It's priceless!

"Know your worth!"

"NEVER sell yourself short!"

"Remember who you are!"

I see and hear this all the time! How does that even apply to your real life away from the paper or the computer screen that you are reading it on?

I struggle with this idea so much because of how small my business is, and what it's core purpose in this life is. The questions that keep running through my mind are:

• How do I price my products, especially given that they are handmade and one-of-a-kind?

• How do I reach my target audience of women on a journey of healing and transformation knowing that while they may need the energy and spirit behind my talismans they might not have the funds to purchase them for what I think that they are worth?

• How do you sell people on spiritual energy that they can't touch, taste, see, or hear?

Whose bright idea was this business anyway? Mine, and I'm not looking back!

When the idea for this business came to me back in 2014, I was working with Pier 1 Imports and trying to find a way to pay off credit cards that I stacked up after my divorce. My divorce left me mentally unwell, so much so that I was committed to a hospital for a time. I didn't think to sue for alimony or child support, how would I do that with no money or the strength of mind and will to undergo such a trying experience? I was already stressed enough! I walked away with my freedom and what was left of my life because I thought that if I stayed in that marriage I wouldn't survive the depression and loneliness I felt.

I often felt disrespected and unappreciated for my contributions to that household. I felt like my value was constantly being called into question, and that my worth as a stay-at-home mother and wife was never quite good enough. There were so many issues in that relationship that I couldn't bare another moment, I had to get out, even if it meant doing it with nothing but the clothes on my back. I didn't leave with just the clothes on my back, I also took $50k in debt. I was the villain in that story, and all of our friends made sure that I knew it by cutting me out of their lives.

I had nowhere to go and no one to turn to in this state, and when he finally decided he'd enough too, he threw me out of our home. I was lucky enough, compared to other people, because I spent my first night in a dojo on a massage table, not on a park bench or at a bus stop.

I carried the weight of my decision, my debt, our mutual heartbreak, the resentment of our "friends", and the impact of that decision as it flowed through the hearts and spirits of our children. It was Hell, and I willingly walked through that fire, hoping and praying that the other side might provide some peace that I felt so torn away from in that relationship.

Is peace of mind and spirit really worth going through that hell? It was to me.

Now as I sit here contemplating my next words, I wonder what value that experience has provided me now and into my future? For one, I understand how lucky I was to have been training for martial arts at the time, because they caught me and brought me back to my feet. I will never forget Koei Kan in Bellevue and the people that I met there. If it wasn't for them this story would be very different.

Sleeping in the room next to me are two people who weren't so lucky. One, Candice, has been so deprived of nourishment in mind, body, and soul that she can no longer walk more than a few steps without being terribly winded and in pain. Her partner of 30 years, Terry, has been so devastated by several different factors that he is considered "developmentally disabled" and lives off of SSI that is issued to him through a Support Service. I met them at the park behind my new apartments because they slept there on and off over the past year. They slept there because it's close to where he receives his money from "Support Services". Terry pushes Candice on the wheelchair from bus stop to bus stop, hotel to motel, grocery store to the Dollar Tree; and back to the park benches where they slept at night until I finally understood how in desperate need they actually were.

A Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, 25 years of experience in customer service and administrative support, 27 years of experience as a mother and care-giver, 10 years of experience as a business owner, and 52 years as a Human Being and child of God/the Universe. On paper that would put my value at somewhere between $18 to $40 an hour; but what is my value to the two people sleeping on a bed with clean sheets and pillows versus the metal bench they have been sleeping on and off of for 2 years. Two people who are obviously disabled, and yet being turned away from shelters because of her wheelchair.

My 10 years of trial and error in creating my talismans is now worth between $20 to $300 in my online shop, but what is my faith and understanding of God and the Universe worth as it flows through the creativity of my unique handcrafted art pieces?

To me and the people who depend on me, my work and experience is priceless; yet I have to grapple on a daily basis with how much that is worth to people who don't know me and yet may find my little handmade treasures pretty to look at. Still, I made that choice for myself and now I have to live with it, but sharing my story and journey gives people a little more insight into the value of my "he-artwork" no matter what the price tag says they are worth in that particular moment in time. And, once people can understand how to use them as they were created to be used, they too will understand the value and worth not only of a tiny talismanic treasure, but also of a human soul.

It's Priceless!