We are so honored that Karen is sharing this special day with us, and that she’s written a guest post exclusively for us about what Georgia O’Keeffe can teach us about following our own bliss.

Leave a comment below for a chance to win your own copy of How Georgia Became O’Keeffe.

Georgia O’Keeffe would have turned 124 today, and in addition to our continuing love for her mad, sexy flowers and otherworldly cow skull paintings, we’re still enamored of the way she lived her life. She is still, 25 years after her death, the poster girl for finding your life’s passion and following it to the end.

We’ve always had trouble wrangling our attention spans. But since the advent of the Smart Phone, most of us — by which I mean me — can’t even finish composing email without feeling the overwhelming urge to check Facebook.  People trying to accomplish anything that required sustained attention used to complain that life could be a distraction.  Now, even when nothing much is going on, we distract ourselves.

Obviously, O’Keeffe didn’t share our problems — although she had her own, including surviving measles for which we now have a vaccine, plus endlessly battling the culturally-sanctioned sexism of her times.  Still, we can learn from the good habits she developed that allowed her to follow her bliss.

The Power of Daily


Considering O’Keeffe’s massive output — she created over 2,000 paintings, drawings and sculptures between the ages of 14 and 96 — you would think she worked every day, all day. But Georgia was kind of a slacker.  She would go through phases when she would futz around, read, daydream, write letters, and go for long walks.  But when she worked, she worked every day.

Whether you’re trying to launch a business, write a memoir, paint a mural or sew a quilt, doing it every day reaps beaucoup benefits.  You establish a habit of unplugging, which develops focus, and harnesses that all-important, intangible momentum.  Even if you can only carve out a half hour a day, it will make a huge difference.

The Lost Art of Sublimation

“You can’t always get what you want,” said the poet Jagger.  Despite our current obsession with happiness, that’s as true as it ever was. The good news, though, is that if you’re trying to launch a business, paint a mural, write a memoir, you don’t actually need to be happy.  You can throw yourself into your work.  You can hide in it, in fact.  Sublimation is a powerful thing. It doesn’t matter if you’re frustrated by your job, disappointed by your mate, envious of the slim-assed receptionist at the gym. You don’t need to fix anything.  You can simply start a blog. 

Say Yes to No Frills

Georgia O'Keeffe, 1918, Alfred Stieglitz

You don’t need a new laptop to follow your bliss.  You don’t need to update your software.  You don’t need an iPad.  You don’t need to clean your study. You don’t even need a study.  You don’t need the best hours of the day.  You don’t need big ideas — or any ideas.  You just need to set aside time, and do it.

When O’Keeffe was feeling frustrated with painting, she gave up working with color.  She went back to charcoal — a humble and impossible material — and cheap newsprint.  Late at night, after teaching all day, she got down on her hands and knees, and drew.  She got back to basics.  She didn’t care that she was tired and frustrated.  She worked during the lousiest hours of the day, making the art that would change her life, launch her seven decades-long career, and change the history of art in America.

What’s the bottom line for us? Life was far from perfect for O’Keeffe, but that neither worried her nor inhibited her. Even the most difficult, least likely moments can be put in service of our abiding passions.

Tell us a little about Project Concern International – your mission, your goals, your main focus.

LC: PCI is a nonprofit health and humanitarian aid organization dedicated to preventing disease, improving community health, and promoting sustainable development worldwide.

How was the group started? How has it evolved over the years?

LC: In 1961, a young doctor from San Diego volunteering at a Tijuana clinic saved the lives of two small children who were dying of pneumonia. This experience led Dr. James Turpin to found PCI and forever change the lives of millions of children and families around the world by providing health and hope to those most in need. Since then, the focus of the organization has remained true to its founder. PCI works in vulnerable communities to improve health and create long-term change by helping people help themselves. For fifty years, thousands of dedicated individuals and groups have worked to make this vision a reality. Dr. James W. Turpin founded PCI based on his belief in our shared humanity and his confidence that if given a chance, people could lift themselves out of poverty and create a healthy future for their families. Today, PCI works in 16 countries around the world benefitting more than 5 million women, children and families a year.

Is there a specific program that has really stood out to you?

