Kat Eye Studio

by

A Message

We must walk into the arena, whatever it may be – a new relationship, an important meeting, our creative process, or a difficult family conversation – with courage and the willingness to engage. Rather than sitting on the sidelines and hurling judgment and advice, we must dare to show up and let ourselves be seen. This is vulnerability. This is daring greatly.
— Brené Brown in Daring Greatly

I have a message today. A message from the universe. It’s not for you, it’s for me, but I’m sharing it with you too.

This morning I sat down and started reading Brené Brown’s new book, Daring Greatly. I’ve mentioned before, I have read and like her previous books, so I wanted to read this one right away. As I read the first couple of chapters, I found myself thinking, I really should watch that TED talk she mentions. I’ve heard about it but never seen it.

A little while later I stopped my morning reading and got on the computer to check my email. I open an email newsletter from a friend, and in it she is sharing Brené Brown’s TED talk. Whoa.

OK, universe. Message received. I stopped what I was doing and watched the talk, and I’m sharing it with you here today so you can watch it if you haven’t before. Or rewatch it if you have.

Her message is so important. It reminds us that to have connection and love, we have to believe we are worthy of connection and love. To truly connect or create, we have to make ourselves vulnerable. We have to put ourselves out there. We have to be willing to be ourselves and to live true to our hearts. We have to ignore the critics. We have to avoid being the critic, providing commentary from the sidelines.

I’m thinking on these messages today, since they were sent to me in such an obvious way. Do they connect with you too?

PS – I mentioned previously that Brené is doing a read along of her new book on her blog started next week. You can find out more here.

by

At a Loss

Um. Hi. I’m at a loss for words today. I don’t know what to write. I’m sure the words will come back soon. They always do.

So I thought I would share another photo from Yorkshire today, since England is still on my mind. And will be, for the next several weeks, no doubt. I can’t wait to get back and capture scenes like this one, from York. Where else might I find a beautiful purple-paned window? Do tell, I want to visit if there are other places like this.

Since I’m at a loss for words here, I’ll also share a link to the interview with me that was posted on We Make London’s blog on Monday. I seemed to find the words for that, no problem.

*Sigh*

Words! Come back! I miss you!!

by

Photo-Heart Connection Tomorrow!

The August Photo-Heart Connection opens tomorrow. Have you set aside some time to review the photographs you captured and worked with in August? Do you know which ones speak to your heart? I’ll find mine tomorrow morning. I am always surprised when I go to find my Photo-Heart Connection. It’s fresh and new each time. I’ve learned through the last eight months of this practice that I can’t plan messages from the heart, I have to sit quietly and listen.

So, will it be landscape from Glacier National Park? Or balloons drifting through the sky? Maybe some potted plants, sharing beauty on the doorstep for all who pass by.

I never know. I hope you will join me and the other participants in the Photo-Heart Connection this month. The link up will be open August 1 through 7. If you are new to the Photo-Heart connection, start here to learn how I find mine and then adapt the process for yourself. I can guarantee you will discover something new about yourself.

See you tomorrow!

by

The Mail Room Flowers

It’s no secret, I love photographing potted flowers! The flowers at the Glacier National Park lodges were fabulous, especially at the park administrative offices, off to the side of the Glacier Park Lodge on the east side of the park. I made a beeline for the flowers as soon as I glimpsed them. Heaven!

This mail room scene was especially interesting to me. I love how you can see a bit of what’s going on inside through the open window.

Glacier Park Lodge

I love the connections that come out of my photography. I chatted with someone who worked in the mail room, after he saw me taking pictures of the flowers, and he told me where I could find more beautiful arrangements. It was a nice exchange, adding a personal element to my memory of these flowers and this place.

Glacier Park Lodge

Have you found the same? Does photography open doors for you?

by

Taking Risks

Risk has been much on my mind lately. You can take risk across all areas of your life: Professionally, personally, artistically. Or you can avoid risk, wrap ourselves up in a cocoon of perceived safety, trying to avoid any downside. But with real risk, there is always a downside, to go along with the upside of real reward. With real risk, something of real value must be put on the line. That could be something tangible, such as money, or intangibles like time, reputation, or even ego.

There have been some big issues at my corporate job, as I alluded to last month, and the situation has only grown bigger as some deadlines loom. This has gotten me to thinking about risk… We are dealing with these big issues because we took big risks. We took big risks, seeking big rewards. When you take big risks, they don’t always work out positively. Were there mistakes made along the way? Sure. Hindsight is always 20-20. Is it a failure that things aren’t working out as planned? I don’t think so. We are still much further along the path to achieving our goals than we would have been. The issues are more about responding to new information as it comes in, rather than completely starting over. The only real failure is if you fail to learn from the situation.

I think of risk as flipping a coin. There are two sides to that coin – heads or tails. There is no inherent “good” or “bad” in a getting a head or a tail, it’s just the outcome of the toss. If we took uninformed risks, there would be an equal likelihood of either result with the toss of our coin. You can move the odds in your favor though, by being smart about taking risk. Smart risk taking involves getting as much information as you can, making a decision and committing to a path. It involves keeping your eye on the situation as you move forward and making adjustments as necessary. Smart risk taking is like working to change the results of the coin toss to be heads more often. But it’s still a coin toss, and it still could come up tails. That’s always a possibility with real risk. If there were no possibility of the coin coming up tails, you aren’t risking anything.

And if you aren’t risking anything, you are not growing. Growth, be it in business or in life, requires risk. It requires stepping out of the comfort zone, moving into an unknown space. Even though I talk about taking “smart risks” and getting the information to move forward, you will never, ever have all of the information you want or you need. If you are taking real risks, you will never have a perfect record in the outcome. It’s called the “unknown” for a reason. You have to take the information you have, along with your desire to reach out for that big reward, apply judgment and intuition, and then go.

