.stories to tell.

I was just reading Mark Nepo this morning, he was talking about stories - our stories. We all have stories to tell inside of us. We need to tell stories - over and over and over again. We need to tell them until we can understand them. It's only when we understand them can we let them go.

I haven't been making anything in the studio for the past few months. I was going to the studio but finding a big brick wall every time. I wasn't making anything, just starting and stopping - over and over again. I felt frustrated and emotional - the studio is my space to unload/recharge/root myself amongst all this movement and transition. It wasn't until Tuesday morning I decided to change my mindset, instead of going in with several pieces designed I was going to try to make just one pair of earrings - no expectations - no judgement - no bigger plan, just one pair. I made a pair of earrings. It felt so good. It gave me another idea so I made another pair of earrings. Just like that I was making again - slowly - less productive. I was allowing one idea to build organically onto another idea. It wasn't until yesterday and really this morning after readying Nepo that I was reminded, I make jewelry to tell my story. I just haven't known what story I wanted to tell - what story I needed to tell.

I'm back in the studio making jewelry, differently but I'm still telling my story over and over and over again until I understand it. When I understand it I'll release the story and find another story I need to tell thru my jewelry.

We are all storytellers.

How do you tell your stories?? I'd love to hear.

.old stories.

What happens when you realize that the story you've been telling yourself for so long isn't true - that you've been telling it all wrong? What if we can only truly find our greatest freedom deep down in the darkness of loss?

I've felt abandoned in many ways but when I step back for the bigger picture - an authentic picture - I can see/know that I had to be abandoned to be able to get here. 

I would've never found my self - 

my fulfillment - 
my truths sitting there. 

I chase the light and watch my reflection change, 
that's where I find my self - 
my fulfillment - 
my greatest (most honest) truths. 

It's taken me years to see the immense beauty of my journey and I think I'm only beginning to grasp it. A month from today it will be 2016. A month from today I will be embarking on a new adventure. I ready to tell a new story.

Are you telling old stories that no longer serve you? What will your new story be?

.storytelling.

I went to a teen mom digital storytelling event last night. Their stories were complex and emotional. It felt like I was being told the dark secrets of strangers, myself and an auditorium of people. I could see the discomfort in the moms as their words were released into the room. It was the first time for many of them to tell their story. I was left with an awkward clumsy feeling at the end of the event. Here we are amongst all these complex interactions, emotional entanglements and authentic confusion moving forward without much knowledge of ourselves. The energy of the room felt chaotic to me. 

We don't know how to have these conversations. We don't know how to not cast our own shadow on the light of others. We don't know how to listen and then hear what is being shared with us.

Our stories are to be told
I hope that we never stop telling our stories
I hope we find new strength in our truths every time we tell them
I hope that we find that roaring thunder of unconditional love for all the dips - valleys - peaks that we've journeyed to arrive right here
right here

and maybe by telling our stories we will be better able to listen and hear the stories of others.

.national civil rights museum.

 

I had the honor of visiting the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. It is NOT to be missed. I was so overwhelmed by the stories told at the NCRM - the joyful, devastating, inspiring, horrifiic stories.

It was a much needed reminder to me how important it is for all of us to tell our own stories and maybe even more important to listen. Whether that stories are screamed - spoken - softly said or whisper, to just listen. To listen with empathy. To listen with respect. To listen and hear what is being shared with us.

We have so much to learn.