UH: We had this great program recently in South Africa, where we worked on a very important project to mitigate violence against women. And we had this big billboard in Cape Town, of this woman’s face, a beautiful African woman. And every day they would change the billboard to show how her face would change with abuse, and you can imagine, she is getting more and more bruised.

And then we had a billboard for people to send text messages, speaking out about violence against women, and as people text messaged, the face became less bruised. I mean, it was really very much a social innovation project, because a lot of what we do have to do was social mobilization and changing behavior and attitude, which is something that takes decades of course, and it’s a huge challenge. But it was a pretty innovative and powerful project.

What are some of the projects you’re personally involved in?

LC: When I started with PCI in 2007 and I participated mainly by going to breakfasts that PCI has periodically to discuss projects and results in the countries in which they work. PCI also hosts its annual “Hands Across Borders” fundraiser, typically in November, and in working on that, I started to meet amazing women from a cross-spectrum of San Diego who bring their energies to PCI in the midst of their own business, medical, education, and international success stories.

In 2009, I went to Zambia on a vision trip to see PCI’s work on the ground in that country. I also worked on two events for PCI’s project in San Diego, a community baby shower and a Christmas toy drive and Santa party. The local work continued in 2010 and I went on a second vision trip, to Tanzania, in September 2010.

As a result, I was pleased to collaborate with PCI and Terri Thomas, another PCI supporter, to help start a PCI group that would provide a forum to discuss the issues that PCI addresses, demonstrate that the issues overseas are often the same ones that arise locally and regionally, expand PCI’s profile in the community, and take advantage of opportunities to bring together people in San Diego who want to participate locally and globally to make a difference. That forum, started in 2010, has become SHE, which stands for Strong, Healthy, Empowered.

Can you describe your SHE program? How does someone become an ambassador?

UH: SHE is a group of ambassadors who dedicate their efforts, time, energy, and skills to benefit and support PCI ‘s programs throughout the world. Through the synergy of the SHE program, we work together to find innovative ways to ensure women are able to live lives that are strong, healthy and empowered. SHE members reach out and support PCI’s programs in the local community, and have the opportunity to participate in vision trips, volunteer locally, as well as attend locally hosted educational events and social occasions. As a member (membership is free), people can be involved as little or as much as their time permits.

In 2010, SHE hosted a variety of discussions. People offer their homes for some meetings; others take place “on site.” We started in January 2010 with a presentation by Stacy Smith, a USC professor, on the sexualization of children and women in media. In the spring of 2010, we showed a documentary about women in Zambia learning to use video equipment for the first time and using it to tell their stories about the effects of AIDS in their lives. We also sponsored a presentation by The Amy Biehl Foundation featuring the family of Amy Biehl, whose death in South Africa at the close of the apartheid era led to the formation of a foundation that has carried on important work in Amy’s name. We hosted a meeting on PCI’s immediate response to the earthquake in Haiti. Dr. Maria’s Reyes, who heads PCI’s San Diego project devoted to pre and post-natal maternal care and well child outcomes, spoke to a group in September 2010 about that project and ways to volunteer for it locally. In November, we led a group to La Jolla Playhouse’s production of “Ruined” (which takes place in the Congo) and a post-play discussion of the play with Playhouse personnel.

It’s very easy to get on the SHE e-mail list and become involved. Just go on PCI’s website and follow the links to Strong, Healthy, Empowered. For more information or to be added to the free SHE membership list , you can contact me at uheine@pciglobal.org

March 8 was International Women’s Day. What does that mean to Project Concern?

UH: It means it is a day to celebrate and honor the women and girls who work for us, and who we work with and for, around the world. IWD offers an opportunity to think about and focus on issues of gender and how they affect the people we serve. It is a time to re-familiarize ourselves with — and revitalize – our commitment to our gender equity mission statement and the work we do to improve gender equity and equality in our own organization and in the vulnerable communities where we implement our programs. Because it is the 100th anniversary of IWD, it is a time to reflect how far we’ve come in terms of equity and equality, but also how much further we still must travel.

There are a lot of statistics about the benefits of helping women as opposed to helping men, and what women do among themselves and for their community and for their children. Can you comment on any experiences or feelings you have on a personal level about the importance of connecting women to women?