We often shy away from risk, because we are scared of failure. We don’t want the discomfort or pain of a “bad” result. So we stay stuck. We don’t move forward, we don’t expand, we don’t grow. We don’t reap any new rewards. We might tell ourselves we are waiting until that next piece of information comes in, for that next door to open up, for the perfect moment to step out… but the reality is there will never be a perfect moment, a perfect opportunity, a perfect decision. While we hesitate and wait, we shrink. We may try to avoid risk at all cost to avoid pain, but life has other plans for us. Life hands us things to which we must respond. Things like health issues, loss of a job or loss of loved ones. We are much better equipped to respond to the pain and discomfort of these unforeseen events if we’ve been pushing ourselves out there, taking risks and learning to deal with the downside.

I’m living the results of real risk right now… At my corporate job with the resolution of these issues, sure, but that’s only one tiny example in the course of my life. There are so many places along my personal journey and career I’ve taken risks and they’ve paid off: Taking the assignment in Italy, sharing my art and my heart here online, starting Kat Eye Studio. Those are just a recent few. If I look back at my life journey, I can see every big, important, positive change in my life has come when I’ve taken a risk. A real risk, where something of value is on the line, and I’ve stepped out into the unknown.

Are you avoiding risk somewhere in your life? Are you stuck, trying to create a cocoon that will protect you from discomfort? I encourage you to take a look at those places carefully, take a deep breath, and flip the coin. Heads or tails, you learn and grow. And with growth, you always win.

by

Living Real Life

July 1st, our one year anniversary of moving home to Oregon from Italy, came and went with a whisper. We marked the date as a family, and talked about what we were doing a year ago, but we were busy heading off on vacation and didn’t give it too much fanfare. We have a life to live in the here and now, and Italy seems like ancient history. A year and a lifetime away.

The passing of this anniversary got me to thinking: What have I learned in this first year back? It’s been a hard year, and an easy year, depending on my point of view. There are definitely some lessons and revelations that have come with repatriation. In so many ways, our time in Italy was not “Real Life.” It had a definite start and end, and when you know you have limited time you behave differently than you would otherwise. “Real Life” continues on and on, with it’s ups and downs and twists and turns. You can put just about anything off for two years. And we did… we lived a life of travel and excitement, in the moment. We didn’t worry about saving for retirement. We didn’t worry about negotiating obligations to family and friends. We didn’t worry about long term career choices. We had two years, and made the most of it.

Returning to “Real Life,” without an end date, changes things. Some things cannot be sustained or put off indefinitely. I’d love to travel like we did for two years but the reality is we don’t have the vacation time or the funds to visit someplace new every other weekend. Or, let’s face it, the energy. But I miss the travel. Oh, how I miss visiting interesting places all the time. Seeing something new around every corner. That fueled me creatively in a way that I’m not sure I’ll see again. And that’s ok… that’s what made the time so special.

Beyond the financial though, there are personal things that I put off too. The old saying, “wherever you go, there you are,” is very, very true. You can fool yourself for a while in a new situation, thinking things are different, but sooner or later you realize that the issues you face come from within and they will be there no matter where you live. So while I focused on this wonderful personal growth that came from my creative journey while in Italy, that was only part of the story. My journey must continue to address the issues I tabled or ignored for those two years. The thing about personal growth is that you don’t always get to pick and choose the direction you grow, like I did during those two years. Sometimes “Real Life” chooses for you.

It turns out that’s fine though, because I’ve also learned another important thing about growth. It stays with you. What I learned and gained from the connection to heart and soul has not left me in the return home, because wherever you go, there you are. It works both ways, positive and negative. When change is real and true and internal, it’s with me always. My fears about going back to being the person I was two years ago were unfounded, because the place does not make the person. Our experiences in a place and time shape us and leave us indelibly changed.

I see that in my art too. My photography was changed by my time in Italy, and it has changed as I return home. There are things that I have carried through: my love of real life still life, texture and history. Among my subjects you’ll still see potted flowers, peeling paint and interesting door locks. There are changes though, because my environment has changed. The materials and scenes that make up my life are different now, and since my photography is a reflection of the world around me, it’s had to change. I still love scooters, but the sightings are fewer and far between. I’ve found new subjects that intrigue me, things like mail boxes and brick buildings. I’ve created new images that I love just as much as some of my old ones. And there is so much more that I’ve been able to do since returning home. Without the cultural and language barriers, I’m learning to be an artist in the real world as well as the online world. I’m exploring new realms of photography, through print and presentation in exhibitions. I’m moving in new directions, influenced by all of the places and experiences that have come before.

Porch Flowers, Astoria, Oregon

The lessons of the last year have not been easy. At times I’ve been filled with such longing and sadness it’s overwhelming. And then, at times, I’m grateful to be where I am and leave that time behind me. I’ve had to learn balance in a new way with starting a creative business and finding the time for Kat Eye Studio, my corporate job, my family, friends and, oh yeah, I need to still practice and create my own art too. I’ve had to let go of unreasonable expectations and take each day, each hour, each moment… one at a time.

It might be that the biggest and most important lesson of the past year is that I am still finding my way. I will always be finding my way, no matter where I am. And I have to find my own way: in art, business, life. No one else’s path is going to work for me. I can learn from other’s experiences, from my past experiences, but I am the one who must choose the direction I move ahead in the future. The journey that came before influences where I go next, but my past doesn’t decide my future. I decide my future, a moment at a time. I am the one living this “Real Life” in real time.

There is no where else I would rather be, than where I am right now.

Upcoming Events