Follow your nose (it always knows) is my meandering diary tale about living a life following intuition, instincts, apparitions, smells, and especially dreams. Follow your nose is a blog about wandering and wondering – following hunches, whimsy and the guidance of nightly whisperings.
Sometimes this can be a good thing. Sometimes it doesn’t work out quite so well. But there it is.
Born into an Anglican family, I have slipped or slithered into believing something akin to the philosophy of the Northeastern Natives as interpreted by Jean de Brebeuf in the 1600′s, when he wrote,
The dream is the oracles that all these poor peoples consult and listen to, the prophet which predicts future events, the Cassandra which warns of misfortunes threatening them, the physician who treats them in their sicknesses…It is their most absolute master…
(Okay we’ll have to overlook his “poor” peoples thing, given the century he was writing)
Begun as a place to share dreams and an unabashed love of shamanism and mysticism, as a place to share stories in the form of Facebook fragment or ancient tale or anything in between, on most days this is simply a photoblog.
Writing days include thoughts on movies, travels, friends, and bumps in the night; occasional angry rants on failed relationships, money worries, the limitations of psychiatry and the general state of the world; musings on the teachings of gurus, random strangers, cross-cultural encounters, the mysteries of the universe and fluctuations in the weather.
I could introduce myself by some astrology as it sounds so trippy and grand, for example - 
In Mayan astrology I am Red Electric Serpent (something about an intense relationship with the body, a shedding of skins in rebirth)
In Chinese astrology I am Wood Dragon (big ego, opinionated, reckless, never settles down in love)
But really, the ordinary truth is I’m a middle-aged female, single mom to a gorgeous, smart, sullen teenage boy, living in the downtown core of Toronto, Canada, and working as an editor in the film and television industry.
You could call me Kat, or maybe Katalina – for now I’m posting sort-of semi-anonymously, in a half-hearted attempt to disguise myself, as I work in a rather cynical, non-mystical industry.
My hopes for this space are to share the rambling path that is my life, both visual and anecdotal, to burrow into lived experiences, the world out there and the stuff in my head, and crack open the navel-gazing like a walnut just to see the insides.
Would love to hear from you, passerby… 
Bright Blessings to all Visitors,
Kata
Lovely blog and beautiful mission statement! Your shared thoughts really resonated with me. Look forward to following along on your journey! Have a wonderful weekend!
—Mary
Mary, thanks so much for your comment! And I see you are a television person also – wonderful to connect on a non-TV plane
I love your mission statement. It’s a beautiful life philosophy. Big thanks for following my blog. Looking forward to more posts from you.
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and for the follow. Have a lovely week!!! Will be back later in the day to enjoy your blog.
So nice to have found your blog. We are two moms who have children in college and youngest about to enter 11th grade. I worked in the tv industry, too. Looking forward to reading Follow your nose.
Love your blog and have nominated you for a One Lovely Blog Award. If you’re interested you can find the rules for acceptance at: http://leblogdemarie.com/2012/08/21/the-bandaged-place/
Lovely photoblog.
I like it
Thanks for the follow, Katalina. I’ll have a mooch around your blog once I’ve got the kids off to school.
“Bright blessings to all visitors”… love that! Thank you for following my blog. Look forward to reading yours…
Follow Your Nose,
It’s nice to have a fellow Canadian following Le Clown… Even though that fellow Canadian is from Toronto.
Le Clown
In my defence, what can I say??? Um….I wasn’t born here…um….I lived in Montreal for 10 years….um…. Actually, I find Toronto has gotten way cooler over the years – it’s grown a bit of grit. And I notice when I’ve been away in other Canadian towns and then come back to Toronto, how truly multi-cultural it has become….
Katalina,
I am only 3/4 kidding, of course… Being from Montreal, I couldn’t do it any other way…
Le Clown
Yah, I recognized the jab at Toronto from my years in Montreal – when I lived there I would tell people I was American (true, technically) cause being American seemed to at least offer some exoticism.
