Connections

The other day I entered a private foyer in a beautiful high rise apartment.  It was a long hallway, one door to my right was the living room in all white leather with the ocean out the large windows and to the left was a doorway with a painting on the wall.  On one wall of the hallway was a smokey gray mirror, on the other side was a whole wall of amazing pottery pieces, maybe 100 or more pieces all in cool blues and greens. I thought I had gotten off the elevator in heaven, (I make pottery).  I was so excited to see so much pottery in one place so artfully displayed.  The owner who I didn't know, came to greet me and I asked him if he was a potter.  He explained that no he wasn't a potter, his designer had put the pottery along the wall as a transition from the living room into the guest bedrooms that were on the other end of the hall, creating a cooling effect. I was only there for a few moments, but realized he didn't seem to have a connection to his personal space. It was a design that someone else created for him.  It made me think about my connection to things.

In the last few years I have let go of a lot of things, objects, that I had been moving around for a long time. I was surprised I was able to let go of some of the things I did, like 40 years of personal journals thrown into the recycle bin, and other objects sold at a garage sale, the rest given to charity.  I asked myself a lot of questions when I was choosing which things to let go. When I thought about it I realized that I had lost my connection to those objects and writings, they were there in my space, but I no longer engaged with them. There was a sense of freedom and lightness in letting go of things no longer needed, and I created more space in which to value and appreciate the things I did keep. 

Our connections to people, places and things help us to make sense of our world, they validate our being and give us comfort especially in our personal spaces.  Look around, are you making connections with your surroundings?  Are there things that are hindering your connection to what you value the most?  If the answer is yes, make some room.