"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi

"Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened.

Don't open the door to the study and begin readying.

Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don't go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.

Don't go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the door sill where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

Don't go back to sleep."  - Rumi

Okay, the cat is out of the bag.  I am a student.  Of many things.

I am a student of yoga.  I am a student of life.  I am a student of people.

I am a student of dating and appraising quilts, too.  By the way.

So in my yoga class this last Sunday morning, this poem was read - well, just this part of the poem...it goes on.  I found it of interest that when we are 'so into our head' that instead of going into our head again, that we are to use the OTHER side of our brain.  Reach for something CREATIVE not CEREBRAL.  

Good thinking!  

Fabric!

Quilting!

Art!

Music!

Yeah!!!

I like this.  A lot.  And the part about not going back to sleep to.  The door is OPEN.

How many times do we get to a part of a quilt, project, time in our life, whatever, and we want to 'go back to sleep' about it?  Oh, I know for a fACt.  When I'm trying to finish something, and I run out of bobbin, that's where I want to go.  Or I sew the last square together and the bottom fabric has shifted and now it's not square, or well, you get the point.  I want to 'go back to sleep'.  I don't want to sit and figure it out or get up and go for a walk and come back and finish it correctly - fresh.  I just want to 'go back to sleep' forgetting that the door is open still.

So, while today's blog is a small one, it is packed full of good idea.

When you wake up 'empty and frightened', don't get sucked into your head - reach for something creative.  And when you want to get into your head, just don't.  Don't over think it.  As a song writer said, "Darlin' do not fear what you don't understand."  

And when we choose to do something, let it be what we love.

Finally, listen to the secrets whispered only to you.  

And ask for what you really want.

Go through that open door.

Don't go back to sleep.

be.do.create

2008

Thanks for thinking of 

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

Natalie.

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

Happiness is!!!

"You tell yourself how can you possibly take advantage of what life has to offer if you are not in the right place at the right time.  But even in the right place at the right time, you can miss your chance."

(aka - why is the search for happiness something that makes so many people depressed?)

There are times when we approach things - really, anything in life - in the manner described in the quote above.

"If I had just the right yellow, I could do this quilt.  If I had the exact fabrics that the original quilt designer used, I could get it right."

"If I had the house, the car, the wife, the kids, the job, the tool, the jewel, the body, the mind, the the the...."

So, in today's blog, in this week's blog, I am here to let you know.  I give you permission.  Go ahead.  

This IS your right time.  This IS the right place.  

This IS the only fabric you have so MAKE YOUR QUILT.

Make your life.

Take a look at what you HAVE not what you don't have. Take a look at what's right in front of you and delight in it. Delight in what you do have.  You have (probably, if you're reading this blog) a roof over your head.  Make it your safe place.  Whatever it is.  You may have a car, or a bike, or two legs or even wheels.  Delight in that mobility.  You may not have a wife, a husband, a partner, a love of your life.  But you may have someone in your life that loves you free.  Even if it's the dog, you probably, if you look, will find that even the postman knows your name...The same person checks your groceries every week.  Someone knows you and loves you free.  Thank God.  Look at that person in a new light.  Delight.  I don't have kids.  I delight in others' kids.  Without tuition and books, but the simple glee of seeing them every so often.  I quilt for my job.  Gosh.  Enough said.  I create for a living.  Next.  I have quilted with the scissors I could find in the kitchen that would barely cut fabric - before I was able to buy Ginghers.  As for jewels, consider the mother that delights in the macaroni necklace she receives...and heavens to betsy...thank God every day for your body.  It is a mass of cells that seem to (most of the time) run on autopilot.  THAT is a miracle.  And you DO have an active mind.  You're with me so far on this week's blog.  That counts.

Okay.  Sure.  Pollyanna strikes again.  Glass full not empty.  BUT.

Trust me.

Next time you're a live and breathing, just stop for a moment to look at what's right in front of you.  No more, no less. 

Whaddya see?  Yep.  Probably Happiness.

Happiness IS.

be.do.create

2008

Thanks for thinking of 

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

Natalie

PS - yes, I mean quilting too...

PHOTOS ARE FROM QUILTING DAY WITH LittleNATALIE AND BeNATALIE

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com