When I really believe in something, I don’t hesitate to invite others to benefit from what I know to be helpful and inspiring. That’s why I’m writing a quick and heartfelt post to share the link to the work of someone who has inspired me.

Christine Kane has the kind of clarity that I FEEL when I watch her videos. I recall vividly that after watching one of her videos, I was so on fire and clear about getting work done that I ran around like a superhero!

What I really need is a pocket version of Christine – one I can consult at the drop of a hat, ask questions and get those super clear answers that crystallize my vision. No such pocket version of Christine exists, or least none that I know of!

I’m encouraging people to sign up for Christine’s upcoming teleclass for the same reason I just signed up for it - you can NEVER have too much clarity OR too much inspiration! I will be participating because I am happy to receive another dose of quick-ass clarity about how best to share my work on the internet frontier.

It’s free and will likely help you in ways you’ll find surprising. If you sign up and love the info she shares, please let me know.

My hope is that her work will bring showers of good things to YOU!

Remember, it’s a free class, so there is nary a risk here. It’s on March 13th and I believe space is limited, so scoot-scoot and sign up if you want to invite more inspiration into your work!

xoxoxox

xoxoxox!

last night i went outside, looked up at the sky, stood in awe.

did you see it? did you look UP?

you know that sweeping deep lure of total black – the one velvet does so well? that’s how the sky seemed, just forever soft, luxurious, plush black.

my mind rolled in the black, my eyes captivated by this seductive, endlessly deep and ever-unfolding pitch of seeming nothingness that is huge beyond my ability to gauge distance and size.

you know what hung from there, right? diamonds the size of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, the old and new fires called stars – STARS! – that’s what shiny magic the sky dangled toward me. i was in a familiar state of mesmerized as i took in the sparkle.

some people never look at the night sky. they walk along, head tucked to neck, collar up, darting eyes, mind so filled with thises and thats that no room exists for wonder, curiosity and awe. if you spend all your time looking at your feet, you’ll miss the most stunning canvas ever designed.

whether you are schooled on the constellations or not, the beauty and natural puzzle of the night sky offers rich experience and the jumping off point for stories, myths, memories, new visions and mysteries.

my life is tied up in the stars.

for example, many years ago i had a dog i loved, chaos, dear, sweet, angel boy. i knew he was going to die soon, so as i held him in my arms under the pretty birch tree in sag harbor i told him that even if we’re not physically in the same place in the cosmos, whenever i look at our brightest star, the dog star, Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major (Big Dog), he and i would be together as we were in that moment, on this clear night, under the beautifully sculpted, ghost-white tree.

i saw that very dog star last night. i gazed at it while i heard my new pup scamper about the yard, behind the hammock, somewhere in the shadows.

extraordinary – the stars seemed so close, like their brightness was yelling, like they were turned up to 11, like i had been in a desert and needed starlight to drink.

when i was young, so long ago, i looked up at the sky and wished i knew where things were – where is the constellation Hercules? which one is Aquila? where’s Orion? which one is Delphinus the dolphin, Lacerta the lizard, and so on.

i finally did learn the constellations and it was so worth the effort. when i look up and my eyes wander the starry puzzle it’s like seeing my old friends winking down at me. one of my favorite stars is Capella, in Auriga, a sweet star – and Auriga is the charioteer. i think of this round constellation as the track the chariots race on, the horses making music with their hooves, shaking the starlight as they lap the course.

this is how i learned about the stars, planets and constellations:

• asked a friend for some info
• read some books
• invested in software
• looked up at the sky for hours

the stars waited patiently for me there until i was ready to learn their names. and when i took the time to do it, i was rewarded with a beauty and orientation in space i had not known before. i look up now on a clear night and i know which direction is north, i see Draco the dragon slither between Ursa major and Ursa minor, and i see the dragon’s head point into the center of Hercules. it’s a map AND a puzzle, a way for me to know about my own cosmic neighborhood.

is there something YOU always wanted to learn about that you have not yet investigated? what’s been waiting patiently for you to pursue it?

what do you want to E X P L O R E?

you’re the only one who can start your trip, so notice that small voice in the background – hear what is whispers – then get curious and learn something new.

be an explorer – expand your mind, ready your curiosity, fill your holster with questions and ride out to find answers.

