Making Room

I talked in this post about the concept of Sacred Subtraction that I came across somewhere on Facebook and it stuck with me. When I was doing my extensive planning with Leonie Dawson's amazing workbook (click here if you want to know more or buy your own copy), there is a section where you think about and write down what you are going to stop doing to make room for everything you want to do and want to happen.

One of those things for me was to give my my knitting/jewelry Etsy Shop. It was taking up a lot of my time and not really bringing in much. Nor did I want it to do so well that I would spend my days and evenings only knitting anymore.

When I made that decision, there were two things I didn't expect. The first is how much relief I felt when it was closed. Don't get me wrong, I love to knit and will do so forevermore, but taking pictures, listing things, promoting them, all took up a tremendous amount of time. Plus I always felt like I needed to do more. So with the store being gone, the pressure has lifted.

Which brings me to my second surprise. What I really freed up with this was not so much time, but internal energy. And that stunned me because knitting is a really good thing in my life. I didn't expect that the shop was occupying so much of my creative energy.

Joy Rising
acrylic painting on 12 x 12 inch canvas
Available in my Etsy Shop

With that gone, I suddenly feel free to be a full-time artist. I don't just call myself that, but I feel it! My creative loyalties are no longer divided. I still knit, but now for me and friends and family and that has a whole different energy about it. Plus, if I don't pick up my needles for a week, that's ok.

As soon as this mental/emotional space was freed up, other ideas started flooding in! Pages of them. It was like they were all right at the door, but there was no space for them to come into my conscious awareness. This is exciting!!

Harmony
acrylic painting on 11 x 14 inch canvas
Available in my Etsy Shop

And it is making me think about the whole Sacred Subtraction topic in a new way. It's not just about stuff that is negative in my life (that seems a no-brainer to me). The bigger question is: are there other things I love doing that I can re-define or re-direct into a different format (like me knitting just for fun anymore) so that I can make more room for new ideas to keep flowing? Definitely! But that's for another post or this one will get too long!

For now, I leave you with thoughts of warmth, sunshine and abundant color on this cold morning!

❧ Silke