Hello and Welcome to Celebrate Individuality!
So glad you found us.
This is where to Celebrate Your Individuality.
To embrace your essence, the eternal part of you that will never die,
even when your physical body no longer exists, YOU still will.
As a child, we are who we are without judgment
or any understanding of rules, limitations, doubts or fear.
As we get older we re taught how we should think, how to act, what to do
and this forms our basic belief system.
This belief system dictates our life and
we are responsible for our decisions and how our lives unfold.
Often we forget what it was that we loved to do as a child,
what came naturally for us and being comfortable with our sense of Self in an unconscious way.
My all time favorite poem describes this:
"To be nobody but yourself
in a wOrld which IS doing its best, night and day,
to make you evErybody else
MEANS TO FIGHT THE HARDEST BATTLE
WHICH ANY HUMAN BEING CAN FIGHT;
AND NEVER STOP FIGHTING.." e.e.cummings
The first time I read this poem was on a bulletin board
in my high school English classroom.
In that moment, the strong connection I felt to that statement
made me realize I was missing that part of me -- to be myself.
I was influenced by my parents, teachers, religious leaders
and of course, my friends.
Trying to please, do the right thing, be a good person
but I also felt a yearning to be able to express myself freely.
In school we wore uniforms
so I created a collection of ribbons
in all kinds of colors and patterns to wear in my hair
and carried a US Mail box style lunch box
as my purse to express my individuality.
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| As a child, I was an artist, |
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| a dancer, |
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| a photographer, |
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| a writer, |
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| a teacher, |
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| entrepreneur, businesswoman, |
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| and philosopher to name a few. |
It all came easily, effortlessly
and there was no wondering if I could do it
or if I was good at it, I just did what came naturally to me.
But the older I got, the more I found myself putting those things on the back burner in order to be a responsible adult. It felt like a part of me was dead and I was never very happy doing what I thought I was suppose to do.
It was necessary for me to have a creative outlet, some time set aside to do what I love. My belief system dictated that it was just a hobby and I could never make a living doing what I love.
So stuck in my beliefs of doing what I was expected instead of doing what I love was a long time struggle that I worked on everyday, just like e.e. cummings poem stated. Then I discovered something . . .
Your belief system, your thoughts, are powerful beyond measure.
Whatever you think or believe is your truth.
So if you think you can't, you can't.
As I began to explore the power of thought, I realized how I had been limiting myself. I was the one keeping me from having the life I wanted.
Journaling played a big role in this discover process. This lead to creating handcrafted journals instead of the cheap notebooks I had been using. I loved making them so much, I began to make them for gifts. I was doing what I loved and was good at it. That evolved into a desire to share my love of journals and offer them for sale. I had fallen in love with paper and all the things I could do with it ... transforming pieces into specific shapes, designs, color schemes as little works of art. Then I decided to set up an official business, with a mission statement, business plan and the perfect business name. The name had to reflect how I felt about working with paper so I reviewed words in dictionaries, thesauruses, word menus, searching for just the right name. Then there it was and I knew it was perfect.
Immediately I checked on the name and was I able to register it. It was exciting.
When asked the question, if you could do anything you wanted, what would you do?
My answer was:
I'd wake up each morning with new ideas and spend the day creating from them.
Then whatever I created, I would share with others,
so that they would be inspired to help themselves improve or enhance their own life.
What a crazy idea. How can anyone make a living doing that.
What a dreamer. You need a reality check. Be practical.
Since this was my business and I was doing it as a side line from my day job -- the practical way to make a living, I was not letting those limiting thoughts and beliefs to meddle in this new venture.
PAPER ARCHITECT would create custom paper art, designed specifically for the customer so they could celebrate THEIR individuality.
In essence, this was going to be that dream I had my whole life. And since I was doing it in my free time I didn't care about anything but doing what came naturally. As I continued, I began to think maybe I'll even make enough to support myself doing this. That would be ideal. Just as I had always envisioned. Just maybe this is a real possibility if I could just let go of those old beliefs and create a new belief system in myself and that all things are possible.
Since that time, I have expanded to developing, researching, writing and facilitating workshops that complement the paper art products and of course also have the goal to celebrate our individuality and it just keeps growing.
Now my mission statement: Celebrate Your Individuality is clearly defined and is the heart and soul of my business but more than that, it's the heart and soul of me.
When I talk to people who are searching for answers, looking to add joy in their day, wanting to connect with their true essence, find what is really important in their life, I can relate and want to be of assistance. To possibly help guide them toward discovering and embracing the unique human being that we are which in turn will revise our belief system and to believe in ourselves.
In these posts, in my products, workshops, consulting sessions and by practicing what I preach, I hope you can gain some spark of insight into the amazing person that you are and find the courage to believe in yourself
Join me and Celebrate Your Individuality!
