It has sometimes been hard for me to remember the stories behind all the cards in the Gratitude Blooming deck since it has been several years since I made the drawings and really each one was drawn pretty quickly in a single day as part of a 100 day project. 

It surprises me how trying to remember them sometimes transports me back in time, like this agave drawing which became our ‘discovery’ theme. This was a small agave plant my parents gave me as a gift that I had growing in my studio. I remember the day I drew it because I felt like I had run out of ideas of what to do for my daily drawing practice (it was drawn on day 54 of a 100 days) and this plant had been sitting with me all this time, almost like a patient friend watching me struggle through the project.

The beauty of setting an intention to do something every day is that it sometimes forces you to see things that you don’t normally notice. You sort of have to become intensely aware of things in order to keep the momentum going. And so I remember staring in awe of this interesting little plant that I barely noticed yet had been with me all this time, and it made me wonder what other discoveries are there to find right beneath our own noses?

And when I drew it, I couldn’t help but notice the prickly thorns on the edges of the plant. I recall that I could feel its sharp, protective outer edge when I drew it. You can see the sharp edges (maybe feel them too?) if you look closely at the drawing. 

Discovery seemed like the right word for this plant on this day - in part because like the thorny outer edges of the plant, discovery, on its edges, is almost always a bit uncomfortable because you are moving into new places in your mind, in your emotions, in the world, or in your spirit. But the rewards feel so big if we are willing to go there – because our world will become bigger and so will we!