Kathryn Morris UK

“She was bright, fun and had some great insights…” – Amy Spencer on Kathryn Morris

The December 2009 edition of First For Women magazine saw the appearance of an interview with Kathryn.  Amy Spencer’s article is full of fun little anecdotes, told by Kathryn, about incidents that have changed her way of looking at things  Kathryn clearly enjoys exploring many aspects of life, her acting career must give her a way of exploring some of those via different characters.

The text is peppered with “happiness perk” insights by Dr Todd Kashdan, a Professor of Psychology.  For the sake of brevity, and to concentrate on Kathryn’s bits, I’ve removed them from the transcript below (after the jump).  You can still read them in the images.

Two images can now be found in the Gallery.

I must admit to being in two minds about the photo of Kathryn.  On the one hand the dress is nice and she does looks good in it.  But there is something about the smile that doesn’t look right.  I’m not sure if it is just an unfortunate angle, the make-up, the quality of the scan, or some Photoshopping but it just doesn’t look quite natural, and Kathryn looks at her most beautiful au naturel.

Amy’s blog post says that this interview was a cover piece.  I have not found any scans of the cover or any other sections that might include additional photos of Kathryn.  Do you have the magazine?  Could you help out?

Many thanks to Nscha for sending this one in.

5 Happiness Secrets Curious People Know

Actress Kathryn Morris, 40, shares how embracing her inquisitive nature has enriched her life

Back in the second grade, Kathryn Morris was one of those kids who had teachers pulling out their hair. “I was so curious,” she recalls. “It was really all about the details. Like when we were learning about food groups dairy, neat — and I was asking, ‘How can eggs be in the dairydepartment when eventually that egg would be a chicken?’” Even today, Kathryn, who plays detective Lilly Rush on the CBS hit Cold Case, is always pondering what she can learn and how she can grow, and she’s never one to go the safe route or shy away from failure. It’s an approach to life that’s led to great success, including starting a television production company at Warner Bros.

Indeed, an inquisitive nature is the key to lasting happiness, notes Todd Kashdan, Ph.D., author of Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life (William Morrow, 2009). “Creating a fulfilling life is about discovering your passions and strengths so you feel more energized, motivated and authentic,” he explains. “But to get there, you have to experiment, and curiosity plays a bigger role than anything.” Here, how Kathryn relies on that playful quality — and how you can find your own path to happiness by allowing your inquisitive side to lead the way.

1 Make room for chance encounters

“I used to live in terror of the unknown, but I’ve realized that you can’t control things,” says Kathryn, who sang in her family’s gospel music group, Morris Code, as a child. “You have to surrender and believe that things will be taken care of by God or the universe. If you put yourself out there and you’re doing something active to break patterns, you will get something that you wouldn’t have gotten if you didn’t step outside the box. For example, I’ve always wanted to do a whole March of the Penguins experience, but I don’t want the ‘I froze my nose off at Everest.’ Recently I presented an Emmy to two cinematographers who do reality shows in Alaska and Antarctica. After I gave the award, I said, ‘I’ve always wanted to go on one of those adventures with pros like you.’ And they said, ‘Well, you’re just going to have to then.’ Of all the people I could meet, I met them!”

2 When you think you can’t, try anyway

“The last few years, I’ve decided to try things I may be really bad at — and be okay with being bad at those things,” says Kathryn. “I took a jazz dance class to prepare for a movie, and when we were done, this 11-year-old girl whispered to me, ‘You might want to try Thursday night—it’s much easier.” She wasn’t being snotty. She was really trying to be sweet and help me out. Needless to say, I won’t be doing Dancing With the Stars!”

3 Be interested, not interesting

“The best advice I ever got was, ‘Be interested instead of being interesting:” says Kathryn, who realized the power of that approach after striking up a conversation with a local tailor. “He had a limp and didn’t speak a lot of English. But we got to talking and he said, ‘You know, life is short. When I was young in Mexico, I was in a plane crash. Everyone thought I would’ve died instantly. I lost my leg, but I was alive: Those are the people you learn a lesson from.”

4 When a theme repeats, explore it

“I try to pay attention to the little things that pique my interest,” says Kathryn. “I see those as a kind of signal that’s being sent my way. I try to make myself aware, like, Wow this thing keeps coming up. Maybe I should flow with that.”

5 Investigate life’s little mysteries

“If you think you have somebody’s number, you make assumptions,” says Kathryn of how she’s learned not to take anything for granted. “It’s impossible to know everything about your partner or your sibling or your friends. So if I notice there is something mysterious about a person, I’m interested in figuring it out. Like, I know a man who mumbles. Everyone else understands him because they’ve known him his whole life. But I don’t understand a word he says. Then I saw him smile really big one time, and I realized it’s because he’s so ashamed of his teeth, he’s spent his life trying to cover them.”