Coming home after a trip, unpacking, doing laundry, seeing all the stuff to put away...I think, so much of my brain clutter is about "stuff". I spend too much time thinking about the stuff I want + where to put the stuff I have. The recognition is nauseating.

All of this stuff feels like a drag- a literal drag- on my body. Walking around on our trip with all that I needed in my backpack felt light. It's always a surprise to feel that I have what I need just there. At the same time, I recognize that we were dependent on things like bedding + dishes being provided in the places we stay. 

We are incredibly fortunate to also experience peace + freedom + safety + access to shelter + clean water + food + togetherness. We have so, so much.

When it comes to stuff, I want to love what I have. I want for my stuff to feel like me, but there can be less of it. Less to move, to store, to care for, to protect, to look at around the house.

I want "less". I want beauty. I want space to notice light + shadow, flavor, love + kindness. This is what I truly want + there is nothing stopping me from "less". I can afford "less". I have enough time for "less". I can experience life this way.

Love,
Jane

My partner + I sometimes discuss the similar visceral reactions he had to The Ramones the first time he heard them + I had to The Cure the first time I heard them. Neither of us can explain exactly what it was that made us feel this deep connection. There was no one telling us that this was good music or that we'd be perceived as more cool if we liked it. We just knew that it was ours. Decades later, these are still bands that we could listen to any day of the week.

Similarly, the pieces of clothing that I see + instantly know are mine...those are the ones that I never tire of + wear over + over for years + decades to come. I love the the idea of this knowing becoming a tool toward curating a smaller, more sustainable, beloved wardrobe. I love the idea of the cultivation of taste being a skill that enriches our lives by enabling us to live with more joy + intention too.

When I think about what will help me to become more attuned to my own tastes + style, I think of:

• spending less time looking at social media. They're called influencers for a reason.
• looking around my home + in my closet for the pieces that I feel most connection with...that feel most like me. 
• noticing colors + shapes more than specific items, when I see things I'm attracted to out in the world. 

Recognizing how much I love a small collection of things:

• enables me to feel full + real + seen + recognizable (to myself).  :)
• allows me to feel like I've come into focus.
• makes "enough" come into focus.
• allows excess to be recognized as such...and to be acted on accordingly.

A few of my favorite quotes from the discussion that has me thinking through this again + shows that this discussion has been useful for centuries:

• Natural taste is not a theoretical knowledge. It's a quick + exquisite application of rules which we do not even know. ~Montesquieu 
• In order to have taste, it is not enough to see + to know what is beautiful in a given work. One must feel beauty + be moved by it. ~Voltaire​
• I liked going back to some of those philosophers. They really thought of taste as a more fundamental human experience, like a moral capacity, a way of judging what's around you + evaluating what's good + what's meaningful for you + your life. ~Kyle Chayka
• I like to think about taste as something that's not just about consuming a thing or enjoying something superficially on a day-to-day basis, but instead almost making it part of yourself. ~Kyle Chayka​

Love,
​Jane

Welcome questions to the table.
Deny fear the final word.
What is faith if not remaining vulnerable enough to hope?
Though it may remain unseen,
cheer for hope.
Give it a standing ovation. 
Clap wildly for something good that is beyond yourself.
Trust that love will not lead you astray.
​~Audrey Elledge + Elizabeth Moore

It's amazing how things come together sometimes. I feel like I've been following the breadcrumbs of all that I've been reading + watching + thinking...and it's leading to beautiful places.

I've been intrigued by Rick Rubin since I heard him on Ezra Klein's podcast + subsequently read his book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. I found Shangri-La, through a long ago pinned photo of his intentionally designed studio space. All of the above are worth consuming with a notebook + pen. 

I read Audrey Elledge + Elizabeth Moore's Liturgies for Hope after Jo texted me photos of a couple of pages from it. These words are sticking with me.

I've been dealing with some pain lately + experimenting with treatment, perspective + the mind body connection. While I waited for the library's copy of The Body Keeps the Score (again), I listened to Bessel Van der Kolk (again) here + here. All of it has me reading + listening every chance I get. 

Watching Flora + Son was a reminder that joy can be found in the present...even in an imperfect present. It's a reminder that curiosity + connection are worth pursuing...even imperfectly.

How do you do your laundry?
One degree of separation from being raw materials again.

Love,
​Jane​