This journal, collaged with beautiful bits of handmade paper from India, is part of my recent exploration into coptic bookbinding.
Made with simple materials: paper, glue, thread, and wonder, this multi-signature book feels like a cheerful place for bright ideas to land.
Can you spot the matching purple and pink corner bookmark peeking out at the upper right corner?
"I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university."
- Albert Einstein
Respect isn't about status. It shows up in how I handle and protect things, people, and ideas.
In origami, respect begins long before the first fold.
It is present in how the paper is chosen, how it is handled, and whether its qualities are allowed to guide the making. Some papers ask for bold transformation or intricate details. Others ask for simplicity.
This hexagon letter fold is made from a sheet of grassy, textured handmade A4 paper that waited quietly in my collection for decades. Nothing terribly precious - but certainly beautiful enough to deserve the right moment.
Now it serves by holding something meaningful: words of encouragement, and enough good loose tea for a shared pot.
The hexagonal form, known in Japan as KikkÅ (tortoiseshell), symbolizes protection, stability, and longevity. Its strength comes not from force, but from balanced structure.
Good folding practice reminds me that respect, too, is a form of attention - to the unique needs of a person, a situation, or the material at hand.
Today I practice respect by handling words carefully and honoring boundaries — in paper, in people, and in myself, choosing care over force wherever I can.
Full disclosure - Chat GPT helped me with this "product photo". In real life, the frame is flatter but the roses really are that dimensional and pretty!
Today I’m determined to send myself some love, but it’s tough. I’m saying the words I hear others use but the feeling is sort of fabricated. I feel frustrated that I’m not where they’re at.
Does that sound familiar? If so, a reminder for you too, things happen at their own rate. Every stage of growth, from seed to blossom to berry to fertilizer is valuable.
What does feel real for me is this, I am lovable. In every season, past, present and future, I am loved and I am loving. No matter what is going on in my life, I love.
And I love myself for that.
I try to love what is and trust the source, but to be honest, it’s not always easy for me.
I remember once in school asking my religion teacher, “What if you’re not sure if you believe in God?” The answer was a cryptic, “Then you just have to have faith.”
With that in mind, I offer my love today to the Divine in all its names and forms. I still haven’t figured out exactly what I believe, but I am putting my faith in “That” and it’s presence in One and All.
The Buddha taught that we owe our parents so much, we could carry them on our backs our entire lives and it wouldn’t be enough.
They are our first gurus; the safe containers into which we can, as Stephen Cope says in Soul Friends, “both relax and expand”.
It’s true, I can never repay you, but I want you to know, I love you, I revere you and I remember.
