creating joy & sustainability

Morning eKa CIRCLE

How long has it been since you created something that brought you joy? Last week I was thinking about what I found delightful and fun as a child and I was making a mental checklist about how many of those things I still implement. There is something beautiful about what you gravitate to as a free spirit- no overthinking- just a natural dance toward what makes you happy. For me it was cooking, collecting stray animals (ah the rescuer in me) and making things with my hands. While I have made a long standing career out of two of those talents for decades I realise that is exactly the reason I have found my career extremely satisfying. It is the power of the creative process.

A mystery that brings great healing.

But how do we stretch your natural gifting into something that assists sustainability and helps others on a larger scale? In the busyness of life I feel we have lost the art of creating individual items for our homes or for gifts. Or even just as a pure act of meditation. We have been quietly lulled into buying cookie cutter items with clever marketing. Yet many homes in that process seem to have lost their soul. Items without that sparkle are so easily discarded as we can see with every council pick up these days! How much is trashed into landfill and quickly replaced with another mass market item, most people preferring the “quick temporary fix” as opposed to quality. So few things are treasured or passed on as an inheritance connecting precious memories. It is as if our environments follow the current currency of this world all plastic and aluminium. Ah the fractals of life that I so often speak on!

I can absolutely testify having worked as a stylist for so long that there is a natural pull to something that is unique. The art peace that inspires…we all have the ability to make something that should be the style setter not the carbon copy. It doesn’t always have to be art as we see it either? I have one friend who does equally as amazing things with numbers-another friend does it with gardening. I met a man recently that collects beautiful old pieces of wood and stone that my mind quickly took into amazing show stopper home ware pieces and I cheekily created a pinterest board hoping to inspire that in him. It is the unique gifting of each one of us that make the world such an interesting place. How did we so quickly lose our individuality clamouring to be the same?

If you haven’t already, check out the Marie Kondo method to owning things. The principle is to keep things only if they bring purpose and joy. Such a good philosophy to what we own and what we gift to another. So if something doesn’t bring you and your home joy-give it to someone that it will. Putting some soul and love back into all things around you matters. Rediscover rescuing from the sidewalk; finding the discarded, painting with a coat of loving restoration again. Manifest!!!! Consciously surrender the mindless addiction to consumerism. In that process find a style of co-creative meditation. Live with less; live with intention and find your peace. We are so much more inclined to care for things we love right? Everyone that enters our space will surely feel that peace.

So to tick a few boxes last week I decided to revisit some things I used to love doing as a child. Crochet was one- macrame another. I have fond memories of my grandmother crocheting, I also recall in primary school sitting on the field with my friends knitting, crocheting and making pom poms. Such lovely memories, often escapism for my young troubled mind in things beyond my control. Inspire and pass these skills on, it builds relationship, allows for conversation to flow and quality time to be had. Not everything needs be learned on the YouTube university screen. So many young children have also lost the ability to use their fine motor skills that these kinds of craft assist in. Screen time often monopolising every last spare minute of the day. Things don’t need to be perfect – they just need to be joyous.

Stretch that skill into being intentional for eco-friendly ways to cut back on consumerism, plastics and chemicals. Here we have the perfect marriage for gift giving and embracing positive sustainable changes in your home. An added plus is that no-one can replicate; the things in your space will be uniquely you! How refreshing. So with sustainability in the forefront of my mind I choose to make some cotton dish cloths, a little soap holder to hang on the tap and some little crochet rounds that could be used for face cleansing, washing dishes or maybe even as coasters. The macrame wall hanging was a bucket list thing that I have always wanted to try to make- I stumbled on this lovely stick while walking the dog and it rapidly pulled together. Now my living room wall has some feathers I have collected, some rose quartz crystal and some wooden beads netted together with some macrame love. Happiness now hangs in my home.

What brings you that kind of delight and child like joy?

love & light

M + E