m also a body acceptance promoter, so I write for an online magazine about body acceptance called Hips and Curves, and that has always been something that’s been with me as well.  I think that having that … when people see a plus-size woman up … who loves herself and is comfortable in her skin up in front of people performing, I just think that can’t help but really charge and energize some people.

So when they started telling me “Oh my gosh, I just think you’re so brave,” and it’s like oh, well maybe this music thing is kind of inspiring.  But then it did lead to probably about 15 or 17 years ago to the speaking and doing some other training.  But I think that that musical background, that performing on stage all the time really gave me that passion to show other people that you can do anything – just anything.

Toni: It’s really cool when people like yourself speak to knowing that they were going to be heading in this direction, or this is the direction that they wanted to head into even at a young age, because so many of us are still searching for that purpose.  Maybe we’re on the fringe of it, maybe we’ve dabbled in something and we just haven’t stepped into the pool all the way yet, and it sounds as though you knew when you weren’t in the right pool, but it led you to the purpose eventually.

Wendy: I’m really quite a spiritual person, and I think that that quest for, you know, just trying to figure out my own purpose and making sure that I was living up to every challenge that I had been given, and, you know, to promote that welfare in other people.  I think that this was always the real driving factor.  Growing spiritually and personally has just always and will continue to be one of my greatest quests, because I just think you’re never done learning.  So whenever I learn something, then I’m ready immediately to pass it on.

So you’re so right about either knowing it when you’re young, or I have clients that come to me in their 60s saying “Something’s got to give – I need to really figure out how to get happier, how to live this bigger life, and I want that.”  So yeah, it’s ageless, too, when people can start to discover that.  It’s a beautiful process, actually.

Toni: And there are no boundaries.

Wendy: Zero.  Just zero; yeah, I love that.  And that’s what I tell people … “Oh my gosh, the only thing stopping you is you, so let’s just see how far we can go, how far you can push yourself.”  So, yeah …

Toni: One of the things that you said here, which is living up to … you know that you had to live up to your talents, and you knew what those talents were.  There is a lot of people that don’t recognize what their talents are, and it’s refreshing, actually, to hear you say “I knew what my talents were, and I knew that I was obligated to live up to those talents.”

Wendy: Thank you for saying that.  This whole … my whole life still continues to be this journey.  You know, there’s a great quote by Buddha that says “It’s better to travel well than to arrive.”  I always say that; it’s the journey, it’s not the destination, and I look at every day that way.  It’s not what I have to cross off my to-do list or where I have to go or what errands.  It’s the journey along the way, and it’s who I meet and who I get to talk to.

I find that most people really do know what their talents are.  Oftentimes, they’re just reluctant or afraid or shy about admitting them.  And I think once people really discover that, they get to really unlock a whole, whole other piece of their life that’s fabulous.

Toni: Now, how do you explore your own potential so that you can keep living this bigger life?

Wendy: Again, I think it’s that personal growth.  I continually am trying to look for ways to grow myself, whether it’s go to another seminar that someone else is giving.  I’m a voracious reader.  Because I’m a speaker, I’m always out in front of new people, so I get to hear their stories.  I think people just really charge and energize me.  So that’s probably it, not to mention again my friends who are just the backbone.

So we’re constantly looking for ways to improve ourselves, and that only can lend itself to helping others.  That’s when someone is feeling really low or down, I just say “Okay, you can feel that way, or you can reach out and help somebody else, because there’s always somebody that’s a little less fortunate than you.  So feel what you’re feeling, acknowledge that, but then move forward.”  So I think that for myself to just keep inspiring myself is to continue to help other people.

Toni: Wendy, thank you so very much  for taking part of the Get Inspired! Project and showing up today.  You’ve given some wonderful nuggets of inspiration in this interview, and we really appreciate that and thank you.

Wendy: Thank you so much.  Thank you.  Good luck with this beautiful Project.

Toni: Thank you.  Take care of yourself.

___________________________________________________________

For more information about Wendy Fleming:  www.curvyconfidential.com, croonerbabe@hotmail.com

.

.

.

Right click here to download…

.

Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Amy, for agreeing to be part of the Project today, and before we go into the questions, can you please introduce yourself?

Amy King: Hi, Toni.  Great to be here.  My name is Amy King.  I’m a novelist.  I write under the name A.S. King.  My first book came out in 2009.  It was called The Dust of 100 Dogs, and my next book is coming in October 2010, and you know, before I was a novelist, I pretty much did everything else from wiring houses to raising chickens.

Toni: From wiring houses to raising chickens.  I don’t think we’ll ever hear that again on the Project.

Amy: So true.

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

Amy: I thought about these questions a lot and, you know, I think it’s because of my work.  You know, writing novels is a very solitary thing, so you tend to spend a lot of time by yourself.  So really, my life is limited to my work and my family.  So in my work, I like to try and inspire aspiring writers, because it’s a very hard journey to get published — and my fellow writers who have also inspired me, it’s a real reciprocal thing — but mostly through the work I try and inspire readers, because I think that that’s the job of a writer.

I mean, a lot times people will think that writers write to make money, and that’s a myth.  Well, I mean, a myth for most of us because most of us don’t make a lot of it.  But the reason I do it is to, you know, really get into people’s … my character’s hearts, we’ll say, so that I can inspire other people with the stories of, you know, people I made up in my head.   So with writing, I work on online forums and help other aspiring writers along with everything from the writing to the publishing and the ups and downs and just basic education.

And then in family … I have two daughters, so I like to think that I inspire them.  One’s a little too little to be inspired other than “Please be inspired to eat your lunch now,” but the other one is starting … I’m starting to see it with her.  I’m starting to see her brag about me, and that’s kind of nice in a weird way and then, at the same time I say “No, don’t brag about Mommy.”  But at the same time, I’m seeing her reach for bigger goals because she’s seen my daily reach for my goals.

When I discussed the Project with my husband he said “You have to tell them that you inspire me,” so I’m going to say that now.  But same thing – he’s watched me for around, let’s see, 17 years work toward this, and I think that that is an inspiring thing to watch someone chase something, like a crazy dream.

Toni: Well, that’s what I’m hearing.  There’s so many different things that have just come out alone and with who and how you inspire people from, you know, the aspiring writers to your fellow writers with this help and support that you provide, to your family so that they can see that you did … I mean, what a legacy to leave and to live in now that, you know, you followed a dream and you’re pursuing that.  But then I also love that you said that, you know, how you inspire others is through the stories of your characters and what’s in your head.  I think that’s an amazing thing as well and, you know, the stories of your characters, do they impact your family?

Amy: I would think that they do.  You know, it’s funny.  When you release a book, it’s a weird thing.  It’s very fast.  When it comes out, you don’t stop to think about the day that your mom is going to read the book.  I mean, when you’re writing books for 15 years you think “Oh God,” you know, “My mom, she’s going to read this sex scene” or whatever.

Now I write for young adults, so there’s not a lot of sex scenes, but one of the really … you know, it was really cool.  I never really talked to my folks about it, and soon after the book came out they came over for dinner and they said “You know, we have something to talk to you about.”  I just didn’t even think what they could say, and they said that they both read the book, they couldn’t put it down, and they really loved it.

I mean, that kind of family support is, you know, is really inspiring and then the characters did inspire them.  It inspired them to think.  You know, my daughter thought up all these crazy things.  Where did that come from?  I don’t know, it is – writing is one of those things where you do have a great responsibility and a great – I don’t want to say power because I’m not a real power person and you don’t want to be didactically right, you don’t want to, you know, preach but at the same time through a character – I mean, I’m a real humanist.

I really think that life is about other human beings so, you know, while people in the world tend to argue a lot … everybody’s arguing, everybody is right.  “You’re wrong and I’m right” and all this stuff, and I really don’t … I pulled away from that a long time ago.

And so with my characters, what I like to do is just show them, and I kind of hope that people who thought they were right about something might read it and go “Oh, well maybe I’m not right.  You know, maybe there’s another way.”  Just to inspire somebody to stop and think for me, because I think a lot of stuff these days is void of thinking.  A lot of people just listen to what they hear, repeat what they hear; and I’m guilty of it too, you know?  It’s easier.  But when you stop and really think about a thing and walk in somebody else’s shoes, to use an old saying, I think it really humbles you and kind of can inspire you to be a better person.

