your Etsy shop as a transition position (why the making is more important than the making money ... until it isn't anymore)

evolving butterflies from caterpillars

The only way to get unstuck is to create instability.

Stuck stuff is stable.

(think dentures, well-made dentures, wait, do they still make dentures ...)

And it sounds like stable is a good thing (it is a good solid word after all) but sometimes stable is over-rated. Sometimes things need to be shaken up so they can fall apart and we can see what we are left with.

Often people email me for advice about their Etsy shop or about opening an Etsy shop.

Maybe, they have put a lot of time into their shop (very seldom have they put a lot of money into their shop) and it just isn't making them any money and sometimes they have just discovered Etsy or been stalking Etsy on the side and are wondering if it is worth putting in the time because it may or may not make them any money in the future. They are stuck.

(this looking too far into the future with money doesn't work anyway - we are evolving - kicking and screaming sometimes, but evolving and just like the farmer moved into the factory when we evolved from a society where almost no one had a job into a society where almost everyone had a job - we are evolving again into ... well, something else, my magic 8 ball isn't saying, but the way money is tied to work has changed forever this is certain)

Now, I used to look at this person's Etsy shop and offer some kind of advice around their pictures or their message or their makings, well not usually about their makings

(I tread carefully around people's makings because I realize I am dealing with people's hearts here, and if I was to say something not so nice about your makings and you didn't feel it in your heart, you would know you probably needed to put a whole lot more of your heart into your makings)

but you get the idea - physical stuff. But now I would be more likely to look at the non-physical stuff first - like why are they making their stuff? Were they making it before Etsy? How did they get here? What is their intention with this?

Your Etsy shop is not guaranteed to make you money - no matter how much work you put into it.

(nope, no guarantees, this isn't a job with a guaranteed paycheck for your 20, 40, 60 hours)

Although jobs don't come with guarantees either - no gold watch with guaranteed health insurance for life for us my dear - our safety net has holes large enough that even our winter backsides, holed up with a hot chocolate and cider donuts, can slip through easily. This is ok though, this is more than ok - we are moving away from the factory paradigm and if this gold watch stuff still existed we wouldn't be able to.

And often people tell me they have put a lot of time into their shop when what they really need is to put a lot of time (and yes, money, too) into their business.

(but that's a whole other post)

Etsy is a great transition position though - a place to move into the energy of creation - a place to get unstuck

(think that guy who's name you have forgotten that you went out with between those two great loves of your life - yes, him, that guy, well, that guy was a very important part of your life because he helped you transition, well him and chocolate ice cream anyway.

Etsy might be one of the great loves of your life, but more likely he is that guy, and that guy may be no less important)

Putting our energy (time, focus, money) into any act of creation (a totally unstable thing to do) can move us out of stuck. If we did things that only had a guaranteed outcome we'd never move off the couch.

We don't get to know where this unstuck energy will lead us - our Etsy shop that isn't making any money can lead us to something amazing that would never have happened if our Etsy shop had been making us money - stay open to the possibilities.

This is what we have really created with our Etsy shop - this space of openness - this space of potential and its place isn't in Brooklyn or on the internet - its place is within us and our only job is to make sure it stays open.

the coal conspiracy - (don't blame me when this makes you mad enough to run screaming into the forest)

money does what we tell it to do (and how what it's doing lets us know what we are telling it) part III

locket wisdom: an open road is a good thing

Now the law of attraction is not the only law on our playground

(yes, we've gone from kitchen cupboards to playgrounds this month - can't wait to see where we end up in March)

The law of abundance is an important law, too.

The flow of abundance is always directed toward us (it's our birthright) - but our thoughts, beliefs, memories and levels of deserving-ness can create barriers.

This deservingness is rooted in self-care and is traditionally first (root) chakra stuff - the physical world - making our way, standing on our own two feet, handling life's changes, eating, addictions, anxiety, boundaries, money.  

This chakra is about presence - the be here now thing.

(with this shift we are living through money is moving into the 4th chakra (heart chakra) - so we'll focus on that one next time)

Imbalances in our root (first) chakra show up in our inner world as foot problems, legs, ankles, bones, blood, colon, immune disorders, spine, adrenals, etc. In our outer world imbalances here show up as fears, major changes in our safety and security (job loss, divorce), money problems, neediness, anxiety about the future, compulsions, addictions and eating disorders.

Now, to one degree or another because of this shift on the planet these last few years we are all a little unsteady and many people feel totally upside down - this probably is true for everyone except for the most extremely balanced and some who just haven't been that affected yet.

The root chakra is like a baby - feed me, take care of me, comfort me. Nourishment is a huge factor in the self-care of this chakra.

When I was a kid my mother always took the smallest, worst, most overcooked or undercooked piece of everything - when I became a mother I started doing the same thing. When hubs would take the last of the milk, it drove me crazy, I'd say "why don't you think about anyone else?" - he'd say, "well, someone has to drink it", and of course someone does have to drink it and why was I always making sure that someone wasn't me?