[need help doing it? hit me up for some conversation. my purpose in life is to cheer on exploration and the pursuit of expanded vision. and stay tuned for my next post in which i disclose my most heartfelt failing. yeah, it’s a journey and sometimes tough terrain needs to be surmounted. ride with more exuberance when that happens – but DO NOT get off your horse.]

I got lucky. I was born third. I have a big sister and a big brother, so when I was young a wide range of toys spilled out before me and I got to play with any kind of toy I fancied.

I had my sister’s Barbies to play with and I eventually even got the Winnebago so Barbie and her buddies could go on vacation when they needed to put up their deformed feet and take a break from their fashion obsession.

I had my brother’s GI Joe and his cool camouflage military van, Tonka trucks and Matchbox cars. My dad got us tiny houses and itty-bitty fake trees and we created a town for our cars to drive around in. We also had cap guns, pistols, holsters and tiny wee green soldiers that still occasionally pop up, these many decades later, in the dirt of the yard of our childhood home.

The very best part of my growing up is that I was not fenced in by gender roles – I had access to it all, from one extreme to the other.

I loved to play football. I was often quarterback and when I wasn’t, I was a wide receiver running for long bombs down near our opponent’s end zone. At first, I didn’t realize I was playing a game not intended for my gender. One Halloween I wore my brother’s football uniform to school as a costume and I can remember loving how it was so comfortable and easy to play on the playground in it – ever try to enjoy the monkey’s bar in a dress?

As I got older, I was forced to abandon my love of football – no room for girls on the field, of course. It didn’t seem fair that I couldn’t play.

And this is what The Girl Effect hinges upon – what exactly girls ARE and ARE NOT allowed to pursue as their lives unfold. What activities and opportunities are supported? And which ones are forbidden?

Sadly, the supported options tend to fall in the category of domestic work including doing dishes, washing clothes, carrying water, marrying young. Sadly again, what tends to be forbidden is the most empowering of activities: reading, writing, pursuing education, working outside the home, exercising one’s freedom to choose for oneself.

Sometimes it seems nothing is changing – girls and women across the globe still fight every single day to be heard, educated, valued, paid equally, respected, free to pursue what interests us. And that’s STILL true even in the fattest country on earth.

Sometimes, particularly in far off (AND not so far off) lands, girls are prevented from discovering their own most meaningful, fulfilling lives, stymied by cultural mores, at the hands of those who are so invested in the status quo that they can’t see the amazing potential of each and every girl.

This hurts girls – deeply.

And this hurts their communities – the very communities that demand that these limitations on girls stay firmly in place HURT THEIR OWN PROSPERITY by attempting to diminish the power of each girl.

But now the truth is motion – it’s The Girl Effect!

Now a new understanding is sparking to life in people’s minds and hearts across the world – the whole world! It won’t be spontaneous, I wish it were, but it IS inevitable – an unstoppable wave of support and change is moving toward each precious girl who yearns to live life according to her inner compass, reaching for knowledge, in pursuit of her dreams.

It wasn’t possible way back when I was girl, but look what’s happened:

The Queen of Kick is here!

Meet straight-A student, homecoming queen, football-playing Brianna Amat who won the homecoming football game in her hometown in Michigan with one BIG kick, who graciously wears her homecoming crown at the same time she sports shoulder pads.  [You can learn more about her story here.]

This is my favorite picture – she’s beautiful
in her shiny crown AND her football uniform!

Things ARE changing. Not fast enough, no doubt, but incrementally – and we must stay inspired and on task so we can help girls in even the farthest reaches of our planet.

We can strengthen the wave of hope so it crashes on MORE shores where more and MORE girls wait with their most heartfelt dreams on hold – they are waiting for us to reach them. We have to hurry!

Invest in girls – and you will lift entire communities to new levels of wellness.

Invest in girls – and you will support the development of our next generation of brilliant problem-solvers.

We inch closer to each girl with every inspired action, generous donation and open mind we bring to the process.

We need YOU to be part of this wave – bring YOUR inspired action, generous donation and open mind!

Learn more about the girl effect here:  The Girl Effect!

And please join the girl effect blogging campaign here: http://www.taramohr.com/girleffectposts/

What can YOU kick start to help girls in the world?

