Quote of the day:

“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.”
― Leonard Cohen

When You Show Your TRUE Imperfect Self —

That’s How the Light Gets In!

I was at a women’s retreat last weekend with 80 wonderful women. It was a retreat that I helped vision and plan for the past 10 months with 5 other wonderful women.

What a rewarding experience it was to be part of a group who planned and created a wonderful container where alchemy could occur. While we had an idea of the environment and possibilities we wanted to create during the retreat, the results depended upon a multitude of factors, many beyond our control. All we could do was to plan the elements we could, stay open and present to the moment and what might want to emerge, and adapt and change as new things emerged.

Creation is chaotic, organic, messy, unplanned, vibrant, and alive!

I know I’m prejudiced because of the hours of planning and hard work that went into creating the retreat, but the results exceeded our expectations! I’m still riding on the high of participating in the retreat. It was great fun. And it was everyone who attended the retreat and let themselves be seen who made it wonderful!

One never knows how creations will turn out. They can exceed all your expectations and knock your socks off, fail dramatically, or fizzle dimly with mediocrity.

But if you don’t start creating, you will never experience the “Wow!” of being amazed by something you helped create.

I make thousands of photos every year and only a few light me up and make me say, “Wow!”

I think all of the non-wow photos are needed as compost to create one or two Wow’s.

As I learn about creating from creating, I am also learning about being authentically present through letting my whole self shine through.

I spent most of my life carefully hiding my spontaneous feelings and thoughts, fearful of being laughed at or judged.

When you play it safe, you play it small

When I decided to create this blog and call myself a photographer, it was scary. At first I felt like I was naked every time I wrote something personal in my blog or when I showed my heART.

But the more that I let my real self shine through, the more real connections I make with people and the more joy I experience.

A long time ago I noticed that good speakers teach me something interesting but they rarely inspire me to action, while great speakers who are vulnerable and let me see their struggles and triumphs inspire me because I see their beauty more clearly through the cracks they reveal. They touch my heart and it is through my heart that I am inspired to act.

This was true at our retreat last weekend too.  By Sunday morning when everyone was tired from sleeping in the camp beds and had been together for 2 previous days, it felt like the masks came off and people’s true selves emerged.

I was so touched by getting to see glimpses of true selves emerge. In those moments magic happened—so much laughter, so much love, so much real beauty!

When I was staying in Hawaii in early 2013, I vividly recall realizing one day that I felt as if I had dropped all my masks and protections with the people I met there. I was just me, willing to acknowledge that I was a dumb haole (foreign white person) who didn’t fully understand the culture. The beautiful thing was, the more transparent I became, the free-er I felt, and the more easily I connected with others.

I vividly remember doing a happy dance one day thinking, “They like me. They really like the real me,” and feeling such amazement.

It is freeing to be real. So try it!  Let yourself relax and laugh, dance, cry, BE.

Create something

Show your heART to the world

And let the light shine!