Live with Intention
Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Continue to learn. Appreciate your friends. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is. (Mary Anne Radmacher)
More than two decades ago, the remarkable author and artist Mary Anne Radmacher wrote the words quoted above. In her new book, she expands these words to invite readers to explore what it might mean to live each day with intention.
This week Mary Anne is on a blog tour to help spread the word about her new book, Live with Intention. I'm excited and honored to share my interview with her.
Also, two lucky readers will win a copy of Mary Anne's new book! For your chance, please leave a comment with one of your favorite quotes by Monday, February 28 at 9:00 pm EDT. I will announce the winners on Tuesday.
KE: What motivated you to come out with your new book, Live with Intention?
MAR: I wrote the poem twenty years ago. Since then it’s been quoted in dozens of books, journals, speeches and printed on numbers of different products.
I’ve referenced it in several of my own books and it was the right time to dedicate a whole book to it. I want to inspire people to grasp their own intentions and purposely incorporate them into the actions of their every day.
KE: What are your favorite creative resources?
MAR: Far and away my friends are my richest and deepest creative resource. They are brilliant, share their views on the world willingly and showcase my work on their refrigerator doors. That’s the greatest compliment – when one of my friends wants my creation in their kitchen. Some of my best work emerges from wanting to make something special for a friend.
KE: Who/what inspires you?
MAR: Reading biographies and the condensed philosophies of great thinkers is very inspiring. Mothers who are kind to their children in grocery stores. Differently abled people who, in spite of their physical challenge, do things like hold a door open for someone. The national anthem. I stand for it even when I hear it televised when I am at home. The 4th of July is my favorite holiday and I think the heroines of the American Revolution rocked.
KE: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to yourself at 25 years old?
MAR: “It’s not about you.” AND, “It’s all about you.” I know, but contradiction is where I get some of my best lessons.
KE: How do you make every day an extraordinary adventure?
MAR: Ha. Mostly every day IS an extraordinary adventure, all on its own. But on the days when that is less apparent I play my favorite music that reminds me of the risk and thrill of it all, I dance a little and I re-read my life mission statement which I glue in the front of every journal. It calls me to the significant stuff.
KE: How does being connected to your intentions impact the quality of your life?
MAR: I am less inclined to be broken by the hard impact stuff. It’s all material for learning and when I’m connected and flowing with my intentions, I know and respond from that truth at my core.
KE: What is your favorite quote?
MAR: I’d have to say “favorite” transitions from time to time but right now it’s,
“Discipline is remembering what you want,” by David Campbell.
Ah. See how hard this is for me? And,
“Nothing big ever came from being small,” from President Bill Clinton.
Image Credit: Brooklynblossoms via WeHeartIt
