What does it mean to live with an adventurous heart?
I reflect on this question as I sit at Cafe Madrid, a Spanish tapas restaurant in the Knox-Henderson neighborhood. A four-piece acoustic band plays traditional Spanish music as small groups of friends and families converse over wine and shared plates infused with flavors so unique to Spain that I feel like I’m in a small restaurante off the beaten track in Barcelona, not sandwiched in between Dallas’s Uptown and Highland Park.
The tagline for Mpulse Studio | Charlotte St. Charles is Fine Art and Jewelry for the Adventurous Heart. My novel, Sketches from the Heart of a Texas Artist, is about a young artist, Mona Lamar, who embarks upon a journey toward self actualization as she runs from her ‘dark shadow of despair.’ She hijacks a sailboat and sails through the Caribbean, falling in love with the men and the culture, learning about her past lives from an enchanted priestess as she continues on her journey to learn about her connection with a higher source. While Mona Lamar is my alter-ego, I’m certainly not hijacking sailboats and traveling alone through the warm heart of the Gulf Stream... not exactly, at least.
Every time I write about a particular setting, I’m there, immersed in that place. I’m listening to the music, eating the cuisine, talking to people from these places. In some settings that I write about, I’m as familiar with as the back of my hand. Others, I read about and dream about and research until I find myself there. Ultimately, through my art, I’m in new place every day. But the idea of finding your adventure is so much more than the ideological concept of adventure. Rather, it’s your personal adventure. We often hear about finding our path, choosing our path, taking the right path. In the sense that the decisions we make day to day lead us down a path specific to that choice, we’re essentially on an adventure with each decision we make. When I write about “your adventurous heart” I’m referring to your conscious heart that only you can tap into in order to live the life that you want, and choose, to indulge in.
I study cartography; I paint maps; I write about places and design jewelry to illustrate them, and I use this geography in metaphors that convey a higher meaning. As the daughter of an airline pilot, I was raised to appreciate travel. While travel is not presently in the cards for me as I work around the clock to build my brand, Mpulse Studio | Charlotte St. Charles, each day I wake up excited to learn what new adventure my chosen path has in store for me. I may not be in Spain at the moment, but as I sip on my Tempranillo and breathe in the aromas that drift from the paella at the table next to me, I’m grateful that my heart is adventurous enough to take me anywhere I want to go.
