Natural Beauty Diet by Naturesknockout

You know how some experiences sink so deeply into your heart that you hope they’ll never leave?  Today’s shoot did that for me, on many levels…. and I can’t stop thinking about it–in fact I think I’d be ungrateful if I didn’t share!  So here’s my story….

Today started out like any other day.  I prepped my gear and loaded my car and headed up to a beautiful mountain location.  I was afraid it might be cold, so I wore long layers and Uggs (big mistake!)  Let’s just say it got hot!  But in all things, I find there always is a positive out there–sometimes you have to look harder than others, but thankfully this was not one of those days.

Here are some pictures as we were getting Hilary ready….

Her cute hairstylist’s name is Dani–so adorable!  I met Dani when we worked together on Every Step, so by now we were old friends, lol

We laughed and gabbed about silly girly things as we tortured her with glamour and glitz.

One random conversation we had was about what do you say to someone who’s struggling, Hilary commented that she had heard to just talk about your feelings, rather than to try to advise or anything.  I totally don’ t know why our conversation went there, but her words would come back to me in a few hours time….

Touch-ups just before stepping on set, cute Kim, Hilary, Dani and me (hiding under my big hat, of course

I have to admit, this was the first time I had heard Hilary sing or play, and I was truly moved to tears.

“Beautiful Heartbreak” was written by Hilary and Tyler Castleton.  It was beyond touching.  It was about struggles and pain with a heartbreak in life and picking up the pieces and realizing the struggle was actually a gift of growth and joy. It’s really a powerful song and couldn’t be more beautiful.

Then extras started showing up.  The extras for this shoot weren’t handpicked at all, just random invites.  I think we had around 20-30 altogether.

After the extras got there, the director asked them to take one of the blank poster boards (above) and write a heartbreak in their lives that they had overcome.  I started walking through the group and found a few featured extras to touch up.  As I did, I looked at their boards and asked a few questions about their experiences.  As we talked, I couldn’t help but feel a special bond toward each one.  I just shared my feelings about those heartbreaks and walked away, with a very full heart toward these people who had been total strangers to me just a few minutes earlier.  I was touched by their attitudes, their strength and sweet honesty.

Next, we lined them up in front of the cameras and feelings overwhelmed me once again.  I saw each of these people holding their trials for the world to see.  The thing that really shocked me was the depth of pain these people must have dealt with as each of their trials were huge.  The death of a child, a parent, a sibling, cancer, a burn victim, two beautiful teenage girls who had lost their dad in an airplane accident, and so much more.  It was pretty heartwrenching to think of the struggles everyone there had endured.

Each of these “strangers” had woven a place in my heart.  Then it hit me how everywhere we go, people are dealing with hard struggles of every kind.  We’re all in this together, but we don’t see it.  What if people had signs all the time and we could suddenly see them as real people with real pain and real triumphs.  Suddenly we would know no strangers. We would let so many more people into our lives and learn and grow so much more!  I think we would have so much more compassion and feel so much more love in our hearts. And all the “little things” that weigh us down wouldn’t have so much power over us.  We’d see the big picture so much more clearly.

I’m so grateful for this day and for the powerful realizations that came with it.  I love working with Hilary, she’s an amazing woman, so fun, yet so full of compassion.  We had a woman pass out and smack her head on a concrete driveway.  The paramedics came and it was intense.  We were all worried, but I could see Hilary agonize over the comfort and safety of this woman.  It turned out to be okay, but it’s those stressful moments that bring out what lies within a person’s heart.  Hilary’s is obviously full of compassion.  I love that girl to pieces!

I loved today’s crew, loved my girls (Dani & Kim) and everything.  If there ever was a real Groundhog day, this is the one I would choose!  Please share your comments if you can–we love to hear from you, in fact, I’d also love to hear of your own trials and triumphs!  love you guys–you’re awesome!!!

Listen to ”Beautiful Heartbreak” – so inspiring.