Bringing Meaning to Objects

America suffers from what I feel is a compulsive behaviour to own STUFF. I've discussed this at length in previous blog posts, and have taken measures every year to 'purge' my home of items not loved or used enough to value keeping. This thinking was revived for me as I am reading A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink on loan from a friend. He has some fabulous points to ensure that our material wealth, whether much or little, is appreciated and enjoyed for maximum potential.

1. Put object on the table and examine it. What memories does it provide? What is it's history?
2. Now that the object is solidly in your mind and you've connected to it, how does it affect each of your senses? Pink is discussing the value of design and ways to improve our right side of the brain. As you study the object, the design of the object "will trigger your senses".
3. Consider how you connected the clues and how you feel. What are the connections?

Doing this was a fascinating revelation on how I connect with what we own. I was happy to see that most of we have (at least brought with us to Denver) are special indeed. It makes me happy to at least have items that will endure emotionally and reminds me to not buy something because it's 'cute'. Classic -not cute- unless specifically purchased for something short term and keeping to the plans on getting rid of it when done.

Karim Rashid made an awesome point:

Experience is the most important part of living, and the exchange of ideas and human contact is all life really is. Space and objects can encourage increased experiences or distract from our experiences.

The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church by Reggie McNeal


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Time for Self

I usually think that I take time out for myself, but yesterday's afternoon at the spa reminded me that I really don't, or at least not enough. It was a little bit of heaven to be placed in an environment where raising your pinky finger is definitely not expected. The host's face of shock that I actually got up and walked from the steam room to the front for my massage (didn't wait in the lounge) was really a wonderful feeling. Laziness is not only accepted, but condoned! The fact that Tazo is their tea selection and Aveda is their main product line made it even better. I was drowning in tea by the time I left, complete with relaxation from the massage, manicure, and pedicure. It's so nice that each one felt the need to do a little extra massage.

The masseuse told me that he was from or lived in Hawaii for a long time (Maui), and so of course I asked why the hell he was in Denver. I mean, Denver is nice, but on the scale of Maui... His response was "oh you know, the island life, it gets a bit tedious." Really? I explained to him that there is no way I could understand that. A 100 square foot marooners island with a lone palm tree maybe, but Maui? I must test this theory out and see if it's really all that tedious :)

Picture Update!

No Ellen, this isn't of Colorado...settle down. I'm brilliantly only a month behind now and am wrapping up photos from being in England during June :)

England

Everybody should be glad to note that I pared the scary amount of 400+ photos down to 119 photos! This visit involved a sworn oath to myself to not visit all the stuff I'd seen before from previous trips, but to focus places and things I'd not seen before. It was well worth it. There was one day of "walking downtown" and I'm sorry, but the Tate is an addiction (more specifically, the Tate shoppe is an addiction); otherwise I really enjoyed new places! I did sneak into the British Museum a couple times, but who couldn't resist amazing free history at that level.

Kew Gardens is definitely my favourite 'new' place, Egham was a typical village (where we stayed) but it was fun to explore, and thank you Bekki for telling me to get to Rochester! That was great. Brighton was good too, but not a place I'll probably visit a lot.

Habits and Hobbies

What are the differences between habits and hobbies? This question cropped up when I downloaded the Habits app for my iPhone to help me regulate some activities since my life isn't so consistent. This is probably an easy answer for some but it's a deeply philosophical question for me.

Since habits can also be bad, I tend to think of habits as those things that humans tend to do systematically due to addiction, boredom, or just rote behaviour. An example for the stereotypical person might be that they always have a glass of wine with dinner, or play online games at night, or watch specific TV shows. A hobby is something that I believe occurs because a person loves doing it, but doesn't necessarily get to enjoy it as a habit, although it can get to that frequency. Categorization of hobbies can be painting, reading, tennis, or whatever is enjoyed. As you can see, all of these items can easily transform into habits, but if that happens, are they still enjoyed as hobbies? Is that full measure of happiness met when you sit down with a good book, or is it so habitual that you don't notice or appreciate it as fully?

Then comes along me. People often compliment my discipline or focus. I want to seriously laugh when that happens because I am one of the least disciplined people ever. I forget to drink water. I'll have a perfect week of eating the right size of meals several times a day and feel great, then get stressed and space eating entirely. I have very few hobbies because I can barely get what I should get done to treat myself and my family right before I can transcend into even knowing what I enjoy.

Reflecting on this has brought me some realisation that I am so terrified of wasting away my life that I fill it with the long term goals and focus on getting to the end, leaving the end very anti-climatic and and empty void when it's complete. This is probably why whenever free time comes my way, it gets filled. I won't stop aiming for long term goals, but it's time to focus on taking care of myself (eating, drinking, exercise, spending time with family) by stop treating those items as hobbies (is it convenient to eat? No, I have to get this course finished) and make them into habits... then perhaps I can consider having a couple hobbies without stress of something (always something) needing done.

Bringing this tail around to make a circle, it's my hope that downloading the Habits app will help me realise that major accomplishments are great, but to take them one step at a time after the most important things are done...and enjoyed. People who know me very well will be happy to know that I've added habit maintenance items on the app to include

• drinking at least 3 pints of water a day
• sitting down and doing nothing at tea time
• doing a bit of Tai Chi, TKD and iBurn each day
• spending an hour of teaching Elle things each day
• spending an hour of actively playing with Elle each day
• reading an hour a day

Yes, there is still 4-5 hours of my career work to do each day as well as 3-4 hours of PhD work to do each day, but I think ensuring these habits are effectively ingrained in me is the first building block to enjoying the journey of my life. I'll worry about the other blocks when this one is fully embedded in concrete! Maybe this way I'll notice the pretty sky, how cute Elle is, and how damned lucky I am.