I was entering a new phase of my life, ending my very focused teaching career to instead be at home with a toddler and a baby. And I had a wide world of what do next facing me. And my eyes were bigger than my brain and the time I had.
It was 2012, and I spent a lot of time, during naps and late at night, discovering new things I loved and could do. I found coding, blogging, web design, photography, writing, and surface design, and something called Creative Live. There was so much to learn, do and create! I was in a happy place. That is until I realized if I wanted to be good or even great at any of it, I’d have to choose.
The Magic in the Stillness
You see, this was before I was introduced to the magic of sitting still in silence in meditation. I believe cultivating stillness is important for any aspect of your life, from decisions to planning to knowing what you really want. Stillness is the practice of sitting in quiet reflection without distraction. Without anything. Just being with yourself to explore.
Coming out of a career where I was very focused, I felt I was bumbling along trying different paths for the next 3 or 4 years. I also came across the term multipassionate and decided that was me and there was nothing I could do about it. I made myself semi-focus on photography but I couldn’t help trying out other things. I began working hard to get better at not only photography but other things as well, like design and coding. I was striving and easily distracted. I believed I was always short on time and the negativity in that thinking seeped into other areas of thinking.
Until I was faced with a diagnosis that forced me to put it all away for little while. It was here that I discovered sitting in stillness and reflection. It is here that I began to discover myself. I discovered it’s also ok to love to do many things or appreciate many things but it’s most important to focus on your purpose. It is also here that I discovered my purpose.
As I cultivated stillness (and it wasn’t easy at first) I discovered what I really wanted, that photography was actually not for me right now. As I made sitting in stillness a daily practice, I became more focused and was able to direct myself in what I truly wanted and work towards it without striving but with purpose and strategy.
I developed confidence in the stillness and found I also needed to create boundaries. I began to daydream, spurred on by the vision of what I really wanted. I began to question and became more and more curious. I learned acceptance and each time I go back to stillness I am refilled with purpose and abundance. And anytime I feel distracted from that purpose I return and am able to get back on track because my why is strong there.
Sitting in stillness and reflection is important and I endorse the practice wholeheartedly. If you are interested in seeing what it looks like for me check it out here.
Stillness is the second collection in the Cultivate Project Series. I am offering an art print, calendar and notebooks that say Stillness.
The release of this collection will only be for a 2 week window starting this Friday December 3rd, and I don’t want you to miss it.