I was feeling like had been so caught up in my business & in what I had started to think I needed to do to be 'successful' . . . that I discovered that I was losing hold on the 'love' & the reason why I started designing. It was getting swallowed up by the pressure to promote & the fads that come & go. . . They weren't me & I the contentment that I have from designing & creating were getting swallowed up in them.
So, I purposefully took a step back. . . & I began to get in touch with what I wanted my business to be. . . my life to be. I stopped looking at what others were doing so much. . . & I began to look at what really inspired me. That's when I started working in a local quilt shop. It's the same quilt shop that I took my first quilting classes in . . . & it has been so wonderful to get out of my home studio & get to meet, assist & get to know what is important to other quilters.
It was the beginning of a 'coming home' for me.
Since then, I have been re-thinking a lot of the things I was doing in my business. . . & the way I was living my life.
I'll be honest. . . it hasn't always been so easy. There are times that I still feel like a need to play some game. . . to follow some unwritten code of what I should do to be successful. But day-by-day it has become increasingly easier. I'm hearing (& listening to) my own drummer again. . . & all around me I am finding reminders of what my heart knows. . . Just this morning, & heard again something I used to have on a bulletin board:
"God does not call us to be successful. . .
He calls us to be faithful."
- Mother Theresa
Which brings me to the photo of the book above. It is the current book on my bedside table, & it is such a 'gift' in it's own right. The timing of me discovering this book is nothing short of the impeccable perfection of God's timing in my life (. . . which I've experienced over & over. . .), & it is a part of filling my heart (& head) with the things that help me really see the blessings that surround me.
I've also discovered that so many others in the blogging world are also reading 'One Thousand Gifts', & that it is also having a profound affect on their lives as well.
Here's a little preview of the book. . .
So. . . here's to slowing down & looking for & seeing the gifts. . . & when life feels all frazzled . . . here's to realizing that it doesn't change the fact that the gifts are still there. . .
. . . for me, it's life changing.
Even though I knew it all along. . . it's been such a gift to be reminded. . .
♥ Bren