Toni: So what do you do then in the work that you do or even in your personal life, what do you do to help explore potential in others?

Amy: Well, that’s a good question.  You know, again, like a good writer, I wrote things down about this.  And when I wrote it down, I went through it a week ago, and then it occurred to me the other night where I really learned about how to inspire other people, and it has nothing to do with anything I’ve said so far.

I was an adult literacy teacher in Ireland for about a decade, and that was the best job I ever had.  I love writing novels, I love a lot of the jobs.  I loved delivering pizza, for that matter, but learning how to … you know, dealing with literacy students, adult literacy students who were sometimes twice my age.

In the education system, there are a lot of people in certain eras really missed out due to their financial background, due to the fact that they had to go and work on a farm so they left school.  But the literacy problems there were very … you know, for me they were very emotional, because I grew up in a nice American public school situation.  And we may put it down but, wow, when you see what’s missing from another system, you realize how wonderful you had it.

But when I worked with the students, that was an amazing experience.  I mean, to come in for literacy help usually takes, oh, from the looks of things, anywhere from 10 to 50 years.  And when someone asks for help and you give it, you know, they’re going to come up against hurdles.

A 50-year-old learning his ABCs is tough and, you know, learning phonics is tough.  But watching someone who is 50 who his whole life he was working in menial jobs and didn’t know how to read a word, learning how to read … it was, you know … yes I inspired them.

Really, I always thought that they inspired me more, to be honest, because it was amazing.  It really made me see how much I take for granted.  But a lot of times you’d hear “I can’t,” and every one of my students didn’t show up every night.  It’s a very hard road when you decide to get help.

So you know, people would say “I can’t” or “I tried that one way and I can’t.”  And I’m an annoyingly positive person, so I would say “Well, what about the 100 other ways that you could try and do that?”  And you know, that annoys my husband, it annoys my kids, it annoys everybody.  But I really do think that if one way doesn’t work, there are 10 other ways, so I always … that was a big … it was a way I learned how to inspire people, and it was a way I did inspire people.

And I know that since I’ve left Ireland, and since I’ve left those students, that the things I said to them still resonate with them, and that means a huge amount to me.

Toni: And so basically the way that you would help to explore the potential in others is the way that you allowed them — the people with the adult literacy work that you did in Ireland — was that you allowed them to stop and think as well and help them through that and that, you know … and by being very positive, you know, telling them that they can stay with it, and so that’s pretty amazing.

Amy: Most of those people, and I find a lot of people, and just … what I learned from those literacy students is that there they were, and they had a real … we can put a finger on that.  We can say “They can’t read” or “They can’t do math” or whatever their problem was, but then I go out into the real world where everybody, you know, most people can read and people have jobs and families, and it’s amazing how many people don’t really think they have potential.  It’s sad.

I mean, we all struggle with it at times but, you know, my number one thing is, well, of course you do.  I think we’re living in a very cynical world.  I don’t want to be negative about that, but it’s realistic.  I think cynicism is really seen as a very cool thing, but it knocks out your vision and it knocks out any idea that you can achieve something, and I think that’s horribly sad.

Toni: It is very sad.  It also quenches someone’s spark, which is very tragic.  Well let me ask you, when you think about inspiration, Amy, what do you need to be inspired?

Amy: When I was writing this down, my first answer was coffee, but no … you know, what do I need to be inspired?  Well, again, I think of everything with work and family, so work-wise I need things to be quiet; I’m a very quiet person.  I kind of need to be left alone.  I love nature.

And then I thought what really inspires my work and … music.  As strange as that is, art yes, but music will always spark, you know, and truly inspire me, and it’s never a particular kind.  Something can just show up and it’s, you know, the music.

Toni: Oh, I was going to ask you, you know, can you give us an example of what kind of music you like that inspires you?

Amy: Sure.  Well, let’s see.  I mean, each one of the last books I wrote had, you know, a soundtrack of just a new album that I heard, and I don’t usually listen to new stuff.  I kind of, sort of listen to old hippie music, but I’m always inspired by Jimi Hendrix, always.  I’m always inspired by Aretha Franklin.  Jeez, the last two, like I said, one was OK Go and one was Gnarls Barkley.  Both I found on ‘Saturday Night Live’ one night when I couldn’t sleep and I went “Wow, they’re good,” and I bought their album.  Next thing you know, I mean, little lines from their album started to inspire ideas inside the books.

So you know, now that I’m writing regularly, I’m finding that music is just huge.  I mean, the other day I went over to my old hometown, and I just happened to listen to “Eleanor Rigby” by Aretha Franklin for the first time in years, and I listened to it, I kid you not, probably 40 times.  And annoyingly … again I was alone, so thank goodness, but it just, you know, it really resonates and then it just creates an idea and that one idea moves to the next idea.

And that would be my other answer; what really inspires me is ideas.  Whether it’s some guy on the TV who wants to tell me how he built his factory that puts together coffee cans, I love watching people that work hard.  I love seeing that they put their idea — this dream for the coffee can — into a machine that makes coffee cans and now, you know, they sell coffee cans.

That to me, as simple as that is, it’s really inspiring.  I love hard work.  I love watching people succeed once they work hard.  I just think it’s something that again … you know, I’m not trying to put down the modern world, but I kind of wish I still lived in the Waltons, and in my head I do.

Toni: Well then what do you do to your own potential so that you can keep on writing, that you can still be inspired?  What do you do now that helps you to explore your own potential?

Amy: Well, you know, I think that the first thing that I need to even do what I do — or get up in the morning — is the loving family.  I really feel that my relationship, I’m about to hit 18 years married and, you know, it’s never easy; it’s hard work, but I feel that that is hugely important.  If there’s any conflict, I can’t work.  In my job, if there’s something in my head that’s not right, I can’t actually work, so that I need.

I have very young children, and I’m a better mother as I’m working with them, so I have to work and yet that inspires … you know, that pulls out my potential for life.  But life has to, you know, see the potential to work.  It’s sort of a funny balance.

Outside of that, I need to avoid negative people.  There’s a lot of negative people in my business.  My business can be very negative.  I mean, you can insult them publicly and call it a review.  It’s hard, you know?  So I just try and sort of steer away from all that stuff.

I volunteer locally.  That’s huge.  It makes … my business is very self-centered, so volunteering and meeting with the library board or whatever board I’m on or trying to paint the swimming pool, that helps get me out and makes me feel good because I’m volunteering again.  I think since I left literacy, I really needed to be able to help outside my house.

And I think one of the biggest things I need to explore my own potential is a sort of rebellious “Don’t tell me I can’t do something,” and in a way that’s right there.  In fact, do tell me.  Tell me I can’t do it, because then I will do it, and that’s how I got here.

I wrote seven novels over 15 years before I ever got a publishing deal, and when you work for no monetary gain, it becomes a love and it becomes a fire, you know?  And even though it’s not running an engine, you know, you still have to stoke the fire with this sort of weird defiance, and I still have to do that.

I mean, even though I’m working with Random House now, people say “Oh, you know, you’re good, you’re solid.”  That’s not true.  In this business, you can disappear anytime, but it’s that fire that sort of, it just … I have to keep feeding it with a sort of stubbornness, and that doesn’t sound like a positive thing, but it really is.

Toni: Well, it doesn’t sound as though … I might use a different word which is determination and tenacity.

Amy: Yes, thank you.

Toni: So really there has been – not always is there – but with your interview I’m just hearing there’s such synergy with what you do to inspire but also what you need and, you know, you are inspired by people who work hard and you love to watch people succeed.  And yet with the adult literacy that you did while you were in Ireland, it was one of the things that you said is that “Don’t tell me you can’t because you can.”  And yet that’s what you need for your own potential, which is “Don’t tell me I can’t, because I can”, and what you do for fellow writers to stay with it and succeed and work hard.  I can only imagine then how that translates into some of the characters that you write about that determination, tenacity, and also the fact that you just won’t give up.

