Navigating Change for Makers Part II - the gift of uncertainty

Sometimes when I am at a crossroads trying to decide which direction to take - I get rid of something.

Sometimes a whole lot of somethings.

(once an entire business that I flew to Chicago and dumped onto my niece's livingroom floor)

I sell it or give it away or throw it away or often I leave it at the curb with a FREE sign carelessly lettered on a piece of cardboard and it is ... gone ... fast.

(one of the great things about the crowded state of New Jersey is that there is a home for every unwanted end table, broken flower pot and bottle of Debbie Gibson cologne circa 1988)

the very first spring cleaning was almost certainly a woman who having been cocooned by winter for far too long and seeking expansion simply shed what she could not take with her

Often the act of shedding alone can create the space for us to get clear on what we want.

Sometimes it feels like we have no choices - like things are going on outside of our control - but we can usually control what we do today.

Today we can make a courageous choice and stick with it. We won't look back and wonder what if - we won't look forward and wonder what lies ahead.

We will simply choose.

When we think we should know what to do or need to know what is going to happen or what is next - we get stressed. Stress is not good.

(well, sometimes stress is good because it makes us decide, but usually stress is to negative 'feeling' the way that worry is to negative 'thinking' it can quite literally eat us up)

But when we embrace that not knowing is our natural state - we can open into that.

We can see that, in a sense, we can’t really know anything. We have never and will never know anything. So when the time comes to make a decision, we simply choose.

we simply choose and let life change us

(feeling inspired right now by the painful journeys that have brought us to the places we would have never chosen and in the end have taught us a little bit about what we are made of - which is stars and galaxies and total amazingness actually and I promise to tie this into our makings models in Part III - trying to keep these posts short and sweet - just like me and Olive - ack) xo

* one day handwritten print by merelee made

GIVEAWAY - These Machines Kill Fascists Pencil Set by - you and me, the royal we CLOSED

WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED
THIS WEEK!

You and Me, The Royal We is 3 guys in Brooklyn -

Oliver Jeffers, Mac Premo and Aaron Ruff.

Oliver is an acclaimed children’s book maker, illustrator and painter, Mac is an award winning animator and collage artist and Aaron owns and operates the jewelry line Digby & Iona.

They make cool stuff with a sense of humor, the Royal We is dedicated to small runs and high quality.

We are so lucky to have their cool little pencil set that reminds us - the pen is mightier than the sword!!

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive this uber-cool pencil set in canvas satchel!

HOW TO WIN:

It's easy, peasy - leave your contact info in the comments section below!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog
(5) Facebook this post

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to everyone. 

DRAWING:

Enter by midnight on April 29th! Good luck everyone!! CLOSED

I'm late, I'm late ...

for a very important date ...

(ugh)

the dreaded April 15th approaches ...

(which also happens to be David's birthday - coincidence? I think being born on a day that makes 309,000 Americans tremble is probably not a lucky thing)

I just realized (yes, I am opening my tax documents on April 12th - me bad) that some stores that sent me MISC-1099's pay me through Paypal and so are also included in my 1099K - I hope it doesn't make me look fishy when the IRS does their tallying (although I guess they have thought this all through) ...

note to self - do not do anything that will add to the fishiness of this return like the year I only had a red marker handy and used that or the year I left a mocha-scented stain in the shape of Elvis Costello in the upper right hand corner

and hubs and I are going to a customer's (of his that I have never met) house for dinner this weekend which is also stressful. I shook loose some Emily Post-style etiquette from the deeper recesses of my brain today and called his customer's wife to see if we could bring anything and she said

"just bring whatever you would want us to bring if we came to your house"

which is so not something to tell me because now I am thinking either a new Nook cover (which they may or may not need and I may or may not be able to get to take home with me at the end of the night) or George Clooney, lightly drizzled with maple syrup.

Although I wasted some time deciding whether they'd dig a fabric floral or a smaller but more maneuverable magnetic leather cover in the end I decided it best to play the professional wife of man going to customer's house here and bring wine which I have to admit I know next to nothing about -

yes, I know you probably thought I did, but I only know wine corks- as in where they come from, how they are produced and that the red ones have stains that are very, very hard to work with

and since the kinds I tend to purchase have a handle on top of the box so you can more easily lift it onto the sofa beside you to most easily snuggle with it during particularly intense Celebrity Apprentice episodes - not that I do this ...

(Celebrity Apprentice is my reality show obsession this season - I am without a favorite player right now though - maybe Paul, Sr)

and I always ignore anything with a domesticated animal on the label or with the kind of ornate curling fonts you see in funeral programs - this does not leave me many options - if anyone has a suggestion please let me know, with an emphasis on please.

In the middle of this my nephew called and asked me if I had won the internet yet (is everything a game to this under 36" crowd?) -

and actually looking at my estimated (I should say guess-timated at this point) net income figures I am not so much in a winning position as loitering somewhere around St. James Place.

But at least I'm on the board and in the game - I have passed GO and did not go directly to jail ... yet ... which reminds me - I have to get back to my taxes - have an amazing weekend everyone

(yes, I realize it is only Thursday, but tomorrow night I will be delivering George Clooney that bottle of wine).

I hope your tax returns are stamped and sent and you are snuggled on the sofa with a six pack of red watching Celebrity Apprentice - also let me know which player you are most annoyed with .... xo all

* alice print by the amazing Anne-Julie Aubrey of the Nebulous Kingdom and yes she has a locket or two