Style Statement -- Live by your own design

Explorer, Blogger, Artist, Bride to Be

Analiese chronicles ideas, images, recipes, people  and her wedding in 10 days on her blog, Tulips and Tea.  A must read for anyone getting married is Analiese’s creative approach to her special day, a mind body wedding “boot camp.”

Dear Analiese,  “May you celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words.”
- Plautus

Organic Creative

My Style Statement is reflected in my life in many ways. I use Organic Creative as a guide to making choices – from shoe shopping, ordering at a restaurant, and creating  my career. In the past six months I’ve committed to becoming my best physical self using style statement as my guide. In the area of my diet I eat organic food, I also eat cleanly and simply, eliminating unnecessary artificial ingredients, and minimizing foods that don’t contribute to my sense of vitality. I  find my effort to eat more healthy a incredibly creative process; I using new ingredients, recreating my favorite meals, and making my own healthy salad dressings.

Most recently, my Style Statement has helped define and clarify my vision for my upcoming wedding from,

• Simple decor in vivid hues.
• Crafted DIY elements,which have provided plenty of opportunities for my mom and I to exercise our creativity!
• Fragrant flowers and greenery.
• Fresh, locally sourced, and artfully prepared food.
• Most importantly, a simple focus on what the day is truly about, celebrating our love  in the presence of family and friends.

Organic means to me:

• Being in tune with my surroundings and the natural world
• Living a holistic  life
• Seeking opportunities for growth
• Creating synergy amongst throughout my life.

Creative means to me:

• Constantly collecting bits of inspiration
• Creating a new synthesis
• Transformation
• Reconfiguration
• Making new connections among seemingly disparate ideas
• Seeking grace and harmony in all that I do

I love:

Being outdoors. A nourishing meal with fresh and seasonal ingredients. My fiancé. The clean feeling in my lungs after a good run or yoga class. The smell of rain. Spending time with family and friends. Tending to our tiny herb garden. Riding my bike. Art museums. Farmers markets.

My dream home:

A little bungalow on a shady, tree-lined street. Hardwood floors, lots of natural light, pops of vibrantly colored art and textiles. A big communal table made of reclaimed wood, around which family and friends gather for meals and conversation. Fragrant bunches of fresh flowers in each room. A big backyard – lush, green, and alive with birdsong.

I crave:

Green tea in the morning. Knowledge. New creative projects. Authentic connection with others. Harmonious and orderly surroundings. Iced soy chai lattes. Soft natural fabrics against my skin. Belly laughs. Fresh fruit. Deep tissue massages. Outings to Anthropologie for visual inspiration!

One outfit for the rest of my life:

Dark wash skinny jeans tucked into comfy caramel-colored boots, with a deliciously soft organic cotton black v-neck shirt. Accessorized with a beautiful handcrafted turquoise necklace, and a colorful embroidered scarf.

I would like to revolutionize:

• Our relationship to our bodies and the food we eat.
• The role of the arts in education.
• The structure of the typical office job – to make room for greater flexibility and creativity.

* Check out Analiese’s Organic Creative vision board with Polyfore, a great tool to express your fashion style.

Master student of life, Harvard Phd star, best selling author and joyful soul.

Carolyn Rubenstein is a believer in resilience, gratitude and respect. She shares a world of wisdom on her innovative blog, A Beautiful Ripple Effect, best selling book Perserverence, a book that profiles young adults who exemplify resilience in the face of adversity, and a column in Huffington Post. It is awe inspiring to watch Carolyn navigate her life so gracefully and a privilege to share her Style Statement journey.

How did you arrive at your Style Statement?

I began the process of uncovering my Style Statement this past fall after my book was published, and interestingly was lacking a sense of structure in many areas of my life. I craved self-inquiry and time to reconnect with my essential self. I loved the concept of creating my own Style Statement, an anchor that would allow me to blossom and flourish in diverse ways.

