In the month of February, I interviewed the following talented and inspiring people:
* Jamal Ali, documentary filmmaker and aircraft engineer who was awarded the Outstanding Refugee Entrepreneurship Award by the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Watch the interview
* Jan Hadley, a Christian grandma and author committed to sharing the Lord’s love. Watch the interview
* Majid Aziz, an Iraqi-American who escaped extremists twice through poetry. Watch the interview
* Yasmine Mohammed, an author and activist who had the courage to escape her abusive life, tell her story, and help others. Watch the interview
What do these people have in common, aside from talent and hard work? Courage. The courage to use communication as both an art and a tool for change.
Some of my readers have described my books as a “recipe for life.” My former New York agent, Frances Kuffel, and an Iraqi American critic, said about my writing for my first book The Feminine Art that the style resembled that of Jane Austen. For Austen, the novel was her chosen tool in the struggle to reform humanity. While she mixed satire with tenderness, she focused on the emotional authenticity of her characters. She didn’t write in a way that would alienate people with intimidating language or lofty morals and themes. Through her novel, she attempted to make people less selfish and more reasonable, more dignified and sensitive to the needs of others. Her stories were about recoiling from greed, arrogance and pride and being drawn to goodness within ourselves and others. She was a true feminist way before “Feminism” even existed. She made women “think.” So I see how we are similar.
From early on in my career, I have followed Dr. Joseph Murphy’s three steps to success (written in The Power of Your Subconscious Mind):
- Find out the thing you love to do, then do it.
- Specialize in some particular branch of work and know more about it than anyone else.
- You must be sure that the thing you want to do does not rebound to your success only. Your desire must not be selfish; it must benefit humanity.
There are a lot of big issues happening in the world right now, most of which we have no creative control over. We have the choice to work on what we can control, which is ourselves, and to plant seeds of beauty and joy, in order to create a new reality, one that is absent of the continuous patterns of war, violence, and conflict. Unfortunately, many people today are choosing to silence or even punish and hurt anyone who opposes their opinion – even if it’s a type of artform – rather than communicate with them. This type of behavior is dangerous, and it leads to loss of relationship, inner turmoil, trauma, violence and potentially even war.
Words have power; verbal as well as nonverbal communication are both vital, both healing art forms. I encourage you to use them to transform your life and the lives of others.
Check out my YouTube channel to learn about this week’s guest, who I’ll be interviewing live. Subscribe to my channel and set reminders/alerts so you can stay updated on Live and uploaded content.
We are celebrating Women’s History Month during March.
Check out the guest line-up for March:
The Path of Consciousness 