UH: I do feel there is a particular kinship among women worldwide, because, while I believe that we should treat everybody equally, there’s ultimately something that really connects women, specifically mothers. Because when you look at children under the age of two, before they are really even speaking yet, they all have exactly the same development and the same chances for success.

If you look into these babies’ eyes, whether in Africa, India or the United States, you quickly realize the same potential exists right in front of you and the same heartbeat, and the deciding factor is just the chance of where we were born. I do think there is an innate kinship between women for that reason. Also because, specifically when I travel to places in Africa, where I can tell that the women are struggling with their husbands, I see that women’s empowerment also often leads to empowering men at the same time.

Ultimately, we really work on family empowerment altogether, but a lot of times when you give the women micro-enterprise opportunities and they become successful, all of a sudden the men who originally looked at them with a little bit of disbelief and distrust, become more interested and engaged and involved, and want to know, “What opportunities do you have for me?” We like to jump on that opportunity too, because we need the men just as much. We just feel that it’s important to get to the women first. It has been proven time and again that if you empower women, you do empower the whole family, or ultimately, really the whole village, whereas that does not hold true for empowering the men. Ultimately our goal is to empower the whole family.

You’re sponsoring a screening of the documentary, La Mama: An American Nun’s Life in a Mexican Prison. Can you talk about the significance of that, both for the story itself and for Project Concern?

LC: We are featuring the movie as part of our SHE program to 1) focus on an exemplary woman and her very interesting life story and 2) increase interest in the development needs of Tijuana, where PCI has worked for decades and still operates well-baby clinics in some of the poorest areas. The promatoras (women from the community who are trained by PCI) who operate the program might not be as famous as Mother Antonia but they too are volunteering their time to improve the lives of people in need.

What are some of the challenges faced by Project Concern?

LC: One of the greatest challenges for PCI is the fact that even after 50 years PCI is not well-known. PCI has not had any staff solely dedicated to publicity, so the many wonderful stories PCI has to tell never get heard. We just revamped our website, and are looking to expand our base of e-subscribers and friends. PCI really is a wonderful resource locally on development and women’s issues and we encourage all interested parties to check us out. As a member of SHE, you will receive updates on programs, travel opportunities and events. We would love for more people to know and care about the issues we are working on every day.

How can our readers help? And how can their high school or college-age daughters help?

UH: Become a Facebook friend, tell others about PCI, join SHE, stage a fundraiser for PCI or attend our events. Our World Water Day walk, which focuses on the fact that women and children in the developing world often walk for hours fetching potable water, will take place on March 20. If you have a talent PCI can use and are willing to donate your time, we would love to hear from you!

What has been the most rewarding part of working with Project Concern?

LC: That’s hard to answer – there are so many! I feel very privileged to get to be involved in an organization that, on the one hand, is the largest NGO (non-government organization) in San Diego, and on the other, is focused so locally in every place it works. As you would expect, I’ve learned a lot about women and children overseas, and I have met so many amazing women in San Diego who have a philanthropic heart. I want to distinguish that very clearly from “money.” Sure, that’s important, but I’m talking about something more fundamental – really, the energy that women provide “in the room” when exposure and knowledge meets action.

How can our readers help? And how can their high school or college-age daughters help?

LC: I like the idea of taking the one cause or interest you are most passionate about locally and combining that with the same issue overseas. I think that results in greater strength to both. If you can go on the PCI website and see those connections, that’s wonderful. As for our daughters, we need to let them see we are doing and make them a part of it.

Tell me why you chose this as your Mitzvah project.

A couple of years ago, my parents went to Ethiopia and they met with a doctor named Rick Hodes who helps children there who have a deadly disease called spinal tuberculosis. He raises money for these kids to have surgery in Ghana, which saves their lives. He has adopted about 20 kids in Ethiopia, and he lives there with them and tries to get them surgeries.

What was it about your parents’ experience that inspired you to take on this project?

I just thought it was really nice how he pretty much gave up his life to help these kids. I mean, he didn’t get married, didn’t have his own kids, didn’t have a family. He just made it his mission to save their lives.

