Heather Morrow & Dr. Martha Beck (2010)
In January of 2010, I had the honor of meeting Dr. Martha Beck and hear her give an inspirational keynote speech at the Craft & Hobby Association Convention. If you follow Oprah, you might recognize the name — Dr. Beck (call me Marty) is an author of many self-help books and is a regular columnist in O: The Oprah Magazine.
At the time, I wrote a brief article for my Creative Souls eZine. I have been working on getting myself back on center with organizing the piles of piles and I came across the notes I had taken that day in this tiny little notebook. So, I thought I would share them to maybe inspire you to Follow Your North Star.
As I took these notes, I felt as if she was talking just to me. Of course, my notes are paraphrased as she said everything so much more eloquently.
- When you create, your soul comes home and you experience beauty. You become absorbed and relaxed. It is incredibly healing and feeds your soul. Arts & Crafts are what make us human.
- It is important to know where you are going, individually, and you need talent, passion and joy to survive.
- Finding your own North Star is about discovering your essential self and allows you to give the most to the world. When you get there, you are in a state of flow.
- There are two questions to ask yourself to help discover your North Star:
- How do you want the world to be different because you lived here?
- What do you want to learn/experience because you lived in this world?
- All skills are developed by the same process — dedicated practice and a passion for it. We increase our skills (and motivation) by finding things that challenge us to go beyond what we know we can do, but not so difficult that we will never be able to accomplish the task. The rage to master a skill is infectious and exciting. It allows you to enter the flow/bliss state of mind — “the creative soul” (her exact words).
Oprah says that Martha Beck is one of the smartest women she has ever known. I found Marty absolutely brilliant, but very down to earth and funny. She gives back by supporting many wonderful creative women around the world with micro-loans. She has found her North Star.
© 2010 Heather C. Morrow. All rights reserved
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? Of course you can, as long as you include the following with it:
Heather C. Morrow, owner of Pottery Daily, helps emerging artists express their true value and get paid what they are worth. Her products and services show you how to make more money, save more time while enjoying the freedom in your art. For your FREE audio go to www.marketandsellyourart.com.