I think that’s a brilliant message all through this interview, and for that, Amy, and for those who are listening who may not have that drive or determination that you do, they might listen to this and go “Wow, you know what?  I really can learn from her, and she did it and so can I.”  And so that’s very cool, and thank you for that.

Amy: Well, thanks.  You know, when I was writing … because again, I think better through my fingers than I do through my mouth half the time, but I kind of finished up when I thought about this a long time.  I’m very nice.  I’m always … I’m kind of nice to a fault.  My husband has been shaking his head at me for a long time, and my family would tell you I was the girl who would always pick the boys who needed saving, you know, that kind of thing.

But when people say “nice guys finish last,” I just don’t think it’s a race.  I think … it makes me very happy to … I don’t do this and share it and just try and bring the best out in everybody because … and I think that is my potential.  When I thought about it and I thought “Where is my potential, what is it?” and I think it lives inside that.

I think that being nice — as lame or simple as that might sound to some — I think being nice to yourself, to others, really, can allow you to do this, sort of have that determination.  And I think that’s what’s fed me all along as many times as I’ve had to defend it and said “Well, no, you know, I’m going to be this person’s friend even though.”  But it’s a matter of, you know, that’s who I am, and I’ve accepted that that’s who I am.  And it doesn’t mean I don’t get burned, but I always think of something to learn from that burning, we’ll say.

Toni: Well, I think that others will learn from it as well and that being nice is a great way to close the interview with you, because it’s just amazing.  Amy, thank you so much.  We will have a way … the link to your books, your website, at the bottom of the Project page so people can check you out and check out your work.  And thank you so very much for being part of the Get Inspired! Project today.

Amy: Thank you so much for having me.  I really love the Project, and I love the idea that you’re doing something so positive like this.  It’s excellent.

Toni: Well thanks, Amy.

___________________________________________________________

For more information about Amy King:  www.as-king.com, www.thedustof100dogs.com

.

.

.

Right click here to download…

.

Toni Reece: Lisa, thank you so very, very much for joining us on the Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Lisa Cunningham: I’m Lisa Cunningham.  I’m a freelance writer and editor living in Florida; Tampa, to be specific.

Toni: Well fantastic.  So Lisa, when you think about that word inspiration, who do you think you inspire and how do you do that?

Lisa: I try to inspire everybody close to me — my sisters, my brother, my friends — mostly by living a Christian life and, you know, having the values that I grew up with — honesty, integrity, and treating people fairly, being tolerant.  I aspire to that; don’t always make it, but you know, just try setting an example.  I’m the oldest of five kids, so it kind of comes with the territory.

Toni: You’re the youngest of five children?

Lisa: No, the oldest.

Toni: Oh, the oldest, okay.

Lisa: So I had to be the role model.  I had to forge the way, so to speak.

Toni: Oh, I can imagine.  So Lisa, when you are setting the example, you know, to your friends and your family, how do you think that you might help others to explore their own potential?

Lisa: Well, I like mentoring.  I like teaching people new things and networking, hooking people up with each other so they can learn.  The lady I’m writing my biography about her forever, and she was very much into that before it was really a big thing.  She mentored students at the University of South Florida.  She put her sister through college.  She herself benefited from an aunt who put her through college, and she had a Master’s degree back in the 50s when not many women went that far in education.  So her thing is always to tell people “Don’t thank me, just do it for another woman.”

Toni: And is that what you do, Lisa?

Lisa: I try, yeah.

Toni: Can you give us an example of some of the work that you do or how you’ve touched other people in that way?

Lisa: Well, one of my friends is over in South Korea right now, but she lives here in Tampa.  She’s about 28, and she’s 20 years younger than me almost, but she was working on a book about her travels.  She’s like a Christian missionary and she does documentaries.  So it’s really interesting; she was working on like a memoir and she didn’t know a whole lot about writing, so I helped her put that together and kind of organize it and, you know, just have her thoughts make more sense.  She paid me a little bit for that work, and it was very rewarding.

Toni: And so … go ahead, I’m sorry.

Lisa: She obviously repaid me by writing a testimonial on my website.  She’s always trying to find me work as well, so you know, the more people you help, the more it helps you in the long run.

Toni: Absolutely.  Now let me ask you, Lisa, what do you need to be inspired?

Lisa: I like to read a lot.

Toni: What types of books do you read?

Lisa: Oh my goodness … I read biographies, I read mysteries, some history, even some humor.  I like a lot of different books.  Of course I read the Bible just about every day, so that inspires me, too.  What inspires me?  Just my relationship with God, my relationship with other people.  I try to focus on having good relationships and being friendly with my family and everybody, and that inspires me; just being positive.

Toni: Have you always been positive?

Lisa: No.  I grew up in a family that is the other way, so for a lot of years it was hard to be positive every day.

Toni: So, the people that are listening to you in this interview or reading your interview now, they’re going say “Well then how did you … if you grew up in a family that wasn’t that positive, how did you …?”  Because you sound through this interview very positive and very matter of fact about you just love this life and you know, that you treat people fairly and living that Christian life, so was it an evolution for you to come into being a positive person or was there a moment in time when you said “Nope, you know what?  I’m no longer going to be negative?”

Lisa: It was an evolution.  I tried to put positive people around me.  And I’m still like that, you know?  Like somebody most recently said “Let’s go out to lunch with these two people” and they’re like – to me — they’re a downer, you know?

I didn’t want to be rude to my friend, you know, but I’m not going to seek out those kind of people either, you know, because they do … I mean, I don’t know if Oprah says it or what, but depressed people do kind of wear you down and they kind of affect your attitude.  So I’m always telling my sisters and everybody, you know, just try to … your best friends should be people who have the attitude you want to have.

Toni: Is that how you became more of a positive person than you were?

Lisa: Yes, that and my faith in God, working at it every day.

Toni: Do you think your writing helped you?

Lisa: My writing, yes, because I like to interview people who have had a happy outcome, other cancer survivors.  And after going through cancer myself, I’m kind of … I’m still not very tolerant of people who have colds.

Toni: You’re not tolerant of people with colds?

Lisa: No.  I’m like “Okay, that’s like a problem for a couple of weeks – try having cancer for a year,” you know?

Toni: Oh, gosh.  Well congratulations for being a cancer … for surviving cancer yourself.

Lisa: Oh well, to me it was not that hard, because I was young and I was very healthy, so to me it’s  harder when you’re about 70 and you have go through … my dad right now has colon cancer.  He’s in Stage IV, and he’s going through the chemo, and you know, he’s 81 years old.   It’s not easy to get up every morning and go do what you gotta do.  And he was depressed anyway, so you know … he’s getting through it though with humor, so I really believe in humor.   If you’re not a God person or whatever, then humor is always a good tool.

Toni: Well gosh, I would imagine going through cancer at a young age would also change a mindset from being negative to positive.

Lisa: Yes.  It makes you appreciate every day more, but then that sort of wears off after about 10 years or so and you don’t have cancer, you know?  You kind of go back to, you know … some people do go back to how they thought before, and that can be a slippery slope.

Toni: Yes.  Do you find yourself helping other people that are in a similar situation?

Lisa: Yes.  Not as much as I would like to, because I have to make a living.  My goal … if I could ever retire, my goal would be to help people, other cancer survivors, and that’s something the lady I’m writing about did, too.  She would go to the hospital.  She didn’t shirk from going to the hospital and sitting on the bed and talking to them for an hour or two, whatever they needed.

Toni: So let me ask you, Lisa, how do you explore your potential going forward?  What do you do to keep honing your craft and staying positive and exploring your present potential and your future potential?

Lisa: I just love to read.  Any time I have a question, I go online and I seek it out.  I love doing research.  I don’t know if you can over-research, but you can get bound up in that and getting worse then … so you always have to keep reminding yourself of your priorities, I guess.

The old to-do list and all that kind of thing, that really works for me.  And, you know, obviously at New Year’s you evaluate your work and see what you want to do this year and what’s your top priority.  Right now I’m trying to get an agent, so that’s proving to be an interesting experience.

And the thing is, look at all your experiences as a learning process, you know?  Don’t beat yourself up for making a mistake.  Just learn from it and don’t make it again, you know?  I think people spend too much time ripping themselves apart or being their own worst critic, you know?

