Following the signs
BK Love Letter // August 2024
Hello from very hot Southern California! I am staying at my mom’s house in Orange County this weekend to participate in the Stationery Store Day stamp rally at BK on 8/4!
Below is BK's Love Letter from August 2024, and thoughts on practicing becoming quieter so we can follow signs and breadcrumbs in our life’s path… I hope you enjoy it. And if you would like to stay connected between the monthly love letters, please feel free to browse other stories here on the Substack. It has been fun sharing a story from our cross-country road trip (with Mango and chickens), a reflection on Firefly Annual Gathering, and “pawspective” from Mango. -wakako
When we left California at the end of June, my sister gave Satchi a book, "The Alchemist." My sister read it around Satchi's age, and the book left her with such an impression that she read it both in English and Japanese and still treasures it. It was such a kind gesture, and it piqued my interest in the book. I asked Satchi if I could borrow it from her. She answered, "Yeah, sure... when I finish reading it, but I don't know when that will be because I am in the middle of another book series". I shrugged my shoulder and let it go, thinking, "Oh well." Then, for a few weeks in Asheville, I kept bumping into multiple copies of The Alchemist book wherever I went, whether it was at a bookstore, the library, or the most random places. Every time I saw the cover, I thought to myself, "Satchi has the book. I should borrow it," but I never got around to it. Until, finally, I ran into another very old copy on the bookshelf in our current short-term rental. I literally shook my head and told myself, "Again?????" The book was about 30 years old, and every page was tanned in a brownish-yellow color, burnt along the edges from the sun. When I saw the book there, I finally told myself I should start reading it.
As I started digging into the book, I realized that the main character, Santiago, was also following different signs along his path to follow his dream and life's purpose. It was peculiar to read a story about "following the signs" after actually following a bunch of breadcrumbs (aka signs) to open the book.
When I read Euncie's behind-the-scenes story of her latest tape designs and Trina's interview with Miller Oberman, I could see how Eunice and Miller followed the signs presented to them along the way. Some were more subtle, like a whisper, and others were very loud and clear, like a guiding compass. Was it a coincidence that Miller was carrying his notebook when he needed it the most, ultimately opening the door for his writing career as a poet? And was it a happy accident that I asked Eunice about taking on another design project when she happened to feel ready?
Nobody has a firm answer to these questions, and they should probably be left behind as the mysteries of our lives. But I love taking occasional breaks from the logical left-brain world and live within those mysteries and wonders. The Alchemist book had many beautiful wisdoms embedded within the story. Towards the end, I especially loved watching Santiago learn to become very quiet so he could listen to his heart's voice and discover these signs unfolding in front of him.
"How can I listen to my heart's voice?"
This will be a question I will be embodying today and tomorrow.
-wakako
always a work in progress...
p.s. I am excited that BK will participate in the Stationery Store Day stamp rally this Sunday (8/4) between 12-5pm. Come and join us. You can find more details via this link!
Back in L.A. for Stationery Store Day! // August 2nd, 2024
**This is from our BK Love Letter for August 2024. If you would like to see the entire love letter we sent to our community including links to the new and updated BK artifacts, you can browse it via this link.
But this one is a reminder and a punch to the stomach! “Pitiful is the person who is afraid of taking risks. Perhaps this person will never be disappointed or disillusioned; perhaps she won’t suffer the way people do when they have a dream to follow. But when that person looks back – and at some point everyone looks back – she will hear her heart saying, “What have you done with the miracles that God planted in your days? What have you done with the talents God bestowed on you? You buried yourself in a cave because you were fearful of losing those talents. So this is your heritage; the certainty that you wasted your life.”
I’m so glad you and Satchi are reading “The Alchemist”! It’s one of my favorites and I reread it regularly. Paolo Coehlo’ books are magic. I HIGHLY recommend “By The River Piedra I Sat and Wept”. It contains one of my favorite quotes: “You have to take risks, he said. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, God gives us the sun--and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven't perceived that moment, that it doesn't exist--that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if people really pay attention to their everyday lives, they will discover that magic moment. It may arrive in the instant when we are doing something mundane, like putting our front-door key in the lock; it may lie hidden in the quiet that follows the lunch hour or in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. But that moment exists--a moment when all the power of the stars becomes a part of us and enables us to perform miracles.”.