day 55 - responsibility

"There is fortune in leftovers." 

- Japanese Saying

Responsibility starts with stewardship — recognizing what is and isn't mine to carry. 

This little pouch, called a Fukubukuro or Lucky Bag feels like a symbol of what I hold: choices, responses, care, and consequences.

Today I'm practicing responsibility by asking myself two questions: 

When I'm "left holding the bag," what happens to my compassion? 

And "What have I been entrusted with, by choice or by circumstance, and how do I want to carry it?"

day 54 - giving

"It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving."

- Mother Teresa

Giving is about what leaves my hands. It's also about the attention I bring to the offering.

This pretty box was folded for a celebration and will hold something small but meaningful. It has been lovingly shaped to honor both what's inside, and my esteem for the receiver. 

Today I'm practicing giving by reflecting on what it means to wrap something — an object, a moment, or even a feeling — with care.

day 53 - action

"We are clearly in a lot of emergencies right now. They demand action. But action demands thought and thoughtfulness: who are we, what are our values, our goals, our allies, our possibilities, and our powers?"

- Rebecca Solnit 

In my origami practice, the action begins the moment I stop deliberating and start making thoughtful decisions. 

This little heart, folded from a dictionary page, started as a way to use up a scrap of paper.  But when I finished and saw the word pulse on it's surface I felt like it was also a message to my Self: action is the heartbeat of nonviolence.

I started to think about all the ways nonviolent action is like a pulse: 

• It animates values, making them circulatory rather than theoretical.
• It's rhythmic, moving in waves of pressure and pause.
• It is a repetition of persistent gestures, not one big event, keeping a body, a community, a system alive.
• It carries life to the edges, moving blood where it's needed just as action mobilizes care, attention, resources and pressure to areas that have been starved of them.
• It responds to stress, it adapts to crisis by intensifying.
• It is a sign that the body — or a society — is active, alive and evolving.
• And if it stops, something is wrong.

Today I'm practicing action by letting the answers to these questions guide my choices and evolution: Who am I, what are my values, goals, allies, possibilities, and powers?

---

day 52 - equality

In modular origami, equality isn't an idea — it's a requirement. It's material and measurable. 

When folding modular or symmetrical forms, the beauty comes from balance. 

Every module has to start out exactly the same size, be folded with the same precision, given the same care. If I rush one unit, the whole structure tells on me. 

Equality here shows up as patience, as repetition, as willingness to offer the same respect again and again. 

The challenge is consistency; the delight is when the whole becomes visibly balanced.

Today, I'm practicing equality, in origami and in life, by meeting repetitive tasks with curiosity and patience.

Illusion cubes designed by David Mitchell. Published in his book, Sticky Note Origami.

day 51 - advocacy

Advocacy isn’t necessarily noisy. It can be a quiet acknowledgement of something noteworthy. 

Take this note pad sheet folded into a speech bubble. It isn’t shouting. It’s held open for something kind or helpful to be said.

When I fold, I practice care for attention itself. I make something slow in a fast world, tactile in a complex one. 

When I speak about it, it’s not to assert or assign — it’s to say: this has given me focus and joy, maybe it could for you too.

The nonviolence aspect here is deliberate. Choosing words the way I choose folds: on a good day, that means with patience, respect, and an eye toward what could become without being forced.

This is soft advocacy, certainly. Not a push, but an invitation. Not a demand, but a demonstration. 

Because some things don’t need defending. It's enough to make them visible, and trust them to speak for themselves.

Today, my practice of advocacy includes inviting, tending, making space, and letting people discover what fits.

Speech Bubble designed and taught by Kamikey on YouTube

day 50 - choice

"May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears." 

- Nelson Mandela

Choice shows up even in the most structured moments. In origami, every fold is a decision: this way or that.

This traditional masu box has a divider insert folded from a separate square of atlas paper, making it a perfect vessel for presenting a variety of treats or cherishing a collection.

What would you choose to fill it with?

Today, I’m practicing choice by noticing the direction I take — and why.

day 49 - honour

“The way you do anything is the way you do everything.”

