SharedBliss: Tara Bradford: Photographer, Writer, & Creator of Paris Parfait

Glimpse by Tara Bradford

Listening to: Oh, my, I could listen to this guy all day long...

Bliss: This feeling of quiet that is descending with the snow. Candle light in the early evening. Piles of books waiting to be read, including chapters from my writing group.

What is your foreign city fantasy?

Come on...you know what I'm talking about.

That fantasy in which we run away to somewhere so new and so exotic that we become new and exotic ourselves.

Of course, I take my partner and my animals with me in every one, but I have a variety of them.

There is the Mexico fantasy that derives a lot of its imagery from the movie Frida, but is also about the whole Marian thing. There is Montreal -- familiar but still foreign. There is Italy. Who doesn't have an Italian fantasy?

And there is Paris. Ahhhh, Paris. I have been there once for ten days, but like a siren, she calls to my travel-hating soul many times throughout the year, but it is during spring -- the time I was there -- that the call becomes loudest and most painful. Though I have written about what these fantasies actually might mean about and for me, they still don't go away, especially Paris.

For Tara Bradford, though, Paris and travel are not mere fantasies; they are this American writer's life. She has lived in Paris since 2001 (a year many of us would have liked to run toward Europe, I'm sure).

Tara is a former journalist and Middle East correspondent, who continues to write about politics on her blog, but spends a lot of her creative energy focusing on her new city, her poetry, the writing of a novel, and her beautiful details-of-life photography.

Describe the PrimaryBliss of your life. How did you come to know that this was your PrimaryBliss?

For me the PrimaryBliss is communicating - through words, in articles and poetry; in books and in conversation with friends and strangers alike. If I couldn't read or write, I expect I'd go mad. Within the last two-and-a-half years, I've started capturing images through digital photography - sometimes a photo really is worth a thousand words.

What types of choices and sacrifices did you make to be able to craft this bliss-filled life?

I have moved numerous times in my life, living in the Middle East, England, France and Spain, as well as several US cities. As a child, I was surrounded by smart, hardworking people with good hearts, but limited imagination and concepts of possibility. I was told, "No you can't do that," or "you should do this..." But when I tried to shape my life to fit other people's expectations, I was miserable. I knew there was something more out there and was determined to find it. In my quest to travel the world and chronicle interesting stories, I endured tremendous upheaval and instability. But I also experienced wonderful adventures and intriguing encounters with fascinating people.

How does your PrimaryBliss radiate out into the rest of your life?

I think it makes me more tolerant and open-minded and respectful of people's differences. Mark Twain famously said, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness." I think everyone needs to venture outside their comfort zones and see how the rest of the world lives.

What are some other activities that also give you this sense of bliss? Things that make you lose track of time?

Reading a good book; searching for antiques and collectibles in brocantes and flea markets, antique shops and dusty old bookstores; creating art; visiting art galleries and museums; watching a powerful film and taking "photo walks" and discovering little hidden gems in unexpected side streets or alleyways. I also love spending time with friends discussing our latest challenges and opportunities, over a good meal and a nice bottle of wine.


What is your daily or weekly spiritual practice?

Walking or biking five miles along the exterior of Hippodrome de Longchamp, Europe's largest flat-racing course. I listen to my iPod and zone out. If I don't manage some kind of physical exercise, I tend to feel overwhelmed by work and worries. In the mornings, I lie awake for a few minutes thinking about my day and issues I need to address. It's not meditation, but it does seem to keep me reasonably calm. I also read inspirational books, such as Pema Chodron’s “Practicing Peace in Times of War,” and “Comfortable with Uncertainty,” as well as the Holy Bible, from time to time.

What music is your bliss?

Music is one of my passions! I play the piano (although sadly, there's no room for one in our bijoux Paris apartment) and love most kinds of music, from the blues to jazz to opera to rock to hip hop (for dancing), Spanish acoustic guitar to the Arabic oud to classical. And I can belly-dance!*

*(This made me smile upon reading!)

Name books or authors/poets or people who are your bliss, who influenced your bliss.

Many authors and poets have influenced me, beginning with Louisa Mae Alcott and Jo in Little Women. Robert Frost; John Steinbeck; James Thurber; W. B. Yeats; Isabel Allende; Alice Walker; Oriana Fallaci; Naguib Mafouz; Mahmoud Darwish; Paulo Coelho; Gabriel Garcia Marquez - the list is endless. I also appreciated James Michener's book "The World Is My Home," because when you've lived abroad and traveled extensively, one never is really at home anywhere. You're always missing something left behind, while trying to take advantage of where you are, yet longing for the next adventure. I think I carry home within me and create temporary "nests" along the way.


What advice would you give to someone who feels they have not yet discovered their PrimaryBliss?

It's never too late to try new things. Don't listen to the naysayers; listen to your heart. We never fully know our talents and strengths until we push the limits. Our voices matter; we must speak out and help create the changes we want to see in the world.

Do you have a favorite quote you would like to share?

Two quotes have stayed with me since childhood: Robert Frost's "...Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference."

And Henry David Thoreau's quote from Walden: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

In other words, have the courage to follow your bliss.

Courage -- something Tara is certainly not in lacking.

Her advice to push your limits and your edges in order to know your strengths and talents is indeed some of the best written in an interview here. We must experience and allow for discomfort to grow. It is fear of these very things that keeps so many of us numb and consuming to excess.

There would never be great art, great books, or great change without this pushing, this pain, this trying, this reaching.

As we have recently learned during the elections.