I hope you are well. The virus finally caught up with me after two years of successfully dodging it. Unfortunately, I am visiting my frail, elderly parents. I had taken them to their fourth COVID vaccine jab, so hopefully, they will weather it, like Queen Elizabeth II who is 95. 

I am resting so I thought I would send you an blog I posted on Medium. 

 

Our home feels like home because of the objects and furniture we have chosen. They carry our personal history and their familiarity is what makes us feel comfortable. They are cosy not just physically but also intellectually and emotionally. Home feels like a sanctuary we enter at the end of the day. Whatever happened during the day, we can close the door and shut the world out.

 

What if we became better curators of our homes and added a vision we have for ourselves to the way we arrange them? I am not suggesting getting rid of any furniture or mementoes that are dear to us. Rather, I suggest we organise our homes so that they are a reflection of who we want to be, a 3D vision board.

 

For instance, if we want to become disciplined and organised people, I believe that we are better off starting with our homes than with ourselves. It is easier to organise our kitchen counters and keep them clean than to become disciplined with ourselves overnight. At work, this might mean clearing our desk and only keeping the utmost necessary on top of it.

 

The funny thing is, as we shape our environment, our environment starts shaping us. Getting and keeping our house organised and tidy will lead us to become more organised and disciplined with ourselves.

 

Curating our environment also means only keeping the things we love and creating a better background for them. This might mean, getting rid of stuff that prevents the nice things to be noticed.

 

Updating your home to higher standards is a way to declare out loud — or visually as it happens — that you are moving to a better life. “This is who I am becoming”.

 

Now, look at your library. Books are part of our history too. They have brought you here but what books will get you where you want to go?

 

I love books and I have a hard time getting rid of them but I sometimes do because some have become ghosts of the past that remind me of someone I used to be, but I can’t or don’t want to be that person any longer.

 

Some books need to go because we have already acquired the knowledge they held and new ones need to sit on our shelves in plain sight because they hold the knowledge we need to acquire. The books we see in our bedroom, living room or home office need to be the ones that are going to shape us into the person we want to become. We can place the ones we want to keep on higher shelves or in different rooms.

 

What do you want to learn? Who do you want to become? Explore how you can change your home so that it becomes a reflection of your future self.

May you and I be safe, may you and I be happy, may you and I be healthy, may you and I be at peace.