Toni: Oh, I can imagine that that’s very difficult to hear when people continuously rip themselves apart.

Lisa: Yeah.  I mean, I know a lot of people outside of writing, they have no clue what it’s like to sit there and write, and so because they have no clue or they’re kind of scared of it, they just totally misunderstand and they sort of like look at you like you’re a freak, you know?  I mean really, you know?  They’re like “Why don’t you go do something else?  Why don’t you be a teacher?  Why don’t you be this or …?”  You don’t understand; this is what I was born to do.  God gave me these gifts, and I have to use them, you know?

Toni: Right, right.

Lisa: And they’ll be like … they’re in sales and they’re making all this money.  I’m like “That’s not what I’m about is making a whole lot of money.  What I’m about is sharing this gift with other people, you know, and helping other people.”  That’s what God cares about.  God doesn’t care how much stuff you’ve accumulated.

Toni: I think that is … you said a lot of really important things in this interview, but I think you just kind of summarized it very, very well, didn’t you?  I really appreciate, Lisa, how honest you were in this interview and for just kind of sharing your story so that other people who might be stumbling with their own writing or their own goals can listen to you and say “Yeah, you know what?  It isn’t about making that money and having all those … it’s doing what you love to do” and that’s what you’re saying.

Lisa: Definitely.  This is what I tell my nephews, too.  They’re all like in their teens and, you know, they’re not really sure what they want to do.  And I’m like Do what you love; the money will follow.”

Toni: Yeah, yeah.

Lisa: That saying is so true, you know?

Toni: Well, Lisa, thank you so very, very much for being part of the Project.

Lisa: Oh, you’re welcome.

Toni: We will include a link to how people can get a hold of you at the end.

Lisa: I’ll send you my link.

Toni: Okay, fantastic.  I really appreciate meeting you and thank you for all that you’ve told us today.

Lisa: Oh, well thank you, Toni.  It’s nice to talk to you.

Toni: You’re quite welcome.  Take care, Lisa.  Good luck to you.

Lisa: Thanks.  You keep up the good work now.

Toni: Well thank you.

___________________________________________________________

For more information about Lisa Cunningham:  prosetogo.squarespace.com/

.

.

.

Right click here to download…

.

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

Emma Alvarez Gibson: Thank you, Toni.  My name is Emma Alvarez Gibson, and I’m a writer, to keep it simple.

Toni: Okay.  Well, Emma, when you think about that word inspiration, who do you inspire and how do you do that?

Emma: You know, I don’t know how well I succeed at that, but I’ll tell you what I aim for.  I aim to inspire in some small way everybody that I come in contact with, and I don’t mean that in a Pollyanna sort of “Yay, planet Earth” sort of way.  I just think that people that really feel that they are seen for who they are, they don’t feel acknowledged so much of the time, and something as simple as just making eye contact and smiling at the person next to you in line when you’re at the post office or what have you, I try to bring that level of acknowledgement to all of my interactions with people whether it’s my husband and my son or, as I said, just somebody at the post office.

I try to make people feel acknowledged, because I think that something very powerful happens when we feel acknowledged.  I think we stop … There’s a struggle that stops happening and allows us to focus more on output.

Toni: That’s interesting that it allows people to focus on the output, because the next question would be what do you think you do to help explore the potential in others?

Emma: I think that I provide a safe space for people.  I think that I give people room to be themselves and to think about their possibility without a whole lot of restrictions on it.  One of the most fun things I get to do in my business is encourage people to really be true to themselves.  I do a lot of branding work, and so what I do is I have a questionnaire that I give people and I ask them, you know … they’re all questions that focus on who the person is and what the real message is.

I think it’s very common for us not to really know exactly what it is we’re putting out there, and sometimes it doesn’t match what we want.  And so sort of within that space I get to say “Look, here’s what you’re putting out, and here’s what you’re saying you want, but they kind of don’t match, so let’s align that.”  And that, to me, is like the best feeling in the world.

I try to do that with all of my loved ones, all of my friends, you know?  “Hey, what is it that’s core of what you want and what you’re after and what you have to offer?”  And I don’t think that that can be explored without a sense of safety, so that’s what I try to provide.

Toni: So you introduced yourself as a writer and then you also said you help people do branding.  Can you give me just a little bit of information?  What do you write?  What is it that you write about?

Emma: I write anything, really.  I do advertising, I do websites, I do taglines, I write for Long Beach Magazine here in Los Angeles.  I write fiction.  Really, the only things I don’t enjoy writing are research papers and hyperbole.  The one bores me and the other one I just think is immoral.

Toni: Okay.  So it’s really interesting as a writer and thinking of that word inspiration and how you inspire others — which really does translate and help someone explore their potential — is I heard you say that you help them formulate into words what they’re all about.

Emma: Yes.  In my day job, yes, that’s what I do, exactly.  Words are so powerful.

Toni: Right.  That’s really a great job, isn’t it?  It sounds like it’s a great job.

Emma: I love it.  I just love it.

Toni: So Emma, then how do you come at that word inspiration?  What inspires you?

Emma: I’m really inspired by people who are not swayed by fear.  We all have fears, and I don’t think that there’s ever going to be a point where things don’t scare us.  But doing it anyway, doing it scared — whatever it may be, whatever it is that is crucial at that moment — I think is just super-inspiring because it’s kind of like once you’ve defeated that, there’s really not a lot that you can’t do.

I’m also really inspired by people who don’t box themselves in.  Two of my favorite artists, which if anybody spends more than five minutes following me on Twitter on reading my blog they may roll their eyes at this, but Neil Finn and Nick Cave, two singer/songwriters with extraordinarily long careers.

In particular, Nick Cave has this incredible depth and breadth of a career which includes songwriting and singing and acting and being a musician and writing a film and writing scores for films and publishing a couple of novels.  I love the idea that we can just continue to put work out there and to express ourselves in all these different arenas without having to really sensor how it’s done or without having to box ourselves in.  I love that.

I find that so inspiring, and I try to live my life in a similar way and not sort of put blinders on myself so that I keep plodding forward and doing the same thing over and over again.  I think we start to die a little bit when we do that.

Toni: If I can go back to the very first thing that you said as far as what inspires you, which is not to be swayed by fear and to keep doing it even though you’re scared.  I think that’s a very powerful statement as well.  Have you experienced that?  Have you in your journey, whether personally or professionally, have you actually done that, that you’ve been inspired by your own going through fear or is it really just seeing what other people have done?

Emma: I don’t think that my working through my own fear necessarily inspires me.  I think it’s … after the fact I see it as “Okay, here’s another great tool that I’ve got now in my toolbox.”  I am somebody who I think maybe has more fear than a lot of other people do.  I’m one of these highly sensitive people and, although I can be quite extroverted, I’m also painfully shy sometimes, and it sorts of creeps up unexpectedly.

I literally … I have days where it literally scares me to pick up the telephone or to leave my house.  I’ve also been diabetic since the age of 10, and I was terrified of shots and needles and all of that when I was first diagnosed.  There have been a lot of instances in my life where very, very, very frightening things have happened, and I just have to walk through them.  I just have to.

Like I said, I don’t necessarily find it inspiring.  I find it comforting, because I think to myself with each new situation “Well, I’ve certainly done this before.”

Toni: Right, and it allows you to keep moving.

Emma: Exactly.

Toni: So when you find yourself needing that inspiration and to maybe fill yourself up again, are there certain things you find yourself reaching for?  Are there tools, books,  music?  Well, you did speak to some music, but are there other things that you reach for as well?

Emma: Yeah, absolutely.  My family.  My husband and my son, they’re such lovely people, and they ground me and they make me feel very safe and very complete.  I am a Christian, so I always reach for the Bible, particularly the gospel of Luke, which I named my son Luke.

I do quite a bit of sort of just collaging for fun.  There’s a book that I keep where I paste in different images and text that I love, and I arrange that.  I find that really soothing.  I play guitar.  I knit.  I really enjoy cooking.

