if i have to force an idea, it won’t work. it never works. every idea i have ever had for my work has been a naturally occurring development spurred from something i witnessed in my environment, past or present. the conscious thought involved in any of this is like putting puzzle pieces together; the pieces appear and i arrange them into something. the work i present to the world falls under the umbrella of being a business but it is much more of a connective spiritual practice.

somehow, every season change nudges me to re-evaluate my practice. what am i doing that is taking more time than it is worth to me? what do i need to be doing more of? what direction would i like to go in? it’s like my own structure yields to the seasonal rhythms. most times, things fall right into place.

this winter’s ritual began a few weeks ago, when the cold arrived. but it compounded yesterday while i was driving into the city. i wondered a few questions while i was getting ready. i had no intention of figuring them out. but like pushing a snowball, once my thoughts began rolling, they developed on their own. i had made the conscious choice last week to remove my art prints from my website and allow the focus to be on books. before i knew it, i had a list of what i hoped to make for the year, a tentative release schedule, a new website layout, and even a tagline to supplement the ideas emerging from these shifts. 

my subconscious works overtime. it is constantly stringing together thoughts and ideas, but it blows me away when i blink and realize i have everything laid out. not only that, but it’s exactly aligned with what i want or need. these ideas don’t actually appear out of no where – it’s like ingredients have been foraged, fermented, cultivated, and the moment things come together is akin to cooking a meal with all i’ve gathered. but what floors me is the intelligence of our subconscious to be able to develop the recipes. it’s like how dreams reflect what we are struggling with in our waking life. something in us just knows, naturally, without effort. these seasonal practices have become exercises for those subconscious muscles.