"Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead, let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turned upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?" -Rumi

This quote sums up much of my past year. I've described it to some as having been turned upside down, everything shaken out of my pockets, and then put right side up, looking at everything with new eyes. It has been jolting (in a good way) and has reorganized my life- inside and out. Its rather incredible when these times happen. The fog begins to clear further, and we can see more honestly what IS as oppose to believing the illusions that we tell ourselves. Journaling is one of the catalyst for me. When I know I need to, I will sit and start "free writing" for 15 mins. This means that I just start writing whatever comes to mind and can't stop and check the internet or my phone or be distracted for 15 mins.  By then, I have broken through to where I will keep writing until everything comes out that needs to. Once I've emptied myself, I can better listen and the answers and insights come.

"Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds' wings.” 
-Rumi

“Let silence take you to the core of life.”
― Rumi

It is all too easy to get swept away with business and constant going, going, going...especially when you are growing something.  This year, I had a wholesale show in January, February, and will attend one in March.  I am keeping up with orders, but am working long hours and seven days a week.  One of the things that keeps coming to mind is that these are "growing pains".  I am growing and am learning how to push myself to more capacity as well as keep other aspects in my life in some sort of balance.  For me, it is necessary to take a time out now and again.  It is particularly helpful if I can get to the woods and just sit.  Being still and quiet helps me ground and re-center, enabling me to work again with renewed energy.

I found this fortune on one of my hikes in Berea!!  So true!

Taking a bit of a breather from the internet, but am sending you all peace-filled New Year wishes. I'll be exiting this year softly and welcoming this new year with an open-heart. Here is an excerpt from my new journal:

"Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are." -Rumi

If I not book-making, I'm either doing this...

or this.

"Very little grows on jagged rock.  Be ground.  Be crumbled, so that wildflowers will come up where you are." -Rumi

"Dancing is not rising to your feet painlessly like a whirl of dust blown about by the wind.  Dancing is when you rise above both worlds, tearing your heart to pieces and giving up your soul."  -Rumi

This custom journal was created for a special woman whose twin brother passed five years ago.  She is a dancer and said she feels close to him when she dances.  This book is for memories, daily reflections, and letters to him.  She knew she wanted a dancer on the front as well as a fedora, a tulip leaf, and their names.  As I began making it, I had the sense that her brother wanted her to know that she isn't alone.  I felt like I needed to show them both dancing, to show that he does still dance with her.  What is interesting about this design that you may not know from looking is that both dancers are from the same cloth--just different sides of it.  This also feel significant given that they were twins.  The female dancer adorns a fedora and the back of the journal has a tulip leaf with their names hand-stitched on it. This 10x7 journal has acid-free, recycled pages inside so the writings inside will not yellow over time.  I am honored to have been asked to create this.