While it may sound a bit dorky, I answered every question in the book and began to journal about the topics and feelings uncovered through the inquiries. And after months of really devoting myself to the process, I noticed a major theme: the need for structure in order to innovate. Thus, my Style Statement was born: Structured Innovation.

What does your Style Statement mean to you?

It serves as a compass for me, helping me to navigate day-to-day actions as well as remain focused on the bigger picture and my broader, more long-term goals. I love innovation and crave it within my life; however, I feel stuck or great resistance when I try to force innovation without structure. I lose momentum if I neglect my essentials–connection, yoga, visual inspiration, mind-body wellness. If I feel drained, I know that I need to establish clear boundaries and get back to the basics. I ground myself so I can fly!

How has your Style Statement been useful to you? How do you apply it to your life?

It has provided awareness of what works for me and what doesn’t work for me. I realize why I love to create collages and inspiration boards. They are outlets for my right-brain, but contain the essential structure that I need for my imagination to soar. I embrace what I need to be energized rather than resist these needs or feel a sense of guilt.

What’s the best thing about having your Style Statement?

I am much kinder to myself!

How do you interpret your first and second words?

Structured: rituals, routines, tradition, detailed, organized, grounded

Innovation: idea generation, originality, creativity, expression

What do you like to be noticed and appreciated for?

Creating change
Authenticity

What inspires you? How do you know when you’re inspired?

Knowledge, creative application of knowledge, interacting with people who are passionate about what they do, books, handmade art, handwritten letters, the details, love, possibility …

I know I’m inspired when … the worries fall to the wayside and I am fully immersed in the moment.

If you could only wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it be?

A little black dress with a great pair of Christian Louboutin pumps! The basic accessories (my staples): bangles, engagement ring (and soon to include wedding band), diamond stud earrings, a simple platinum necklace with beautiful charm. Then, I can add big, fun accessories.

How do you play?

The yoga studio is my playground. And lots of playing with my dog, Lila Rose!

Five books that have inspired you?

1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
2. Ordinary Sparkling Moments by Christine Mason Miller
3. Hand Wash Cold by Karen Maezen Miller
4. Living Life as a Thank You by Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons
5. The Pursuit of Perfect by Tal Ben-Shahar

ps Carolyn is offering a powerful service called Discovery Sessions, a one hour consultation call that helps you collect your ideas and form an action plan. Great tool for getting grounded so you can fly.

A New Year. A New Awareness.

I just read Style Statement, Live by Your own Design. I loved the self inquiry experience – it was thought provoking, reflective and stimulated the artist in me.

So who am I? I am COMFORT CREATIVE.

To be honest my first reaction was disappointment. I may as well have been Beige Bling. I was secretly hoping my answers would translate into Refined Goddess or Modern Cherished, more glamorous combinations than Comfort Creative.

Upon reflection I realized Comfort Creative reflected all of me, the authentic me.  My partner Barry agreed, “Of course, I could’ve told you that! ”

Let me share what Comfort Creative means to me:

Comfort. I am nurturing, require a sense of security, back-up plans (poor Barry), and nest eggs. I have deep need to be comfortable – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Comfortable is my roots, my essence, and my home.

I love:

• textured blankets
• chocolate
• tea
• rain
• Books

Creative. What can I say? I’m a Graphic Designer and Fine Artist, I f-in’ better be CREATIVE! I need to put my  signature on something, make things unique, experiment, and think abstractly. If I am not expressing in some way, I get squirrelly. Again, poor Barry.

I love:

• acrylic paints
• chandeliers
• crayons
• necklaces
• collages

So that’s a wrap on my exploration into the very liberating world of Style Statement. I highly recommend the experience, maybe you’ll be Refined Goddess…

After Caiti finished our book’s exercises and determined her Style Statement, she created a vision board of Bohemian Simplicity. This serves as a reminder of her strengths and aesthetic loves. Style Statement keeps Caitis’s essence at the core of her work – creating a line of event invitations and personal stationery.