It just sort of depends on which sense I’m missing.  With the job that I do now, I am in my head a lot of the time.  So when I need inspiration, I find that I really needed to disengage from that, and I need to do something physical, whether it’s exercise or sometimes I feel like I need to create physically with my hands instead of with words in my head.  And so that’s when I’ll do some knitting or some collaging or something.  Something that’s a little more tactile.

Toni: That’s a great piece of advice, though, for others as well is that those of us who are in our heads a lot — which I can so relate to that — that you need to disengage in something that’s completely different so that you give yourself that cleared space.

Let me ask you as far as your own potential, what do you need and what do you do that you continue to explore your own potential?

Emma: What do I need and what do I do?  Well, I have a few long-term goals, and one of them is to publish a book of short stories, and that’s something that I’m constantly working toward.  They need to be finished, first of all.  But I decided this year is the year that I really approach that seriously and either get it done or check it off the list and go on to something else.  I’m not sure I’m answering the question correctly.  Am I?

Toni: Well, it’s what you do when you think about what you do for others, when you talked about other people and you said that you provide a safe space for people to imagine their own possibilities and be true to themselves.  And so when you’re working on your own potential, what do you have to do to continue to learn and to grow and to move in the direction so that you can help others?

Emma: Oh,  okay.

Toni: And also yourself, to grow yourself into serving your own purpose more and more and more?

Emma: Yes, okay.  I need a lot of alone time.  I need to be able to just either think about things or sort of sit quietly and not think about things.  I’m very easily overwhelmed by sights and sounds and basically any sort of stimulus, and so I need to be able to disconnect so that I can think clearly.

I very much need the people in my life that I’ve come to rely on so much for love, for feedback, for, you know, complete and utter honesty.  I recently wrote about this group of people and I said “Look, these are the people that have seen all my ugly sides and decided that I was worth it anyway.  These are the people I can call at three in the morning and they’ll sit up from a dead sleep if I need them.  They’re the people that’ll say ‘Look, I adore you, but you need to just man up and get over this.’”  I desperately need those people.

I need to maintain a certain level of physical health as well.  I think I mentioned that I’m diabetic, and so I sort of have to be extra vigilant about a whole lot of things.

I think last but not least, I need to trust myself and my own abilities more.  It’s helped me immensely.  I think it’s taken the better part of a year for me to really start thinking of myself as a writing professional.  And it’s strange now that I didn’t, that it took this long, but it did, and things have only improved since I’ve been able to sort of reach that conclusion in my own head, my own heart.

Toni: And thank goodness you did, because with what you’ve spoken about as far as how you inspire others and what you do for people that you provide … you take what they want to say and you help to brand them, you help people to see their own possibilities.  But yet what you’re saying is that it’s taken you a long time to realize that you’re also working within what you thought was possible for you, and now that self-belief is stronger in you, so I would imagine that then gets translated to the people that you’re working with.

Emma: I hope so.  I hope that it does.

Toni: I would imagine that it does.  You have been incredibly frank and honest in this interview and helpful to those who might also be experiencing self-doubt or wondering whether … calling themselves something but not really sure that’s what they should be calling themselves and might need your help having been through what you’ve been through and what you’re doing today for others.  We will give your contact information at the bottom of this interview.  And I appreciate tremendously what you’ve shared with us today.

Emma: Thank you so much, Toni.  What a great experience.  I really appreciate it.

Toni: Fantastic.  Thank you, Emma.  Take care of yourself.

___________________________________________________________

For more information about Emma Alvarez Gibson:  www.emmaalvarezgibson.com, www.twitter.com/ealvarezgibson, emma@litmusstudio.com
.

.



.
Right click here to download…
.

Thumbnail on home page: Original art by Christine Mason Miller

.

Toni Reece: Christine, thank you so much for joining us today, and before we begin the interview, can you please introduce yourself?

Christine Mason Miller: Absolutely, and thank you for having me, by the way.

Toni: You’re welcome.

Christine: My name is Christine Mason Miller, and I’m an artist and writer in Santa Monica and the author of a book called Ordinary Sparkling Moments.

Toni: I love that title!  Christine, let’s go right to the very first question of the Project which is, when you think about inspiration, who do you inspire and how do you go about that?

Christine: I think I inspire my friends and my family and people who have read my book and read my blog, and I think the main thing that inspires people is that I’m willing to pursue my dreams and ideas and visions creatively and in my life.  I really work hard to create a life that is meaningful and that is based on a certain level of integrity, and I think that’s what has drawn people to my work and my writing and my blog.

Toni: How does your writing and blog help inspire people?  What messages are out there?  Is it around how you live your life, or is there another way that you believe in addition to that that inspires them?

Christine: I think the main thing that people are drawn to is that I share a lot of personal experiences, not in a sense of hanging out all of my dirty laundry and sharing every detail of my life, but what I strive to do is share an experience or a situation and what I learned from it.  Usually the specific details of something I’ve gone through aren’t necessarily important.  What’s important is how I dealt with it and what I learned from it and what I took away from it, and I think that is what people appreciate.  It’s almost as if … it’s like the more personal the story and experience, the more universal the wisdom gleaned from it becomes.

Toni: That’s absolutely … We’re finding that true every day with this Project and all of the wonderful people that are coming to the table sharing all of this wisdom with us as you’re doing today.  When you are writing this and telling your personal stories and how you dealt with things, how do you think that someone might translate that to help them explore their own potential?

Christine: Well, like I said, I think it has to do with people seeing something in themselves in the story that I tell.  And what I really always want to get across is I’m not trying to stand up and say I’ve got it all figured out and here’s all you need to know, and it’s so easy as A-B-C to create a meaningful life; I talk about how difficult it can be, how messy it can be.  I’m really honest about that, and it’s not that I’m trying to tell people what to do as if there’s some magic formula.

I’m trying to share my process, and I think that makes it a little more palatable to people rather than me claiming to be some kind of expert who has all the answers.  And it’s not that I have all the answers, it’s that I’ve worked hard to try to find my own answers.  And what I want people to realize is that they have the answers for themselves within their own hearts, within their own lives, and it’s just about being committed to that path in your own way.

Toni: It’s almost to me, I’m writing down … there’s certain thoughts that come to my mind when people are talking through these interviews, and the word that I just wrote down was “experience”, and it seems as though you are putting … really, really being brave to share and put a face on the experiences that you have had so that people feel safe, knowing that other people have gone through these trials and tribulations and that they are not alone.  Does that sound like it’s pretty close to what you think might be happening?

Christine: Absolutely.  I find, especially with my blog, the entries where … it never fails, I’ll feel a little bit nervous like, “Ooh, am I sharing too much here, am I being too honest?”  But those are the entries that get the strongest responses, and people really appreciate that I’m willing to call it what it is and to say out loud “This is what this experience was, and this is why it was wonderful or difficult or challenging”, and I’m not afraid to just call it out.

Toni: Now let me ask you, as far as your own needs for inspiration, how do you stay inspired to be brave enough to put that out there, to do the writing that you do, to help people pursue their dreams in a creative way?  When you’re seeking inspiration, where do you go for that?

Christine: I look to a lot of other writers and artists or anyone who has created a life that’s meaningful to them and lives their life on their own terms.  It’s not so much about, “Oh, just because you’re an artist you’re going to inspire me”; it’s about a certain level of passion and courage and willingness to go farther than you think you can in whatever work that you’re doing.

Toni: So they don’t need to be an artist or a writer for you to derive inspiration from them?

Christine: No.  That’s usually who I’m drawn to just because that’s what I do, but there’s people who do all kinds of things that blow me away.

Toni: And so when you’re in that “looking for inspiration mode”, are there any tools that you reach for?  I know that you say you look for the inspiration in other writers and artists and people that are actually living their life to their fullest passion, but are there tools that you might reach for?  Are there things that you do that you go, “You know what, I need a little quiet time or I seek this to be inspired?”

Christine: I would say the main thing is travel.

Toni: Travel?

Christine: Any kind of travel; just getting out of my comfort zone, going to a new location or even a place I’ve been to before because it’s always a different experience.  Travel absolutely; that’s one of the hugest sources of inspiration for me.  It’s inspired so much work.

Toni: Do you have a favorite place that you travel to?

