awareness – Promoting Passion

Learning to Fly

brookeshaden — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 14:00:37 +0000

I’ve been to Kolkata, India on 8 separate trips since 2013. It has become a second home for me. Even the parts that make me uncomfortable – the constant cacophony of blackbirds, or the scents that I’m so unused to – have become a beacon of home. The blackbirds especially. I used to stay awake listening to their sounds; now they lull me to sleep and awake again in the morning.

I shot these images in Kolkata. I remember the day so well because we laughed the whole way through it. We – my partner in India, Laura Price – scouted a location. We had to do some begging to get this establishment to let us shoot here. The location: a horse stable. They were very wary of our presence… both the horses and the business.

I needed sticks. So, after securing our location, we scoured the grounds looking for sticks. But, it was so well manicured that that, despite the myriad of trees, they had absolutely no sticks laying around.

I’m a DIY kind of girl. When I need sticks, I find them. But being in the middle of a city with an extremely small car, I was out of luck. So, we went to a stick vendor.

Yes, that’s right – a stick vendor. And low and behold, we were able to buy many bundles of sticks. We had to hire a tuk tuk to get them to our venue, and everyone thought we were psychotic.

The funny thing was that it felt like normal life to me. See, I’m used to doing weird things for self-expression. Others aren’t, and sometimes I forget just how weird I seem to people. My everyday experience means dressing up in strange costumes, crawling into dirty places, or smearing myself in paint. I don’t think it’s so much the things I’m doing that freaks people out – it’s that I make time to do weird things for self-expression. Even the things that take a long time to clean up, or are inconvenient.

I know how important self-expression is. I know the value of being able to create something and say, “That’s me. That’s really me.”

And so I pass those lessons on when I go to Kolkata. I teach self-expression. I teach the value of doing weird things purely for yourself.

On this day, I got to work with some very experienced individuals. These women are Dance Movement Therapy trainors. They have done extensive work in how to move your body to heal. And they have done work to ensure others find that same empowerment. Their organization is called Kolkata Sanved.

The girls and I had been working together for years when I shot these images, so they only thought I was mildly crazy when I asked them to come in their best saris and cuddle up in a horse stable in a pile of sticks.

Mildly crazy.

I did get a lot of long stares, and questions of if I was serious, and then a lot of laughing. And a lot of selfies. Obviously.

The program that I run in India (and other countries, like Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Greece) is called “If I Could Fly”. It is a workshop that asks the question, “If you could fly, where would you go? What would that look like?”. I teach how to use a camera to express your deepest emotions. We often deal with themes of freedom, dreams, and emotional pasts.

These images were inspired by that title. These women are exemplary of the mission we are all trying to uphold: to empower those who have been through hardship to rise up and fly.

I hope you enjoy these images.
I hope you inspire someone today.

And I hope that, if you’re feeling down, you remember these women and all they are doing for their community. They regularly build up women who have been trafficked and have been through abuse to help them fly.

Well done, sisters.

Promoting Passion Week 61: Birthday Reflections

brookeshaden — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 15:17:28 +0000

Last week was my birthday. I love birthdays. It is a chance to celebrate someone when, so often, we fail to do so. To be honest my husband and I don’t celebrate birthdays much. We say that we celebrate each other all the time, so there is no real need. But nonetheless, I love birthdays because of how reflective they make us. We think about our lives in terms of years, and we often find a way to define a certain year of our lives. For example, when I think of being 21, I think of it as a huge, life-changing age. I got married, graduated from college, moved across the country, and discovered photography. Big year! When I think of 26, I think of how I bought my first home. When I think of 16, I think about meeting the love of my life.

But aside from reflecting on the things we’ve done, it is a chance to start anew. It is a chance to evaluate if you really are the person you want to be, or if you need to change something. For me, there is always something to change. The only question is what I am going to change. I spent the last year of my life changing course. I stopped doing a lot of the things I had done before – business and personal – and laid the foundation for a new life. This year, I am living it. Year 28 will be one of discovering my dreams. Dreaming bigger. Dreaming in my own way. Letting dreams define me.

I emailed someone the other day about a big project I’m working on. His response was “This is an absolutely crazy idea”. And that made my heart soar with joy. “Yes,” I thought, “that is the kind of life I want to live.”

Getting older means learning lessons. It means failing miserably. It means succeeding wildly. It means changing perspective on life. And this is what it has meant to me:

1. Failing is winning for those willing to try hard.

2. Life cannot be quantified in years. If I died right now, I will have lived the best life possible. This I can say with absolute confidence and love.