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Honor in origami is how I treat what’s been entrusted to me.

Every choice — the paper, the pattern, the folds, the time — matters. 

Each square, each hand that will receive it, each minute spent folding is part of the offering.

Today, I’m practicing honor by giving this practice—and the sharing of it—the care, gratitude, and attention it deserves.

day 48 - ecology

"The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it." 

- David Suzuki

Ecology reminds us: nothing exists alone. We’re part of a vast, buzzing web.

I recently learned that flies aren’t just clean-up crews — they’re pollinators too. Apples, grapes, even hops for your beer? Thank a fly.

Today, I’m practicing ecology by noticing the world from a different perspective.

Fly: Leyla Torres, Origami Spirit

day 47 - disarmament

Disarmament isn’t just about drones and bombs — it’s also un-clenching my heart and hands.

Today, I’m practicing disarmament by choosing care over combat, gentleness over guardedness… and raising a folded paw instead of a claw.

Kitty and basket designed and taught by origami_ishibashinaoko on YouTube.

day 46 - compassion

"One love, one heart" 

- Bob Marley

Those words feel like the perfect companion for this folded heart today.

Visually, this heart is two halves not quite meeting in the middle, holding tenderness even when things are cracked or split.

Compassion is like that. Not shiny or perfect, but steady, warm, and willing to frame what’s fragile. It is the quiet work of helping the two halves of the heart — or two people — find their way a little closer together.

My blog name, One Love Origami, was inspired by this song. At the time it simply felt good and sounded beautiful to me.

Over the years I’ve come to see not only how creative expression can help mend a broken heart, but also how beautifully folding paper brings people together across languages, cultures, and differences. It generously and inclusively extends an invitation, much like the song: “Let’s get together and feel alright.”

Today I'm practicing compassion by meeting my own missteps with kindness — noticing my inner critic and softening its tendency toward prosecution, practicing a little non-violence toward myself so that I can also meet the world with more love.

Heart designed by Fumiaki Shingu
Frame designed by Kamikey

April 27 at Strathcona County Library

Origami Circle: 

Craft, Connect, Create

There are only two spots left for this special event at Strathcona County Library on April 27 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm.

We’ll spend the evening folding simple forms together and adding them to a collaborative community garland while reflecting on the power of creativity and connection.

No experience needed, just curiosity and a willingness to slow down for a couple of hours.

Register at sclibrary.ca

I’m really looking forward to seeing what we create together!

day 45 - mastery

"If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all." 

- Michelangelo

Mastery isn't a leap; it's a scaffold - built layer by layer, block by block, through practice, repetition, mistakes, and refinements that stack up over time. 

Like these cubes, progress isn't always linear. Sometimes it's offset, or looks awkward mid-build. But slowly, the structure begins to support itself. What was once uncertain becomes stable, experiment becomes evidence, effort becomes fluency.

There's a lesson in perspective here, too: the same structure can look different depending on how you're viewing it. 

Mastery isn't just about adding more techniques. It's about learning to see possibilites, constraints, and patterns in new ways. 

It's about building something that can keep growing.

Today I'm practicing mastery by remembering that every single step counts.

Necker/Illusion Cubes designed by David Mitchell, featured in his book, Sticky Note Origami

day 44 - cooperation

"The powerful have their power. But we have something too - the capacity to stop pretending, to name reality, to build our strength at home and to act together."  

- Mark Carney

Cooperation requires shared effort. My hands are guided by the paper's limits, and the paper responds to my hands.

This particular form cannot exist without collaboration between parts. 

• No single unit is the centre. 
• No piece is "in charge". 
• Each module holds, and is held. 

Like this modular ring, peace cannot be imposed. It must be assembled.

Today I'm practicing cooperation by remembering that the strength of the whole depends on the care of, and from, each part.

day 43 - uniqueness

"Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!" 

- Dr Seuss

No two origami models are ever exactly the same. No two lives are either. Uniqueness is something we don't have to earn — we already are it.

In real life, elephants are known to have individual memories, character, and presence; each one is recognized and remembered by their herd.

In the context of nonviolence, uniqueness invites us to honor the irreproducible nature of each being — each story, each history, each environment, and each situation.

