It’s really your story and mine, but I also saw it in Liz Stauss’ recent posts. Renee Zellwenger’s role as Beatrix Potter told more than the life of Beatrix Potter – it told the story of mental swings between tradition and freedom.
On one side … people much like Potter reject and survive the rigid molds and on the flip side characters like Potter’s mother cave in under conformity’s hammers. How about you? Any plan to take a new step? 
The struggles started for Beatrix when she bucked rigid demands from family, society and gender – and refused limitations taken for granted in her time. Do you use your talent and efforts to buck broken systems where you work?
It starts with what you love to do most ….
Talented Director Chris Noonan, for example, showed affinity for the natural world, and for animation through his portrayal of Potter’s life and work.
What struck me most in this movie, was the colorful – yet somewhat solitary spaces between animation, reality and change. As I see it, Liz Stauss shows similar spaces in rainbows that connect her posts The Smartest Girl in the Room, A Light in a Colorful Sky, and Hole in My Imagination . 
Potter also faced the frustrations described by most talented change agents. She coaxed her animations into the pages of publishable books much the way brilliant innovators transform imaginations into authenticity.
When Peter Rabbit, Miss Tiggy-winkle, and Jemina Puddleduck are seen to be speaking back – they are simply playing into that space where humans rarely reach to respond to people’s highest talent. Without question, the pathways of a change agent is rough at times. For those who feel they could bring a unique talent to life … as Potter did … I recommend this movie as a launch to your plan.
Where could your most unique proclivity take you?
What will keep you going – the way Potter’s animated creations kept going, a bit like the energizer bunny … when even family shunned her? 
Potter’s fantasy for stories published, eventually brought her a soul mate helper, publisher, Norman Warne, who also moved against the establishment. Yet her persistence and talent took her even farther. After Warne’s sudden death, Beatrix moved on again to settle in
Throughout her life, Potter captured some of the most beloved narratives of the 20th Century. After the loss of her fiancé, she never wrote again. Yet her life still stood for the power of one woman’s self-expression against the backdrop of Victorian repression. What does your life stand for?
Ellen,
What a wonderful post! I've been thinking lately about broken systems, silos and their self-maintaining nature. Thanks for the post, and especially this statement:
"It starts with what you love to do most …."
Doing what we love most is the thing that keeps us swimming upstream. The effort required is fueled by passion that drives us to act and to continue to act in the face of what may seem to be overwhelming opposition. The reason I say "seem to be" is that the opposition can be overcome. There is tremendous power in the combination of a person's "most unique proclivity" expressed in a well-reasoned plan (creativity) and doing what we love most (passion). It can be a great way of expressing what we stand for.
Assuming that someone finds their passion and has the sense of what to do, what practical steps (generally) should they then take?
Posted by: Tariq Khan | March 10, 2007 1:37 PM | Permalink to Comment