3. I would rather be crazy than boring. After all, I am the only one I can count on to entertain myself.

4. Not everything will work out, because if it did, we wouldn’t be able to see the gems through the dust.

5. There is never an excuse for boredom.

6. Being present in all that you do means you will never feel like life has passed you by.

7. Being genuine will get you farther than attempting to please people.

8. When you refuse to compromise your beliefs, you attract like-minded people into your life.

9. If you treat failure like an old friend, he will always be there to help you back up when he knocks you down.

10. Kindness should never be dependent on someone else’s actions.

11. Fears are friends wearing masks. Get close enough to see the face of fear.

12. Give your love without need for reciprocation. Receive love like you deserve it.

13. The words “best” and “worst” should never be used to describe someone. We will only look foolish when we are proved wrong.

14. Tell someone why you love them.

15. Live your life to make someone else’s life better.

16. Look forward to each day you grow older. The alternative is death.

17. If you build a community, take care of that community.

18. Dream as though it will happen.

What I have learned this past year can be summed up in these words: Love wholly. Give repeatedly. Create selfishly. Challenge yourself regularly. Live beautifully.

Goodnight, 27.

Good morning, 28.

—

If you would like to send along a birthday gift (trust me, this is not a crazy narcissist sentence…) you can donate to the Fibromyalgia awareness campaign I have running, create an image with a butterfly to raise awareness, or join me on May 9 for the Caterpillar Walk. Alternately, you can donate photo equipment for the photography school I am starting in India for survivors of human trafficking – The Light Space. Signing up for the new After Dark conference will help donate to the school. Or simply check out my Giving Back page for ways to get involved.

Promoting Passion Week 60: Fibromyalgia Awareness

brookeshaden — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 16:43:46 +0000

This is the year of giving back, or at least that’s what I’ve decided for myself. No official title, just an instinct that the more we give back, the more we get in return…and that is definitely true in this case, because today we’re talking about a disorder that I’ve carried with me for half of my life: Fibromyalgia. I was contacted a week ago by an amazing woman named Nancy who is helping to run the Caterpillar Walk in NYC coming up this May 9th. She asked if I would be a part of the walk in some way, either to spread awareness or help to sponsor, and I wanted to jump on board right away!

Given that the walk is called the Caterpillar Walk, and the symbol is the butterfly, I was instantly connected with that symbol and wanted to create art to raise awareness for Fibromyalgia. To be honest, I can’t believe I haven’t thought of it before! It might have been a subconscious act to not bring attention to my own weaknesses due to Fibromaylgia. After all, I don’t want to seem like I’m complaining. I have it much better than a lot of people. However, the time is right, I feel it in my heart.

So what I am asking is that we band together and create art based around the butterfly, either as symbol or a literal reference (Existing pictures are great too!). The butterfly is such a universally understood creature; we all start out as caterpillars and hope to grow into something beautiful and vibrant. In fact, this is the process we all undergo time and time again in our lives, no matter what the struggle or situation. So I feel it is a symbol that everyone can play with in their own way.

Create an image centered around butterflies, and post that picture as you would to your social media. And in that post, mention something about the Caterpillar Walk if you are so inclined, or simply put a link to some information about Fibromaylgia. The goal is to spread the word about a disorder that is very often invisible, since the symptoms do not manifest in any obvious way.

Post your images in the comments section here so that I can send them all in to the lovely people running the walk. And if you can join me in NYC on May 9th for the walk, I’ve got a group put together called Brooke Shaden’s Butterflies, so we can walk together! If you would like to donate to the cause, you can do so under my fundraiser.

Fibromyalgia is something I was diagnosed with when I was 14 years old. Before that I used to wear a knee brace to school, and I started realizing something was odd when I couldn’t remember which knee hurt the day before because my symptoms would shift, so I would switch knees for the brace every other day. Soon kids at school noticed too, and they would question if I was telling the truth about the pain or if I was just doing it for attention. The truth is, Fibromalgia is widespread pain, and every day it manifests a little bit differently.

I count my journey a lucky one. After all, I learned from my mom, who has Lupus, how to push through and conquer. Plus, so many have it so much worse than I do. So I am raising awareness for those who suffer in ways far worse than myself, that they might not feel so alone. And even more importantly, I’m willing to support any cause that reminds us of how little we can see of someone else until we really ask the right questions. We never know what someone else is going through, so let’s be kind and show just how great our capacity for love is.

Where: NYC, Hudson River Walk
When: May 9, 2015
Why: To raise awareness for Fibromyalgia and funds that go to National Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain Association
How #1: Create an image with a butterfly and submit it in this blog post!
How #2: Donate to the cause under Brooke Shaden’s Butterflies!