This is quite an unusual project for someone your age. Most kids either don’t do anything or just donate a portion of their gift money. What is the most rewarding thing so far in such a hands on project for you?

Well, I am just one kid and I thought it was amazing that I could actually save another kid’s life. From thousands of miles away, I could really help.

So how did you start? Obviously you have been thinking about this long before you were Bar Mitzvah age.

I thought it would be really hard to get the money because it is a very expensive surgery, so I decided I would have a fundraiser. Then they came out with this documentary, “Making the Crooked Straight,” [see our interview with filmmaker Sue Cohn Rockefeller in the Interviews section] and I thought that would be perfect to show at the event.

I was at that fundraiser and saw the film. There are some dramatic images in the film of the people affected by this disease. How did those images affect you when you first saw the film?

That is what got me to do this. Those kids really need our help. You just look at them and . . . if someone just told you they had this big growth in their spines, you would be like “whatever,” but if you actually see it, it means a lot more.

Have you been in touch with either the doctor or the child who will be the recipient of your gift?

I talked to the doctor over the phone from Ethiopia, and he was saying that it was really nice, that one of the goals he wanted to accomplish when he started doing what he is doing, was to reach out to other kids to help.

What has been the hardest part of the project so far?

Getting people’s attention. I held the fundraiser where we showed the movie and I have been emailing people, friends from other states, so they could help.

Do you know who will be the recipient of your gift?

He is a 12 year old boy, so he is my age. When he was a baby, his parents abandoned him and an old lady took care of him until she got too old and sick. She dropped him off at an orphanage where he was reunited with his mom and that is where he met Dr Hodes. He doesn’t live with Dr. Hodes, but he goes there every week or so to play with the other kids who have the same disease, and Dr Hodes tries to help him.

You two are the same age, but your lives are so different.

So different. That is what I thought was so amazing.

Does the surgery have to happen at a certain time to be most effective?

He was close to the deadline of needing the surgery, so the doctor in Ghana agreed to perform it even though he hasn’t gotten paid yet. This disease gets worse and worse over time. By September, his spine would have been so deformed he could have died, so it is lucky that he got the surgery already. There’s a series of surgeries that all happen at the same time.

What has been the most surprising part of this process for you?

That when people heard about this, they wanted to help — and actually did. I was especially surprised by the kids’ reactions. I didn’t think there would be kids actually going home and thinking about it and telling me how great it was. One friend of mine decided he wanted to do the same thing because he was really inspired by what I did. And some adults have written notes to me, thanking me.

What would your advice be to other kids who are having Bar or Bat Mitzvahs and who are thinking they don’t need to do anything or are thinking of just giving part of their money to a charity?

I would tell them it means a lot more when you actually give the effort. You feel a lot more accomplished when you spend months trying to get it all together and then at the end come out of it with something greater than if you just wrote a check.

For more information about Lou’s project, or to help out and make a donation, please email amy@stylesubstancesoul.com.

According to The International Ecotourism Society, the travel and tourism industry is the largest business sector in the world economy so its practices have a huge impact on our planet. Ecotourism, defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people,” is a growing trend and we decided to see what it really means.

Amy turned to Christie Cash to find out how ecotourism is brought to life at the gorgeous Puakea Ranch on The Big Island of Hawaii, where she watches over her guests – and the environment – as owner/head ranch hand. The restored ranch is listed on the state’s Register of Historic Places is the epitome of luxury without pretension and definitely sets the standard for eco-tourism.  

What was it about ecotourism that drew you to create this vacation sanctuary?

 I wanted to create the kind of family vacation I craved in Hawaii: one that was friendly to the planet and Hawaii in particular. Anything other than a huge resort, cookie-cutter condos, manicured golf courses and the sprawl of overdone, overpriced second and third homes used two times a year. The moment I got out of the car to walk around the ranch, I thought, “This is the Hawaii I want to come to with my family.” 

Why is ecotourism an important and growing travel alternative?