Christine: Gosh, there’s so many.  I love Tokyo, and I’ve been very fortunate; I’ve gotten to go there a few times with my  husband because he has to go there for business at least once a year, so that’s always a fun place to go to.

Toni: When you are surrounding yourself in a community of creative people or you’re doing this travel and you’re re-inspiring or inspiring yourself, how do you think, then, that translates into or helps you to explore your own potential?

Christine: I think the main thing is seeing examples of how other people live their lives and how things are done differently around the world, and just an awareness that there’s so much going on all over the world at any given moment and to just keep in mind that there’s still so much out there.  I feel like I’ve been able to travel a lot and do so much, but it’s still just the tiniest little grain of sand compared to everything that goes on in the world.

So I think it’s just a willingness to keep seeking and exploring and being inspired by things all over the world and always having my radar open for that.  I might see something that inspires me on a walk to the grocery store.  It doesn’t have to involve getting on an airplane and traveling across the ocean; it can happen in my own home, in my own neighborhood, reading the newspaper.

Toni: And then what does that do for you when you read that story or you see something that strikes you and inspires you?  What does it inspire you to do?  What action do you take from that inspiration?

Christine: It inspires me to keep pushing myself and pursuing what I want in life and not taking for granted the life that I have and that I’m healthy — and there’s so many amazing things in my life — and to keep staying present and staying in the moment and pursuing as much as I can while I have the opportunity to do it.

I think the main stories that inspire me the most are the ones where people … it’s kind of, you know, rags to riches sort of stories – I’m oversimplifying – but the stories where people have had to overcome all kinds of obstacles or traveled some kind of arduous journey to get where they wanted to go.  Those stories remind me to keep taking advantage of the opportunities that I have and, like I said, my health, and the fact that I can travel and do these things; to just not ever take for granted that I’m able to do this.

Toni: It’s really amazing when I listen to people speak on the Get Inspired! Project and, listening to you today, I’m hearing it absolutely come full circle that the inspiration that you seek being around writers, artists for your creative passion but also knowing that maybe there’s some trials and tribulations that people went through in order to get to their purpose to live the life they’re living now.  And you seem to really be inspired by those examples and that, in turn, seems to be what you’re doing for others, that the people you learn from, you’re transferring that to the people you’re inspiring.

Christine: Yeah, I think it’s really easy – and I’m absolutely guilty of this – I think it’s really easy to look at another person in whatever “successful situation” they’re in and think “Oh, that must have been so easy for them, and how great for them, and everything must be just perfect in their lives” … and no one gets to be successful without working hard, I don’t think.

I just think it’s easy to look at someone’s success and forget that they started somewhere as an unknown, not knowing what they were doing, making mistakes.  Everyone started somewhere.  No one just wakes up and is a celebrity or a famous artist or a successful writer or whatever label you want to attach to it.  That doesn’t happen overnight.

Toni: And how interesting for you and for people who benefit from seeing your work that as you are on your journey and as successful as you are, you are showing warts and all … so those that are successful that we don’t know how they’ve gotten there, you are providing a snapshot into how you are getting there, and what a gift you’re giving people.

Christine: Thank you.  I hope so.  I always hope that the honesty I share is ultimately uplifting and encouraging.  It’s not about putting a dark cloud on the truth of making a dream real and making it seem really hard, it’s about just telling the truth.  Because I think otherwise it can be, like I said, too easy to look at someone and go “Oh, well, they’ve got it all figured out and that just must have been so easy”, when really it’s not.  And the good news about that is that I feel like if I could figure certain things out, anyone can.

Toni: Like I said, you’re putting it out there, warts and all, and I think that’s amazing.  Some of us might have bigger warts!

Christine: I mean, it’s true.  When I started my greeting card business in 1995, literally, absolutely every single thing that I needed to do for the business, I did it wrong the first time.  Everything, everything!  But that’s how I learned.

Toni: Absolutely, absolutely … I think there are so many stories that people could tell, that it’s just a collection itself of the bumps along the way, and that’s what you’re bringing to life and sharing this snapshot and your perception of how you inspire.  But what you need for inspiration has been a very valuable lesson for this Project and for people who are going to read and listen to your post, and for that I thank you so much for being  part of this Project, and I hope we see more of you in the future.

Christine: Thank you so much.  Thank you again for having me.

___________________________________________________________

For more information about Christine Mason Miller:  www.christinemasonmiller.com

.

.



.
Right click here to download…
.

Toni Reece: We are officially recording for the Get Inspired! Project.  Thank you so much, Barbara, for taking your time today to be part of this project, and before we jump into the questions, can you please take a couple minutes to introduce yourself?

Barbara Winter: I’m Barbara Winter, and I’m an entrepreneur and a writer, and my passion is really to help other people become joyfully jobless like I am.  I have been self-employed for 35 years, and the main part of my business is writing and doing seminars, so I have kind of two parts that are very different; one I do in isolation, and one I do in rooms full of people, and I love both parts of it.

Toni: Why, thank you.  So Barbara, with the work that you do and the people that you are in front of, who do you inspire and how do you do that?

Barbara: That is a really interesting question, because I think the people who I see in my seminars or who read my book or subscribe to my newsletter are people who are really serious about wanting to create a better life for themselves.  So, I think of myself as kind of running a hardware store for personal growth tools, and so I really explored that whole arena.  But the whole business of inspiration is so fascinating to me because, when I started out 35 years ago, I thought of myself as a motivational speaker, and it wasn’t very long before I kind of grew out of that, and now I think motivation and inspiration are two very different things.

And so, I would say the first person that I seek to inspire at all times is myself, and I really have come to realize that my thinking has changed so much about this.  I used to think that inspiration was something that was very rare and very kind of noisy — that kind of loud, ah-ha, I’ve got it idea thing — and now I realize it’s possible to live in almost a permanent state of inspiration, and it requires participation on your own part in order to do that.  It’s not an accidental thing; it’s really a conscious choice that I make.  So I know the things that inspire me and the things that nurture that in me, and really make a serious attempt every day to put myself in the kind of company of those things that inspire me.

Then, out of that, I think it’s a very contagious thing.  When we’re in the presence of people who are living from a place of inspiration, we catch it.  And so, that is really my goal, is to spread it wherever I can, so even though it might obviously be the people who read my writing or come to my seminars, it’s also just as true that I want to be it all the time, whether I’m shopping at Trader Joe’s or standing in line at the post office, or going about my normal business.  I never want to fall out of that place, because I have no idea when what I have to offer by my attitude and kind of being in this place of inspiration — which is a place that kind of triggers in perpetual creative thinking — how that might help somebody else solve a problem or just make their day better in some way.  I’m ultra aware of this when I travel — and the fact that there are a lot of people who aren’t having a really good time when they’re traveling — so I really kind of appoint myself the inspiration master and try to make it better for everyone around me.

Toni: Well to stay in that place of inspiration, to be in that place not only for yourself but for others, what a gift that you’re giving on a daily basis.  And that leads me into the second question, which is what do you do to help explore the potential in others?  So, the inspiration is happening because that’s where you try to be all the time, and then how does that translate into the exploration of people’s potential?

Barbara: Well sometimes, it’s just by writing something where I might ask questions.  I’ve really become very conscious of this over the last probably five years, about how important it is to ask the right question, and how often people ask questions that don’t inspire a good answer.  And so part of what I do, really, is to ask people questions that kind of open up the creative thinking in themselves; and my favorite place to do this is when I do a seminar that takes place over several days’ time, so kind of in a retreat setting — where I can really get to work with people on a one-on-one — and we have time to really get to know each other and know what people are working on and what they care about, and where they’re stuck and how we can help them move forward out of that.  And so, you know, that certainly is one place where it’s very obvious to me how I work with it and how it happens.

Toni: So your method — at least one method — for exploring potential in others is very important questions that you ask and knowing how important those questions can be; because if they are not the right questions, you’re not getting the right answers; and then also opening up that creative thinking during your retreats.  Now, when you’re seeking inspiration, Barbara, where do you go?

Barbara: To the well.

Toni: And where is that well?

