“From our deepest wounds come our greatest gifts”
- Po Bronson, What Should I Do With My Life
I  started reading this book again. It’s surprisingly honest and engaging. Refreshing even. Argh, I sound like some scary mark-comm writer. Still, the sentence above struck me. And as I write it, it gets me thinking again…

Possibly also because [...]

These two quotes catch me today. I read the first and my mind said “Guernica” for an image and “Christopher Alexander” as an antithesis, or antidote or…somewhere in me, Simon and Christopher’s words connect. And Picasso’s landscape challenges, as does Andy’s, but in a different way…I guess my brain will catch up with my [...]

I’m back from Poland…back to normality, day-day…and that’s lovely (always nice when friends and colleagues say they missed you ;)) but I must admit I’m still digesting…
While I let my thoughts simmer I wanted to share these two photos - I took them while we sped through Poland and I think they’re special:

Poland still has [...]

“Here is our long-forgotten family home.
And, having heard now and then the voice of ancestors calling,
Like a grey little forest bird, from far-away centuries,
I fly to you,…”

…It’s late, I’ve just finished some last minute work and I’m off to Poland on a “roots trip” with (almost) ALL my family very early tomorrow (actually today) [...]

 The other week I posted my favourite quote at the moment "Relax - Nothing is under Control" …
Ok, so let’s say we accept that as true. Nothing is under control. But what if your situation feels more extreme than usual. If things really are spinning away differently from how we ‘planned’ or ‘assumed’.
How then [...]

It has been quite a hiatus! I hope this finds you well!?

I realised today I haven’t officially blogged since February 15th. That’s over a month - and I think the longest time I haven’t blogged since I started www.natalieshell.com. It isn’t that [...]

Please listen to Simon and Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence (click here) while reading my musing…
I have been thinking on and off about different types of silence…

Have you noticed how not all silence is the same? Or feels the same?
…When silence feels like a wonderful experience; When it is relaxing, scary, sad, traumatic, secretive, joyous…When [...]

I am fortunate to be ‘home-full’ - I have many homes around the world I am welcome. And I have lived in quite a few places…
As such concepts of ‘home’ are sometimes a bit abstract for me…Home can be where I am, where my family and friends are, where someone or something I love is. [...]

…thinking about fabric, and the fabric of our lives…
 
Fabric image (c) Natalie Shell 2007

The other day I thought "Mondrian". And as I sat to write today it came back…
 At the same time, this very morning, I mapped out my family story project "the family forest" as if it was a patchwork quilt.
 
The quilt/grid I mapped out by hand had 24. 4 rows, 6 columns. I have perhaps [...]