I had sort of an epiphany last night.... funny how that tends to happy at 3am.

So, I was thinking how I am working and working (and we all are) to just pay our bills and survive.

It's exhausting. And in a perfect world, we could focus on what we really love to do, and the money would follow

(to quote a popular book). Sometimes that happens, and it's awesome. And sometimes it doesn't... and it can be soul-crushing.

We do work that we have to, in order to get by. And then there is work we do to feed our soul. To make us happy. If you/I .... had only a year left of our life here.... what would we be concentrating on doing? Course, there is the concept that you could live a year or so on credit cards and never have to pay... but that's not going to happen. So.... what would you choose to spend your "free" time working on? As artists, it's always been a dilemma for me --- because I love to do so many things... and do (relatively) ok at lots of different things. But if I had to choose my "top 3" ... it would be photography, jewelry making, collage, ... and needlework (embroidery/crochet/quilting) thrown in for good measure (oh.. and haiku... but there are no supplies for that).

So then I started thinking about all the supplies and projects I have the makings for in the studio.... and it occurred to me that if I narrowed things down to those top arts... I would have lots more supplies and such to sell. And there you have it. The cleaning out is about to get a major influx of stuff to unload. AND.... should I have some free time... I can wholly concentrate on those top things that really make me sing.

The "catch" being for me.... is to forgive myself for collecting all this stuff...

for not completing certain projects...

and allowing it to be passed on to someone else.
Are you with me?

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The mandala for today's post was created from one of my original photographs.
This one started out as a photo of the sun shining on the red pines (and a blue spruce) and near our house.