Barbara: You know, it’s so fascinating to me because different people really respond to different things.  So over the years, for instance, I’ve heard a lot of people say, oh, they like to go to the mountains or they like to go to the ocean, and I realize that I have lived by the ocean and in the mountains both and wasn’t particularly moved by either place.  I mean, I liked it, but you know, I didn’t feel a huge connection to it.  And one day I thought I think that I’m inspired by concrete.  I really love cities, and I really have always said my life up for the last probably 25 years so that I lived in kind of a quiet place but was very close to a city so I could tap into that when I wanted to but didn’t have to live in the midst of the hustle and bustle.

So sometimes, for me, if I feel like I need a boost, there are a couple places that I can go that are just absolutely foolproof for me, and that would be a library or a bookstore; just browsing in a place like that can just lift my spirit really quickly.  And so it’s also probably not a surprise that if I just need a quick infusion, I go to my own library; and I have books that I just know if I’m feeling stuck or uninspired that I only need to read a few pages and I will be back on track.  And that’s the other thing that’s really fascinating to me — and I see it as a sign of my own growth — is that I get through down times so  much more quickly than I would have at another time in  my life.  I know how to turn things around.  It’s sort of amazing to me, and I also feel incredibly grateful that I’ve learned how to do this for myself.

Toni: That almost, from my perspective, would lead into the question of what you need to explore your potential, and possibly putting that with understanding how you turn around the down time quicker;  How does that happen?  When did you realize that you do that?

Barbara: Well, I’ll tell you when I really saw it was only a couple of years ago; and I woke up one morning and I had an email telling me that a project I thought was going to happen wasn’t going to happen, and I was feeling incredibly sad about that.  And I had to go to Denver to do some seminars that day, and a friend picked me up from the airport — and I hadn’t talked to anyone about this until she and I were having lunch — and I told her what had happened, and she listened and then said “Did you cry?”  I said yes.  And she said, you know, deep mourning for an entrepreneur is about 48 hours.  And it was like, you know, you’re right … and I have so many wonderful things going on in my life that when something doesn’t work out, I just turn my attention to a different project.

So that’s part of it, is that I have enormous amounts of sources of pleasure in my life, and so if one thing isn’t working at the moment, something else is there to fill in the blank.  I don’t have all my eggs in one basket, I guess, is kind of part of that.  But I think it’s also just a matter of getting stronger and having greater self-awareness and greater affection for myself that I don’t beat myself up.  I’m very, very gentle and kind with myself when things don’t work out, and that just moves me on through a lot more quickly, I think.

Toni: Is that part of what the learning that you’ve been through in your lifetime — to allow you to get to the place of self-awareness and to not be so hard on yourself and to look at not only the professional gifts that you have that maybe sometimes there are some disappointments there, but then you turn to the personal gifts that are still there — that help you get through that downtime.  Are those incidences and experiences what you draw from when you help others in the work that you do?

Barbara: Absolutely, because everything that I do is really focused on, you know, what are the resources we have to work with right now?  It’s never … even though I talk about goal-setting and we talk about planning and moving towards a vision, that is drawing us forward.  At the same time, in order to make that happen, you have to have deep appreciation, not only for what exists right now, but also to be able to see how you can use what you’ve got right now; and I just encounter so many people who spend their whole life wishing for what isn’t, and never notice what is.  And so, I’m certainly no Buddhist monk, but I think I live a lot more fully in the present, and that has a lot to do with it.

Toni: It’s interesting, the way that you just said that you have to understand that you have to know how to use what you have, but you also have to understand what you need; and to me, that goes right back to what you said earlier in how you inspire.  And you called it almost that you have a hardware store for personal growth, and that hardware store will not only have what you need at that time, but also you help them use what they have, and that’s a value-added service for a store, isn’t it?

Barbara: Well, yeah, and you know that’s really the purpose of a tool.  You know, a tool in and of itself is kind of worthless; it has to be applied to something else.  And so even though the tools that I work with are kind of intangible in many ways, they have to be applied in real life, real-time situations.  And that’s a thing that when I started my own personal growth journey — which preceded my starting a business — was so stunning to me, was that I had spent all these years in formal education and had never, for instance, had a class on goal-setting.  I had never heard anyone talk about self-esteem.  I thought, like inspiration, you either had it or you didn’t.  I had no idea that there were ways to nurture and enhance these positive aspects of being a human being.

Toni: Well, I’ll tell you, just in this short snapshot of time that you have given to the Get Inspired! Project — for you to give away this information so that people can learn and benefit by it; for you to be present in that state of inspiration all the time so others can benefit from it; and also have that hardware store, so to speak, of the personal growth that you provide to others — people are so going to be incredibly grateful when they listen to this interview and what you’ve offered to them, and for that, I thank you so very much for being part of this project and giving up your time.

Barbara: Well, I thank you for doing this project.  I think that inspiration has been an incredibly neglected child, and I am just so delighted that somebody is talking about it and exploring all the different aspects of it, so I am going to keep raving about you.

Toni: Well thank you so very much.  A lot of people have fantastic things to say, and I am so grateful that you are one of them.  So thank you so much for your time today, Barbara, and we will talk soon.

___________________________________________________________

For more information about Barbara Winter:  www.joyfullyjobless.com

.

.



.
Right click here to download…
.

Toni Reece: We are officially being recorded for the Get Inspired! Project.  Thank you so much Geoff, for being part of this project, and before we go into the questions, can you please introduce yourself to us?

Geoff Hoff: Sure, my name is Geoff Hoff, and I am a cranky writer.

Toni: A cranky writer?

Geoff: Yes, cranky is a word that has just come up recently, so I decided to use it to describe myself!

Toni: Okay!  Well, then, let’s just jump right into those questions … that’s amazing … the very first question that we wanted to ask is who do you inspire, Geoff, and how do you go about that?

Geoff: Who do I inspire?

Toni: Yes.

Geoff: Well, one of my commitments is to inspire people.  I am moved when I see people that are living their dreams or are beginning to live their dreams, or figuring out how they live their dreams; and when I see that, it moves me sometimes to tears, and I try to do whatever I can to support them and inspire them to do that.  I’m always talking to people about getting in touch with their inner sense and their inner artist and that sort of thing, so I think that I do inspire burgeoning artists of whatever age.  I have a friend who is in her late 40s who is just beginning to write poetry — and so she is a baby poet even though she is not a baby human being — and so it runs the gamut of children who I always want to inspire all the way through old people who are finally realizing, oh, you know I can do something artistic.

Toni: Are these people that you seek out, or are these people that you work with, or are these personal and business relationships?

Geoff: A little of all of that, you know, mostly friends.  For a while, I was an acting teacher.  I did that for about 6 years, and I was very committed to inspiring my acting students not only to develop their acting chops but to develop their love for art and for creation and for following their passion.  I mean, passion is my favorite word, and I love passionate people, and I love people becoming passionate who haven’t been; so when I see that — even relative strangers on the internet — it is fun to find somebody who is a relative stranger who I stumble upon them or they stumble upon me and they are just discovering passion, and I always give them as many “atta boys” as I possibly can.

Toni: How do you go about that, when you are inspiring others and motivating them and having them develop that love for art and creativity?  Are there certain techniques that you use to help inspire others?

Geoff: I don’t know the technique.  That makes it sound so dry.  Probably, but I think it’s more instinctual then anything other than that.  Although I am very chatty and can talk a lot, I’m also a good listener and listening is involved, reading something on the internet — I call that listening even though I am just reading — and can sort of read between the lines and see that somebody is doing that, and I guess it’s just a matter of pointing out progress and then supporting someone and acknowledging it and celebrating it, I guess.  I’ve never thought about what technique I use, because I really don’t think of it as a technique, although it probably is.  I mean, I have probably done it enough in my life that I have a pattern; I just have never examined what that pattern is.   My cat is just in my lap; I’m inspiring her right now.

Toni: When you work with others, relationships or strangers that you come across that you know through conversation and you’re listening and questioning and inspiring them, how do you think you go about exploring potential in others, in getting that inner artist to come out?