This little elephant reminds me that being different is not a flaw; it's the whole art.

Today I'm practicing uniqueness by celebrating all handmade objects as delightfully one-of-a-kind.

Elephant by Jo Nakashima

day 42 - accountability

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” 

- John Muir

I think of accountability as a practice.

My choices don’t live in isolation — they live within relationships, systems, ecosystems, communities, continents, the world.

I feel like a better global citizen and steward of my environment when I choose reclaimed paper for folding.

These stacked masu boxes also nest, interconnected — each one precious and unique, despite being made from atlas paper that was discarded, unwanted, obsolete — the collection forming something greater than the sum of it's parts.

Today I’m practicing accountability by owning what I bring to the work.

day 41 - openness

"There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." 

- Leonard Cohen

Openness isn't the absence of boundaries; it's the presence of room to breathe. 

This structure literally holds its shape by leaving space. 

Folded by my origami teacher more than 25 years ago, this woven cube is still letting light in - on the benefits of cultural exchange, learning through experience, the joy of folding, and expanding attitudes and possibilities.

Today I'm practicing openness by remembering that a strong form can still be open.

day 40 - unity

"Unity in Diversity" 

- A phrase popularized by Jawaharlal Nehru, and inspired by the ancient wisdom of the Rig Veda

Unity doesn’t have to mean sameness.

In many societies—and in many moments of daily life—people belong to one whole while carrying different traditions, viewpoints, and histories. Diversity doesn’t weaken unity; often, it enriches it.

I’m usually a bit timid when it comes to aesthetic risks. I tend to choose familiar color combinations and make sure everything neatly “matches.”

But when I took a chance and folded this modular box using four different patterned papers, I was surprised and delighted by the result. The colors settled into harmony, creating a charming patchwork effect.

Today I’m practicing unity by celebrating the many parts of my life that come together in harmony—despite their differences, and sometimes because of them.

Modular Box Design by Tomoko Fuse

day 39 - dialogue

"Every little thing wants to be loved." 

- Sue Monk, The Secret Life of Bees

Dialogue is one of nonviolence's quieter tools: listening, responding, and letting ourselves be changed by what we hear.

Origami teaches me this. 

I can't force the paper without damaging it. I have to work with its grain, its thickness, its size. Each crease is a kind of proposal. The paper answers by holding, resisting, reshaping.

That's a conversation. 

Folding feels like that. It's a practice of shaping without coercion. Of staying curious about what this material - or this person - can become. 

Nonviolent communication isn't about winning. It's about tending the space between us - like a small field where many little things can land, hover, and be heard.

Today I'm practicing dialogue by working with different papers and attending to how they respond.

Origami Bee: Designed by Leyla Torres of Origami Spirit, based on an Origami Fly by Angel Ecija

day 38 - kindness

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” 

- Dalai Lama

This is one of the reasons I return again and again to origami as a contemplative art.

It shows me that kindness can come in many forms —even when all you have to start with is something small: a piece of paper and a willingness to try.

Paper is almost always within reach. A receipt, a scrap, a square from a notebook. 

Possibility is everywhere.

When the folds are challenging, I remember that someone, somewhere, was kind enough to lay out the path so that others could follow. Each diagram is an act of kindness, given from the heart.

And from those simple folds — all sorts of possibilities:

• A heart folded for a friend.
• A little frog to amuse an impatient child.
• A flower left behind as a thank-you.
• A shape that bridges language when words feel far away.

This double-layer heart reminds me that kindness, too, has layers. There is the kindness we receive, the kindness we learn, and the kindness we choose to pass along.

Today I’m practicing kindness. It doesn’t need perfect timing or special materials. Because kindness — like a piece of paper — is almost always within reach.

day 37 - graciousness

"Your graciousness is what carries you. It isn't how old you are, how beautiful you are, or how short your skirt is. What it is, is what comes out of your heart. If you are gracious, you have won the game." 

- Stevie Nicks

Graciousness shows up most obviously in how I respond when things don't go as planned. 

