Your Story Matters

Something to consider as we figure out our goals and habits for 2012:

As far as habits go, this one is really an easy one to implement and it makes sense.

What to do about…

Stress. Selfishness. Discontent. Less than. More than. Not enough. Materialism. Boredom. Me.

Perhaps a healthy dose of…

Gratitude.

I truly see you.

I am listening.

I am blessed.

I appreciate you.

God is good.

I have enough.

I will trust Him.

Thank You.

I’ve been thinking a lot about dreams lately. Not the kind that you have when sleeping but the ones you pursue…

Credit: Flickr User DeeGirlDee

Today, thanks to author, presenter and Twitter user @NancyDuarte, I learned about the amazing photographer, Camille Seaman. Nancy invited Camille to visit her company and then later posted an interview with her.

Read this excerpt from Nancy’s blog:

Photographer Camille Seaman’s daughter was watching Storm Chasers on the Discovery Channel one day, when Camille stopped what she was doing to admire the storm’s light.

Her daughter noticed her and said, ‘Mom, you should do that!’

Three days later, she was.

You know what I love about that? Camille’s daughter thought enough of her mom that she believed she could be a storm chaser!

Now, take a look at this interview quote:

Nancy: You’re so busy, successful and adventurous. What’s it like to be a mom and be so dedicated to producing amazing work?

Camille: I think it’s really important for my daughter to know that being a mother does not negate the necessity for her to live her purpose, to follow her dreams, or to do what she feels is important. In fact, it amplifies it. Being a mother really made me want to stand up and say, ‘I cannot leave this planet in the shape that it is for my child.’ She’s, in many ways, been the inspiration.

My takeaway is that even as parents we still need to seek after what our God given purposes are, discover our talents and use them. I think when we do seek after our dreams and do a little risk taking. we model it for our children and they look up to us for it.

My author friend Jenny Lundquist wrote this week on her blog about “Mama Writers and Guilt”. Jenny has been pursuing her dream of being an author and has struggled with guilt for it. About the guilt, she wrote,

So this is what I figured out: I spent so much time over the past five years worrying about what writing was taking away from my children that I didn’t stop to ask myself what writing was giving to my children.
(read the complete post)

Did you catch that? It seems that when we pursue our dreams and purposes we are actually giving a gift to our children. I want to inspire my daughters to be who they were made to be. I want them to take risks. I want them to dream big and purse God sized adventure. Perhaps… my dream pursuits may actually inspire and train them.

Ann Kiemel Anderson and her husband Will adopted 4 boys. Remarkably they developed relationships to the young biological moms. To one of those moms, Ann wrote,

“I serve a giant God. And we dream big dreams for you, my God and I.”

Let’s be storm chasers.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

I think that a correlation exists between connection and creation. Our relationships inspire us to create.

“A 185 people…12 different countries…it was all about connecting…these individuals…alone…together.’
Eric Whitacre

I’m a 17 year old kid who loves metal, rock, screamo, drum and bass, dubstep, indie, emo, punk.

But when I close my eyes and listen to this, I could be anywhere, anytime, dead or alive, and you just loose yourself and forget about everything, let your mind wander. When I listen to it I? feel weightless, timeless, detached from the degrading society that we’re forced to live in, and I’m reminded of the beauty and potential that we all posses inside. This is so beautiful, so moving. Amazing.
Rob Prouse

It’s amazing what can be created when people connect to something larger than themselves. I think we’re hardwired with the need to create and to contribute to a bigger picture…to make a difference…to leave our fingerprints on others.

(note: From reading Seth Godin‘s new book, I just learned of Sasha Dichter. It was on Sasha’s blog that I first saw these videos.)