Divya Marie Kato’s Blog

Day 9: Imagine you are on a long holiday in Portugal (or wherever your dream destination is). There are castles to explore, secret bars to discover, and sunny beaches to laze around on. In today’s post, I want you to write about how you will balance your adventure and work while you are away on this holiday.  – Natalie Sisson, The Suitcase Entrepreneur, 10 Day Blog Challenge 2016

Last year, I read a book called Momo by Michael Ende.  He is also the author of the wildly famous Never Ending Story (lord knows how many times I watched this as a kid!) and I was surprised that I hadn’t heard of Momo before.  It’s now my favourite book of all time.  The Never Ending Story is about imagination and the importance of keeping it alive.  Momo’s central theme is Time.  It totally changed the way I looked at life – I began to think of Time as currency.  I thought longer about how I spent it and how I shared it:  how much was spent with people and how much was spent alone?  How much was spent working and how much was spent playing?   What work would I spend more time on?  How much time was spent in the city and how much out in nature?

As I marinated in this challenge, I thought about times when the line between my play and work disappeared.  The picture with this post is an example of this.  Unplugged holiday time by the sea.

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”  ― Anne Lamott

Love recharging in nature.  Learning from its stillness, nowness and not-wanting-to-be-anything-else-ness.  And my sketchbook, the tool of my trade, comes holidaying too.  In this way, I’m keeping up my personal practice and can spend devoted time on my craft – outside of my city life.  I’m constantly thinking about how to balance adventure and playtime with work and it’s hitting home that I can’t do one well without the other. Rest, play and unplugged stillness are essential for the writing and drawing work I do.

In terms of maintenance and upkeep, I use my sketchbook as an inspiration container, my phone to record the moment in pictures and my laptop for when I’m sparked into writing and for storing drafts of me putting things together.  These three things form my basic toolkit and I’m always on the look out for the apps that help me manage better and work more effectively.  Last year, I began working with an assistant too.  She’s fantastic and now knows more about me and my creative business. She’s supportive and keeps tabs on what I need done and by when. She provides an extra pair of eyes and extra pair of hands.  And tonnes of useful suggestions.  She also helps me with my emails and keeping tracks of finances.  She helps me focus on my work in whatever way she can. No cape. But basically superwoman. Ask for help. Take the help.  Two things I’m learning and loving to keep life and work humming beautifully.

That said, there are always days where there is simply too much to do.  And this is another reason I like to learn form trees and flowers and waves.  They’re, as my hero, Eckhart Tolle, says:  “Surrendered to life.”  I can’t do it all, but I can take a step each day – very much like this challenge!

Signing off from challenge 9 with a poem.  An oldie but a goodie.  It came to me as I wrote this.

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

– William Henry Davies

This is day 9.  If you found this useful, do come back again for my response to Challenge 10. Best wishes for a good week ahead friends, back soon, DMK x  This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 9

Previous 10 Day Blog Challenge Posts

Day 1:  DMK’s Challenges Click here or on the pic above

Day 2:  DMK’s Why Click here or on the pic above

Day 3: DMK’s Perfect Day  Click here or on the pic above

Day 4: DMK’s Superpowers Click here or on the pic above

Day 5: DMK’s Daily Success Plan Click here or on the pic above

Day 6:  DMK’s Tribe Click here or on the pic above

Day 7:  DMK’s One, Imperfect Action Click here or on the pic above

Day 8:  DMK’s Adventure Click here or on the pic above

Hi, I’m Divya and I champion the arts for speaking a universal language that inspires and influences change. I share drawing as a way to keep moving forward with purpose and presence and recently married my best friend. We live in Tokyo, Japan. Best way to keep in touch is here on Instagram:

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Divya Marie Kato | “When in doubt, draw”

Day 8: Like I said, today is a fun day. So I want you to go out and do something that you’ve wanted to do for a long time. Go out play, enjoy, and come back and write about what you did. Also, write about how you can make such adventures part of your new lifestyle.  – Natalie Sisson, The Suitcase Entrepreneur, 10 Day Blog Challenge 2016

A working weekend, so today’s challenge is about a play day date I had last week. A wholehearted YES to more of these adventures in my life as I move forward. It was a day of lights, camera, action and stories.  Girls On The Road got in touch regarding their project – they’re on a mission to inspire and empower women through travelling the world and collecting stories from female entrepreneurs. I knew immediately where I had to take them first.  The rose shop that I’ve been spending so much time in – Afrika Rose, Tokyo – to meet one incredibly brave woman, the founder, Megumi Hagiuda.

