The Serene Home Project Day One - The Burden of Things.

One of my earliest memories is of a Christmas day at my Grandparents house. I must have been only 5 or 6 years old and as is common in children of that age I was full of amazement that Christmas day had finally arrived.

It is a memory that is tinged in a Polaroid glow of yellow and reds, blurred at the edges but somehow still sharp and intense.

I don't remember waking up that morning, only the sheer unadulterated joy of turning the corner into my Grandparents' living room and seeing what seemed to me like an ocean of brightly wrapped presents under the Christmas tree.

The impact of seeing so many things in one place that were new and exciting and (at least partly) for me, stamped that memory deep into my consciousness and even now, I look back on that moment and feel the same sense of wonder and joy.




Perhaps it is in moments like these where our love affair with 'things' begins. Those few precious memories where we have confused the source of our joy as coming from things and not experiences.

Now, fast forward a few years and picture this. The talking dolls and paper backed books have long since become unloved, worn out, used up and thrown out.
But, the process of 'ownership' has been entrenched. I now have a room full of 'things', some important to me, like my Camera and my favourite shoes, some so unimportant that I have forgotten I own them, like the collection of antique glass bottles I rescued from a creek bed on the farm and now have stored in the top of my cupboard.

Even worse, I am holding onto what is effectively rubbish, half written poems, bank statements that have never been opened and University essays long since marked for subjects I have finished.

I am, although I don't know it at the time, about to experience my first moment of clarity around my relationship with possessions. The first time where it occurs to me that possessions while undoubtedly cool, can also be a burden, one which I would rather be shouldered by someone else.

You see, I am leaving home.
Leaving home and horror of horrors,  my parents want me to take my things with me!

Frankly, I would rather not. Why can't they store them in my old room? Are they so eager to re purpose the space that I need to take everything now?
What if I move again soon? I would have to move these 'things' again.... wouldn't it be easier to just box them up and put them in the ceiling space (which in truth is what happened)?

I wanted to own them.... I just didn't want to have them.

This brief brush with the true nature of 'things' and our relationship with them was not to be my last & I have gradually come to the realisation that the first joy of 'having', when we first acquire shiny new things, is in most cases eclipsed by the pressing burden of ownership.

It was however a random quote read recently (and as is the way of the universe)  then seen everywhere, in psychology articles and blogs galore that tipped me over the edge towards taking action & set me on a path to analyse how my possessions impact on the serenity of my home.

A Minimal Approach

Perhaps it is time to really 'see' what we have invited to stay in our homes and how these guests impact on our sense of well being. How our half finished bottles of 'body butter' and not quite used up sauce and collections of travel memorabilia and novelty mugs that are never looked at any more are causing our spirit to literally drown in 'stuff'.

Tomorrow I will be examining the effects of our visual environment and how visual clutter (or as I am thinking of it now, too much stuff!) can bring you down!

Can't wait for day two of 'The Serene Home Project'!