I thank you wholeheartedly for YOUR INSPIRED ACTION.

goooooooooooooooooooooooooo girls!

wrap a wish in a hope and tie it with action.

xoxoxox

A while back a very nice woman I spoke with suggested I might be concerned my creativity could be compromised by a particular action she advocated – I think politeness is good for creating a civil society, so I didn’t interrupt to tell her how wrong she was. Plus, I’m very sure her intentions were good when she spoke the words.

I waited until the end of her sentence and then said, No, I have absolutely no fear whatsoever that my creativity could be compromised. There is no part of me that thinks my creativity can be diminished at all, in fact.

I couldn’t not be creative if I tried. I don’t know how to not be creative. It’s not something separate from me or something I have to find or learn.

My creativity IS me.

Creating is who I am. It is effortless and enjoyable and instantaneously available at all times. (The same is true for YOU.)

This got me thinking about why someone would think such a thing – that creativity is something that may stop or be interrupted.

The reason I don’t feel separate from my creativity is that being creative is not something I learned. Rather, it’s been about unlearning the blocks to creativity and keeping them unlearned.

I’m an awesome unlearner. I don’t like to brag, but seriously – if something I’ve learned or been told rings hollow or untrue, I shall drop that thing. Unlearning the false makes more room for the true.

There’s not a guru on the planet whose opinion means more to me than mine.

In fact, a lot of what passes as common knowledge could be rejected in order to create a more interesting population of problem solvers, artists, brilliant folk.

We are often taught to settle for the status quo. THAT is very important to unlearn as fast as possible.

My best friends are questions – I love them. I particularly like these: Is that really true? Can I change it? What if – ? Or this? Or that? What if I turn it over?

What if I turn it inside out? Upside down?

What if the OPPOSITE is actually true?

The best way to honor one’s own wisdom is by questioning everything, all assumptions, generalizations and haughty remarks (yes, even what I’ve written here!).

Ask questions. Seek your truth. Unlearn what hobbles your progress and create according to your own unique genius.

Honor yourself – let the gurus go.

That’s the process of unlearning. Find your own path, enjoy your every single step of discovery. Light your own way with your own song. Blaze a starry path in the direction of your soul.

You were born creative and then countless lies were thrown your way. It’s understandable you believed them for a time, while you learned and lived and realized new revelations.

Sometimes it’s what we unlearn that makes the magic come true.

Say YES to the magic!

the precarious dance of awareness, sculpture

Time keeps rolling along, have you noticed? Sometimes, I can break away from time and forget it’s passing without ceasing. And then something happens to remind me that we are, indeed, getting older – all of us.

Are we getting wiser too?

That certainly makes aging seem more meaningful, doesn’t it? If we get wiser, more in tune, able to leap moment to moment with a deep sense of knowing and appreciation, then years may stack up, but we won’t complain or feel bad.

We’ll look in the mirror and know silently where those grey hairs came from – and we’ll love each and every one. Those grey hairs are from my late nights up toasting with friends by the fireplace, and these are from swimming out to Fisher’s Island with my siblings from the craggy shores of Groton Long Point, and these here are from The Tidewater, in Southampton, where I looked up from the bar to learn from the chattybox that America had just invaded Iraq that March evening.

Maybe some of these grey hairs are from when I learned some people I love are being set loose from their physical moorings, being worn away, slowly, but surely, yes, time is passing.

Memory, Joy… Fear?

When we look back, time can seem a bending tool – a way to bridge then and now and connect to a moment or memory. When we look ahead, time can seem a gift – a gift if we anticipate good things, that is. But time can also induce fear – fear of the unknown, fear of the worst case scenario, fear of whatever the chattybox is prompting us to fix with a purchase or distraction or snack.

What if we could just put time in a trance? What if we could make this very moment – right now – a longer moment than usual by really, really BEing here – ?

[and this is the hinge on which creativity hangs – be present, and you’ve got access to your powers of imagination, your most empowered response awaits your presence, your deep, true, real “in the moment” presence where you can hear the whispers of your heart, where you can sense your soul nudging you toward your highest expression]

Where are you — right now?