It was an adventure and felt like play because it was exciting, inspiring and fun.  Getting to know each other, working things out together and diving into journeys and stories. They unpacked their travelling film set and began the interview. I sat and watched and found myself collecting sparks and scribbling down notes.  What have we come to know? What were our challenges then and what are our challenges now? Megumi told them the Afrika Rose story and how it all began. We met the roses –  that have travelled 17 hours from Kenya – and then enjoyed lunch together – their first Japanese lunch!  They shared some more of their journey with me – stories of women pushing for equality and empowerment by turning their passions into business. Japan is all new for them and it was treat to see their smiles.

I want to make these kinds of projects part of my lifestyle because they spark up so many ideas and many fresh ways of thinking about things.  To connect with female entrepreneurs was inspiring and gave me new ways to approach drawing and sharing creativity. With a focus on building confidence, nurturing community and in turn fostering empowerment.

This is day 8.  If you found this useful, do come back again for my response to Challenge 9. Best wishes for a good week ahead friends, back soon, DMK x  This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 8

Previous 10 Day Blog Challenge Posts

Day 1:  DMK’s Challenges Click here or on the pic above

Day 2:  DMK’s Why Click here or on the pic above

Day 3: DMK’s Perfect Day  Click here or on the pic above

Day 4: DMK’s Superpowers Click here or on the pic above

Day 5: DMK’s Daily Success Plan Click here or on the pic above

Day 6:  DMK’s Tribe Click here or on the pic above

Day 7:  DMK’s One, Imperfect Action Click here or on the pic above

Hi, I’m Divya and I champion the arts for speaking a universal language that inspires and influences change. I share drawing as a way to keep moving forward with purpose and presence and recently married my best friend. We live in Tokyo, Japan. Best way to keep in touch is here on Instagram:

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Divya Marie Kato | “When in doubt, draw”

Day 7: For today’s challenge, I want you to pick one imperfect action that you can take every day that will move you closer to the life you have envisioned. It could be 5 minutes of walking or meditation, or even just continuing the momentum of this challenge and keep writing 200 words a day on your blog. Pick that one imperfect action and write a post about why you chose the particular action and what you imagine it will be like if you do it every day for the next 30 days.  – Natalie Sisson, The Suitcase Entrepreneur, 10 Day Blog Challenge 2016

My One, Imperfect Action

Soaked in this challenge for some time.  What will I dedicate precious time for each day?  Here’s what I came up with.  Or, I should say, what came up when I sat still.

Here’s the one, imperfect action, that I’m going to take every day, towards my dream.

Breaking a big dream down, into loving slices like this, makes it a lot easier to approach.  And breaking things down is something I’m becoming very well versed in!  Some of you may have read my post about breaking down big, meaty words like peace, love and consciousness if you haven’t, here you go .

Some more of you may know that I’ve been working on a book.  When in doubt, draw.  One I speak of often, to make sure I’m held accountable and I keep taking steps towards – and because that’s how the universe works! A way of collecting what I’ve come to learn – the stories, the artwork and life lessons. Thing is, it’s huge. Since beginning this process, in May 2015, I’m a year and a half in, I’ve invested in coaching and it’s been quite the journey so far! I’ve also realised that it’s too big for one book.  I’ve had to break this down too – and so… it’s now a trilogy. (I shared a piece from it here in challenge 4)

And my one, daily, imperfect action?  

Everyday I’m going to post something from each chapter. Yup. Every day. When in doubt, draw, prepare to be shared.

DMK x

This is day 7.  If you found this useful, do come back again for my response to Challenge 8. Best wishes for a good week ahead friends, back soon, DMK x  This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 7

Previous 10 Day Blog Challenge Posts

Day 1:  DMK’s Challenges Click here or on the pic above

Day 2:  DMK’s Why Click here or on the pic above

Day 3: DMK’s Perfect Day  Click here or on the pic above

Day 4: DMK’s Superpowers Click here or on the pic above

Day 5: DMK’s Daily Success Plan Click here or on the pic above

Day 6:  DMK’s Tribe Click here or on the pic above

Hi, I’m Divya and I champion the arts for speaking a universal language that inspires and influences change. I share drawing as a way to keep moving forward with purpose and presence and recently married my best friend. We live in Tokyo, Japan. Best way to keep in touch is here on Instagram:

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Divya Marie Kato | “When in doubt, draw”

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”  – Zig Ziglar

It’s one of my favorite quotes because it points at one of the most critical aspects of success — your tribe.  Your tribe is made up of the people who understand and support you, can inspire you to keep going and is crucial to creating your own freedom lifestyle successfully.  Day 6: Find 1 or 2 people who are living the kind of life you want to live, and whose tribe you’d love to be part of. Then write a short post about why you find them inspiring and the one question you would ask them if you met in real life. – Natalie Sisson, The Suitcase Entrepreneur, 10 Day Blog Challenge 2016

Tribe.  This word has meant so many different things to me.  The main change has been from wanting to be a part of certain tribes, forcefully rejecting the mainstream, to recognising, deeply, the whole human tribe.  Never apart from. Always a part of.

