Another year around the sun

Another year around the sun. Today is my 32nd birthday. I can’t believe it. And the thing I have learnt the most this year is patience. Patience to know that things will get better, that I will find myself again, that I will be thriving once again. And now I am, thriving. Not simply surviving. Not caught up in the chaos of my mind and the pain of my body. I have cleared a lot of darkness out of my system and what remains is pure joy and love. It’s a wonderful feeling. Blossoming and blooming like a flower.

Patience has taught me to slow down and focus on doing the things that make me happy. Like printing. I’m absolutely obsessed with the whole process, from constantly searching for the perfect (or more imperfect- the more insect bites and holes the better!) leaf, to pressing them in my giant old books, to actually printing them and watching the pieces take shape and find life. My artworks are filled with passion and pride. I am proud of myself. And boy does it feel good!

I have sold over 30 artworks and recently completed a sale of around $780!! I couldn’t believe it! A good friend of mine, Paul, bought 22 artworks including 10 monoprints, 6 cyanotypes and 6 cards. I was absolutely stoked and so grateful that he chose my artwork to purchase for his healing space, clients and for gifts for friends. Paul has been such a good friend to me and he is such a giver, it fills my heart up.

A lot of my friends fill my heart up. It’s what has kept me going through the dark times. Except for a really dark time I had last year, I cut contact with most of my friends because I couldn’t talk to anyone about what I was going through. It was too painful and lonely. But I’m back now and better than ever. I am connecting with family, friends, lovers and meeting new people again. I’m practicing my art, writing music and storytelling through poetry and articles. I’m going to events and singing and dancing and moving my body. I feel alive. And what a beautiful adventure that is.

I can feel the blood pumping in my veins and my heart beating in my chest. I feel joyous and content. Life is good. And it’s only going to get better. I’m slowly getting more clients for my massage and customers for my art. I have entered some competitions both writing and art and am excited to hear the results. One of them is to get my artwork into the Sydney Opera House gift shop, I think that would be an absolutely amazing opportunity.

The product had to be uniquely Australian. I feel that because I use native Australian leaves in most of my prints, they truly are uniquely Australian. They add a touch of nature and charm into any space, bringing joy and light and inspiration. I feel I also have quite a multicultural artistic style, as I am half Japanese and half Australian. I think the East meets West combination is really interesting. When I draw over the top of my prints I can feel my Japanese heritage coming through, something about the lines and shapes that I draw. When I sign my name I use my Japanese incan which is a stamp of my name in Japanese. I then sign with my initials MVW which I love. I want to buy a fountain pen too.

If you’re interested in purchasing an artwork from me, my Instagram is @miamana.healing and my Facebook is Miamana Healing, please get in contact.

But back to patience, printing has taught me patience. Because you can’t rush the process, you have to slow down and be methodical and very clean otherwise you will get blemishes on your artwork. You also have to be patient when looking for leaves. I take the leaves with permission from nature, as I pull it off the tree I give thanks and appreciate and honour the beauty of the leaf. I think leaves that come with me are destined for greatness as they are being immortalised into a piece of my soul.

That’s what my art is, tiny pieces of my soul that are full of beauty and brilliance. If you purchase from a small, locally owned, hand-made business, you know that you’re getting something really special. When I make a sale, my heart sings. Because it means I am freeing up more space to create more! And I know that my art will be sitting in someone’s home up on their wall or table or bookshelf, on display for all to appreciate and adore. It’s still a very exciting concept to me!

When I was unwell and in pain, I was creating a lot of really dark art. I used to be ashamed of this but now I’m proud of it. Proud that I had the patience to get through it all. Proud that I had the mental and physical stamina to overcome the challenges. And there have definitely been challenges in my life. Mostly mentally, it has been like a rollercoaster of emotions and feelings for most of my life. I was chaotic and blocked and deeply sad for a long time. My heart was broken and the pieces were scattered all over the floor of my heart.

But with some of those pieces, I made a mystical and magical mosaic. It shines in the light and casts rainbows in my body and soul. It’s beautiful. The other pieces got washed into softness by the ocean of emotion inside of me. They are no longer sharp and pointy but rounded and smooth to touch. I like to collect them and let the light shine on them too.

I’m a collector, I love little pieces of nature. Sometimes with my KaHuna sessions, I get clients to choose a small object from my bowl of nature things and add it to our alter space under the table. It makes my sessions a little more personable and connect the client to nature in a small way. Maybe it helps them to be more observant in their day to day life and maybe they will start up their own nature bowl of perfectly imperfect things.

Mother nature has taught me many things. One of them, once again, is patience. We don’t rush the growth of a flower or a tree. We let them grow and bloom and fall in perfect synchronicity and splendour. We don’t tug at them, forcing them to move faster. That’s impossible. The same goes for us, you can’t rush your healing. Everything happens in the perfect timing and nothing is by accident. Even the most painful things can have a strong and deeper meaning.

Sometimes we need to go through the pain and darkness to find the love and light. Sometimes we need to trudge through the sludge so we can learn to love and accept it in order to move through it and move on. I have most definitely been in the sludge before, weighed down by the thickness of it all. But I made it through and washed myself clean in the salty ocean.

I recommend ocean healing if you’re going through a rough time. And patience. Know that it will get better. Everything changes over time. Nothing stays the same. Keep your dreams in your heart and keep moving forward and you’ll be surprised what can happen. Perhaps you’ll look back at yourself in a year from now and realise how far you’ve come. Myself one year ago was still largely uninspired and in a phase of healing. I was still in my cocoon. In the last year of my life, I have grown and emerged out of my cocoon and into fullness. I have blossomed, my soft petals emerging in beauty and bountifulness. I hope you can find your flowers too on your journey. Have patience and have faith. I wish you the best of luck on your healing journey.

Sending aloha

Mia

~ Miamana Healing ~