“Our talents are the gift that God gives to us… What we make of our talents is our gift back to God” ? Leo Buscaglia
Timber Workshop
As far as New Years Resolutions go I had never been a big fan, the MOST I had ever resolved to do was to make changes in the way I think about things and try and change subtle things based on my reflected thoughts of the year just past.
This New Year was different, in 2012 I wanted to become a ‘Maker’ – let me explain, for quite some time I have had a theory that people fit into four basic categories… Makers, Fixers, Planners or Educators (ok so maybe this is a little simplistic) and everyone can loosely be fitted into one of these categories.
I had for most of my working life been a ‘Fixer’ I relied on things (or people) to break before I could do anything. Now I’m not of course suggesting that there is anything wrong with being a Fixer, fixing things is an important part of the overall scheme of life, without people fixing things everything would become disposable (and we are moving toward this fast enough !) what was missing at least in my life anyway was the joy you feel when you MAKE something, taking raw materials, ingredients or other items and putting them together to BE something or bring life to them is one of the greatest things you can do.
And so it was that I set out on a path to add making to my life, I wasn’t really sure where to start, none of my hobbies offered me the type of opportunities I was looking for so I would need to dig deep and find something completely new to satisfy my needs.
I was really hoping to be able to make something out of wood, I’d always enjoyed working with timber (not that I was much good at it) but I thought the satisfaction of both selecting a piece of timber and bringing it to life in an interesting way would be quite satisfying.
Given that I had no access to a workshop and most of the new woodworking tools I had bought were still all in boxes I needed something that could be done at home with limited space – enter ‘Candle Making’ making candles is something that requires very little equipment and the gift to a friend of a scented candle that you have made yourself is something that brings joy to both the giver and the receiver.
Bees Wax & Soy Homemade Candles
Hopefully now that I have made a start on my new found ‘Maker’ path other opportunities will soon fill my time and bring a balance to my life.