What pleasures have you been denying yourself by not using those wonderful treasures stored away in your cupboards and closets? Isn’t it time to break out the “good stuff”? Let us know how that works for you!
Many folks are going through hard times right now. That’s especially true on a couple fronts: the financial front and the morale front. Some have lost jobs; some can’t find new jobs; some worry about losing jobs. All of us, I suspect even those who still feel secure financially, are pulling in our horns, spending less, finding ways to “make-do” or “do without”. And many of you are exercising that third characteristic of resilient people: you’ve become practicing “bricoleurs” creatively using what’s at hand to solve problems.
Today I’m suggesting another way to be a bricoleur – by using what’s at hand, to imaginatively create opportunities for raising your spirits – by taking a new look at the stuff you already have, either sitting on a shelf, in a closet or stashed in a cupboard. And no, I’m not going to suggest you sell them at a yard sale or on E-Bay or Craigslist although that’s certainly an option if the goal were to increase your cash flow. Instead, I’m hoping you can muster some new optimism, fun and pleasure into your lives by foraging through what you’ve already got and putting it to new or perhaps even first use.
Musings Over an Unlit Candle
The 3-inch wax pillar, scented with mango and orange and labelled “A Candle for Writing” arrived in my mailbox years ago with happy, encouraging words from my friend the-professional-making-a-living-at-it writer. Once upon a time it functioned as my visual nag – berating me for not putting flame to the wick of my elusive dream of writing for others to read. And even now, now that I get to write posts that are regularly published in this blog, STILL I’ve left the candle standing on my window shelf, forgotten, pristine when it should be long gone. Why is that?
What a lovely ritual my Writing Candle could be, telling me: “The candle is lit, it’s writing time.” And perhaps there’s the rub – an up-until-now-unconscious fear that in some perverse way I’d be inviting writer’s block. Well, let me tell you – if that’s the case, my not-lighting-it isn’t blocking writer’s block! That shows up with great regularity here at my keyboard anyway.
As an aside, I am gradually learning to recognize and use my “success triggers” for getting started writing posts. See a discussion of success triggers in my earlier post: Getting Started vs. Procrastination. And I’ve found that my best writing starter-strategy is “free writing” which is a nifty technique taught in Ann Lindquists’s Beginning Writer’s Workshop at ed2go.com.
But Back to the Question at Hand
Why do I save special things instead of using them for the purpose they were intended? Is my hoarding of candles (and other special things) simply a form of trophy acquisition, or a way of keeping my options open, or, is it a symptom of a scarcity mentality or an abundance delusion? In her blog, Debbie, a hypnotist, offers an interesting commentary on the prevalence of scarcity thinking:
Abundance of Scarcity Thinking
Nature is amazing in its abundance. When I look at my orange tree, it never produces just “the one” orange. It produces so many oranges that we have to give them to everyone we can. My son has recently laughingly reminded me that nature is abundant with the generous amounts of pollen we have had to sweep from our drive daily. Sunsets are never ending. The number of seagulls every time I visit the beach, more than enough, thank you very much!
Appreciating Abundance
A candle’s purpose is to… bring light, perhaps heats, comfortable illumination, pleasure, visual entertainment, mood setting, accent, support, joy, entertainment, aroma. So is my not-lighting-a-candle in effect, a denial of its purpose and by extension, a denial of a gift-giver’s gift? Now that’s a repugnant thought, that I may have rejected the gift of the gift giver. NO - I really don’t like that idea and if nothing else, I have finally found a YES reason for using what’s given to me NOW – to embrace the intentions of the gift giver!
Back around Easter I wrote in Enjoying the NOW:
Sometimes, the NOW is a really good place to be. Enjoy what you can in your life. Let your optimism shine through rose-colored glasses at least once every day!
So, in that spirit, this morning, symbolically, I decided to put flame to the wick.
The Candle-Hoarder in Me Objects!
This inaugural burn seems so final, the beginning of an end, a fanciful yet finite melting of pretty promise. I stare with awkward reluctance wondering, what’s the point? I cough and the flame weaves away from me as the transparent well of melted wax grows wider and deeper and the aroma begins to please. Ideas and thoughts flit across my consciousness, not captured but tantalizingly, teasingly close. Like the candle’s colorful swirls of oranges, peaches and reds, these images of unrecorded prose glow just below the bright pool of melting wax.
Ah! Methinks it’s free writing time!
Waiting for Just the Right Moment
What stuff am I (and you) hoarding for that just right moment? And when will I decide it’s just the right moment? How about NOW??? I’m going to follow in the footsteps of some insightful friends who, when they retired to full-time RV life, sold their home and gave away all sorts of stored, never-used items. They were on the verge of giving away an exquisite set of crystal (!) dinnerware they’d received as a wedding gift 50 years ago. They’d never used the crystal ware because they were so fragile, too beautiful to break! Today, in their RV, they dine on crystal instead of paper plates – and should the crystal shatter, well then, sweep it up! And revel in the ephemeral joy of experiencing something special.
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