I can remember being in my grandmothers kitchen surrounded by grown ups and listening to their chatter as kids raced in and out of the room grabbing food from the holiday platters. I liked being around the adults and hearing what their lives sounded like and I would think to myself, when I grew up things would magically work out in some amazing kind of way.
I dreamed of being a famous designer. I couldn't decide if I wanted to make clothes or design houses and yet I also loved to draw and paint, but that in my mind was secondary to the designing, to me the art was a means to an end.
Then I grew up. In a flash I was in college studying advertising because art school was out of the question for some reason. Advertising seemed as creative as I could get with a college degree and it wasn't until I spent a summer in a little town in southern France being an au pair that I knew I needed to go to Parsons for fashion design.
My parents agreed that if I could get accepted to Parsons, I could go. That was very generous of them to say the least. (I was the oldest of 5 children and by that time they already had 3 kids in college) and now I wanted to extend my higher education with a second degree in NYC!
Parsons was hard. It was competitive like nothing I had ever experienced, but I had something inside me and I knew had to try. I delved into discovering how to create cohesive designs from an idea and then take it from concept to creation.
During my time at Parsons I had a few encounters with several noteworthy designers on a personal level that I knew were signs, but I didn't know how to interpret them and use them as expanding experiences like I now know today.
Like the time Mark Jacobs came and sat down next to me in the student lounge while I was hand beading a chiffon tank top. He came over & eagerly chatted with me that he was doing the same thing for his upcoming show! ( gasp ! - little did Mark know, he was one of my biggest inspirations for me to go to Parsons in the first place! )
Then there was the time in the elevator in The Design Building and Isaac Mizrahi squeezed in, I had just finished watching his "crit session" and told him as I exited how much I enjoyed & got out of his session and didn't he step out of the elevator to yell after me "Good Luck to you ! "
Donna Karan was like an icon to me and one night in my first year at Parsons while I was working a private party as the coat check /bartender for the Dean of the school she sat at a nearby table staring at me while her gorgeous husband, the late Stephan Weiss approached me and asked "who I was wearing"... I was wearing my grandmothers dress from the 40's :)
Lastly, that time at MK (a posh NYC club in the late 80's) when Calvin Klein walked towards me flanked by a fashionable entorage, and as he passes me he slowly looks me up and down and I thought "WOW - I just got checked out by Calvin Klein!" :)) - That was a highlight of my year:)
When I look back at those moments now, it's obvious they were signs. I just didn't know how to make sense out of them at that time. And now, as I am moving through sweeping changes in my life and I am delving more into the art of manifesting, I understand those encounters were messages from the universe to tell me I have something special inside me.
Maybe this blog is for someone who wants to do something but is afraid to start, to share something inside them, to try something they never tried to do before but have a feeling they should. That person could be a teenager, a 20 something, or a 50 something. A few weeks ago I was interviewed on a cool podcast called Her Success Story and I spoke with the host Ivy Slater a professional business coach about those moments when everything is crystal clear, that ahah moment. I think you have to remember what made you excited or happy when you were a kid, what you thought you would be when you grew up. Those memories are not throw aways, there is probably more info in those memories than you realize.
Think too if you have memories of things that maybe now looking back were "signs' for you too. I bet many of you who read this would have a bunch of those memories. Think how they fit together and maybe that idea you have isn't so crazy after all. Maybe this blog was just the thing you needed to read to decide to take an action.
I think the actions we take toward things we want in life are the things we will be most proud of when we start to slow down a bit and take a look back. To me right now I feel that there is only so much time left to make those successes happen, to learn a little more about something that sounds intriguing, to try some new food, or to immerse yourself in a book and throw yourself into another world and time.
Living a good life comes down to knowing who you are, fully acknowledging all that you are and making the continued effort to find your purpose and then act on that. Knowing that your life is a series of tests and experiences to guide you in knowledge so that you have the tools to fulfill your purpose.
So there is no use complaining, no use lying or cheating or being jealous because you would only be sabotaging your own growth and evolution.
Own your truth.
That is a happy life. So be what you want to be, follow your own rules and your own path.
The world has lots of room for improvement so please let's be part of that.
Always - lets put on a happy face and Have Some Fun Today! 25% off with the code:2020
Namaste and let's be mindful of what is to come on November 3, 2020.
"Have Some Fun Today." - Joe Rado
Love & Light,
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