With much excitement, I went to Pottery today to pick up my newly fired piece.
The glazes came out great, but when I looked closely, I saw two marks on the outside brown rim, which on closer inspection turned out to be cracks in the clay.
My heart sank and I felt deep disappointment. The hours of work / effort I put into creating this piece seemed wasted and my negative self-talk started up with a vengeance. Bottom-line: I failed; not good enough!
But, then I remembered an incident, which happened a while ago…
I had made my first Celtic cross from a design I found on the internet. I loved it and hung it up proudly in our hallway.
Just about the time I was really used to the Celtic cross being there; one of my sons was bouncing a ball in the hallway and you can probably guess what happened.
My Celtic cross fell and smashed into pieces. I felt like a part of me had broken.
My ever practical husband told me:”You can make another one.” I knew he was right, but did I want to? Would it be the same?
I weighed up my options. I could wallow in my disappointment and feel resentful against my son. But I didn’t want to do that. So, I decided to try something different.
I decided to make the Celtic cross again. This time, I was a bit more adventurous and added some coloured glaze. It turned out great and motivated me to have a play with the design. I ended up designing and making 6 more Celtic crosses.
I was given the opportunity to display my seven Celtic crosses at our Pottery Place Sale of Work. As I named each cross for the display, I realised that I had made (unbeknown to me) one cross for each chakra in order from base to crown!
This experience showed me that disappointments can be opportunities to open new, unexplored doors in our lives, if we let them. The key to opening these doors is the courage to go again and having faith that we can go beyond where we are right now.
And then… be open to receive the gift!
I also learned to implement a new rule: “No bouncing balls indoors!”😃
Love and Light
Gabi