I am an artist as well as a writer and organizer. As the artist Lady Artisan I must organize my life so that I successfully move forward with my work both as an organizer and artist. At times the work of my art takes precedence. Other times it is more helpful to work on helping others to organize their lives.

Life has phases. Seasons come and go. There are times during the year when it works best to focus on my identity as the Lady Artisan. Other seasons I focus more on those who would like to organize their life. That is the nature of life. Seasons come and go. There are seasons that are cyclical, others are once in a lifetime.

No matter what our season in life success is achieved by focusing on what is most important. And that is usually what is going on with our soul, not the business of life around us.

What is your season at this time?

What do you do when life throws those curve balls that disrupt the best of intentions?

Starting new habits of organization takes effort, energy, it is hard work! Retaining the good organizational habits that help life to move forward relatively smoothly can be disrupted by the unexpected.

Death can enter your life. Illegal activities, unjust actions, just plain evil can suddenly knock you off of your feet and suddenly the new or old habits of organization are lost. There is after all only so much energy you have to give.

So what do you do?

During times of duress it all comes in the outlook you choose to take on. All is well with my soul comes from a hymn written during the darkest times of the author's life, Horatio G Spafford. It is the title of this blog post because as in Horatio Spafford's life I need to take on a vision that is eternal, not temporal. No matter what the losses in my life, all is well with my soul.

It is often helpful during the worst of times to go about one's business as if nothing at all is wrong. This does not mean to ignore true emotional suffering or need. But it does mean that you can say to yourself, what would I do right now if this problem were not in my life. And then do it. It is a way to keep going forward and not to let the sorrow or difficulties of life take control.

All Is Well With My Soul

I am excited to post almost daily to this blog! There are countless methods to organize one's life. One method works for one person, another method works better for another. Sometimes I think that one way of organizing works for me one day, and another the next. I can be a very scattered person. I think that is partly why I love to focus on organizing. Life is less complicated, work is easier, and I feel more peaceful and competent when my environment is organized.

Organizing can be hard. It can be fun. It often means letting go of activities that are too much to fit into one's life. I am setting aside activities I love so that I can prepare for the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. Violin lessons can wait. Hiking which I love can wait. There is a benefit to setting aside hiking at this time. It is summer. Hiking means ticks. I would love it if someone - anyone - could tell me why they have become a plague in the woods and fields? I have a theory. I will keep it to myself so that your ideas are not swayed by mine.

My schedule at this time is a lot more rigid than I would like it to be. But that will enable me to get my work done, and to have time to enjoy a few things that I will not put aside at this time.