Thanks for sharing your inspirational vision board Caiti.

Bohemian
Spirit: The ultimate champion and devotee of the arts, taking a stand for self-expression and creative liberty. Bohemian derives soul-deep satisfaction from generating their own creative momentum and helping others to be seen, heard, and rewarded for what they do. Bohemian adores the unconventional, quirky, avant-garde, and slightly or outrageously offbeat. Bohemian is a free spirit, free thinker, a traveler of the world and of the mind.

Look and Feel: Bohemian loves to be up-to-date with design and often combine what’s current with and ecclectic collection of art, trinkets, and keepsakes. Culturally sophisticated: from high art to street punk. Wild, modern, edgy, offbeat, unconventional.

Simplicity
clear, clarity, direct, ease, elemental, honest, humble, integrity, intelligible, modest, natural, open, pure, quiet, restrained, sincere, straightforward, unity

My dream home is: A smallish bungalow-style house in the outskirts of a city. Located walking distance to neighborhood shops/restaurants. Close to public transportation to the city. In a creative community like Portland or Seattle. Must be a green, sustainable and eco-friendly city.

I feel out of place: Networking and making small talk. When I’m forced to be in corporate environments. Anywhere I repress my true self because I don’t feel understood.

Celebrity-style I resonate with: Zooey Deschanel – comfortable, quirky, 40s style. Maggie Gyllenhaal – glamorous but unique. Amelie – quirky, european vintage.

My future tattoo:A bird on a tree branch, watercolor-style. Represents freedom.

What I love most about myself is: My open-mindedness towards people and ideas. I’m proud to be someone who continuously wants to learn and expand – intellectually, creatively, through travel and other people.

I am my best self when: I’m creating or learning. When my surroundings are clean and open and breezy. My best self is fully relaxed, peaceful, engaged, inspired and loving.

Nightmare job: In finance working for a mega corporation, in a cubicle. Being a cog in a machine, trying to make big money for someone else’s benefit.

Works that inspire me: The films Amelie and Eternal Sunshine. The books and art of Sabrina Ward Harrison.

My tribe is: Artistic, creative, funny, open, honest, and shares deeply.

Favorite Flower: Poppies – bold, charming, individualistic and non-conformist.

Bohemian means to me: Ecclectic, widely inspired, artistic, creative, worldly, openminded, always looking for the story, a traveler.

Simplicity means to me: Essential, to the point, honest, peaceful, open, freedom and  grateful.

I had the pleasure of guiding Dawn towards her Style Statement during a Jumpstart Session. Thank you for the gift of working together!

I FEEL MOST AT HOME: In the kitchen.  I feel centred, contemplative and fully occupied. Absorbed and in the flow – in the centre of my family.

I ADORE: Books. I crave ideas and knowledge. I am fascinated by all there is to know and discover in this world. I have a shelf of ‘special’ books which have changed my life. And more cook books than I could ever use.

ONE OUTFIT FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE: Plain black trousers and shirt with amazing jackets in strong jewel colours, made of hand crafted fabrics – linen, velvet, silk. Jan Jansen funky shoes and funky artisan  jewellery.

MY DREAM HOME: Stone-mullioned windows, weathered stone, lots of wood and white walls. Amazing modern art everywhere, lots of colored (stained) glass and deep comfortable furniture. Surrounded by fields and flowers. A converted chapel.

MY PREFERRED FORM OF EXERCISE IS: Gardening, because it is purposful, nurturing and creative.

I CRAVE: Peace, tranquility, serenity, knowledge. Being more centred  in my self.  More time to enjoy the outdoors and nature. More influence: to be seen and heard. More time to study and read all of the books I buy. Understanding that we are eternal so it’s OK to slow down a bit.

I’M GREAT AT: Bringing energy and ideas to a group. Loving the people around me. Knowing what people need. Making complex ideas simple.

