Intention

It’s been a good week. Coffee with friends on Sunday afternoon, photographing storm clouds, and visiting and enjoying lunch with my cousin and her husband in Swift Current yesterday.

These delights peppered amidst mornings spent planting and puttering and wandering in the garden with a mug of coffee looking for new growth. Some days, windows open and the spring breeze blowing; others, windows closed while rain fell on thirsty fields and gardens

Lately (again), I’ve grown weary of the firehose of information coming my way via news, social media, and such, and yet, like many of us, scrolling and sharing and checking in has become almost second nature. This, coupled with my Enneagram 5 personality that thirsts for information and gets caught up in researching this-or-that, can cause me feel overwhelmed.

I’m there now.

And I need to make changes.

So, I decided to find something to keep me off of electronics, while allowing me to listen to music or podcasts or simply get lost in sweet silence while letting my mind wander.

Once upon a time, I made quilts. I stopped quilting when I started working on my first book. One can’t do everything and I choose to write in that season. I never returned to quilting and got rid of my fabric stash and supplies before we moved to Saskatchewan.

A few years ago I started dabbling with paint: watercolour first, then acrylic. I feel drawn to pull out my paint but won’t just now because I don’t want to be sequestered downstairs when the weather is nice.

Enter needle felting.

I can do that pretty much anywhere. I bought some wool, watched a few YouTube videos, put a few books on hold at the library, and jumped in.

This morning I made this little hedgehog while listening to Ludovico Einaudi on Amazon music. It was a gentle way to spend part of the morning while Gerry was at the gym.

Then, I hopped in my car and drove to the grocery store (it’s been AGES since I did something simple like this by myself on the spur of the moment). I breathed deep as I drove, taking the peace I cultivated while I was poke-poke-poking a needle into wool along with me.

Needle felting is not hard. It’s not expensive, and only as time consuming and complicated as allow it to be. I’m not trying to please anyone but myself. My intention with this new hobby is to rewire my brain by greatly reducing the time spent online and becoming comfortable, once again, with a more analog life.

Every journey starts with a single step—or, in this case, the poke of a needle.