24 Questions with the lovely spiritual explorer, writer and teacher… Moon Laramie.
#1. What’s your favourite word?
Onomatopoeia. I learnt it at school and just thought it was a very strange word. It means a word that sounds like what it describes, like ‘boing’, or ‘woosh’!
#2. Boom! What gets you up in the morning?
Porridge. With blueberries and honey.
#3. Mmmm. What do you truly, honestly think of social media?
Honestly? I find it baffling and I don’t really understand it or how it works… so that’s why I think I need experts to help me!
#4. Kindles or books?
Books, definitely. The romance of having a paper book in your hand it lovely. Especially a nice, old, musty book that you’ve found in an ancient book shop.
#5. You work is around personal development and self-help. What do you think is the biggest challenge to your industry right now?
I think it is a very big industry and I think there are lots and lots of people who have got wonderful ideas to share. I think the challenge is making sure all those ideas are heard. Some real gems can sometimes be overlooked, because there’s just so much on offer.
#6. What did you want to be when you were growing up?
I wanted to be on TV! Actually – I was a huge fan of Doctor Who so to be honest I just wanted to be a Doctor Who assistant and just travel around the Universe, having fun.
#7. What led you to your current career?
Well, I was a teacher for a long time, teaching English and a foreign language and I loved working with adults. I love working with children, too, but I felt that I really wanted to work with adults and look at exploring ways you can just have a normal, lovely day each day of your life.
#8. Awww, what a lovely sentiment. Now – can you use your favourite word in a sentence?
Crash, bang, wallop! is a great example of onomatopoeia, I think.
#9. Now can you make it rhyme?
Onomatopoeia could be used in Eretria.
#10. Very good! What advice would you give to your younger self?
I would say don’t miss out on anything, just be here for each day. Because if you don’t, if you let your mind just race off with all the worries and concerns that you can get caught up in each day, I think you tend to miss your life. You’ve not really been present for it. So I would say, be present for every single experience. Be fully present.
#11. What’s the best thing anyone has ever done for you?
Ask me to marry them. I think everyone should ask somebody else to marry them – we should have a National Ask Someone to Marry You Day!
#12. We’ll get it trending! What’s been your ‘career-defining’ moment?
When my book was published. First, I thought to myself ‘Phew, I’ve actually finished it’ and then I thought, ‘Wow, I am actually an author now’, so that’s been really exciting ever since.
#13. And if you won a big award of some kind, who would you thank?
I’d thank my lovely husband, Martin, and all of the wonderful people who have supported me on this journey so far. I’d probably be there for hours!
#14. Can you give us a time saver of the day?
This is going to sound strange but I think a good time saver is to slow down and to not look at the clock. I am a firm believer in that the slower you go, the slower everything else goes and you actually have more time to get everything done – if you slow down, time slows down.
#15. We’ll have try that one out. Where were you 24 months ago?
Physically? I was working for UNICEF on a wonderful programme called Rights Respecting Schools. It’s all about teaching children to understand how important it is to respect everybody else and to see themselves as all equal.
#16. Where do you see your industry in 24 months?
I think it will move a lot more towards social media, so I suppose I need to find out how all of that works. I also think it’s growing so much and there are so many wonderful events that are happening now. You can go to something, somewhere throughout the year and I think that’s really great because I love meeting people and being with people. I think there will be a lot more events that are accessible to everybody, especially on social media.
#17. We’d agree with that ;). Can you tell us an interesting fact about yourself?
Um, the old Swedish film star, Britt Ekland, kissed me when I was 18 months old! That’s my claim to fame. I also met the Queen Mother at my school; that was my royal moment.
#18. If you could have a 24 minute Skype chat with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?
I think I would choose somebody like Louise Hay. Just to have 24 seconds of inspiration from Louise Hay would be great, so 24 minutes would be even better!
#19. We’ll try and organise that for you, Moon. What is one word you’d like people to describe you with?
Open. Open to new ideas because I like to explore lots of different spiritual ideas and then mix them all up and see what comes out the other end.
#20. Like a virtual washing machine! Would you mind taking a selfie for us?
Brilliant! Yes, I am a virtual washing machine. And a selfie? Absolutely! No problem.
#21. What’s your favourite Twitter handle or social media campaign?
Well, All Identity Is Constructed was a great campaign which was all about everybody being able to choose how they wanted to present themselves to the world and I think that is really, really important. That has been an absolutely fantastic campaign, not only on social media but on billboards and out on the streets as well – I think it’s great when the virtual links up with the real.
#22. What do you think is the biggest challenge to your industry right now?
Relaxed, really. Coming back to the slowing down thing, I think it’s very easy to speed up and try and get through lots of things but I think the more relaxed you are the more you’ll get things done.
#23. Nice. What’s been the best part of your day?
Talking to you! 🙂
#24. Bless you! Finally, do you have anything to plug?
I do… check out my Facebook page: Moon Laramie Official.
