rachelfinder

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[rachelfinder]

Micro Moments

A bee decided to spend a cool night nestled in our hollyhocks.

Something I'm trying to remember is to take the time to capture micro moments like this. Surprisingly, one does remember the larger events happening around moments like these. And unlike larger, more grand experiences, micro moments are often easier to capture and comment on.

We're often told to slow down, rest throughout our day. But who has time to do that? One of my favorite songs says, "time flows so swiftly by..." Finding micro moments like this are a bit of a meditation, a slow rest in an otherwise busy day.

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Channeling a wee bit of Martin Parr...

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These moments at my desk never get old.

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Also known as, "Things I doodle while waiting for footage to ingest."

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Usher and the Baby Spine

In the summer of 2017, I spent hours at lots of local skate parks. I lucked out because my brother-from-another-mother was in town for the whole summer and we hit up as many parks as we could while he was here. At the time, I was working on whatever park trick seemed to fit the park (rather than just focus on one skill at a time), so when we found ourselves at Cornerstone in Lakewood, the baby spine called my name.

Spines are harder than just regular coping. It's two bars, rather than one, and you can't stall on the coping. You've got to straddle both bars at the same time. It's totally doable, but it's a mind-freak. Your brain says, "Nope."

It took a few tries, but I managed to not only land on the spine, but I also managed to come off it to the transition on the other side without biffing it.

Yeah. That's that moment. I'm keeping this picture of my success as my desktop these days. Seeing it reminds me of the baby steps it took to get over the spine. It also reminds me of the joy of succeeding.

Who knew that in seven more years I'd be working on a roller skate invention? And that other roller skaters would find it useful?

This past weekend the world watched as Usher introduced the glory that is Black roller skating. His dancers and skaters took what the rest of us in the community knows and loves and showed the world what is possible on eight wheels. And he did it while transitioning from the field to the stage, going from sneakers to skates in a matter of seconds.

As the inventor of a wheel locker, I was immensely curious to find out how was he going to go from walking to rolling. The internet exploded the following day, with the makers and designers of the Flippers skate boots, Riedell skate manufacturers and Sk8Fanatics skate shop all celebrated the collaboration that created the skates for Usher and his skaters.

Those blue and black high top babies are glorious. Sleek, clean design, beautiful suede leather, and lots of Velcro straps for easy on-easy off.

If you're willing to spend a grand on the boots (just the boots), you can have a pair too!.

As someone who balks whenever I need to spend $$$ on new wheel bearings or toestops, that definitely ain't happening for me. And it probably won't happen for a lot of other skaters.

The last two days got me thinking about the Skooties skate locker: it gives a skater the same ability to go from walking to skating in the same amount of time. It's as easy to take on and off, just like a Velcro strap on a skate boot. But the one thing that separates Skooties from Usher's skates is that they are AFFORDABLE.

There's nothing wrong with having a pricey product (Apple Vision Pro, anyone?). And some entrepreneurs swear by creating high-ticket items and only selling to an elite few. Meh. I'm happy that Skooties are something that everyone in the roller skate community can easily access. Now's the time for the work of getting it out there and into skate shops.

Is it easy launching a new product? Nope. It's a lot of work. It's baby steps. It's just like learning to skate over a baby spine.

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The Daily Dispatch

In his book, "Show Your Work," Austin Kleon chats up the idea that one simple way we can share what we do is by having a "daily dispatch." It could be a blog, a photo dump, a single post...just something that says, "hey! I did a Thing today."

My daily dispatches have been far and few for the last couple of years. COVID. Buying a house. Moving. Twitter transforming into whatever it is now. Inventing a new product. Building a new business...it's a lot and it often feels that since I lost time for the daily dispatch, maybe it's not worth starting up again.

I was looking through my blog posts the other day and realized something special about the daily dispatch. It's not about everybody else. It's not about likes or views. It's not about critiques or even finding your community. It's about YOU. Your daily dispatch is your record of the things you observed, learned and tried. From that record you can glean insights, old ideas for new opportunities, and see just how far you've grown.

