Miller Christine Mason - Desire to inspire : using creative passion to transform the world

D esire to I nspire

Jsing Creative Passion
to Transform the World

Christine Mason Miller

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO

KAREEM, SUKAYNA AND ZAIN:

NEVER DOUBT

THE POWER

OF YOUR DREAMS

TO TRANSFORM

THE WORLD.

PHOTO BY MCCABE RUSSELL

PHOTO BY CHRISTINE MASON MILLER

the lute will beg

B Y H AFIZ

You need to become a pen

In the Suns hand.

We need for the earth to sing

Through our pores and eyes.

The body will again become restless

Until your soul paints all its beauty

Upon the sky.

Dont tell me, dear ones,

That what Hafiz says is not true,

For when the heart tastes its glorious destiny

And you awake to our constant need

For your love

Gods lute will beg

For your

Hands.

PHOTO BY ANNE CARMACK

PHOTO BY CHRISTINE MASON MILLER

contents

introduction

I am not a jump out of bed, leap into the day kind of person, a characteristic that has lately felt more pronounced in contrast to my puppys morning excitement. As I throw aside the covers, slowly sit up and loopily make my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth, Tilda is all wagging tail and bounding energy. Its a new day! she seems to say, What could possibly be better? Groggy and already imagining a perfect cup of coffee, I cannot help but be inspired by her eager, happy response to each morning, day after day after day.

A little while later, with coffee in hand, I begin to wake up and get my day going with a virtual journey around the world to see what my friends and colleagues are up to. I check in with Pixie Campbell, whose fierce devotion to the truth of her journey as a woman, a mother and an artist never fails to add fuel to my own internal creative fire. From there I go to Vineeta Nairs design blog, where her latest photographs from Mumbai, India fill my head with ideas for a new series of artwork, not to mention another journey abroad. After this Ill see what Amy Krouse Rosenthal is up to and then visit Liz Kalloch. I love reading Anne Carmacks latest musings and I find it is always a good idea to keep up with Christine Castro Hughes, whose artistic, colorful, gratitude-infused view of the world reminds me to pay attention to the details.

By the time Ive read the words and musings of these womenwhich chronicle everything from building a business to coping with disappointmentmy energy has begun to sparkle and Im inspired to get to work. They fill that quiet space between waking up and getting to work with light, inspiration and the same kind of excitement I see in Tilda when her head pops up on the side of my bedthe joy of beginning a new day, which holds new opportunities to share and express my creative, flawed, talented, contradictory, messy, grateful self.

I check in with these women and many others on a regular basis for one simple reason: They inspire me. I visit their websites and read their blogs because they feed my soul and encourage me to keep doing the work I do, which is, like theirs, fundamentally about making the world a better place. They encourage me with their honesty, creativity and spirit; they show me what it means to live a passionate, mindful life. I see their work and read their stories and they motivate me to take risks, work hard, express myself and share the ups and downs of my journey with absolute honesty.

Ever since the day I went to Santa Barbara City Hall to apply for my very first business license, my mission has not been to simply be an artist, but to create art that inspires others to follow their passions. I launched my artistic venture with an unwavering belief in possibility, which provided a foundation that has supported me through fifteen years of ups, downs and quiet in-betweens.

During this time I have met, collaborated with and become close to an extraordinary community of like-minded soulsartists, writers, activists, entrepreneurs, workshop leaders, personal coaches, designers, and filmmakerswho walk through this world not content to pursue their passions exclusively for their own joy and benefit, but for the deeper purpose of making the world a better place (although what Ill try to demonstrate in this book is that these two endeavors are, at their core, one in the same.) Time and time again, when Ive asked these women what they really want to accomplish with their work, they give the same answer: I want to inspire others.

It is this profound desire to inspire that drives the day in, day out work of pursuing our passions, which is done in the midst of raising children, building marriages and doing all the other requisite caretaking that falls on the to-do lists of most women. We write stories and prepare meals, design books and do laundry. We gather online, over coffee, and at organized retreats, sharing our experiences of all the ways we are able to create a meaningful life through our work, our families and our communities. And yes, we all do this because it fulfills us and makes our hearts sing. But when we explore the deeper reasons behind this time and effort, there is something even more important than what these pursuits do for us, and that is our desire to shine a light in the world that others might need to take their own daring leaps.

In a nutshell, we have all chosen to center our creative and professional lives around one shared mission: serving others.

Desire to Inspire: Using Creative Passion to Transform the World aims to explore what it means to live a meaningful, inspiring life and how many of todays leading artists and visionaries have figured out how to do thisto express, embody and share their messages, gifts, philosophies and beliefs in the midst of all the twists and turns life has given us.

Through heartfelt interviews with nineteen women who are changing the world for the better in their own unique way, I hope to shed some light on the roots of what it means to live a mindful, passionate life and how and why this is the greatest service one can offer the world. It is one thing to talk about why I love to paint or write a story and something else to talk about why it is important that those acts somehow make the world a better place. I have asked these women to peel back another layer to expose whatever experiences and influences led to their commitment to being a Force of Good in this big, weary, beautiful, complicated world of ours. Not surprisingly, they have responded with total candor and sincerity, reflecting the wisdom, grace and beauty that so many people the world over, including myself, are drawn to.