magic | Jane Ainslie

Am I the only one asking, ‘where did the bloody year go?’ Last time I looked, it was July and now they are saying it’s only three weeks till Christmas. Luckily I have the Xmas tree up. Although, I’ve had to mount it on a very high coffee table, because we have a ferret who has made it her personal mission to pull the tree over… Well Jane, I hear you say, what fun things do you have to share with us?

I’ve decided to only keep things around me which give me joy (thanks Marie Kondo). I was early for an appointment yesterday, and there happened to be a big junk shop near by. Look what I found!! It’s meant to be a butter dish, but I’m going to use it to store my pins for my sewing projects.

Then I found this. It’s an 80 year old cooking book. I couldn’t resist, especially when I opened it up and saw this.

‘To Mother, from the boys, 1936.’ If that didn’t tug on the heart strings, nothing else would. Anyway, I purchased it, then discovered lots of loose recipes, and scribbled notes within the book. What a treasure, a real echo from the past. I think I might even do some cooking from it and see how it turns out. So on that note, let the countdown to Christmas begin, and may you keep cool, calm and collected and enjoy what is left of 2016.

Last post I talked about Marie Kondo, and her book on tidying up your house. At first glance, she does seem a bit mad, but I’ve spent quite a bit of time applying her principals (principles?) to my belongings, and I was shocked to find that her system does indeed change your perception of yourself.

Her basic method is to examine every single bloody thing you own and ask yourself ‘does this spark joy in me?’ If it doesn’t then you have to let it go.

It’s quite a confronting thing to do. I got rid of so much stuff from my bookcase and wardrobe alone, that I physically felt ill when I took it all to the second hand shop. I didn’t feel ill because I was letting it go, there was something else at the bottom of it, but I couldn’t figure it out.

The next day I went to see my best friend (BF), and while I was telling her about how I felt, I suddenly blurted out that I’d held onto a lot of things I didn’t need, want or like in my life because I didn’t want to hurt the people (mainly family) who had given me the stuff I didn’t want. Their happiness was somehow deemed more important than mine, so I held onto a lot of their crap so I wouldn’t upset them. And with that, I burst into tears.

It was never about the ‘stuff’.

Marie also says that letting go of things you don’t use in your life, gives them the opportunity to do what they were created for. That hit a big chord too. I’ve been in a profession I really don’t want to be in for over ten years now (nursing). It’s feels like I’ve put myself in the back of a drawer and not let myself be used for what I was designed to do.

And strangely, this week I’m finding a new road to go down which may very well take me where I would love to go.

So, if you are looking for some insights that might very well put you on a different path, then I suggest you read her book. Be warned though, it works.