IF I COULD HAVE BEEN BORN INTO A DIFFERENT CULTURE OR TIME PERIOD: It would have been to grow up in a Buddhist temple community.

A TINY PART OF ME SECRETLY WANTS: To be a singer in a New York Jazz Club.

I WOULD LIKE TO REVOLUTIONIZE: Education – to encourage purpose, passion and talents. To stop teaching an ‘altered version of reality’. To value authenticity in all areas above all else.

MY LIKE-MINDED FRIENDS, COMMUNITY AND TRIBE ARE: Changing the world every day by focussing on what is authentic and beautiful.

I AM IMPRESSED BY PEOPLE WHO: Rise above the pull of popular culture to live out their life purpose and make the world a better place.

MY LESSON IN LIFE THAT KEEPS REPEATING: Sing your own song. Collaborate – but don’t work for anyone else.

What I Learned from my Jumpstart session with Carrie

• Cultivated takes pleasure in seeing things grow, sharing and being of service
• Cultivated is elegant, worldly, grounded and rooted. Look at life as though cultivating a garden – being selective about what you tend and water.
• Ask myself, “How many things am I cultivating at one time?”
• My lesson is to keep Cultivating to 80% otherwise I become overwhelmed
• Growing my business is about nurturing my Sacred side. I need to move yourself towards what I value. Work where relationships are sacred.  Sacred is about meaning and authenticity.
• When making a choice, instead of jumping in with enthusiasm, take some time out and ask, “Is this sacred for me?”
• I need to be in nature daily to celebrate my Sacred self.
• The power of style statement is applying it to areas in my life that aren’t working. For example, I’m snowed under with paperwork, Sacred means getting an assistant (someone whose 2nd work is detail).
• I yearn to be connected with the world. My message is important and I need to create a space to lecture and perform.

From Carolee’s blog, www.caroleeflatley.com, post dated February 6th, 2010.

I feel blessed that life-changing experiences have been raining down upon me since I’ve been opening myself up. Gabrielle Bernstein, Dr. Aron and others have made a difference in my life, allowed me to see myself in a new light. I feel like a whole new person. But this was all just prep now as I look at it. The tough work to earn me the cash? Prep. Taking a leap of faith? Prep. Opening up my mind? Prep. Prep for what you might ask?

Innovative Ease.

Two words. Two words I would have never put together. Two words that, in their way, encompass me, completely and totally. Who I am now, where I want to be, where I need to go. I am the embodiment of Innovated Ease, even if I’m not yet the cleanest conduit. From here on, all work will be toward the one goal: actualizing my Style Statement.

Where did these two words come from? From Carrie listening and hearing what I couldn’t hear in myself. Who’s Carrie, you may ask? Carrie McCarthy is the power behind Style Statement, in her own words, “an invitation to make more powerful choices… to create your life with intention, to communicate who you are in all you do.”

She released a book about the Style Statement process in early 2008. I picked it up shortly after it was published, at the suggestion of Gala Darling. I worked on it in starts and stops, and finally I created my two words, Comfortable Play. And while that fit my life at that time, it didn’t sit right with me. It felt like a costume I put on. While I liked those two things, something sat wrong, it wasn’t me. It wasn’t my essence, it wasn’t the whole me.

I read Carrie’s blog, thinking, “Oh man… I should work on that again. Something’s calling me, but I just don’t know what…” It was actually through the blog that I found out about HSP’s. Carrie was already sending me knowledge (whether she knew it or not) that was changing my life new ways.

When I saw that she was offering a new year special on her one-on-one sessions, I took a leap of faith. Yes, it was somewhat expensive for an underemployed person, but maybe this was a sign from the universe. I signed up and though I was scared, it was an excited scared. I was ready to be busted open. I was just nervous about what I might find.