One day my daughter had a classroom party for one of her friends at school. When I picked her up at the end of the day I asked her how the cupcakes tasted (I had seen her eyes when we saw all the gorgeous colors when I dropped her off that morning)  and she said, "I don't know - they were short one cupcake, her mother didn't make enough, so I said I didn't want one." Now, I knew my daughter and I knew she had wanted that cupcake. I also knew exactly where she had learned to do this. Ouch.

I stopped doing it. So did she.

Nourishing ourselves properly, standing up for ourselves,

(I don't let people cut me in line, hubs cringes when I say anything - I'm very polite, mostly, and try not to go all Jersey on them unless I absolutely have to - I know, for me, I need to stand up for myself - for hubs, he needs to be able to get in the back of the line sometimes - we are not all here to experience the same things even when our experience is exactly the same)

barefoot walks in grass or sand, hiking outdoors, making our home inviting, clearing clutter, cleaning things, putting our hands in dirt, massages, baths, caring for a pet

(before I had a regular meditation practice and even now when I let it lapse, I used to have kind of anxiety/panic attacks when I got overworked and overwhelmed- I had one this past Christmas season on a crazy making/shipping day - it always helped me to sit with my back against a tree holding a dog, luckily for me even when my dog was an 80 lb Labrador mix, this somehow always works)

- all these things can help us get back into our bodies.

Many times we disassociate from our bodies when we are very young, girls especially do this.

I read recently that very, very young girls when asked what their favorite body part is will say anything - their stomachs, their legs, their butts - but by age 4 or 5 those same girls will instinctively answer - their hair, their eyes, their faces - their bodies are already starting to become foreign spaces to them, places that could be unsafe.

(when I had gone out with hubs a few times he said to me "there is one thing about you that is just perfect" I was thinking he would say 'your eyes or legs or hair' - well, I didn't actually think he would say my hair ... but he said ... "your teeth" - the better to chomp down on one of your main life supporting arteries I wanted to say - ugh)

Back next time to connect the law of abundance with money and the 4th chakra it's evolving into.

xo all

(a note about nourishment - I have been working with the Body Ecology Diet - diet meaning eating plan, not weight loss, it's focused on making our acidic bodies more alkaline and I have noticed some immediate good things - especially with the lemon in room temperature water which I drink all day now - no more headaches and my puffy eyes are much better)

what's good for you is good for your business (this is not always reversible advice) plus mercury goes retrograde

mercury goes retrograde - time to lighten up

I had some really good advice today from my accupunc-turist

(and yes, I like to say my accupunc-turist,
not that I own her or anything like that, although I've almost paid her enough by now to own her big screen tv, but it makes me feel important like I am one of those people who gets to say 'my accountant', or 'my lawyer' or 'my trainer' - sigh)

Anyhoo - she said, "what's good for you is good for your business."

It was like one of those Oprah moments, and then she laughed, "but what's good for your business

isn't always good for you."

I just thought I would pass on this little gem before it slips into the vast expanse of darkness I call my memory.

I had been relating to her a story one of hub's customers had told us about his business problems and how this was a dog eat dog world, and hubs and the other men present, I believe caught up in some kind of testosterone group hug, without any actual hugging, of course - boy germs and all, were all nodding and agreeing with him and going on and on about survival of the fittest.

And I was like, "Wait a minute, this isn't a dog eat dog world. This isn't even a dog eat squirrel world. This isn't a survival of the fittest world. This may be a non-survival of the very least fit (the one gazelle the lion is able to actually catch), but there is a whole lot of surviving going on."

This was followed by a lot of dead air.

(I mean seriously folks, if this was a dog eat dog world- do you think I would let Olive out of my sight for one single moment, no I didn't think so)

How this related back to the accupuncturist's words of wisdom I don't remember - it will probably come back to me when Mercury goes retrograde this weekend.

Yes, Mercury is retrograding for the next few weeks - during the retrograde period it is like Mercury has gone down into the underworld to play with Hermes and Persephone - it makes us more right-brain orientated, perfect for us crafty makers in winter. It is dark down there, so our other senses will be stronger. We will feel extra sensitive now, maybe even psychic and yes, even more thin-skinned at times

(personally if I get any more thin skinned, things are going to get ugly and by things I mean, my bones and veins and muscles, which will be sticking out all over the place, so unattractive, I hate when that happens).

Everything will seem hyper-real during a Pisces retrograde … we will start to notice things we had overlooked before.

This noticing will allow us to re-evaluate, renovate, re-charge, return, reinvent, just think "re" - all good stuff.

The things to look out for during a retrograde are miscommunications (the underworld has terrible mail service), gadgets malfunctioning (the underworld has terrible internet service, too) and it's dark so we are more likely to make mistakes - try waiting until you can see clearly to make important changes if possible.