SK: What role does creativity play in our every day life.
I often hear, "I am not creative?"
BC: That question needs its own article! In my life I was fortunate that whatever shred of creativity I might have was actually encouraged and reinforced by my parents. Everyone is not so lucky! They’re told “you’re not artistic,” “Please, don’t sing,” “Girl you ain’t got rhythm so please don’t try to dance.” So we suppress whatever gift we really do have and a huge part of our creative heart remains trapped inside us. Creative energy plays out so many ways in life – fixing things around the house, solving a tricky personal issue, coming up with a business solution to a customer problem, creating a technology to bring water to drought-stricken countries. But if we’ve suppressed our innate creativity we haven’t developed the very skills that could make life easier for us, our business, and our world. If someone once told you, you’re not creative, don’t believe them. Prove them wrong. Create with every ounce of love and passion you can muster.
SK: What makes your heart sing?
BC: As the worst of my health journey was ending in late 2011, a new impulse to express myself through song rose again like a Phoenix in my heart. I had to sing! I reached out to a dear friend and former college roommate, Emmy award-winning composer Gary Malkin. We started hanging out on weekends, rekindling our friendship while enjoying the opportunity to sing and play music together. Before long we felt our unique 40-year relationship and our creative performance skills could be put to use in what we called a “keynote performance”.
We approached Kaiser, the huge health care system that had already hired me to do a keynote talk about my health journey. We proposed that my solo talk change into a combination of keynote and performance, involving live singing, multi-media, plenty of substance in the content, all performed by me and Gary. They loved the idea, our first event was booked, and thus was born What Makes Your Heart Sing? which has now become a global movement to awaken inspiration in daily life.
SK: Do you have a final wish for PERREAULT readers?
BC: Follow what makes your heart sing and create to your heart’s content. The world needs more creators!
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