Turning over a new leaf... errr... frond!

I am an unconventional adventurer, who travels the world, seeking experiences that will help me to learn and grow. I consider myself an agent of empowerment, and even once had business cards printed with that as my title. I live to help others thrive, and make the connections in life that will further their dreams. I love experiencing deep personal connections and synergy, with the diverse beings with whom I interact, and sometimes bond.

I have opted out of most of the systems that the people I was born to are trapped in. I am always reaching for ways to live more freely and naturally, while still using the technologies that are available to me, in healthy ways, that will help me to continue my own growth, and allow me to interact with others to our mutual benefit.

I have birthed three awesome children at home, the first two, with the support of a wonderful lay midwife. The last one, I allowed to emerge unassisted by any health professional. I have radically unschooled all my children, two of whom are now grown up. We have lived in the US, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Belize, and spent a lot of time in Panama as well. We all love to immerse ourselves in new places and cultures, and wing it, learning all that these adventures (and sometimes misadventures!) have to teach us.

My story is long, and ongoing, and I gladly share it here, for all to see, in all its craziness, with tortuous plots, wild with color and unexpected events. I feel I have lived several lives already, in this same body, and each has been distinct from the last, offering me so much challenge and change. I will speak of my former lives at times, for this one has its roots growing through them all, and the fruit borne in the present draws its life from those which have gone before.

I have recently come for the first time to the Big Island of Hawaii, seeking to establish a home here, where my little girl, Ever, and I can thrive. She is 9, and is currently in Canada, with her dad, who used the court system to steal her from me against her will. I have been fighting for her for 10 months now, having to represent myself in the Canadian family court system, with no formal training. I have spent untold hours researching how to be a successful pro se respondent, and have recently made some real headway in my case. I am not out of the woods yet, though, since I must now prove to the court that I can provide a stable home for my child. This is tricky, since I have long lived my life in a way that the court cannot recognize as normal.

One way in which I am different from most people born in the US is that I choose not to be employed by others, or to pay taxes. I make what money I need through work that feels like play to me, and usually find that I have enough for what I want and need to do in life. I prefer living in the tropics, and practicing voluntary simplicity, owning just the few things that facilitate a life of ease and grace, and working at a craft that feeds my soul. I have come to Hawaii to build my favorite business anew...

I taught myself to weave the fronds of the coconut palm three years ago, when I found myself broke and homeless in Mexico, and created a business with my new craft, both selling my wares, and teaching others how to weave the palm. I supported myself and my child for a year and a half with palm-craft, and kept a photographic log of all the new things I learned to weave during that amazing time of self-empowerment and passionate skill acquisition. I will share some of those pictures here on Steemit, so that others can see how I developed as a crafter and entrepreneur, using zero money to start up, and thriving in a so-called poor economy.

I am a practitioner of Law of Attraction, and believe that I create my own reality, and that my own doubts and worries are truly the roots of any troubles or set-backs I experience. I seek to always focus on what will further the manifestations of my fondest dreams, and those of my little girl. I now set forth the intention to resume the craft of my heart, here in Hawaii, and know that soon I will reattain custody of my daughter, playing the legal game, which I never thought I would have to play, and winning, in spite of my lack of experience and training. I've got this!!!

I am excited to be here on Steemit, and grateful to my old friend, Daniel Levy for turning me on to this amazing new forum. Please feel free to communicate with me here, or to contact me via e-mail, if you have feedback, or would like to collaborate. I am currently seeking connections here on the Big Island, and welcome correspondence from anyone who lives here or has spent time here, and can point me in positive directions. The learning curve is a little steep here, and I screwed up on tagging my first post, so here it is again, a little tweaked, and I hope, much improved. ;-)

Brightest blessings!
Sylph Nightbloom
slitherinflight@gmail.com