Katalina,
This made me laugh. And I apologize for my fellow Montrealers. From now on, I will only be nice to you, unless you mention the Maple Leafs.
Le Clown
Good to have a place where you can express yourself in a more relaxed way that in the present media industry. Happy to make your acquaintance, Kat! …”the mysteries of the universe and fluctuations in the weather” – yes, that is how it presents itself a lot of the time, isn’t it? Deep revelations mixed in with taking out the garbage
looking forward to exploring more of you blog ~ ♥ Tomas
Revelations while taking out the garbage! Love it! Garbage is a pretty revealing element of life….
Thanks for the visit, Tomas
What a beautiful blog you have…I will snuggle up with it soon and do some reading…
Thanks so very much for stopping by, misslisted!
Bright blessings to you Katalina! Have nominated you for a Liebster Award because I love how you find magic in little things in life! Please do collect it when you have some time from here: http://wp.me/p2x7VR-oM. And I look forward to reading your answers to my questions!
Aalif! Such a sweetie you are! Am just on my way out of town, so will be a few days before I respond, but will definitely do it. And looking forward to checking out the other blogs on your list.
xo Kat
Hello Kata. Thanks for the visit and follow. You’ve such a wonderful blog I’d like to explore and follow ardently. Hope to see more of you around my corner.
Uzoma, I was delighted to happen upon your blog this morning – I think it was a wordpress generated suggestion. The first thing I saw was your post about the kola nut proverb and ceremony, and as for the past week I’ve been reading Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (I know it is old, I’m embarrassed to be so far behind in my reading) but there are of course endless references to kola nuts, something just a little foreign to a Canadian winter, and I’ve been away and had almost no internet access, so could not complete the image in my mind and….well then there you are with kola nuts first up and your beautiful spare writing style. Following is my pleasure. Kat
Aw, that’s the nicest thing I’ve heard in a while now about the late Achebe (he passed away a few weeks ago). I read Things Fall Apart while I was still a boy. Achebe,an Igbo (like me), portrayed most of the Igbo culture in his book and also about the advent of the white man. His book is one of the important books used in literature in Africa. Kola nuts, on the other hand, are good. They are used in certain beverages. Thanks for commenting on my writing too. My pleasure following you.
Hello Katalina, following our intuition is a must- and happy to meet you, thank you so much for pressing the follow button on Dreamwalke’s Sanctuary, I look forward to dropping back to read some of your posts…
Blessings ~Sue
Following is my pleasure Dreamwalker – look forward to crossing paths in the future – Kat
I have always had gut instincts and “feel” what the right and wrong thing to do is, physically in my stomach and spiritually as well. I never realized that everyone didn’t feel that way. So glad I found your post, glad you found mine.Blessings to you from Laurie at Hibernationnow.wordpress.com
Thanks so much for stopping by, Laurie!
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So, I already follow my nose. I already follow your blog. But how do I follow you? (You’re not on Twitter?)
Hmmm…I guess I’m a bit low profile…
Kat, I like you in spite of your Canadianianianness… kidding. Thanks for the great conversations on Twitter and blog world. You’re a great writer, so please don’t stop.
BR
Awww… Like I told Le Clown when he insulted me for being from Toronto, I’m really an American… Dad’s from Philly, Mom’s from NYC and I was born in Rhode Island. But anyway, will try to keep writing, even though photos are faster and easier… Thanks BR
No problem, Kat, wherever you are from.
I really like your blog and the topics you talk about. More importantly I like the energy ad n enthusiasm about life nad living that seems to come through your post/ Hi Five for being so cool !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Five back MMMFP! So glad you came by and gave yourself a tour. Stop in again any time. I’ve just started perusing your site and will do more again soon… Kat
Its a rather kick ass blog. Look forward to commenting and havign a good ole time here
Dave