 Low impact, conscious travel is a choice that more people are interested in making as we become increasingly dominated by the fast-paced, mass-produced, mega-consumption world most of us live in day to day. This includes all aspects of our daily life in any urban/suburban society. A vacation “away” from the 300+ room resorts actually feels much more like a real vacation. It is difficult to really “relax” when you are surrounded by the same crowds of people, drinking the same mass-produced Starbucks coffee and eating a $20 hamburger in an over-air-conditioned small room dominated by a flat screen TV in the wall.  

Those types of resorts get a bad rap from environmentalists and many locals, especially in Hawaii.

 Yes, you are right. And we are very sensitive to that in every decision we make. At the ranch, we are doing our part to preserve the culture of our area by restoring the original plantation homes and recording the stories and collecting photographs of the original families who lived and worked here, dating back to the 1870′s. While we offer WiFi and cable, we also a glimpse into the past and a reminder of just how good a tomato pulled off the vine or a fresh, free-range egg can taste.

My goal is to give visitors to the Big Island an alternative to the typical resort, condo or vacation home experience. The ranch is more like a luxury homestead in a gorgeous Hawaiian setting.  We offer kitchen composting in each bungalow that goes to our gardens or to our chickens. No A/C, just open windows and fans. Recycle bins at each bungalow. Water catchment in place to help us irrigate.  A big garden to pick from.  Grey water is used to water the gardens surrounding the bungalows. Eco-friendly kitchen and laundry soaps are provided to insure the grey water won’t harm our plants.  This is low-density, low-impact tourism, in line with the community values of North Kohala. 

What kind of questions do potential guests ask when they’re booking a vacation? 

Is the kitchen fully equipped? Where is the closest grocery store? The closest beach? Can the kids pick the eggs by themselves? The ranch is more about the “experience” than whether we are using off grid energy. No one asks questions like that! They just like the fact that we adhere to a “reduce, reuse and recycle, eat local, buy local” philosophy. It’s like taking a small step back in time, in paradise.

What are travelers who are attracted to a retreat like yours looking for? 

Our guests are looking for a home away from home with the added extras they can’t get at home, like fresh eggs from the chickens, picking from the garden and fruit trees, laying in the hammock with a gorgeous ocean view with no one around for as far as the eye can see, yet just minutes away from the shor line and the charming towns of Hawi and Kapaau, which have great local restaurants. There are no “chains” of any kind in North Kohala. Each shop, gallery and restaurant is locally-owned and operated and offers a truly unique authentic local flavor. The community of North Kohala is very eco-minded and proud of the small town, agricultural roots it is striving to maintain. 

What kind of comments do you get from guests at the end of their stay? 

 Well, here are a few from TripAdvisor.com:

 ”This place is outstanding. What a gem. Such surprising style and luxury in the rural but beautiful area of north Kohala.”

“Puakea Ranch was the perfect mixture of location, views, architectural design, historic restoration and the owner and caretaker’s hospitality. Puakea Ranch provided exceptional accommodations with privacy, beautiful natural setting and peace and quiet.”

“I’d go back tomorrow and stay forever if I didn’t have to go to work! :)”

What was your motivation to start My Beauty?

The program is called My Beauty because we are empowering girls to remain true to their individual talents and traits, and set their own standards, rather than conforming to the socially-constructed ideals of beauty. We all have issues as teenagers — mine was low self-esteem. I didn’t know how to handle all the changes that were going on with my body.  My mom did the best she could but, you know, you’re a teenager, and you feel like no one else understands. So what I wanted to do was create a program for girls to show them they weren’t going through any of these things alone. We are a resource for them if they have questions about developmental changes, peer pressure, self-esteem, body image, all those types of issues.

How has My Beauty evolved and changed from concept to reality?

We started off as a one-day workshop with 50 girls, and now we work with over 3,000 girls, so we’ve been able to really make an impact in the community. And the workshops have become more in-depth. The research I did while I was getting my bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies at UCLA was all about teens, technology and sex – how teenagers are adversely affected by media images, especially online, and how dangerous social media sites can be for teenage girls — and I’ve been able to translate that into the work that I do.

As a former teenage girl and current mother of teenage girls I appreciate that, internally, the feelings and the process of coming of age remains the same, but the outside world has changed so much. What’s your take on that?

