These are quiet days for me with my jewelry booth at the Granville Island Public Market this time of year. The summer visitors have drifted away, and the holiday rush hasn't yet begun. As I sit at my table, the market calm provides me with a rare opportunity for stillness. It’s a kind of "enforced quiet," where I can’t leave, so I end up knitting, polishing my Pebblebellies, and soaking in the gentle rhythm around me.
I’ve been open with you all about the ups and downs I’ve been navigating. My children are growing up, my to-do list stretches longer by the minute, and there’s often this tension in my chest that feels almost too tight to bear. On one particularly overwhelming day, I remember telling my daughter I just needed a break to sit and work on my Pebblebellies—my small talismans inspired by the orcas on our coast. Even the act of making them soothes me in a way I can’t quite put into words.
And then, just as life seems to know when I’m most in need of a reminder, my sister texted me asking if I’d ever knitted a cardigan I truly loved. I haven’t had much time for knitting lately, though I once knit prolifically and even dreamed of becoming a master knitter. As I sent her a link to my favorite cardigan, I felt a little spark, an almost-forgotten pull toward something familiar yet unexpectedly exciting. “Maybe,” I thought, “I could take a moment to sit with this pattern, with a cup of tea.”
So, that’s what I did. I paused. I let the world fall away and started measuring my arm for this new project, reacquainting myself with the feel of knitting needles and the weight of wool. In that quiet moment, I felt something settle, a whisper saying, “Yes, this is what you need right now.” The magic was in listening, recognizing the tiny, quiet signals that creativity was using to speak to me, to guide me to something healing.
And so here’s what I want to share with you: when we let our creative selves speak, they often come to us as gentle nudges. Maybe it’s a little urge to pick up an old project, a text message from someone out of the blue, or a quote you keep seeing everywhere. Life doesn’t always scream for us to pay attention to these whispers, but I’ve learned that there’s wisdom in tuning in and being present with them.
My invitation to you is to notice your own whispers in the coming days. What’s gently calling you, asking for your time or care? Perhaps it’s time to pick up that thing you’ve set aside, to take a quiet day for yourself, or to follow an unexpected nudge. If you’d like, share your own whispers with me and our community, and let’s celebrate the small ways creativity and intuition come alive for each of us.
I talk about this more on the Creative Genius Patreon in bonus episode 70 which just dropped. These are raw, unscripted dispatches from me about all things creativity and self care.
love,
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