But it's also about connection. All the other stuff, the community, the critiques, the likes and views, those are frosting on the cake that is your work. If you're making work, that's what matters. Sometimes you'll be able to document it. Sometimes you won't. That's okay.

Just don't give up on the daily dispatch simply because it's "been too long." Heck, it's been over a year since a post on my own website. But I'm still here. My daily dispatch, the record of my world and my work, has remained in the digital strata. Yours, no matter how frequent or public, is just that: YOURS. We don't keep a daily dispatch for others. We keep it for ourselves.

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Building a New Normal https://youtu.be/Fqb6DN1u7Ak

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Ohio Gray

The monochrome landscape looks dull on first glance. But a deeper gaze reveals tones of red and brown, soothed by a blanket of military gray clouds. It's a landscape both bleak and full of texture.

It's not the colors of a northeastern winter that makes it beautiful. It is the unbroken hedges of cranberry brown, set a-front of a houndstooth of tree trunks.

The branches sometimes bear orange limp tufts--leaves that have forgotten the warmth of summer. Here, winter birds like chattering chickadees and boldly colored dashes of cardinals and jays play and scrounge among squirrels and field mice.

It's a wholely North American landscaping. No other gray is woolen soft. No other hedge is harboring the promise of spring's new growth.

Here is where the wild is left to itself to sigh and rest. Here is where I feel the call to come to ground.

To come home.

***

I've been experimenting with illustration and free writing. It's been an interesting creative outlet. I've always been a writer and an illustrator. But I never intentionally combined them in my creative cultivation.

I'm pleased with this one, both the spontaneity in my coloring and line work on the illustration, and the emotional painting in my writing.

What do you think?

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Because doodles never happen while waiting for transcripts to load...

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Sometimes, getting what you want is as simple as being specific. What do you want? As in DETAILS.

A lot of people don't get SPECIFIC. They want the "normal stuff" and then wonder why they never have anything special. You've got to get specific.

This doesn't just apply to stuff, like houses and cars and tech. It applies to the kind of Life you want to have, the things you want to do, and the person you want to be.

Being specific helps you set goals to achieve those things. And it helps you measure your progress.

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If you don't already have it, how do you find your Purpose?

First, a secret: despite what you might think, everybody else doesn't have it figured out and you're the only one who doesn't. Start there. Everybody is on a journey of discovering and living out of their Purpose. Some are just further along that others.

Second, Purpose is deeply tied to who we are and to the things we care about. If you haven't already done this, take note of the things you like and love. And be honest. Don't note things you think you're "supposed" to like or be passionate about. If pigeons and paper clips are your jam, own it!

Third, think about why you love those things and what about them tickles your fascination?

Another way to do this is time-travel. Your childhood self knows a lot more about your passions than you remember. Go back and think, what did you love then? What did you "want to be when you grow up?"

These interests, passions and fascinations are all hints and clues to your Purpose. Your most authentic and satisfying purpose comes out if who you are. But you have to know what you're interested in and what your good at.

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What do you want to Do?

This isn't necessarily your day job that earns you money. It's the Purpose behind what you do. Sometimes your day job is an extension of that Purpose. Sometimes your hobbies and activities more align with your Purpose.

Sometimes, we're not so lucky to have this idea of Purpose figured out. We go about our day, we have fun, we have chores, and in the middle of all that we wonder why it matters. Purpose gives it weight to matter.

So how do you figure out your Purpose, especially if you don't have one even on your radar?

My first suggestion is to take a step back throughout your day and notice what things bring you a satisfied smile. Do this for a week or so. Note the things that caused the smile. Did they involve your family? Your work? Your friends? What you read on the community bulletin board? What you did in your spare time?

What we enjoy being around, doing with our hands and having in our lives are clue to what brings us joy--and where joy lives is close to Purpose.