Ink Link – What does your Ink mean to you?

The Ink Link is an ongoing project at CN&CO that showcases the diversity of tattoos. One of the great things about a tattoo is that it goes against the commonly-held viewpoint that “what you see is what you get”. There’s a misguided belief in certain quarters that only “some” people get a tattoo. We are putting paid to that perception through the stories showcased in the Ink Link.

As I was thinking about who I should feature in this blog, I was drawn to a quote from a navy seal training that I heard while listening to one of Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic podcasts a few weeks back.

“Slow is smooth and smooth is fast”

2020 has been a fascinating year so far, one that I will certainly remember for the rest of my life and it’s not only because of the corona virus.

In December as part of the CN&CO where were you at noon blog series, we were asked to share a word that described the way we would approach 2020. I picked the word “mindfulness”.

Reflecting on the last couple of months over the last few days has reminded me of the story behind my first tattoo “serendipity”.

If you pop the word into your search browser it returns the definition “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.” I define it more simplistically – there is a lot of life that is left up to chance and life has a funny way of connecting the dots.

Being mindful has allowed me to appreciate and learn from being in the moment. To adapt to and explore the “chance” occurrences that present themselves on this journey through life. Tattoos and ink for me are more than just a form a creative expressionism, they carry small reminders to be true to yourself.

So, going back to the quote that caught my attention – “slow is smooth and smooth is fast” – just as a tattoo artist is super attentive to the detail in the ink the are putting onto you, we can all learn to take a breath and slow down.

Earlier this year in March, feels crazy to type that as it feels like just the other day, I chatted to Rikus Kok about my ink and shared a brief insight into the story behind a few of the pieces. I have added a few pieces since then, one of them being TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge) as a reminder for me to keep nature in mind when making decisions in a ever growing technologically centre world.