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Issue link: https://digital.miamilivingmagazine.com/i/1102090
"I believe in God, and I do pray to God. But I am also spiritual in the sense that I know I have angels around me, and I know to pay attention to the signs I get from the universe. I used to not pay attention to the signs that were right in front of me. I feel that I finally get it. I do pay attention now, as I've gotten older, to those signs the universe gives me." Let's talk about your tour, Straight Up Paula! Are you going to make each song's choreography and costumes reminiscent of the original music videos or will you change it up to reflect present day? PA: It will be a little of both. I know that fans come to hear those songs and they will, but I'm not doing a direct replication of those [music] videos. There is a nod to them, with a little bit of nostalgia. But for me, this is an opportunity to create my own vision of what I want to do in terms of interpreting the songs. I'm incorporating lots of technology and multimedia, and some storytelling as well. I'm also going to cover some fun things, and some not so fun things, from my life in this show. It's giving people a little bit more insight into who I am, and the career I've had. Going back to what we were talking about before, about being in the zone, how do you know when you're in that zone and your creativity is flowing versus when it feels forced? PA: For me, there is such a difference when there is a flow. Eight or nine hours can go by, and I can't even believe it. And then there are times when it seems like the day will never end. I've learned that when the latter is happening, I have to do an abrupt about face and change the environment —step outside, do some other activity to wipe the slate clean. When you're hitting a wall, it's stagnant energy. It's not creative, and it's not conducive to rehearsal hall or any thing else I'm trying to accomplish. For me, muscle memory is now a tricky thing. Your brain also, in terms of remembering, it's different now. Things that were natural in my body, from so many years of injuries, I need to readdress certain dance moves and change it to what feels better for me now. When you were talking about time flying by or crawling by, it reminds me of what Deepak Chopra says about time not really existing, except in our minds. If you're in the zone, you lose track of time and nine hours feels like nine minutes. PA: And it's the best feeling, I'm sure you know! I can't stand the latter, when time crawls. It's the worst. You want to just cancel the day and start fresh the next day. I always say that if you are in a creative field, it's an odd thing, because you can't just clock in and clock out. You have to be in a certain creative flow or nothing much is going to happen. Sometimes the best thing you can do when you feel that way is to not work. PA: It's true, because it's more of a wasted day, and it's miserable [laughs].