I spend a lot of my time thinking about either one of two topics: deepening my connection to the love and light of the Universe, or creating beautiful things and spaces. Lately, I’ve been trying to reconcile these two seemingly disparate passions. Aren’t people who are “spiritual” supposed to be unconcerned with material things?
Then I remembered my favorite Beatles’ song, Fixing a Hole. My interpretation of this Lennon/McCartney masterpiece is – when you create sturdy, tidy, and inspiring spaces, it enhances creativity and invites mindful connection to the abundance and love of the Universe. The intersection of beauty, creativity, and divine connection becomes perfectly apparent when you consider the great works of art and architecture inspired by various world religions.
I have a little ritual on the weekday mornings when I am working at home alone. I caffeinate and meditate in my favorite room of the house: my dining room. I take my (very large) cup of coffee and sit in my favorite chair in the room’s cozy bay window alcove. On sunny mornings, the loveliest light pours through the generous windows, with ribbons of rainbows streaming across the floor from the cut-glass style vinyl-coating I added to the lower panes when we first moved in.
I am surrounded in this room by things connected to women in my life that I love deeply who are now in spirit. I have my mom’s favorite mounted butterfly art and a poster from when she worked at Staten Island’s incredible Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art. The room is furnished primarily with my Aunt Dian’s stately Queen Anne cherry dining room furniture. The décor is rounded out with my favorite of my Aunt Elaine’s dreamy, water-color, impressionist-style paintings (I am lucky enough to have many of her works– she was an amazing artist) and my Grandma Lorraine’s delicate pink and blue ginger jars.
During my coffee ritual this morning, scrolling through my Pintrest boards, I noticed a pattern to the images I feel drawn to lately. The rooms and objects in the photos are dominated by vivid greens, blues, and oranges.
I believe that everything is energy, and that various aspects of one’s life, health, and state of mind are governed by the Chakras, or centers of spiritual power in the human body. Each of the Chakras are associated with a corresponding color, and when you feel drawn to a color, it can be a calling to explore the aspects of the Chakra associated with it. It occurred to me to look up the Chakra associations of green, blue, and orange, and don’t ya know, they made perfect sense! These colors govern things I am focusing intently on cultivating right now: abundance and good health (green), creativity (orange), and communication (blue) which for me translates to an increased focus on writing.
So there. Even a Pintrest obsession can be spiritually enlightening!
I’ll close by saying that another of my core beliefs is practicing radical gratitude, which I admit can sometimes be easier said than done. But this practice is important: gratitude brings abundance, happiness, and peace. Truly loving my home, just the way it is today, is one of the many ways I actively cultivate gratitude.
In equal measure, I am grateful for you, dear readers! I hope this post inspires you to explore the divine side of design.
“I’m taking the time for a number of things that weren’t important yesterday…” Lennon–McCartney
Old, Pretty, and Slightly Broken 