Hey my fellow stitchers…
I’m not really sure where to start this week… I’ve been moving house the last few weeks (kind-of-ish!) and my sewing space has been half packed/unpacked all this time. I’ve been working around it well enough, but this week I found myself feeling a little stuck… and that is normal, I guess.
This week has been hard – is anyone else feeling it? There’s much sadness around the world…
It kinda hit me tonight that it’s all a little sad this week.
The devastation of the Nepalese earthquakes; the deaths of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran; the riots in Baltimore and sadly the ‘usual’ murder and suicide stories. Up until tonight, I wasn’t sure what was going on for me. Now, as I write and think about this, tears are welling for all the sadness and devastation people are experiencing.
To be honest, I’m a bit of a hide-under-a-rock-kinda-person. Usually I’m behind the times with the news because I barely turn on the TV. Maybe once a fortnight, or even monthly! Its hard to from it in the world of social media, though. With my sewing things packed, I tonight realised how much I do go into my creative bubble and make stuff. When I do I’m placing my focus wholeheartedly on creating and making, and not so much on the sadness all around us.
I’m not totally naive, though. As much as I make myself aware and try to support, donate and help others in need, I know how super important it is to find the balance of looking after me! It’s all about perspective and keeping balanced and sane. Sometimes, that means its time to go under a rock.
Sewing is the way I look after me. It’s my meditation. I just zone out of all the other realities and into the creative space. There’s always that feeling of all the excitement and energy around the process…. while everything else becomes background noise!
I had a lovely chat with my friend and fellow creator, Matty, and we wondered what kinda people we’d be without our creative outlets… I can tell just by this recent stint of no sewing that I’d actually be bloody bored and irritable!! I know the BF would agree with this….
This week, I finished a project I started a little while ago. Without my full sewing kit, it was a different kind of meditation. I put my favourite quotes, words, pictures, designs (using my favourite sewing fabrics), shapes into frames, placed them beside lit candles and focused on being grateful for all that I have, and all that I am.
It was meaningful to just bring some favourite things together and meditate on them. Behind some of the pics are beautiful words that started out as cards or doodling paper (from my time in Canada with my fambam), treasured words from my sweetie Kyles, and one of my most treasured items from my travel husband Mealie. It’s a leaf from the Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya in India. Yep, the one where buddha found enlightenment. We spent 5 months in India and I was unwell at that point and couldn’t go to the tree, so she bought it back for me. It fell off the tree, we swear on our lives.
In all the swirling madness around us, I found peace in the process of remembering the beautiful things and people in my life. The good stuff. Just talking about it helps me feel lighter and put words to my feelings.
So this post is shy on the sewing and high on the hope that we can all find our own little bit of light and love in the small things we are grateful for. We all have something little when it all seems a bit dark out there, and I say seek it, and bring it out, and put a candle beside it to remind us how light conquers darkness.
Big love,
Love and Light.. to you. great post!
Thanks Dymmie! Love and light to you too babe x
Hi Kris,
My heart was heavy too. I focused on staying in the moment and connecting with each client. Getting out of my thoughts and into my physical being and space helps to nurture ourselves. Love from your mum Vickie
Love it, mumsy! Very true, its important to be aware of our thoughts xx
You might appreciate this Kris. Pinker’s book helps put things in a happier perspective and is widely accepted by psychologist, sociologist and statistician peers alike. Despite the darkness in the world, we’re actually more peaceful than at any other time in history.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-09-29/world-actually-becoming-more-peaceful-believe-it-or-not
Not to downplay how we’ve all felt this week. The burden of seeing what human beings can do to each other in the name of “justice” is difficult to carry. I feel as citizens of the world we needed to bear witness to that appalling act, distressing as it was, to give us even more drive to help abolish the death penalty. Andrew and Myu showed how rehabilitation and contrition make execution utterly futile.
What I love about your blog is that you use the medium of sewing to share your views on so much more. You are one of the most enlightened and kind people I’ve ever met. Keep being you.
That is an awesome article, I hadn’t thought of it in that way. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Thank you for your lovely words. I’m blessed to have friends like you!