Embracing My Journey ~ Living with passion & purpose!

Elizabeth Sobol is living her life in service of the arts…today she shares the path she took to reach the point where she could live the life of her dreams.  Welcome Elizabeth!

Tell us about the path you traveled to arrive where you are today:
I was born in a small town in North Carolina.  My parents were very liberal, open people in an environment that was very closed and conservative – a place that was at times not only uncomfortable to live in, but even dangerous.  They and my grandmother instilled in me a great love of literature, learning and music.  And so the world of the arts became the world I lived in (in my head mostly), dreamed of,  took refuge in and ultimately gravitated to in life and work.  When I was only 13, I left home and went to a conservatory to study music.  From there, I never turned back.  I devoted myself to music study until I turned 20, when I came to the realization that my musical talents were not at the same level as my dreams.  And so, I reoriented myself toward another life – one that would keep me in the arts, but not as a practitioner.  I went to New York and started on the path of becoming an arts manager.   I had incredible luck, finding an internship in a small company whose principals were extraordinary people, amazing mentors.  That was 30 years ago.  I am now the managing director of that company and include amongst my clients many of those artists who were my idols while I was growing up in North Carolina.  And they are still my idols. Now,  I split my time between an office in Manhattan and a home/office on Miami Beach.  Funny – North Carolina is pretty much equi-distant from both points – my compass point.

What kept you moving forward on the days things were not going exactly the way you were hoping they would?
I have lived my life in service of the arts.  So, when I find the going getting tough, I try to pull myself out of the fray to remind myself why I am doing what I am doing.  And I try to seek out some bit of beauty – it can be reading a poem, or listening to a piece of music – but it can also be going out on my balcony and looking out at the ocean or the sky.  Basically, I try to remind myself that there is a higher purpose and that my small personal dramas, no matter how awful they may seem to me at the moment, are really insignificant in the greater scheme of things.  And as horrible as any given experience may be, nothing is permanent.  I also read a lot of history and biographies.  No matter how bad you think you may have it at times, there are always inspiring stories of people who risked it all – and suffered greatly – for things that mattered to them.  Those stories keep me going.

What piece of advice would you give to someone who has decided they would like to live in a world of their own creation?
Listen to your inner voice.  Write it all down.  Words, notes, thoughts, even if un-formed and not particularly attractive ones.  Get them out on paper.  Try to surround yourself with visual reminders of the kind world you are trying to create.  Having ideas and visions is easy.  Making them manifest in the world is the hard part.  I frequently cut out quotes that inspire me and tape them onto my computer; I paste post cards of beautiful images onto my desk and into notebooks which I carry with me – all to remind myself that there are infinite worlds out there – and an infinite number of ways to create your own beauty.

What special things do you do for yourself daily to maintain your momentum and energy levels?
I wish I could say I do all these things on a daily basis, but the things that I strive to maintain daily are:  meditation, exercise, reading, preparing & drinking a pot of Japanese green tea.  Because I am on the road all the time, I am usually happy if I can keep up with one of these on a daily basis.  Sometimes, if I can’t get to it,  I just think about doing them, and that helps.

If you could spend 3 days on a deserted island with two people of your choosing, who would they be and why?
Only 2?  What about 4?  They would be  1)Vigen Guroian, a theologian and passionate gardener.  His thinking and writing about creation is beautiful and inspiring; 2) Douglas Hofstadter, Prof of Cognitive Science at IU and author of Godel, Escher, Bach and I am a Strange Loop (among many others) – there is no more fascinating thinker on self, mind and consciousness; 3) The Dalai Lama – need I say more?; 4) Abraham Lincoln.  His life and history is an endless source of inspiration on every possible level.

What is your favorite audio material and what do you enjoy most about this material?
I am a huge fan of Krista Tippett and her show “Speaking of Faith”.  It calls itself a show about “belief, meaning, ethics and ideas”.  I’d say that pretty much covers the topics I am most interested in!  I download her podcasts and listen to them as I am traveling.

What is your favorite reading material and what gives it that special place in your heart?
Gosh, that’s pretty much impossible to answer.  Every day, I read so many different things.  I usually have 2 or 3 books going at any given time.  And I love my New Yorkers and the New York Times.  I’ve recently bought a Kindle to use for all the traveling I do.  At first, I felt like I was going over the dark side because I am such a besotted lover of books.  But in fact, I am reading even more now than I did before because I have so many options on the Kindle – I can carry around Proust and Tolstoy and Homer along with poetry and science and history and anything else that has captured my imagination.  I am on the road 50 – 75% of the time and it’s like having my own library there when I sit down on a plane.  Of course, when I get back home, there is nothing like curling up with a cup of tea and a well-worn copy of one of my favorite books…

Who has inspired you and what is it about them that you found inspirational?
Well, that list is pretty endless, depending on which day you ask me, my most prevalent inspiration these days being Barack Obama.  But, if I had to give you one single person, it would be my grandmother, my mother’s mother.  She was a mill-worker with a 2nd grade education in Kannapolis, North Carolina, a farmer’s daughter, the 12th child among 13.  She instilled in me my passion for reading, for music, for plants and cooking .  She may not have had much of an education, but she was an endlessly curious person – with a tremendous imagination.  She lived a very simple life – but when you were with her, the world seemed richer.

What do you see in your future?
I can only hope for more rest, more reading.  My next dream is a house and garden in the mountains.

Where is your favorite place in the world to spend time, what is special to you about this location?
The mountains of North Carolina.  I grew up in the Piedmont (or middle) section of the state.  But I always loved the mountains the most.  There is something magical and timeless about that region – there is a lushness about it, something otherworldly about the way the light filters down through the trees, something enveloping about the soft contours of the mountains themselves and something astonishing about the profusion of life – flora and fauna.  I suppose I love it because it is such an effusive reminder of the beauty of creation.

Who has been your greatest support system and how have they shown you their support?
My grandmother, while she was alive, always took such delight in everything that I did and achieved, it always gave me a sense that I was on the right track.  My mother was a tremendous role model for me in that she was a true non-conformist in every way.  She encouraged me to think my own thoughts and question accepted wisdom.  She gave me courage when I felt lost and lots of applause when things went well.  These days, it is my husband.  He is always there for me – always ready to listen, never judging.  He is a phenomenal musician and has a wonderful, joyful approach to life.  He always says:  music is energy – energy is life – life is happiness.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

What / who are you most thankful for and why?
I am thankful to have had the life I have lived up until now.  Like everyone, I have experienced a lot of suffering, a lot of frustration, a lot of deep doubt.  But, I have also had a life filled with miraculous moments and encounters with the sublime.   The former gives you a greater appreciation for the latter.

What is your favorite way to contribute or give back?
I have been tremendously lucky over the years to have had people help me, believe in me.  The best way I have found to give back is doing the same for others.

Please share the top three things you feel people would benefit from doing if they truly desire to create the life of their dreams?
Look deep inside – not out at others – for your creative inspiration.
Don’t rule out ANYTHING!  Staying open is the key.
Always look for beauty.

Thank you Elizabeth for sharing your words of inspiration with us today.  Learn more about Elizabeth Sobol’s company at: WWW.IMGARTISTS.COM

In gratitude,
Caryn

Caryn Gottlieb FitzGerald, “the Manifesting Queen”
Set your mind to it and create it today!
http://www.CarynFitzgerald.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Caryn's writing, Living the life of my dreams. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.