Letting go

Life is constantly coming and going. Autumn shows us this principle in a very vibrant and exciting way. All the leaves are changing and falling from the trees, preparing for winter. The long sleep before spring.

Imagine a tree that couldn't let go of it's leaves! Season after season fearfully clinging to every leaf it grew. "I might need this leaf later." It cries. "I just grew this leaf it's brand new!" "I wouldn't look as pretty as that ever green without my foliage!" "I'm just not a tree without all my leaves!" Eventually the tree would topple under it's own weight, and with no room for new growth the old would just sit there decaying. It would not be a pleasant sight. But the tree let's go, and never worries that new leaves won't come. 

With every breath you take in you instantly let go again. You release the old breath to allow in the new. Your body is in a constant rhythm of giving and taking, releasing and restoring. If it were not so, we wouldn't last long. The nature of living is to let things come as we need them and go as we don't. It's as if everything in this life is reminding us that our walk here is just a moment. We will come and we will go. And it is okay. Nothing in this world ceases to exist because it lets go, the letting go simply allows for the process to begin again anew.

Photo copyright Heidi Nickerson

Who are you robbing?

Recently I purged my scrapbooking and art supplies. Truthfully, I use about 5 of my tools 80 percent of the time, I love to water color paint so that is a project I constantly have out on the table. And I love to scrapbook but I tend to do this less of the time. While my water color habits are confined to two favorite brushes, a bag of paints my pallet and block of paper, a very manageable amount of tools, my scrapbooking supply is massive.

The industry is always designing new and fabulous trendy papers and embellishments to inspire even the most left brained of us all. It's a beautiful industry. Sadly, I don't have the room I need to accommodate all that I'd collected, and despite my best intentions when I feel inspired to do a new project I usually find myself at the store buying the latest and greatest papers instead of using something from my stash, my stash was enormous. Many of my supplies had been sitting in boxes for upwards of three years.

Then, one day a good friend of mine got on facebook and asked if anyone had any extra scrapbooking materials they were willing to part with. She had lots of projects to do but not a stock pile of supplies to support her creative endeavors. I looked over at my papers and embellishments almost crying for a chance to be used and I realized that by holding onto these things, I would likely never use, while someone else needed them was robbing that person.

I know it seems  a little extreme, but think about it, you have something you really don't need, and someone else does need it, to hold on to it is selfish, don't you think? Even if you are not as lucky as me and a friend doesn't come knocking at your door asking to give a new life to your dead, hoarded, thing a ma-bob, just donating it to a charity or Goodwill gives it the chance to find that new lease on usefulness.

So, the next time you are debating whether or not to get rid of that thing that has plenty of good use left in it, but is of little use to you remember that by hiding it away in your closet you are denying someone else the joy they would get from using it.

Now it's easy to let it go, isn't it ;)

The Color of Closets

Have you ever noticed that the pictures of closets on magazine covers feature all matching clothes?

 It's brilliant.

Italian sociologist, Vilfredo Pareto observed that we get 80 percent of our results from 20 percent of our efforts. This 80/20 rule carries throughout numerous situations and has inspired many books and references over the last few years. It also applies to your closet.

You wear 20 percent of your clothes 80 percent of the time. We all have our favorites. Clothes can be a favorite for many reasons, cut, comfort, style, sentiment, but today I want to talk about color. You are choosing certain colors over and over again because they make you look and feel your very best.

Personally I love white, cream, pinks and yellow. These are the main colors in my wardrobe. All of my purses, shoes and accessories compliment these colors. I can interchange multiple shirts with various pants and skirts, and each pair of shoes compliments at least three other complete outfits. I have one cream coat that goes with everything. This eliminates my need to buy one pair of shoes for that random purple shirt that doesn't go with anything else I own. I call this interchangeable effect my "rule of three", everything in my closet can find a place with at least three other outfits to complete the ensemble.

Narrowing my clothes down to my favorites like this allows me to pass by fads that wouldn't look good on me anyway and would end up a complete waste of money. I spend a lot less on clothing because I'm not distracted by every sale or fashion whim designers throw my way.

You want the closet of your dreams? Start with the clothes of your dreams. Organize everything by color and instantly your clothes will look so much more appealing. If you are afraid of letting go of the complete rainbow packed in your closet, just put your least favorite colors or the colors you seldom wear, in a box and put it away for a month. If you really must have that burnt orange sweater that goes with nothing else you can always dig it out of the box at the end of the month. Most likely, however, you will find that you are happier not having to force your way through a packed closet in order to get to your "makes me feel like a super model awesome pink shirt."


What is your favorite color to wear?