Slow Down 

Today I am reminded to slow down and stop, sit.

It is easy to keep moving, even when exhausted. I watch my 20 month old do it all the time. When I say let's have a nap, she screws up her face in the cutest way and says "no". 

I am never surprised. She is not a napper. I completely understand. The world is to interesting. There is too much to do. 

She is a mini me.

There is always something that seems like it needs to be done right now. The list of loose ends is long. It feels good to tie them up, organize them away, and cross them off the list. It is a weight off my shoulders. 

So is sitting down.

What I have noticed is that as soon as I finish one thing there is so always something else to do. It pops up on my radar, just as the last dot on the screen fads away. 

I am not complaining, just noticing. It is never ending and that's okay. Why? Because it means I can rest. I can stop, because I will not run out of things to do. Because if it is not life or death, immediately necessary for health, safety or general well being, then I can let it go for another time.

So I am sitting down. 

I am cuddling my baby, before she is too busy to cuddle. 

I am holding her even while she sleeps. 

Because those moments are just as important as sending in a long over due correction to my taxes or starting on my next order. 

I notice that if I stop and give myself space I am able to do more, be more productive, focused, calm and happy. 

Happy.

Happiness leads to inspiration, which leads to creativity, which in turn leads to more happy feelings = how I want to live!

Making space in my brain for rest is a daily medition (challenge). Reminding myself that stopping is acceptable, not laziness, that stopping is about taking care of me so I can be the best version of myself.

New Years Resolution: 

STOP, just for a moment. Breathe, exhale and let it go for now. 

Have you stopped today?

Uh hu....

Suint Vat - Part Two

I left my vat for a couple of weeks. Mostly a time thing and I figured it could not  hurt! Wow is it stinky when you open it up. I set up a screen over a bin and took out handfuls at a time. 

I wore gloves and squeezed the fleece out ove the screen. 

Then I threw it in my commercial spinner, which I set in a tub to catch the water I spun out of the fleece. 

Once I spun it I decided it needed one hot water wash. I soaked it in a tub with some Euculan for about 30min. I rubbed the really dirty tips between my fingers and then spun it dry. 

I noticed that the fleece in the smaller tub was not as clean as the one in the larger tub, I think the extra water makes a difference. I started another cat and split a very large corriedale fleece into the three vats. I still have a little left over. 

The fleeces look fairly clean, no worse then when I do my two wash, rinse with them. Once they are dry I will be able to make a better decision on it I like the suint vat or not.

Let Go of Perfect

Perfect is an idea, a way of creating pain and a way of beating ourselves up. You can definitely have it all, but you are going to have to let go of perfect.

I am not saying to let go of your standards or your dreams I am saying: Cut yourself and everyone else slack.

Beauty come out of our imperfection.

The best discoveries happen almost by accident, when we let go.

Do the work, work hard and then let go. Think of it like learning to ride a bike. You can study the books and you can learn each of the steps to perfection, but in order to ride the bike you have to let go, let yourself gain some speed.

Being creative, running your own business works the same way. Get it all together, make the list, cross of each item, let go of the things that become less important and then let yourself gain some speed, let go of perfect.

Perfect is a myth, a construct. It is what happens only when you realize that it is perfect in its imperfections.

So be brave and be imperfect.

This beautiful saying has been posted by an anoynoumous artist along the KC trail in Rossland. 

"Even after all this time the sun never days to the earth you owe me. Look what happens with a love like that, it lights up the whole sky."

What if we worried less about who owed us what and focused more on doing just to do? 

How would that change your everyday? How could it change your thought patterns? 

What affect would it have on how you perceived the world?