Day 147/366 days Towards Self-Mastery.
The homes I have decorated cross my memory as a parade of visuals from the diary of my life.
From my earliest homes that were little more than a replica of my family theme to carelessly transplanting tropical cool into cold climates, my homes demonstrated that you can change location, but the mind and body retain its well conditioned, enculturated styles.
Sarah suggests that we let our passion be our decorator.
Let your love and life flow into your choices as you go about your home with your decorator's journal and choose the best expression of yourself for each room.
In recent years, decades, as my mind became more settled and my moving slowed down, I've had the pleasure of decorating from scratch, 2 homes.
The first, just 86 square meters in size, was completely reconstructed to make the most practical use of the small butter-box style sixties home in a lush garden on the hillside in Wellington NZ.
From choosing a colour palette from a piece of fabric that reflected my need for warmth, to opening the spaces to give my mind room for clarity, taking out a wall to open the vista and bring the spaciousness inside, and creating a car deck above that sheltered and brought privacy, this home felt like my very first real family home.
With a few precious pieces of furniture that came with me, we filled the spaces with love, lighting the way for deep healing.
In it we, my son and I, began our life's journey together. Here we sheltered from the emotional storms of my marriage and the remnants of my passed, and began to figure out how to live as a family.
We lived in and loved that home dearly for 10 years, the longest I had ever put down roots and stayed in one place that I called home.
Then on returning home to Australia we had the opportunity to do it all again. This time from the very beginning of choosing the location, the piece of land, carefully selecting each and every piece of timber to build our home, the lighting, the metalware, the china, the appliances that suited my style.
With pencil and paper I drafted a rough sketch and discovered the perfect architect to bring it to life. This time just 100 square meters with an additional spacious 40 meter deck, I had learned that with smaller spaces comes the ability to splash out a little with style.
Travelling my precious items across the ditch, an antique dutch dresser of stunning New Zealand Kauri, an ornate dressing table from the turn of the 20th Century crafted from exquisite New Zealand Rimu. I am it's second owner. An octagonal occasional teak table with a vintage twenties style lamp that have been at my bedside for decades. A square dining table and high back chairs rescued and restored and of service to my small family since around 2000, and 2 leather two-seater couches that I regret but have committed to loving in honour of the animals that have spared their hide for my pleasure. And of course, last but by no means least, my precious collection of books.
These precious items, accompanied with pottery and rugs and pieces of art that I've collected through life and from around the world make my house, my home.
My passion is currently being expressed in creative ways adding another dimension to the life that is mine and visible as art journals and the beginning exercises of watercolour art propped on that precious dutch dresser. The tunes of a spotify playlist of favourites from the seventies and eighties that have been rarely audible in my life have brought my home to life again, as if resurrecting the love of my life long forgotten.
Let your passion be your decorator. Let your passion reflect in your home, the place in which you can be unapologetically 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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