Little Treasures: Made by Hand is now available for purchase at Paper Boat Press

I’m so pleased to let you know that there are now a number of beautiful stockists around the country who are selling Little Treasures: Made by Hand. I’m very grateful to these independent bookstores and boutiques for supporting my latest creation, I hope you can help me to support them in return by visiting them because they really are magical places. All these stockists mentioned in this post are in Australia, but I am still hopeful that some stores around the world will become stockists.

Queensland:
Riverbend Bookstore, Bulimba
Rosetta Books, Maleny
Paper Boat Press, Ashgrove
Cathy Penton Atelier, Highfields

New South Wales:
Better Read than Dead, Newtown
Hill of Content, Balmain
Oscar and Friends, Double Bay
Oscar and Friends, Surry Hills
Little Paper Lane, Mona Vale
Bookocino, Avalon
The Design Hunter, Waverley
Megalong Books, Leura

Victoria:
Hill of Content, Melbourne
The Avenue Bookstore, Albert Park, Melbourne
Readings, Hawthorn

South Australia:
Council of Objects, Adelaide, SA

If you’d like to become a stockist or international distributor of Little Treasures: Made by Hand, please email my sales assistant Penny with your inquiry and she will get back to you with the details.

Thank you again to all of you for your continued support and sales, without it I know I would not be able to continue creating.

Love & gratitude,

Pia xx

“Force creates fear. Fear destroys trust. Trust is the basis of harmony.”

I’ve been reflecting on these words for the past couple of days, spoken by the Dalai Lama in an interview on SBS Dateline earlier this week.

On observation it’s fairly easy to recognise this force in others and in the outside world, and to see why the world is not a harmonious place these days. On a personal level, I can feel clearly when someone tries to force their belief onto me, or when I am forced to participate in a conversation I do not want to have. From my past I can see clearly now how lines of trust were broken because of the force inflicted, and why there is no harmony with those human connections and how that lack of harmony radiates out to others.

On a global scale, it’s obvious to see the forceful destruction of lives and our surroundings. With both personal and global experiences of force the heart aches, and the mind ‘tut tuts’ and silently demands, “why can’t you see that you are destroying trust, that you are making it impossible for harmony?”

After listening to these words by the Dalai Lama, I began to reflect on the feeling of force within myself.  Over the past few days, I’m suddenly more aware of this feeling – when I force myself to work harder, ignoring my body’s signs that I’m very tired and need to rest… when I force my parenting beliefs in our household at a time when we need to let go and just be in the moment with our two-year old’s will… when I force myself to be social even though my heart, body and mind says “hibernate”… when I give more than I have…

By carrying this learned force within me throughout my life,  I can see that every time I force myself to do something or be something or have something at a time when it’s simply not necessary, I am feeding the fear within me, destroying my self-trust, and therefore not living harmoniously.

It suddenly makes so much sense.

Do you recognise when you are forcing yourself to do or be something other than who you are? For me it’s been so ingrained, such a part of me that it seemed impossible to separate. And I’m sure if I don’t retain the awareness, it will slip through the cracks, and be stitched into the seams of me again.

I had no intention of writing this post, I have a list of ‘important things’ to do, but something that resembles a flow of sorts, made me aware this was the most important thing to do – to share –  in this moment.  And in this very moment,  I can feel the pull of force to take me away from it. I recognise it. But right now, I let it be.

Have a beautiful weekend, mes amis.

xx