For twenty-four hours before my session, my stomach was full of butterflies. As it approached, I couldn’t sleep. I was worried I would be sick. For some reason, I could go through first dates, interviews, whatever, with panache! I am who I am, people will judge me, but I’ll know I did my best. For this, I was talking with someone who was ready to offer me the core of who I am, distilled into two words. Someone I’d never met! I sipped my cup of tea and pressed call, nervous but ready for anything.

Carrie put me at ease immediately. We had a brief talk about everything and nothing. Time flew and when we were done, I felt sad it was over. It was a conversation, one I’d enjoyed thoroughly (I mean, who doesn’t love talking about the things they love?) and wished I could continue so much longer. She asked me to give her 20 minutes. Longest twenty minutes of my life… I was excited, not knowing what to expect, the closest thing I’ll ever feel to being an expectant parent. Like I’m waiting to meet someone I’ve known my whole life.

And that’s when she said it: Innovative Ease. As she explained what that meant, I knew it. I’d been thinking too small, way too small. She had seen the whole picture, from the details to the big picture and refined it: two words. Pure inspiration flooded through me. I was ready for this. So so ready.

What’s my next step? I don’t know really. Carrie gave me great tips, books to read and that’s where I”ll begin. It’s a lesson life has been teaching me over, over and over again – relax, have faith, be yourself!  I’m going to post my Style Statement somewhere huge to remind me. The key? It’s ease!

Carolee Flatley

I admit it. I’ve been rather lackluster and uninspired lately, therefore I can’t remember where I heard about your site or your book. I’m surprised that I even ordered it because honestly, I don’t have time to read anything that’s not a textbook. I’m a thirty-something that dropped out of college the first time around; now I will be graduating in December. So I’m busy. And that’s barely including life with my two school-aged children and husband.

I brought your book with me to read during the two-plus hours I have of downtime during my daughter’s dance lessons. Truthfully, I should have been reading for school or doing math homework. But I’ve been not feeling quite myself, so I decided to cut myself a little slack and take a break from the grind. I sat in a coffee shop, book in hand.

I read fast on a normal day, but this wasn’t really reading. I devoured this book. I dug through my overfilled purse for a pencil and started filling out answers. “Comfort, comfortable, comforting.” Over and over these words popped up.

I dug my heels in. “Comfortable” just sounded too predictable. I envisioned myself on one of my not-so-stylish days, clad in sweats and crocs, trudging to class with a mom-hairdo. “Comfortable” sounded sloppy. “Oh great,” I thought, “well at least I won’t have a hard time living up to it.”

Then I read the definition. Hmmm. Interesting. Sounds more like me. Then I read the synonyms. Tears literally filled my eyes. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Several of the words swam to the top. “Cared for, protected, strengthened.” There are others, sure, and all quite fitting for me as well, but I’ve been trying to make sense of a situation in my life and I felt like here was my serendipity. I was being reminded that I was indeed worthy and deserving of these things in my life.

The other word fell into place easily and with much less drama. “Creative.” Lately it’s been too much of the first and not nearly enough of the second. So I set aside the overdue chores and even the textbooks and tidied up my little studio of crafty goodness in preparation for a minimum of 15 minutes daily on something that soothes my soul.

I know I’ve rambled on for quite a bit here, but I had to do it. Part of what feeds me is comforting and caring for others and I thought you might like to know that you have made me well. “Made well,” another of my synonyms.

Jori Maguire, Comfortable Creative

I have a BA in sociology, a BSW, an MBA, and I strongly identify as a feminist. So Traditional Feminine was not an obvious match for me. I used to feel confused when I was drawn to traditional things and ways of being (like my delicate, princess-cut wedding ring and my yearning to be a full-time mom) because I perceived myself as so independent and modern. But the truth is clear within my directions and desires. I chose to study both social work and business; to return to the Catholic Church after years away; to name our child in honor of family members. I love to feed friends. I adore family legacy and ritual. Since my Style Statement “realization,” I’m celebrating my feminine power in ways that are more truly and naturally me.

And that is liberation!