Sometimes life gets difficult and I have to let go of my need to micromanage every aspect of my future. I have to allow for the side trips and the surprises. I have to try not be so relentlessly specific that I miss the opportunities that sometimes present themselves when I'm firmly convinced I need to move in a different direction and could then easily miss them. I need to pay attention to the subtle signs and signals I might miss if I keep racing down the path and never stop for a moment to consider my direction.

Sometimes the universe taps us on the shoulder and says...pssst...hey...try this...you might like it! Then we think...what? Are you crazy? Get the heck outta here universe, I'm busy relentlessly focusing on this thing here that isn't quite working for me but dangit I'll get this square peg into this round hole if it kills me.

I spent a long time not seeing the idea of beads being the key to a new career, then I realized after being gently pummeled with them by an ever patient universe for an extended period of time (ouch, ouch, ouch, stop that, ouch, what, okay already I got it...beads...sheesh) that beads and crafting and writing had immense possibility. I realized that beads and crafting and writing would allow me to integrate all of my talents and strengths into one direction and then I went for it with everything I had. That's what I think of as co-creating your life. When I'm open to that, for me personally, that is when I find success.

I know that what is real isn't what we call success or failure, in the Tao these things are the same. What is real is love. The rest is just the stuff we do to pass the time so we might as well make it interesting! More than that, we can pursue our dreams and share our passions with others and by doing so we are spreading light and love and the power of the creative through the universe. I'm doing far more than making sparkly crafts, I'm crafting hope.

I strive here in this blog for total transparency. Meaning I speak my truth and I don't sugar coat it, it's exactly how I'm feeling when I sit down to write each morning. Some mornings are sunny skies and some are stormy weather, and I try to embrace all of it with the same joie de vivre. This is where I work out my thoughts, my fears, my joys, my sorrows, my triumphs and my tragedies...all of it. It's like a moving meditation. It's not always pretty, but it's definitely real. My hope is that by being transparent here, I'm helping other people who read this every day to see that yes, we all have good days and bad days, yes we all have a few dreams that get deferred and no we can't actually all win the gold medal even if we work and dream and visualize our arses off. My hope is that I can help people to see that the gold medal isn't really the point, it's the journey we take towards it, it's the joy of the experience and it's the power that comes from not measuring ourselves by external affirmations. It's the magic of learning to live fully in the moment and let go of our attachment to the past and the future.

We can all of us craft hope and joy and beauty, and that's the real gold medal.

xoxo
Margot