marissa handler

Below is an edited transcript from an interview conducted by Britt Bravo, a writer and blogger who offers strategic consulting, social web empowerment and career coaching that teaches individuals and organizations to realize their big vision. Here Bravo asks Marissa Handler, author and spiritual activist, about discovering what our role is in changing the world by being open to what "calls to us."

Marisa Handler: "Essentially, I feel strongly about what Joseph Campbell meant when he said, 'Follow your bliss, ' which is that in order to discover our destiny, to discover who we are in the deepest and truest sense, we really need to go in the direction that speaks to us. To me, that means following the direction that represents beauty, and represents heart, and truth, and all of these grandiose words that essentially mean that it is something that moves us and that gets us excited.

I believe if we go in that direction, and our intention is to be true to ourselves, and also to remember our own interconnection, and the state that the world is in right now, that it will guide us to a place where the work that we are doing is actually helping, and has an application.

I think that there are as many different ways to be an activist as there are human beings on the planet right now. Your way may be starting an organic catering company, or painting about issues that are important to you, or getting out on the streets and protesting, or maybe working with policy; there are all kinds of different work.

Essentially it means that we don't always all have to do the same thing, and actually, that if we all do the same thing, that's not going to necessarily save the world. I think that in an age where what we're facing often seems very vast and faceless - huge institutions, corporations, or undemocratic governments - I think that the real answers don't so much lie in, they can, but not always, intricate solutions. I think the real answers lie in the small, diverse, creative solutions we come up with ourselves in our communities, by ourselves, or with our friends, or with a global group. It may be a bigger group, but the emphasis is on diversity and creativity.

If we follow what speaks to us, we're going to be true to ourselves. We're also going to be true to what the world wants of us."

Here's the entire interview, which is definitely worth a read.