I am not sure I should be allowed near a glue gun. I seem to burn myself so much that it actually stops hurting. Today has been about making the dried wreaths for the next market on the 30th November. I am beginning to make wreaths in my sleep. My studio is full of dried fruit, herbs and pine cones and the first batch are finished and hanging to set. I won't be able to do the fresh ones until Thursday next week so once the dry ones are done it will back to candle making. Last year I forgot to make one for us and so this year I am having an afternoon with friends where we can all make our wreaths. I have just been offered another crop of willow as word has obviously spread so I will be back to weaving next week.....
You know me well enough by now to know that I am also making a few bits for weddings so that I can photograph them to go on the website when it is up. The aim is to bring With Love from Arran, Whimsical Wreaths and Buds & Bloom onto one site so that people can see what we offer. There will be a blogging element to the site so that readers can find out about the process that is involved. I am hoping to get the skeleton site up by mid December ready for the full launch in January when our order books open for weddings. I will be using our willow in the design work for weddings so the blog will help tie everything together.
We woke to a very hard frost today so I was out taking pictures before breakfast and I loved the stillness. Mother Nature suspends time when she delivers frost and I think we should take note. I let the morning come to me a little today but I noticed that some of the frost has failed to thaw all day and it is now starting to get dark. My connections with the season influence so much of what I do so I cope well with these shorter days. By 3pm I have done all I can on the wreath front and I light the fire and settle down to write. I then pick up my wreath making after supper but focuses on smaller jobs that I can do next to the fire.
Thank you to all those who messaged me about the true activist video I posted a link to yesterday. It is so important to have perspective in life but it is also so important to avoid creating a negative self fulfilling prophecy. I am a firm believer in positivity as it has got me through so much in life. I could sit about complaining about my illness and using it as an excuse not to do anything. My Nana was very like that so I have avoided that approach. She became a bit of a burden over time and that is my worst nightmare. I am determined to live a full life and I am also determined to enjoy it. I always focus on the positive aspects of my life and I think this leads to more positivity coming my way. The other thing I got from the video ties in with my philosophy of life which ties in closely with Buddhism. I don't put myself at the centre of my world. In place of me I put humanity and a deep and very real desire to help others as help is required. This belief has deepened in recent years and I have worked hard in my Dharma from Samye Ling to remove ego from the equation. Ego gets in the way of so much and it makes us very precious about ourselves. By putting humanity at the centre of my world rather than myself I have found much greater happiness and contentment in life.
This is not an easy approach to life and it does require constant reflection to ensure that my ego hasn't snuck in while I wasn't looking. I am glad that so many of you found thee video helpful. It is easy to think that the teacher is dismissing our problems but I know he is not. He is merely offering a sense of perspective before taking us on a journey to eradicate fear. Fear is imagined and not real and he makes that point very well. I always consider myself as a student of life and will do until my last breath so videos like this help me reflect, learn and move forward. I am, therefore, thrilled that so many of you found it useful as well.
I am currently writing for a project involving displaced children from Syria. The scale of their problems is deeply shocking but the strategies being put in place to support them are imaginative, responsive and potentially highly successful. I am inspired by the strength shown by these children and my job is to tell these stories back to them so they might understand how far they have come already. They began the project as broken human beings but slowly, day by day, they are mending. Now that, me thinks, is perspective.
Until tomorrow. xx
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