But it's not just about perfection, it's also about timing. About knowing when to speak, when to listen, and when to pause. 

This bookmark, made from old sheet music, reminds me that even silence has a place in the score. A rest is not for nothing. It's part of the music. 

Today I'm practicing graciousness by resting when I'm tempted to react.

day 36 - mindfulness

"The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it." 

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Mindfulness isn't about clearing my mind. It's about engaging my presence.

Folding these tiny stars from old book pages feels like meditation in motion - slow hands, careful alignment and attention to small details.

The glass tube is like a contemplative vessel, holding those small attentive moments in one quiet, visible form. It whispers to me, be here, notice, take your time.

Today I'm practicing mindfulness by staying with each moment as it is.

Lucky (Puffy) Stars

day 35 - understanding

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end they always fail. Think of it: always." 

- Mahatma Gandhi

Understanding grows more slowly than opinion. It asks me to stay a little longer with what I don't yet comprehend.

Today I'm practicing understanding by not rushing to conclusions or assuming outcomes—remembering that some frightening or confusing things may simply be misunderstood, while some are genuinely harmful. 

Neither tells the whole story.

No-Face (Kaonashi) from "Spirited Away"

day 34 - love

"The Eskimo has 52 words for snow because it is important to them; there ought to be as many for love." 

-Margaret Atwood

Love isn’t always fancy champagne and roses.

Often, it looks like care repeated in small, ordinary ways.

In this quote, Margaret Atwood reflects on how language reveals what we value.

While academics debate the exact number of words for snow in Inuit languages, the deeper truth remains: when something matters, we learn to speak of it with nuance and fluency.

In the language of flowers, the carnation symbolizes love and care in all their forms — romantic, familial, and platonic — as well as remembrance, devotion, and even quiet resistance.

Today, I’m practicing love by showing up where I care, with affection and consistency.

Want all kinds of origami love? Explore my 14-post series #initforallthelove here on One Love Origami.

day 33 - acknowledgement

Acknowledgement begins for me, with the actual ground beneath my feet.

If you zoom in on this box, you’ll see the lid is a map of North America — the continent I stand upon. The land where I forage wisdom and feel a deep sense of connection.

It was violently appropriated from the peoples who stewarded it with respect and reciprocity for millennia — it is land disrupted, divided, and claimed through colonization.

And still, the land gives in abundance.

May we learn to treat it like a mother, and all its beings like family.

Today, I practice acknowledgement by cultivating respectful relationships, learning about historical and ongoing harms, and participating — however imperfectly — in the ongoing work of creating a more equitable and inclusive future.

day 32 - patience

"Wine had to be grapes first. Diamonds had to be rocks first. Butterflies had to be caterpillars first. Rainbows had to be storms first." 

- Matshona Dhliwayo

This quote points to patience as a way of living in time. In my life, origami makes that teaching tactile. 

It's a challenge - resisting the urge to hurry toward the resolution, to see the finished form. But paper cannot be hurried without harm. Each fold asks for presence, not force.

The delight is discovering that when I slow down a little, the form emerges - cleaner, truer, and with less struggle.

In this way origami becomes a practice in nonviolence toward the material, toward the process and toward myself.

Today I'm practicing patience by choosing precision over pressure.

day 31 - praising

"Praise, my dear one. Let us disappear into praising. Nothing belongs to us." 

- Rainer Maria Rilke

Praising is a way of speaking from the heart — of noticing what quietly sustains us and naming it with gratitude.

Specifically today, I offer my sincere praise to the Mahatma Gandhi Canadian Foundation for World Peace for creating and sharing the 64 reflection prompts and support materials for the Season for Nonviolence.

I would not have ventured into sharing this creative meditation without the container they have offered. These daily reflections are deepening my understanding of nonviolence — or, in Sanskrit, ahimsa — revealing it not only as restraint from harm, but as a daily active practice of care.

Sunflowers symbolize loyalty, devotion, resilience, and hope. Turning continually toward the sun, they remind me to orient myself toward warmth, generosity, and joy.

Today, I offer this folded sunflower in gratitude — praise for those who create and hold spaces where peace can be practiced together.