Curiosity about your own sexuality has always been there — that’s a constant — but the technology of Facebook and MySpace now allows you to post the results of that curiosity in the form of provocative sexual poses pictures or stories, for the world to see. I am really passionate about online social media sites. They are so fresh and so new and so many young girls are going on there; they aren’t even 12 or 13 years old and they are pretending to be 19 or 20. Trying out different identities online is a way for them to broadcast and act out on what they are feeling, and it is very dangerous.

The images in the media, targeting females of every age, are so intense – the peer pressure is so intense – it seems that really all girls are at risk.

It is true. The girls in Beverly Hills who have the money to get nose jobs and boob jobs are at risk as much as the girls from Compton who we work with. I always say we work with girls from the ‘hood to Brentwood, and when we bring them together, we find that the issues are universal. They transcend any county line or color line. The goal of My Beauty is to give these girls a common ground to show them they are not alone. My Beauty is really all about identity, about being your own person. Your different aspects are what make you whole; you don’t have to be one thing all the time. I feel like what happens with teenagers is they have different “personalities” although they are really all of them, of course. They are experimenting, learning to come to grips with their identity, asking “Who am I? Am I funny? Am I sad? Am I a bitch sometimes? Am I a cool chick? How do I want to be perceived?” I feel like a lot of times, girls adopt different characteristics from what they see and what they perceive to be cool.  My Beauty helps them realize that if you want to be happy one day and sad the next, that’s okay. It doesn’t mean you have lost yourself.

So what words of wisdom do you have for the teenager inside every middle-aged woman who is struggling with the different identities of daughter, professional, wife, mother?

I would say the same thing I say to my girls now: just love yourself. Try to be the best person you can be at all times. Don’t judge yourself, don’t judge others and just love yourself.

And what would you say to mothers of today’s teenage girls?

What I hear a lot from my girls is that their parents project their insecurities or desires on to them. Almost like living vicariously through them, trying to fix all the things they wish they could have done as a teenager. So, for example, if you wanted to be a cheerleader and your daughter is now in high school and you’re pushing her to be a cheerleader, I would say to stop and really listen to what she is telling you. Listen hard and listen a lot because girls want – need — to be heard. The friends that your kids keep are really critical, too; you need to know them and their parents. My mom never knew the parents of the kids I was friends with — she never bothered to ask — and we did all kinds of crazy stuff at my friends’ houses when their parents weren’t home!

Today, it’s also important to stay up to date on technology. There are websites where you can learn the different abbreviations kids are using in text and online like lol (laughing out loud), ttyl (talk to you later). There are a lot of dangerous codes.

If you could change one thing in media or pop culture that is damaging to women, what would it be?

MUSIC VIDEOS! Seriously I can’t stand all those music videos showing girls shaking their butts and being objectified. I wish that would change immediately.  There is nothing new original or creative about it.  Sex sells and young girls are watching those, thinking that’s what men want. Pop stars, you have to be responsible. You know who your audience is.  If you put yourself out there as a role model for girls, then don’t make socially irresponsible music. I may have it in me to be wild and to go out and have a good time, but because I put myself out there as a role model for young girls, you won’t catch me acting crazy and putting myself in precarious situations. You just won’t find that, even though it’s not always easy for me.

Speaking about not easy, you are about to embark on a new adventure. Tell us about it!

I am going for my master’s degree at Harvard this fall in a program called Prevention Science and Practice in Adolescence. My work is getting more research- based, and I am compiling data and statistics in order to see what the real problems are, how we can address and fix them and how we can make a real impact.

What is Harvard going to unlock for you in addition to a fabulous education and experience? What do you think it will do for you, your message and the teens in your life?

Well, I try to lead by example so, number one, they will say, “Wow, look at this, girls. She came from nowhere and she wound up going to Harvard. I can, too!” Secondly, I am writing books and, with Harvard Press, I know there is a lot of support there as far as publishing goes. The network is very powerful. I am looking forward to building a new network. Also, I will be closer to Washington, D.C. and am confident I will be working with Michelle Obama, and Sasha and Melia at some point. There are a lot of things I hope Harvard will open the door for.

Do they know what they are in for when you get there?!

They’ll know when they get into my classroom.

Learn more about Gabrielle and My Beauty at http://www.mybeautycamp.com/.