So often we’re not actually present where we’re standing or sitting. We’re looking out into the street and wondering what he meant when he said this or that. Or we’re sitting with our chin in hand, looking out the window and wondering what life would be like if –

But if we’re really, really HERE right NOW, then what happens is this: we notice the sunlight on the late spring leaves, we hear the squeak-squawk of a bird in the yard, we notice the humming of an engine off in the distance, we sense our breathing, appreciate the colors, recognize that the air smells a bit sweet from the peonies in bloom, and we even grasp how lucky we are to be alive, to have such rich opportunities, to be given another chance each moment.

Then we feel gratitude.

We feel a deep sense of gratitude because we’ve left the past behind, and the future to itself, and instead of zipping off there, we remember to be here now.

BE where you are. Take a moment and feel, see, listen, tune in. Take your time. Now is a long time, but you’ve got to stay here – in the now – to know that.

Wherever you are, whenever you are, I’m whispering in your ear right now:

be – here – now.
be here now – be here now – be here now – be here now – be here now – be here now

[special offer on be - here - now totems right NOW - get yours!]

be here now – be here now – be here now – be here now – be here now – be here now

The thing about art is the power in it – the power to creatively express what you value, what you wish to say, what you choose to visually incorporate into your daily life.

Art literally comes in through your eyes, your ears, your open mind and then it wanders around your spirit and heart. Questions arise, colors soothe or excite, shapes remind you of this or that.

An image can take you somewhere – to Italy, to decades ago, to the future, to your deepest grief or most exquisite love.

What you surround yourself with becomes part of you – what you place on your walls, mantels, window sills, and so on, becomes part of your daily life as our planet spins to rise the sun, spins so the sun goes down, the moon and stars pass above, too, as these treasured moments tick away.

We sometimes forget time is passing – that right now is the most important time because it is in this moment that we can actually create change. Only THIS moment holds that power.

What do you choose to see each day, place on your walls, showcase on your window sill as you do the dishes, or work on your laptop – something you cherish? Do you place works of art around you that honor someone special to you and the gift they were or are to you in this life?

Do you honor your own dreams, your own personal celebrations and goals and hopes?

Art is a tribute to that which you hold most dear. It’s why you have photographs of special times, of people whom you love, family and friends you want to cherish in your quiet moments with a full heart as you glance at that treasured face, that moment in time when you held that person close, that precious experience you can glimpse again through an image or symbol that brings it all back.

Place with reverence a work that makes a statement about your hopes, love, values, wishes, the parts of nature you treasure, the objects that represent moments too poetically tender to accurately describe in words.

Take a look around you – have you surrounded yourself with art that speaks to and for your heart? Does the tone of the work reflect back to you your highest goals and values?

Does your art inspire you to appreciate with gratitude the blessings you’ve experienced? Does your art celebrate your dreams? Does your art accurately sing back to you what you love most in this world?

Surround yourself with art that supports you, honors what you hold dear, celebrates your one-of-a kind life. If your art doesn’t fit you, it’s time to make a change – YOU orchestrate your space and your art can be in sync with your most soulful loves and dreams.

i love this humble sketch. it’s so simple but it captured the movement, and the moment, i watched this response unfold.

the back patio, boulder, colorado, a few years back – just talking with a long-time buddy about this and that, now and then. i don’t recall what the trigger was for this response, but i do recall vividly the gesture itself as i had pencil in hand, blank paper awaiting my slightest touch.

a lot of trust, a sprite-like joy, a sense of allowing and expectation of good – that’s what i saw. that was the yes! i put on paper.

good things to focus on even all these many, many years later.

a blank piece of paper can save a life, if it comes with a pencil or pen. there is power in writing things down, in placing them ever so gently upon an expanse of white. when we see the words there, or the lines of the drawing, we have a new relationship with whatever those lines represent.

a blank page is a gift. an empty canvas is chance to heal some wound that still bleeds, some bruise that is still too sensitive to touch.

these are tools of transformation just waiting for you to pick them up.

i drew this right after i got my first rejection letter from a publisher. now when i get them i laugh. actually, i don’t send much out these days because the gatekeepers are becoming extinct. i can’t say i’m sorry to see them go. i do wish them well though.

the first time something happens, it can really knock us around. then, after we experience that thing several times, it comes to mean something very different over time.

at first, we think maybe our work wasn’t up to snuff. then, we think maybe the gatekeepers aren’t as smart as we wished they were. then, finally, we realize that perhaps our work went right over the gatekeepers’ heads.

no one is at the gate, friends. you decide what happens next.