Every storm and snowfall brings new snow to shovel. Every time I lace up my boots, and pick up the shovel, and go out to the driveway, I must begin the process of shovelling it clear, again. Likewise, every day and meal brings new dishes to wash. Every time I approach the sink, tidy and scrape, pull on the rubber gloves, and turn the tap, I must begin the process of turning dirty dishes into clean ones, again. Every day.
There is a concept in Buddhism called the "beginner's mind" that I'm a little familiar with, thanks to my Buddhist dad. Basically it means that, no matter how much of an expert you become, it is a good practice to keep your mind open to new ideas, as if you were a beginner. While the expert's mind has only one right way to do things, the beginner's mind has many options. Begin, again. It's frustrating sometimes - "what, this again?!" ... like the movie Groundhog Day, but it is also a reminder to take a deep breath, not overthink the process, and just... begin, again. Do the work.
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This week, thanks to the wicked and wild wintry weather, I had some time to spend working on my own branding. It is kind of funny how scared I am to just sit down and do the work. Whatever resistance shows up when I'm doing work for a client is double when it comes to doing the work for myself! It continuously blows my mind how weird that is.
But, for three hours on Friday and a few hours today, I worked on my own branding. And, I'll definitely share more about this whole process at some point with you guys, but right at this moment I don't feel ready to. My intuition is telling me to keep it private a little bit longer, to let it gestate. And, I'm working to give space to my intuition in this whole process, so I'm going to honour that.
But, I will share it, soon -- I want to show you the questions I've been answering, about my company and my brand, and the mood board I'm making of inspiring textures and colours for the site. I want to share how I came up with my personal values, and why value-work is even important (hint: it's a lot cooler than it sounds), and what sorts of goals I'm setting for my business.
If you're curious now, though, you can check out a couple of Pinterest boards I'm using to corral inspiration and ideas: My Brand Moodboard and I Love My Small Biz.
I hope you have a productive and inspiring week!
xo Leah