When I drew my paintbrushes here, I thought about this too – same, but different – all together for the same purpose of creating and the different ways of going about it. Each one adding something else to the big picture. So I called this drawing, Tribe.

The 2 People Whose Tribe I’d LOVE To Be A Part Of

1. Eckhart Tolle.  Yes – the man’s a living legend! – and yes, I’ve always wanted to sit with him and share a pot of tea.  He’s my role model for an evolved human.  How to get better as a human. He’s also living the life I’m working towards, in that he travels the world and generously shares what he has come to learn. He’s shared his work in books – 3 of my favourite books: The Power Of Now, A New Earth, Stillness Speaks.  He’s not run away into isolation, but is living in the real world.  He’s with humans and for humans.  He shares what he’s learned about the ego, the power of presence and whatever’s most helpful for us to grow.  For evolution.  Why I find him so inspiring?  Because he is, as Oprah describes him, literally walking presence and that inspires me to delve deeper into my practice.  To move forward with more presence.  To recognise the ego more.  To be kind.  In terms of what we’re all here to do, that’s it.

My Question To Tolle:  “What’s your hands down favourite book in the world?”

2.  Marie Forleo.  In 2012, I left full time employment and pushed my boat into entrepreneurial waters for the first time.  I learned a lot through experience and mentors who showed up along the way.  But it was in 2015, when I made the decision to invest in Marie Forleo’s B School Programme, that my boat caught the wind.  Her programme, and the level of care and attention infused into each and every step, is gobsmackingly awesome.  It took my career to a whole new level and made me aspire to a much greater vision than the one I had before.  Since taking B School, I’ve also been an avid fan of Marie TV, where Marie has guests and answers questions.  She’s definitely been through a heck of a lot and dealt with everything on both sides of the scale, and she still comes across as very much herself.  Nothing fake or weird and everything generous, loving and kind.  She inspires me to reach that little bit higher.  To stay true to myself and my vision.  To not settle for anything less than my absolute best.

My Question To Marie:  “What’s been your biggest doubt or difficult time and how did you move forward?” 

People As Environment

I once heard a guest on the Unmistakeable Creative Podcast (it’s a goodie, give it a listen!) talk about people as environment.  Who we choose to surround ourselves with.  And how much we grow and change! This quote from the movie, Stand By Me, has never strayed far:

“It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of our lives, like bus boys in a restaurant.”

One thing stays the same though:  our relationships all have something to teach us.  And, if we don’t get it the first time round, it’ll show up again and again until we do!

“Human interaction can be hell.  Or it can be a great spiritual practice.”  – Eckhart Tolle

Up until last year, I hadn’t learned just how much I was still holding onto an idea of ‘the other’.  This year, 2016 – with its fair share of lessons too! – is bringing me closer to understanding that, as my hero, Tolle, says:

“Ultimately, of course, there is no other, and you are always meeting yourself.”

This is day 6.  If you found this useful, do come back again for my response to Challenge 7. Best wishes for a good week ahead friends, back soon, DMK x  This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 6

Previous 10 Day Blog Challenge Posts

Day 1:  DMK’s Challenges Click here or on the pic above

Day 2:  DMK’s Why Click here or on the pic above

Day 3: DMK’s Perfect Day  Click here or on the pic above

Day 4: DMK’s Superpowers Click here or on the pic above

Day 5: DMK’s Daily Success Plan Click here or on the pic above

Hi, I’m Divya and I champion the arts for speaking a universal language that inspires and influences change. I share drawing as a way to keep moving forward with purpose and presence and recently married my best friend. We live in Tokyo, Japan. Best way to keep in touch is here on Instagram:

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Divya Marie Kato | “When in doubt, draw”

Day 5:  Create a daily success plan for yourself that takes only 15-20 minutes and schedule a time in the day where you can squeeze it in. Write a blog post about what you will do, when you will do it, and how it will get you closer to your dreams.  – Natalie Sisson, The Suitcase Entrepreneur, 10 Day Blog Challenge 2016

Here’s the thing, it all starts as a sketch.  I open up my sketchbook to a blank page.  It’s humbling and comforting this space.  The very same, sacred space that all my heroes have stood in.  They know this space well. It’s hugely comforting feeling this and knowing that I’m in good company.  Then I get to work looking.  It’s all messy, in the beginning. Lines. Dots. Dashes. Mindful, mark making.  How many options do I have for translating what I see onto the page?  Engaging magic mind-hand connection is a key.  The key I share with others through my work.  To access the playground of possibility.  I’ve come to call this: communion with my craft.  Without this daily practice, I’m not in close communion, and so all my work, towards sharing the benefits of creativity, will be out of sync.

