Happy New Year! - Right Livelihood

Welcome to 2012 readers!  I pray that your new year is off to an encouraging and fruitful beginning. I also hope that you are actively seeking and working towards what you want your career to look like this year.

I pretty much start off each new year the same as the last. In prayer and reflection.  Thankful for the years past and expectant of the year ahead.  Even moreso in this current economic climate I am grateful for every photoshoot, every call back and every new client or opportunity.

I will be the first to tell you everything has not been perfect over the past ten years.  I have had my ups and downs in this industry and there were times I questioned my sanity and considered going back to the safe and familiar comforts of a bi-weekly paycheck.  However I knew deep down inside that a tough day doing what I absolutely loved was a thousand times better than a good day doing what I disliked.

I have no idea who I am speaking to, but whether you are on the fence about taking the leap and following your talents and passion into this industry or are feeling down and defeated and considering giving up, I would like to share with you something that was sent to me by a co-worker in 2001 just before I literally plunged head first into the world of beauty. I hope that it will not only inspire and encourage you, but ignite a hunger in you so fierce that the only way to calm it is to make a 'shift' and move towards what brings you true joy, happiness and fulfillment as it did me over a decade ago.


          An excerpt from "Sisters of the Yam" - bell hooks

Right Livelihood, both it's ancient and its contemporary sense, embodies self-expression, commitment, and mindfulness and conscious choice. Finding and doing work of this sort is predicated upon high self-esteem and self-trust, since only those who like themselves, who subjectively feel they are trustworthy and deserving dare to choose on behalf of what's right and true for them. When we consciously choose to do work we enjoy, not only can we get things done, we can get them done well and be intrinsically rewarded for our effort. 

Once again Happy New Year and keep the faith!