Life Cycle of Tree: Seed 1/12

Dear friends,

Ciao 2021!~

It's a brand new year. I don't know about you, but to me, a new year means an opportunity for a new beginning. When I looked back at the year 2020, I had things that I wanted to keep, toss, change, and learn.

With the habit of using photographs and random notes as a journal to keep track of the year that had just passed, I decided to come up with a new list for 2021. I want to do things differently every year and 2021 will be no exception  (~_^). 

One day, while I was walking back home, blooming blue peas caught my attention. I walked closer to investigate, and to appreciate the beauty of these flowers. As I observed, my monkey mind took over and it struck me that these blooms would not exist without its fundamental seeds. 

With the "seed" in my mind, it began to occur to me that my mind has been normalized to be results-driven. I reflected on the essence of PROCESS, the journey towards results, and the importance of the humble seed. As without the seed, results would never flower. 

When have I started to drift away from valuing the journey of Process?

I couldn't help but evaluate the world that I currently live in - a world filled with endless worldly temptations that are fueled by instant gratifications: "I can teach you how to become a Millionaire in JUST 3 months, cut down 10kg in 30 days, learn how to read someone's mind in 5 mins if you just give me 30 seconds...". The list goes and on, especially on Youtube (for any youtube user, I'm sure that know what I mean). All these prepositions seem too good to be true. How true can they be? 

I personally believe that it takes much life experience, countless broken hearts, countless failures, education, etc. to achieve "that particular" success. The list is unique to that someone who achieved his goal and cannot be exactly replicated by another. 

☀︎

Storytime:

A woman who happened to be in a cafe spotted the legendary Pablo Picasso carefreely doodling on a piece of napkin. A few minutes later, when Picasso finished his coffee and was about to leave, he crumpled the napkin and was ready to throw it away. 

The woman stopped him and said, "Can I have that napkin that you were just drawing on, I will pay you for it."

"Sure" Picasso replied

"It will be $20,000"

"What? It took you less than 2 minutes to draw it" the woman reasoned.

"No ma'am, It took me  60 years to draw this" Picasso replied. 

 He stuffed the napkin in his pocket and walked out of the cafe

content from《The subtle art of not giving a f*ck》by Mark Manson

You see? Without the seed planted in Mr. Picasso's life for the past 60 years, this event will not have occurred.

 ☁︎

Why should we learn to appreciate the journey from beginning to end?

☛So that we can learn about ourselves, knowing what works, what doesn't. What makes us, us.

☛So that we can cultivate the courage to face our biggest fears

☛So that we can gain muscle memory to master one skill at a time

☛Life experience is a priceless gift that you can give to yourself

☛To be focussed and to be motivated to work towards our goals instead of comparing ourselves with others

Staying focus is essential when you wish to gain mastery in "something" that you want to achieve in life. It could be a relationship with your loved one, friends you wish to reconnect; it could also be a craft which you wish to learn and gain mastery; a habit which you wish to cultivate, or a healthy lifestyle which you wish to introduce into your daily life. It can be anything big or small as long as it resonates with your current state of mind.

To begin my journey, I've come out with a list of 12 processes for 12 months to share with you, my past and present experiences as a case study. 

Monthly blogging schedule

1. Jan: Seed

2. Feb: Seeding

3. Mar: Sprouting

4. Apr: Growing

5. May: Rooting

6. Jun: Budding

7. Jul: Flowering

8. Aug: Fruiting

9. Sep: Harvesting

10. Oct: Withering

11. Nov: Back to Nature

12. Dec: Spread the Seeds 

Using the life cycle of the tree as a metaphor to reflect our life experiences and how we can secure today as an opportunity to start something. 

1. Jan: Seed

What do you wish to grow? 

If you haven't made up your mind, you can use reverse engineering to trace way back the source from the result which you wish to obtain.

Nothing is too small or too big to grow, as long as the seed resonates with you. 

Make it easy for you to start less and to start small.

Mentally prepare yourself that this will be an exciting journey that is filled with unknown and unpredictable challenges. Losing your momentum halfway, failures and drifting are common. The aim is to keep staying on the same path for as long as you can.

Set a 3/3 goal 

Minimum 30mins/ 3 days weekly to grow your seed

Keep a journal (notebook, Facebook or blog, or Instagram) when you begin. It will allow you to pen down your initial intention and to record the hard work you've done to get you to where you want to be. A journal will also help to organize your thoughts and filter what works and what doesn't work for you.

*My advice is from my past experience, it might work or might not work for you. If you have a better way on how to gain mastery, I will be more than happy to hear from you :)

My personal choice is to choose 5 seeds to grow in my garden. 

To learn technical skills, one baby steps at a time in 2021. 

Every month, I will share my learning process with you so I will become a case study/ example for you to find workable ways to complete your task.

1.Gift Wrapping

I've started an Instagram account on 1.1.2021 to showcase my gift wrapping ideas. To make it slightly more challenging, I intend to post one wrapping idea every day. It's going to be a platform to share 365 gift wrapping ideas with eco-friendly material and using whatever is available at home to create an everyday gift for your loved ones. You are welcomed on this journey with me :)

2. Natural Dye

This is a project that I had started during the COVID lockdown and had fallen in love with the process. So this year I intend to carry on and accumulate my knowledge in natural dyes.

3. Needle Work

I started needlework in my college days, but I was so bad at it that I stopped for years. In recent years, through my personal life experience, I've learned to do things one step at a time which provided me with a new break into needlework. This year I will push myself to challenge different needlework that I have not tried in the past. Stay tuned :)

Check out my first needlework for wabisabi

4. Pattern Drafting

I almost lost touch with my pattern drafting knowledge since I left college. It was the most challenging subject for me in Fashion Design because I had too many "whys" which my teacher couldn't answer (I had to admit that I had given my teacher a really hard time). Without answers, I lost the motivation to carry on as hated this subject. Thanks to the internet gods, I found (some of) my answers on the web am ready to embark on this journey all over again!

5. Illustrating

I find illustrating very poetic, perhaps what I admire is very poetic. I am not very good at illustrating life objects, so this year I will focus on illustrating moving humans and animals.

 ☁︎ 

My blog will be a mess if it wasn't for the help of my husband Mr. E. He is the editor behind this blog from the very beginning till now and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him and hopefully, this will encourage him to inject more brilliant ideas into this blog to share it with you.

That's all for my January 2021 updates, looking forward to know if you benefit from this post. 

Write to me if you want to share your thoughts.

Upcoming blog in 4th February: Life Cycle of Tree: Seeding 2/12

New year, new seeds, 

Waee Waee & Mr. E