If you are new to the wonderful world of Waldorf….welcome. It is a beautiful world. One of imagination and spoken stories, art and beauty, nature and creating, learning through living and, well you get the idea. But it is also real. Or for me it is anyway. The beginning of a Waldorf journey is often one lived in the head. It is filled with Pinterest dreams falling back into piles organic wool the colors of the world outside. An utopian world begins to form in your minds eye and suddenly hope and the joy you felt during the anxious awaiting of your first child returns. You think, “I can do this, I knew I was right, life doesn’t have to be dreary, I can live this life, Waldorf you have found me and I you!”

And then of course you tell your spouse and your enthusiasm is met with lost eyes, or your first Waldorf book arrives in the mail and you can’t get past the first chapter, or you begin to listen to all the voices around you that say “That isn’t real”. Whatever the reason, its there and its tempting to resign to reason….to reality and just do what everyone else does.

Well don’t. Don’t listen, don’t give up, don’t stop reading, just don’t. Pause, reflect and quiet your mind enough to hear your heart. Make a promise to always listen to that voice first, then allow your mind to have a say. In this you will find balance, you will find your steady, you will make your fluffy wool dreams a reality.

When I began this adventure I felt as if I had found myself. Finally someone else valued aesthetics the way I did. Lighting mattered! And so did color!! Slow was in, life was living, and philosophy governed the why behind what was done. Life was going to be ok. I had help, fellow sojourners with similar vision. Then, reality entered and I began to think my idyllic vision of life may just be that…a vision…a mirage made from eyes too saturated in books instead of “the real world”. Roughly 6 or so years later I am here to say it was no mirage, no “fata morgana”, it was vision. And vision my friends is the stuff of life. It is vital for this journey. You will encounter those that can’t see your vision, that don’t believe you. Perhaps life has not matched their vision or perhaps they have lost themselves “in the real world”. Whatever the reason, it will do you well to meet the opposition with kindness, empathy and understanding. Treasure the input knowing it is an opportunity for your resolution to become stronger, your loved ones voice to possibly change, and a chance to love in the midst of resistance.

I hope to share many practical steps and examples of how to do this beginning part as well as all the day to day living it out stuff. So please stick around, peruse, ask questions and wander.