To read more about Fibromyalgia (click to make bigger):

..And for more on the walk:

Charles Dickens and Dreaming Big

brookeshaden — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 15:33:49 +0000

I am reading an inspiring book right now called How Successful People Think and in it, the author quotes words spoken of novelist Charles Dickens:

“He did each thing as if he did nothing else.”

We live in a world built on pressures; the pressure to be successful, the pressure to be happy, the pressure to be someone great. We are taught, not necessarily by our parents but certainly by other influences, that we both need to reach higher yet stay in our place. We are taught to get a stable job and work for the promotion. We are taught to seek someone wonderful to marry so that we may find stability. We are taught that we should have dreams, yet work for the good of the team. And indeed, each of these things can be individually rewarding. Yet the lessons we are taught by those who influence us, especially as we grow, are very often contradictory.

Instead of being taught to dream big and do what we need to do to achieve that dream, we are taught to dream realistically. Instead of being told that we can be great, we are told to try and be great while staying inside the confines of what is socially acceptable. Each of these paradigms is what ultimately holds so many people back from doing what they love or defining happiness for themselves.

Part of the problem is how widespread we are as individuals. We do what we think we need to do to serve others, and in doing so, very often, forget to serve ourselves. We please our parents and we please our friends and we take care of children and we help our boss, yet behind all of that is a sense of self. We are taught that we must please those higher up than ourselves, that we must obey our parents, that we must, must, must. And behind all of those “musts” is what we need to nourish our souls.

“He did each thing as if he did nothing else.” I think this quote is so powerful for two reasons. One is of presence. To be present is to perform each task as if it were the only one; to get rid of distractions and embrace a life in the now. The other reason why I love the words so much is what it implies about the man himself. In order to do each thing at such a level, one must place value on the self so as to see value in doing anything at all.

I do not believe that this quote indicates he did everything better than other people, but instead that he placed value in each thing that he did and was engaged enough to focus his energy into them. So much of our problem today lies in two places: distractions and self-doubt. We doubt ourselves because we are told to, whether directly or unintentionally. Take going to school for art. If you are someone who has done this, it is very likely someone along the way told you how impractical that would be. In my case it was deciding to be a photographer. I had no training and no idea of how to run a business, but my heart was set on it. And as a result opinions came out of the woodwork, and I was told of how practical I needed to be.

“People don’t make money selling art. You need a backup plan.”

These words are commonly spoken and meant to be caring most of the time. Yet at the same time, they inadvertently tell the person to whom they are spoken that they are not good enough, will not succeed, and should not try. With messages like this floating around everywhere, self-doubt is a disease that plagues many, and understandably so.

What if we could channel some of that Charles Dickens magic and create a world for ourselves where we did each thing as if we did nothing else? What if we made decisions that could change our lives, and do change our lives, and we lived them as though nothing else mattered? To be present, to get rid of distractions, to believe you are worthy of pursuing such goals…that is the ultimate in finding your voice and finding a story for your life.

How can we get rid of the doubt and the anxiety and the distractions? Two simple ideas: The first is that few people care about you as much as you care about yourself, and the people who might care more are the people who will try to keep you safe. You need to take risks. You need to do something scary. And those who love us most will often hold us back, in the kindest way possible and for the very best reasons. Yet we need not listen. We must move forward. The second thing to realize is that you are the only one making decisions in your life. If we place the blame on other people for offering their opinions, we are living life in the shadow of someone else. A journey in the shadow of another is a very dark road.

Every single person has an incredible, unique story and vision. That story needs to be told, and that vision expressed, and to do so is to empower others to do the same. Dream big and dream often. Find your voice and share it. Tell the story of your life through your own words. And next time you take a leap and do something important, do it as if you did nothing else. Do it wholly, with confidence and pride, and do it with love…for yourself, as much as others.

**Image by my friend Seth Cashman, who is as kind and true as he is talented.**

Dress Sale for School in India

brookeshaden — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 15:58:08 +0000

Two things happened this week.

1) I realized I had way too many dresses compared to the amount of closet space (case in point, the trunk of my car has become extra storage).

2) I realized I could raise a little more money for the school I’m helping to create in India (watch the video about it below!) if I sold some of those dresses.

VIEW THE COSTUMES ON EBAY!

If you’d like to bid on any of these, all money is going to the school and I would be so appreciative. And my husband would be too, because he would like possession of the closet space back.

If anyone else has a costume or prop that you’d like to sell for the charity, you can link to your Ebay below so others can find it. That’d be super awesome! The school needs all the help it can get. Or if you’d care to make a private donation, email me through my website and I can give you all the info for non-profit donations.