Hi Reader,

Welcome to our new subscribers and gratitude to our long-timers RBBPers.

It's been a busy year, hence this is the RBBP first newsletter of 2026 😯🤦🏻‍♀️😆! I hope that you've been continuing to nurture your creative spirit in both your life and business since last we connected.

We just made it through the devastating 🌀Hurricane Lala🌀 here in Hawaiʻi 🌺. Thankfully, weʻre okay where we are 😅 - no damage at our place, just still no power and no water (grateful for solar and bottled water!). But many parts of the islands were hit hard. If youʻd like to support recovery efforts, please consider donating to Vibrant Hawaiʻi (a place I did resiliency training with recently - they are an amazing organization!). Thank you for considering! 🙏🏽

Since last I wrote, I've had lots of travel 🛫 🧳 for trainings, conferences, my first pilgrimage to the Tule Lake concentration camp in Northern California where my Japanese great-grandfather and great-aunt where unjustly mass incarcerated during WWII and much, much more. It's been a whirlwind, but I'm grateful for all of these recent experiences that have helped me build more skills, learn more about myself (and subjects I'm super interested in!) and connect with inspiring people.

With school back in session for students and with all of the trainings Iʻm in this year, learning is on my mind 🧠🤓. (Oh and btw, I finally learned how to actually sew things on the sewing machine I bought last year! Yet another learning milestone🧵🙌🏽!). Iʻll share some cute pics toward the end of this email.

Leveling Up Your Learning

But first, Iʻm curious, what do you want to learn more about? What skills do you want to build or improve? What are the gaps in your knowledge that, if filled, will make a difference in your creative life or business?

Here's an oldie-but-goodie from the archives: Developing Your Personal Curriculum that can help you create your very own learning plan.

UPDATED TIPS: In addition to the suggestions there👆🏽, Iʻll share that for me, it makes all the difference to have a supportive learning environment which can include being in a space where I feel comfortable (enough), working with a trusted mentor or teacher that I vibe with AND most importantly being within my own Window of Tolerance (having a flexible and regulated nervous system and the capacity to take in new information).

For example, when I first tried learning how to sew decades ago, I was in a crowded weekly evening class in San Francisco after long days at work at my corporate job(!) with minimal hands-on instruction doing a project that was waaaay beyond what a beginner should be doing (I got overwhelmed and felt like I was behind everyone and I did everything I wasn't supposed to do, like break the needle on the first class 😬!). This time around, I opted for a one-time affordable private lesson with my lovely seamstress at my home during the day using my own sewing machine. It was much more chill and encouraging and I could go at my own pace with expert guidance at the ready. I was sewing in no time!

What conditions help you learn best? Do you allow yourself to have those conditions met or do you just push through? How do you keep going when learning something new gets tough? I get that it can be an ego blow to be back in conscious incompetence! Remember to offer yourself compassion and patience!

Okay, and now for some fun sewing show and tell 😊...

You can't really tell from the bag photo, but the inner lining seams don't line up with the outside, one of the straps is crooked and the bottom is a bit wonky, but learning isn't about perfection. It's about getting better with practice. And so, I keep sewing!

Don't forget to integrate skills you've learned along the way and get creative! About 7 years ago, I took a freemotion quilting class and while I didn't learn to sew using sewing patterns, I got a bit more familiar with using the machine to do freeform lines. Now that I know how to stitch things together, I got inspired to layer on that skill of freemotion quilting to add a little more character and dimension to my piece. I challenged myself to figure out how to put on the special sewing machine foot and refresh my memory about freemotion quilting (thanks YouTube!).

Another example of integrating skills, is I got trained as a life coach more than 20 years ago and, over the years, I've added skills around somatics and trauma recovery to my coaching to support deeper transformation and healing in my clients.

What's something you've learned recently that you can integrate with something you learned in the past? How does that enhance what your offer now?

I'd love to hear what you're learning about these days or what you want to learn about. Feel free to hit reply and let me know!

And btw, if you have any great resources for beginner sewing patterns, please send them my way!

Thanks for being here!