Follow Your Heart: A Journey Through Tibet

I went to Tibet looking for inspiration. What stayed with me most were the people I met along the way. This is the story behind Follow Your Heart, a piece of Tibet inspired jewelry that became part of a memory we now share.

There were grasslands cared for across generations, pilgrims absorbed in prayer, children laughing, and older faces whose warmth I still remember.

The places we grew up, our everyday routines, the things we held close—so much of our lives was different. I was only passing through. What I saw was a small part of someone else’s day.

Still, those brief encounters stayed with me long after I put the camera down.

The moments I kept

Looking through the photographs, I keep returning to the smaller details: a child peeking out between the sheep, an arm resting across their wool, a smile exchanged on a bench beside a white wall.

These are the moments that help me remember being there. I can look at the landscape and remember the place; I look at these faces and remember how it felt to meet someone.

I also remember watching an older pilgrim bow down, prayer beads held between outstretched hands. I could see the gesture, but I could not know everything it meant to the person making it.

It made me think about the things we each return to—the beliefs, people, and commitments that give shape to our days. And it made me ask what I wanted to keep close in my own life.

A line that led back to the heart

The flowing calligraphy behind Follow Your Heart gave me a way to express some of those feelings.

In this rendering of the Tibetan word for heart and mind, I was drawn to the movement of the line: the way it gathered inward, turned, and opened out again. I wanted to carry that feeling into a small piece you could wear.

I called it Follow Your Heart—a reminder to pay attention to what matters to you, even in the small choices of an ordinary day.

A gift, and a memory

During the trip, I met a welcoming herding family. I gave the mother and daughter two pairs of Follow Your Heart earrings: a gold pair for the mother and a silver pair for her daughter.

The mother’s husband helped them put the earrings on. I photographed him reaching toward his wife’s ear as she smiled.

Then mother and daughter leaned together for a photograph, one wearing gold, the other silver.

When I look at that picture now, I see their smiles first. Then I notice the little curves beside their faces. That is the place I hope jewelry can have: close to the person wearing it, part of a moment they might remember.

An invitation into the dream

A saying I encountered on the journey has stayed with me:

“If I tell you my dream, you may forget it. If I invite you into my dream, it may become your dream too.”

I brought these earrings with me, and that family gave them a memory I could never have planned. The journey became part of the piece.

When you wear Follow Your Heart, it will begin to gather moments I will never see: somewhere you go, someone you meet, a morning that becomes worth remembering.

This is the part of the story I can share with you. What comes next follows your heart.