I’m a firm believer in The Secret.  What you put out into the universe comes back to you.  I’m also a believer in living in joy and being thankful for all of the blessings in your life.  That's wonderful on paper – but living it while being a single mom with a fulltime job, house and 5,000 chores that need to get done at every moment is harder. 

Especially one sunny afternoon when I was un-stacking the dishwasher (yes, very glamorous) and wearing an inspirational shirt, “live in joy”.  One of many shirts I have with sayings slapped across the front of them for the world to see.  I tried to save myself a trip across the room - I loaded up my arms with glasses as if packing for a vacation.  Then the inevitable happened – I dropped a glass and it shattered all over the kitchen.  I broke down and started crying.  Not just a few Kodak commercial tears, actually sobbing.  I broke a glass that my ex and I had gotten as a wedding gift –  I know the tears that followed had nothing to do with the glass a friend gave us.  It was the fact that not only did I still have the other 5,000 things to do that day – now I had to get the vacuum out of the over-packed closet and deal with cleaning up the shards of glass that were a hazard for my young son. 

It was at that moment that I noticed in the kitchen mirror my shirt - “live in joy”.  I sat with my tears for a moment and realized how lucky I really am.  I peeled myself off of the floor and headed for the vacuum.  As I did I wondered why my shirt didn’t have that saying someplace I could see it.  Someplace that would remind me to live in joy, or be patient, or how lucky I am a few times a day?  Reminders for me.  Only for me.

That's where this idea was born.  In my kitchen in New York with broken glass at my feet, tears in my eyes and a heart full of joy.  SoulCuffs - cuffs for me.