So this is what my daily practice looks like.  Opening to a blank page.  Being humbled.  Feeling my place in the big picture.  Getting to work.  It doesn’t have to be long.  I draw when I can.  20 minutes sketching as I get ready for the day with my morning cuppa or an hour relaxing in the evening with wine.  Setting intentions.  It a practice that gets me closer to my dreams, by keeping me in constant communion with the core of my work. In alignment with my goals and in the space of beginners and explorers.

I also know that I have to write every day.  This blog challenge is working WONDERS with that!  A little every day to complete my book.  One of my challenges from blog post 1!

This is the beginning of a sketch from a Japanese garden where we’ll soon be taking eight wonderful women.  The stepping stones are a big part of what I plan on sharing. A little every day. One at a time.

This is day 5.  If you found this useful, do come back again for my response to Challenge 6. Best wishes for a good week ahead friends, back soon, DMK x  This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 5

Previous 10 Day Blog Challenge Posts

Day 1:  DMK’s Challenges Click here or on the pic above

Day 2:  DMK’s Why Click here or on the pic above

Day 3: DMK’s Perfect Day  Click here or on the pic above

Day 4: DMK’s Superpowers Click here or on the pic above

Hi, I’m Divya and I champion the arts for speaking a universal language that inspires and influences change. I share drawing as a way to keep moving forward with purpose and presence and recently married my best friend. We live in Tokyo, Japan. Best way to keep in touch is here on Instagram:

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Divya Marie Kato | “When in doubt, draw”

Day 4: Hopefully, you have discovered at least one or two superpowers that you have. They could even be something that you didn’t know existed until now! I want you to write down what these are and how these superpowers will help you to realize your dream of living the freedom lifestyle.   – Natalie Sisson, The Suitcase Entrepreneur, 10 Day Blog Challenge 2016

From Blank Page. To Wherever You Want To Go.

As this post is about superpowers, I’ll write today about how I discovered mine.  And share with you the opening lines of a book I’m working on all about them. This is the first time I’m sharing this.

“We’re getting a divorce.”

There were a lot of things to listen to in my childhood. As there were for you, I’m sure.  The thing is, eventually, all these things wind up somewhere; last summer’s sand lining the stitches of coat pockets. Small. Unseen. Undetected. And with time, as splinters in skin, with no visible trace, they make themselves known.

“It’s cancer.”
“We’re bankrupt.”
“I think we should break up.”
“I don’t know where your father is.”

There were many more things to listen to afterwards. Most of the time I just felt angry. I raged with deep disappointment. A disappointment that had to be corked and confined. And so I spent most of my time hell bent on one thing: art class.  I desperately yearned for expression. A space to vent and let loose, without worrying about whether I was going to upset someone. I discovered the Renaissance. Titian. Tintoretto. El Greco. Larger than life pieces crammed edge to edge with movement, power and expression. Then, I discovered Caravaggio. And, just like that, I learned how to embrace darkness with light. And why we need both.

 My sketchbook was with me through my parents’ fights and bitter divorce. Throughout the absence of my father and having our home repossessed. Through bankruptcy and leaving my friends at the time I needed them most. Through building a new life and making new friends at a new school. Through the heartbreak of my first love. Through visits to the hospital.

And, out the other side, throughout the healing, recovery process and reunion.

Call it genes. Call it timing. Call it environment. Call it a Bombay mix of all three.  Early experiences had shown me something.  Without a doubt, I knew I always had a friend. And a way of moving forward.

Looking back, I find that I’ve literally drawn myself out of and through many of life’s ups and downs, all over the world to the life I’ve built here in Japan. And life keeps happening.  There are many, many more things to hear. But now I always know that in times of pain, stress, hurt and doubt – when sad or stuck or suffering – I can call on my superpower, drawing, to help me create something else from it all. I can move forward.

My superpower is creativity. And sharing it with others in as many ways as I can think of.  It helps me realise my dream of living a freedom lifestyle a drawing at a time.  With each new project I try, I always start with a blank page.  I have no one or nothing to follow.  But this intention gives me, as author, Srinivas Rao, describes, an inner compass.  I’m here to share creativity as a way of processing the wild ride of human experience.  And the biggest lesson?  Creativity is a superpower we all have in common.

This is day 4.  If you found this useful, do come back again for my response to Challenge 5. Best wishes for a good week ahead friends, back soon, DMK x  This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 4

Previous 10 Day Blog Challenge Posts

Day 1:  DMK’s Challenges Click here or on the pic above

Day 2:  DMK’s Why Click here or on the pic above

Day 3: DMK’s Perfect Day  Click here or on the pic above

Hi, I’m Divya and I champion the arts for speaking a universal language that inspires and influences change. I share drawing as a way to keep moving forward with purpose and presence and recently married my best friend. We live in Tokyo, Japan. Best way to keep in touch is here on Instagram:

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Divya Marie Kato | “When in doubt, draw”