Day 150/366 days Towards Self-Mastery.
Cherished possessions have very special memories to share.
What are your cherished possessions? Do you have collections of beautiful things that you simply can't live without? I always had a fancy for collecting things. I thought that cool people have cool collections. That prized collection was never really discovered. Deprived even after all that foraging and fossicking through collectible stores, I wondered if indeed I was devoid of imagination.
Until one day it occurred to me that my home is full of things that I collect. My collection, the special ones that I search out, fossick for, hunt down, are well used, infused with life from previous owners or have been crafted by loving hands. That have been planned out, designed, crafted and polished with passion.
If it's had a life or has a life that's waiting to be ignited, then I will fall in love with it. From furniture picked up at recycle centres, handcrafted chairs, to antique dressers, pottery art pieces, artful rings and earrings, and even fabric for cushion covers.
Recently I discovered an outfit in a recycle store that I just had to have, the fabric was so special with embossed roses in a subtle flesh colour. There was no way on God's green earth that I could wear that item, I tried!. It did however make perfect cushion covers as well as a cover for my current art journal, and I love them all!
Collect for love, not for clutter.
I am so grateful that I never found that thing that I wanted to collect dozens of. Teapots or china cups, miniature elephants or pate knives didn't do it for me. My collection is an eclectic mix of beautiful and practical. I use it and admire it and love that it's sharing its life with mine.
Oh and I must confess, I have small collections of stones of all sizes that have come into my possession from various expeditions . My all time favourite medium is water so have visited, sailed upon, boated over, dived into, snorkeled in, tubed down and sat alongside the raging rapids of many a waterway including many famous ones you'll recognise - the Danube, the Seine, The Tiber, The Bosphorus, The Strait of Messina, The English Channel, The Mediterranean, The Adriatic Sea, The Red Sea, The Black Sea, the Bass Strait, the Ditch (Tasman Sea), Auckland & Wellington Harbours, Cook Strait, the entire circumference of NZ, The Murray Darling, Sydney Harbour, Brisbane River and so, so, so many more. These deeply moving, liquid depths will often relinquish a momento that I am to cherish in my home where they live their life with me, befriending a pot plant or sleeping on my bedside table, whispering their watery and sometimes salty secrets.
And today, the coup de grace, the loveliest of all lovely things in my wardrobe, I purchased a pair of slightly mismatched, because perfection is not a thing, handmade boots! Made by a Polish family in my mother's homeland. And I have to confess, it's not my first pair. I absolutely adore them for all those reasons and more. Discovered in a shoe store in my own little village, I met and talked for a while with the owner, Annie, and learned how she discovered the shoemakers and knew she had to add them to her amazing and charming collection that captures us all each new season.
What we collect is so personal. My latest collections is thanks to Spotify. Having recently figured out how to do Spotify, I now have an amazing collection of favourites that I can't get enough of. Van Morrison, JJ Cale, INXS, The Boss, Creedence, Santana, the list goes on. I am so in love with this collection that plays for hours and hours and fills my heart to overflowing.
So yeah, it seems that I do collect things. Just not convention things that would ever increase in monetary value.
Let your love be expressed in your special collections. It will fill your home with those overflows from your heart and touch everyone who connects with you.
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.
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