We were lucky to catch up with Corey Caballero recently and have shared our conversation below.
Corey, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Finding true purpose is different than finding a purpose. I started to find my true purpose when I came to realize that purpose was not an action, a role or a job. It is more an internal attitude and way of being. It is not so much what you do as it is the way you do it. When I discuss this topic with a questioning friend or younger person, it can sound like I’m speaking in riddles and being purposefully obtuse. But it’s more that the question of finding purpose has always been one of the BIG questions of life and has no simple or even straight forward answer. It’s the kind of question words have difficulty reaching. It would be more true to say that finding your purpose is a quest lived out every day.
I have studied and continue to study all the subject areas that have been interesting to me: psychology, english literature, nursing, art and design. I am always reading poetry or a book on creativity or mythology or some aspect of spirituality. I have found it helpful to give yourself permission to hold your life within a personal mythology that makes sense to you. I’m not necessarily referring to a spiritual or religious or even psychological context. I’m referring more to holding your life gently in a poetic context that feels personally meaningful and rich.
Personally, I hold my life within a poetic context that goes something like this: I don’t believe my life is the result of coincidence. I believe that in ways I will never understand, my life is needed now and that my purpose is to do whatever is in front of me with all the courage and commitment I can and in a way that is uniquely an expression of my being. In other words, I must do it as only I can. When I do that, I have taken a giant step into the river of true purpose. And of course, there is more to it all but claiming the right to live your life within your own personal poetry which does not require understanding from anyone else is a great way to begin finding your way to true purpose.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My husband Randy and I are Bancroft+Caballero Design Studio. We are a boutique residential interior design firm specializing in helping clients create homes that are a true expression of their poetry. I am also an artist working in mixed media investigating in an abstract language what it means to become and evolve the Self.
It is true that each person’s life is worthy of a book. My greatest joy in doing interior design as we practice it, is getting to know who our clients are as beings. I want to know the story of each person with all its complexity and contradiction. I want to know their dreams, passions and histories. I want to help them rediscover their uniqueness and their personal mythology. And I want to help them translate all of that into the elements of interior design that will create spaces that are personally relevant and meaningful. This is not about making things beautiful. This is about making things deeply meaningful and that make things beautiful.
As an artist I work in series, painting 15 or so pieces of large format on stretched canvas or panel. I have just begun a new series of work investigating how we become ourselves and make meaning of life in the present moment. How we fold the past, present and future into any given moment to say “this is me.” I’m especially interested in personal history and how we decide what parts of our past to call back and what parts of ourselves we push off of and try to leave behind. This I believe is the process of personal evolution. I challenge myself as an artist to bring that process to the canvas and see what it has to teach me.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
My best piece of advise to anyone is to investigate and study the things that interest you and to study them in a way that is available and makes sense to you. In Becoming ourselves, our way is never blocked. The Universe may be a mystery, but it is not inherently cruel. You are not given a unique passion and then placed in a life in which it is made unavailable. Grow your passions in your heart and proceed with the faith that life will in more ways than you can imagine assist you.
For me, my life transformed when I began formally studying Shamanism. Not as a healing practice, but as a way of holding life and creating meaning. I have always been interested in all things psycho-spiritual. I was working as a hospice nurse and counselor, and began reading about other cultures and their rituals and beliefs around death and dying. I also at that time began reading Joseph Campbell who was my introduction to a shamanic way of viewing life and the world. That time in my life was the beginning of formally studying this subject with three different teachers for over 15 years. The things I learned, I use everyday to grow myself. So it doesn’t matter how obscure the topic or how irrelevant it may seem……. if it calls to you deeply, you should answer.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
My primary challenge has always been the same. It has to do with being a deeply sensitive being and trying to stay focused when I am able to sense and feel everything around me so very deeply. It happens automatically and faster than conscious awareness. To harden myself or put up walls is not the answer because I am my sensitivity. It is the richest and most valuable part of me, but I can not accomplish what is necessary creatively if I am distracted by everything happening around me. Life is getting ever faster and noisier. There is always something or someone vying for your attention.
I find it helpful to have a daily practice of grounding and centering myself reminding myself to stay in right relationship to my sensitivity and that everything I see and feel in the world around me is a result of hundreds of years of patterns unfolding. These patterns do not require my assistance only my respect. And then I focus on what I am here to do. We are all in this life to spend ourselves and our creative energy, the question we have to answer daily is this: Are you spending yourself in ways that are worthy of you? If you can say yes to that question at the end of the day, you are without a doubt living your true life purpose.
Contact Info:
- Website: CoreyCaballeroArt.com BancroftCaballero.com
- Instagram: CoreyCaballeroArt BancroftCaballero
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