Geoff: I encourage them to explore it themselves, you know.  When I see something … oftentimes … a friend of mine just wrote this blog about a dream that she had, and I read it and you know I told her, with some trimming and some adding of fiction elements, this could be a short story, you know?  And she went “oh, good heavens, I never thought about that” but it’s just sort of like I can see possibilities because I am outside of the situation, and people see possibilities with me, too, which is very inspiring.  I don’t see them as much myself, because I’m too close to it, but with other people it’s easier to see the possibilities, and you know, you can point out things, circumstances that they have that are like right in front of their noses, but so close that they can’t see it.

Toni: I actually have a phrase for that.  It’s called the “invisible obvious.”

Geoff: Ah, I like that!

Toni: Yeah, it’s things that are so incredibly obvious but very invisible to others, and it sounds like that that is what you do, that you help inspire others and explore their potential by seeing those possibilities which are very visible to you during your dialogue with them, but yet invisible to them.

Geoff: Right, exactly.  I like that way of putting it; I never would have thought of it that way.

Toni: So, what do you need, Geoff, to be inspired?  When you’re looking for inspiration, where do you go?

Geoff: Everything around me.  I’m inspired by a lot.  As I say, I love the word passion and so when I see someone who is passionate about something, especially in the artistic realms, but even, you know, as much as I don’t like to get into politics and religion, when I see somebody who is passionate about their politics or passionate about their religion, it moves me; and when I see other people being passionate, I am inspired by that.  You know, when I see people living their dreams, I am inspired by that and so I seek that out, and there are a lot of people in my life who do inspire me for just that reason, because they stepped off the predictable path and are living this scary, gut-wrenching, wild ride of a life, and I see that and it makes me feel like I’m on the rollercoaster right with them, and I love that.  Not that I like rollercoasters, you understand, that’s metaphorical.

Toni: But that scary, gut-wrenching life.

Geoff: Exactly!

Toni: That’s a little easier than the rollercoaster.

Geoff: I hate rollercoasters!  I don’t like uppie-downies.

Toni: You know what, I have to agree with you on that one … so basically, when you are seeking inspiration, are there certain places that you go that you might look to be inspired?

Geoff: Yeah.

Toni: Can you give us some examples?

Geoff: Art and movies.  A good novel.  I will be just like verklempt, as they say, by a good novel.  Getting into a conversation with somebody about movies makes me feel like I’m on some other planet; I just love it so much, because I love and am so passionate about good artistic … artistic is an awful word … good motion pictures, good movies, movies that move people, all the way from silly ones to, you know, serious Bergman-type things.  But art often is what inspires me.  But also people doing things for people.  I get inspired by stories like Bono if you want, or what’s his name from South Africa who was in jail for so long, my brain just went blank …

Toni: Mandela?

Geoff: Mandela.  I read stories about Mandela, and I’m often moved to tears.  Of course, you know, I cry at supermarket openings so that doesn’t say much.  (It was my mother’s phrase but it works for me too!) But I’m inspired by people who are passionate about things, but art is, you know, start me a conversation about movies and you know, you’ve got me forever.

Toni: How does that translate into your writing?

Geoff: My writing runs the gamut from generally subversive to very dark to surreal to very bright and life-affirming, but even my dark and my surreal stuff, I think, is passionate and I think is … I don’t know,  I don’t know how to answer that.  I am often inspired — and I’m using the word traditionally there — when I write.  That sounds arrogant, but it’s sort of like there’s this muse tickling me in the back of the head saying okay, start your fingers moving and I’ll give you something.  That is a different sense of the word than I think what you’re using, although it does come from the same idea.

Toni: Absolutely.

Geoff: When I get into that mode, time disappears and the world disappears, and I dive in and I know where I’m going and I keep typing till I get there, and then when I pop out at the other end it’s often 5 or 6 hours later and I’m starving and haven’t had any coffee and haven’t showered, and I go, oh, well, this is a good one, let me go back and read what I just did!

Toni: That’s amazing.  What do you need, Geoff, when you explore your own potential?  What things do you need?

Geoff: Oh gosh.  When I explore my own potential?  You know, I’m in my 50s now and ever since my 30s I started to get past the … I was one of these young men who reveled in what I used to call sensual depression.  I would put on Simon and Garfunkel, and I would just go deep.

Toni: Did you call that sensual depression?

Geoff: Sensual depression; it was where I thought one must live if one was an artist, and I have decided that that is not necessarily the case.  In the last 15 or 20 years I’ve realized, okay, I’m over that now.

Toni: So, just to clarify for people who will be listening to this or reading it in the blog posting, is that where you, when you were in your 30s, you went into sensual depression to explore your potential?

Geoff: Oh, absolutely.  When I was in my teens and 20s and into my 30s, absolutely.

Toni: Oh, I see.  So where do you go know?  I’m almost afraid to ask the question!

Geoff: Well, it’s funny but I really don’t know the answer to that.  It’s sort of like it just occurs.  It’s like … this is gonna sound odd, but Einstein was once asked how he came up with the idea of relativity, and he said “it started in my knee and it traveled to my brain, and when it got to my brain, I started exploring it.”  And it kind of is that way; it’s just an idea that’s present that finally worms its way up into my consciousness to the point where I have to acknowledge it; and if I don’t acknowledge it, it goes to somebody else and like a month later I’ll read somebody else having written it, and then I will kick myself around the block a little bit for not having accepted the inspiration when it was mine.

Toni: So, your exploration of your own potential, the potential that you’re defining as the potential for your next book or article or what you’re writing; but if you were to look at what other needs you have in other areas to groom your potential, where would you go?

Geoff: You know, what I do is, I stand up and get away from my desk.

Toni: Yes.

Geoff: I spend a lot of time at my desk; I mean, I’m usually at my desk at 8 o’clock or 8:30, maybe 8:40 in the morning, and I’m often there till 9 o’clock at night or later doing any number of things, and I have to remind myself to get up and go outside and walk around the block, and I have to remind myself to get … I mean, I live 5 miles from the ocean, for goodness sake, and I have to remind myself to go to the ocean.  But when I do that, and I stand on the beach and get sand in my shoes and feel the breeze and hear children screaming and, you know, people laughing, that fills me up.

I used to go camping a lot and I used to go hiking a lot, and I don’t do that as much, and I’d like to do it more; and I mean camping out in the woods, not in a dress, not that kind of camping at all.  But I used to do that, you know, to find inspiration and fulfillment, to sort of recharge the batteries, I guess.  I don’t do that as much, and I’d like to do that more.  I love driving.  I love getting behind the wheel; that’s something that I learned from my mom.  When she used to get depressed, she would just pile us up all in the car and go get lost in the woods, and I love that.  I love driving out and seeing the scenery by me and seeing a cow, seeing a mountain or seeing a stream or a waterfall, you know?  When I was on the East Coast, you know, seeing autumn leaves or seeing a firefly in the summer.  I still miss fireflies because they are one of God’s little miracles.

Toni: I tell you, listening to you, what I’m hearing is that how you inspire others and who you inspire as far as helping that inner artist to be creative and to develop that love that someone has for their creativity and exploring their potential, it sounds as though that very much correlates with what you need to be inspired, which is passion, because you are trying to inspire others by helping them ignite their passion and live their dreams, and that’s exactly what you need in order to be inspired; and by you describing how you explore your own potential, whether it is for your writing or to go to the beach and stand there and see beauty and nature and so forth goes right back to the inspiration that I’ve heard you say as far as developing that love for art and beauty and that inner sense.  Does that come pretty close to the way you described it?

Geoff: Yeah, it does actually.  It sounds very in a nutshell, you know.  Putting it that way, it does sound like … what I feel like I need to do to inspire others is also what I feel like I do to inspire myself, you know.  I seek out people who can inspire me — and they not necessarily are doing that consciously, but they certainly are doing that.

Toni: Well, Geoff, I have to tell you that I can’t express enough the gratitude that we have towards you for taking part in this project and this snapshot that you have provided others of your approaches as well as your needs that people will learn from and also benefit from; and so I thank you so very much for participating in this project.

Geoff: I’m very happy to do so.  It‘s been a lot of fun.

Toni: It has been a lot of fun, and I hope to talk to you soon, so thank you so very much.

Geoff: Thank you!

___________________________________________________________

For more information about Geoff Hoff:   www.ThatWouldBeMe.net

.