Stuff and Things

         A customer recently asked me if I would post my hat collection for all to see. Unfortunately, I only have about a quarter of my hats together in one place. Presently, the rest of them are packed in boxes for me to take to my festivals, nicely padded with tissue paper between sets of hair falls and dreadlocks. That's the thing I want to talk about here. My things that I truly love, I take care of as if they were my own babies.

       I've heard many times, sentiments about how it's not "things" or "money" that make you  happy, but people and experiences. I've always wondered why it has to be this black and white, either/or case. When I buy handmade things from people that I care about, the "happy experience" and the "soul of the person" seem to be all wrapped up in the actual item. I know this is just my own "perception" of reality....but what IS reality, if not for our perception of it? So, what? It's my freaking reality.

       I personally have a deep belief that everything made of matter is buzzing with energy, and when we touch, partake, purchase, utilize, and obtain these items, we are participating in the energy of the item. As depressing as it may seem, I feel that when I choose to gorge myself on some junk food that was made cheaply, with the intent to get consumers addicted, without any regard to their health or satisfaction, I am TAKING that energy into my body. Yes, it's my decision, and I own up to that. But, it's not a light little indulgence. Similarly, when I am feeling cheap, and I choose to buy cheaply made clothing (I'm looking at you, Forever 21. Woot! This is getting edgy!), I participate in the energy of that clothing. It was made to be disposable (I know, I'm reading a book about the manufacturing of these cheap clothes, and because they're playing on super trendy stuff, they specifically construct the item to last one season. Yes. one.) It wasn't made with careful thought about FIT, COMFORT, QUALITY, AND WORKMANSHIP!  These are standards that I strive to uphold with the corsets and clothing that we build, but why wouldn't I support that in the normal clothing that I wear?? This clothing is made without regard to the employees and people sewing it. Their safety, brain health, job satisfaction, and SOULS are not taken into consideration.

This is the podcast that my husband, and two of the guys that work for me do. We figured that since they were ALREADY talking about comic book stuff constantly, they might as well freaking do a podcast so others could listen to their funny banter. If you want to check it out, I think you'll like it. My favorite episode, although it is very long, is the one on "Ultron", where my husband, Tyler, is the one who did the research. He is sooo funny in it! www.backstorybroadcast.com

       I would like you to know that the little team of people I have working for me is treated VERY well! I feed my employees good home-baked lunches every day, so they don't have to worry about packing lunch. We regularly go out and see movies together, ON THE CLOCK, because I figure I'm paying for them to have friendship and unity. I give them bonuses, I tell them "thank you" every single day. I listen to them when their is issues, work-related or home-related, and we all support each other and try to help each other out. For a while (although we've slacked off) I let them get off early on Fridays from sewing to do "on-the-clock Entrepreneur Day" where they were paid for a few hours to work on their own projects. That's where the podcast from up above came. As a result, I have had MANY people tell me that there is just "something" in the corsets that we make, and they can't figure it out, but they truly are special.

       I will have to write an entire blog on what I try to literally "sew" into our corsets, but let me just say that there is a reason that we have such a rabid fan-base, and there is also a reason that people get really....*cough* worked up over a simple thing like corsets. You guys are just embracing and participating in the energy of the corsets, and that's why they are special. You then go on to have wonderful experiences, emotional journeys, and breakthroughs with your life and your body image, and then the corset is imbued with that power. Luckily, these things are MADE TO LAST long enough to have these types of powers! ;)

        This is my jewelry collection. I would say it's about half-hand-made, and about half of it is more quality stuff that I got on clearance at department stores, that I then layer with the hand-made stuff. Interestingly, when one of my "store jewelry" items break, I just throw  it away. Who cares? It's cheap. When one of my hand-made items break, I have a whole tool-kit and I sit and fix it and bring it back to life. I'm hard on my jewelry, because I wear it so much, but I take a ton of pride in all of the hand-made items I wear. When I put them on, I think of the person who made it (usually, a talented lady who I'm proud to call my friend) and I think about how happy and proud they would be to know that they were  part of my day. NOW, THAT is good energy!

        I know, it takes a LOT of brain power to sit there and think about the origins of EVERYTHING that you have in your life. That's enough to explode my brain. Good night! However, I do think it would be beneficial to start looking at the things that surround you and just asking a question. "Is this serving my life right now?"   I have personally experienced wonderful results when I was able to "clean out" my life of things that didn't serve me to make way for things that will!
     I  just BARELY read one of the most INCREDIBLE books on prosperity that I have ever encountered. In fact, I can't, and won't shut up about it! I want everyone to read this! I believe it was in this book that she talks about how you can't expect to RECEIVE things if you aren't willing to first GIVE AWAY things to make space to receive.

       I have heard over and over again, ladies saying that they want one of our corsets really badly, but they just can't afford it. Holy face, if you want more corsets, then read this book. I know it will help you get there.  I believe deeply that if people gave up buying cheap, flimsy, apathetic articles of clothing, and started focusing on quality, durability, integrity, and proper fit, their LIVES would begin to be more quality, they would have more strength, integrity, and things that properly fit into their world.
       The things that we choose to bring into our life are a mirror for ourselves, in a lot of ways. As a small example, I spent years buying cheap shoes over and over again to wear with my costumes at festivals. My feet would hurt to badly by the end of the day that I COULD. NOT. MOVE. I would lay in the hotel bed and they would feel like they were on fire. It would put my mind into a bad place where I felt sorry for myself and blamed the outside world on my inside world. When I finally pulled the trigger and asked my customers what shoes they thought would work, and tons of ladies in Oklahoma urged me to get Ariat boots, I just paid the dang $279 and hoped for the best. 

      Here's the amazing part. When I chose quality for my life, rather than cheaply manufactured crap, the experiences I had while wearing Ariat boots were finer quality! People complimented me everywhere I went, my costumes looked AMAZING, and the BIGGEST thing was that my BODY reacted on a physical level to the boots. Not only did my feet NOT hurt after wearing the boots for a whole entire day, but I would feel more relaxed and focused, as I knew that my posture had been better, my outlook was brighter,  my brain was more peaceful, and my stress was down. 

      My first part of these boots that I bought still looks amazing and new FOUR YEARS LATER, and I take joy in polishing them, cleaning them, and even displaying them up on a shelf in my closet. What a truly different experience than my crappy little flats purchased from Famous Footwear that hurt and fell apart. I ended up SAVING MONEY because I only had to buy one pair of shoes, whereas, if I were wearing cheap quality shoes, I would have had to buy about 5 pairs a year, at around $40 a pair. You do the math. 

      Holy what?? This has been a long blog! You can tell that I'm very passionate about this very thing. Please, please remember that you are quality and you deserve quality. Please remember that you participate in the energy that your things have been imbued with. It's like when you eat a hastily slapped together $1 burger from Burger King, vs.  an amazing, mouthwatering, well-crafted burger from the local hole-in-the-wall run by an awesome family. They're both "burgers" but think about the difference in experience!!  

       I am bold enough to PROMISE you that as you seek for higher quality things and experiences for yourself, the whole universe will notice, and bring you the money and means and people to provide you with even more of these blessings. Your whole life can change if you are bold enough to believe that you deserve better.