Slow Down

snails, a photo by JasonOzur on Flickr.

"Slow down and remember this - most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action."
- Tim Ferriss

It couldn't be more relevant than to now. We always seem to be in a rush to get somewhere, to get something done, to meet more people -- that the important things seem to sift away and fall to the bottom of the pile. Mindfulness is our only savior in this hectic rat-race towards what often tunrs out to be not all that worthy finishing line. 

Nature will always get her ways. If we don't stop to breath, it will give us a cold so that we appreciate our breath better. Allow me to make up for all my unmade New Year's resolution with this post (in case you were wondering - I was too occupied with adjusting to extreme time differences and temperature drops and completely lost my opportunity to even buy a 2013 agenda book).

With each year that goes by I realize how it all boils down to mindfulness and how important this is to our lives. Living to its fullest each moment as it passes through us; embracing life with all of its challenges - even savouring the painful experiences. We'll always be able to look back fondly to these challenging times and appreciate the lessons they taught us and are still relevant in the present.

At this point, you're probably concerned with where this SmellyBlog is going and how is this related to perfume - or smell - in any way. Well, last time I checked it was an paramount to smelling. And if that does not satisfy you, here's my New Year's resolution for 2013:

1.  Be mindful of my breathing, thinking, and the intent I put in what I do.
2.  Remain authentic to my inner voice - which is inevitably connected to my creative side which churns up scents as my means of self-expression and story telling. 3. Release absolutely no new scent whatsoever in 2013.
4. Perfect as much as I possibly can the packaging, branding and accessibility of my existing line.

In relation to 4, I'd like to add that I have thought long and hard about my collection over the past year, and have divided it down to 4 collections, and 49 scents in total - that should keep both me and my customers interested and busy for a while. Now it's just the question of printing and setting this into action; plus the scariest part of the task: re-branding the website. Any takers for the task?

There is going to be plenty of excitement for 2013: Broken Hearts Tea Party for Valentine's on February 10th; Artisan Fragrance Salon March 24th, my appearance in Blackbird Apothecary as part of the Northwest Indie Perfumers Circuit on May 11th, and of course - my Floriental Week May 13-17. Hope you'll join me for one or more of these events!