Yes, life can be so complicated. Yet, it is in the midst of our daily frenzy that we can find the best solace.



How, you may ask? How, when life's daily expectancies, simply look to overwhelm us. How then, do we make life simple again? How can what I do, any day, every day, all day long, ever begin to make a difference?

Good questions. There are good answers awaiting.

It is simple, quite simple. Just take your passion out. Whatever burns a fire in your heart, whatever soaks through the layers of your life and is sustained in and of itself, when all else makes no difference. Whatever you go back to time and time again; that talent your mother told you you had many times when you were growing up.

Aside from my writing, it is knitting, which has woven its very threads into my being. I can't live without it! I love everything there is to know about being a knitter. The patterns, the creations, the yarns, the needles, the blogs, the websites, the books, the magazines, the shops, the camaraderie of others who share my passion.

But, more than anything else I love the way knitting makes me feel!! It is in the quiet moments, when I hear my needles clicking, and the very best thoughts, which I suspect are being thought by someone else way out there in the universe and picked up by my thoughts floating out there too; just like those wispy dandelion heads which we blew apart as children and watched fly away into the world. Somewhere out there they don't merely fall apart into nothingness; no, they find other wispy seed heads to join up with, to stick to, and become whole wispy dandelion heads all over again.

Whole, from a part. That's the secret to passion. Knowing that you, or I, are only a part of the puzzle. We are not the entire thing! And we never will be. We can only give what we have, and that will do just fine, thank you!

But, there is so much to give! Just take knitting, for instance. In knitting's pleasures are found its treasures. Where can you cast on one sole stitch and when completely done, behold a masterpiece even you didn't think was possible?! Where can you get to know other knitters, some across the street, others across the world, who know just what you know, who think just as you do, who hold the same passions inside just like you?

If your desire is to help people, here we are! Any yarn, any color will do. Caps for preemies, afghans for Afghans, blankies for little ones, shawls for the sick, pretty scarves in furry colors like cotton candy and sapphire blue, to dazzle eyes that never see such fun. Of course, there is always Christmas, birthdays, and don't forget weddings. Nothing makes me feel nicer than to hear all the "ooh's" and "ahh's" when a beautiful wedding afghan that I knitted comes out of its gift box and everyone exclaims all round! Want to make your cat or baby dog extra cozy this winter? We do that too!

Then there is knitting to see my way beyond sorrow and grief. Tell me, who doesn't know that song? Yet, it's ending can be upbeat, or at least, a metered measure closer to feeling better. Or in helping another to find their way through the dark. Because to knit, you have to be in the light.

Don't ever think you don't have what it takes to be the next helping hand, the next inspiration, the next big idea, because if you live and breathe and have your being in this world, then the possibility is there!

Because you are there. Because you are here. Because you have a passion. And the world needs your passion. Because with it you will never go wrong. Because with it is your key to happiness. And that is the only way, isn't it, to open the door to your heart!