Decluttering creative corners to find festive abundance- PART 1

It's that time of year where we traditionally all begin to reflect on our lives and what we want for ourselves in the future. This is something I usually do over the holidays and this year will be no exception.

But what I know right now is that for the last few years I've been working to get into a habit of minimising stuff and making space.

Ultimately I want to feel lighter and more abundant, so that I have less distractions and more focus,  so can I be ready to lift myself and other people up through what I do in my business and creative life. perhaps you feel a similar feeling about all those things that are weighing you down.

After a month of #Minsgame in November at home, getting rid of another 465 items from my flat, I also wanted to make a big dent in the contents of my studio, so it can return to being a place I want to be, where I can create lightly and where I feel peaceful and content.

So, I started decluttering my studio – not for the first time this year I might add!

This supposedly special space has really suffered in the last couple of months, with me being busy with running creative crafts workshops, back and forth, back and forth of bags of materials, only having time to swap stuff that I didn’t need with what I did need for the next workshop, never time to put it away in those carefully labelled boxes and ever expanding by adding new materials each time that say

‘I might need this’. Gaaaaahhhhh!

It's just not true because I know from experience that things I need tend to turn up when I need them, especially with the Swap Shop in the building.

I spent about 8 hours sorting out this heap of stuff, box by box, shelf by shelf. I got rid of about 6 stuffed Ikea bags and kept clearing until I got tired and hungry and had to go home.
 

BEFORE

The studio from all angles- BEFORE

Clutter-tastic

some of the clutter out

AFTER

I also had a desire to remind myself how abundant I already am, how much I already have. So I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to do this. I begun digging out objects and materials that could potentially be transformed into Christmas presents to give to my loved ones.

I did this as I went around making space and this is what I ended up with.
 

A mountain of merry gift making materials

Right there are 2 boxes and a bag full of bits and pieces, materials and containers.

Since then I've been creating gifts from these things and I will post PART 2 to show you what I've created very soon- especially some affordable and quick last minute gifts.

with warmth and wonder

Jaimie x

Facebook break, I am free!

It was bringing me down, it was making me feel bad about myself at times- all too often in fact- I was suffering from comparisonitis, I was falling down the facebook rabbit hole pretty much everyday, I was feeling less than and exhausted by feeling like I had to keep up, had to share what I was doing in order to prove that I was still a functioning adult and that I had a business, that I was ENOUGH. Despite the numerous positive moments it as giving me, feelings of GUILT, SHAME and NUMBNESS were coming up quite a bit and I realised that I could make a different choice. I had had enough of feeling resentful of the time I spent online.

I was getting a lot less done and not spending the time I wanted to be spending on things that gave me JOY, like being creative or spending time outside.

So, on Friday last week I made the decision to cut myself off from facebook for a week.

To try it out and see what would happen, see how I would cope without it, to see what was behind the crazy making and to give myself space to think again without the direct comparison with others.

I wouldn't say I was addicted to facebook but I will admit it was always the first website I typed in to my laptop and the first app I would open on my phone- even first thing in the morning. BLAH! What could have possibly happened during the night!!!

So the first thing I did was delete the facebook app from my phone, making it a bit more effort to access since I have to open the browser and type in the address and remember my password! I also considered setting up a facebook limiter on my laptop but instead I thought I would try out my willpower first.

So what happened? Did you stay off facebook all week?

Overall I think I visited facebook about 7 times during the course of the week and each time it was for less than 10 minutes- whereas before I would have been on there for an hour or more each time, randomly clicking on things, some informative, some not so much, or it would have been open in the background, like a dripping tap, wasting my time whenever I felt the procrastination urge.

Each time I found myself on facebook this week, I was there to find out some information that I couldn't find another way, like reading messages I'd received in the past about something important or invites to events I needed to find out about. I didn't engage in anything, I didn't like any posts and I didn't comment in any groups that I belong to. I didn't even click to read my notifications.

Tweet: There is always something more rewarding or productive to do than get lost on facebook

Sometimes, when I'd be feeling at a loose end or I was procrastinating, I'd find myself mindlessly typing in www.faceboo... and then I realise what I was doing and I quickly delete it and try to reset my mind on something more important, more engaging, more fun, more creative- because there is always something more rewarding or productive to do...even if the thing I was procrastinating on at the time got left on the sidelines until I was ready to come back to it. I was doing something to move myself in a positive direction.

Over the course of the week I only racked up 80 notifications. Which is less than it actually would have been if I was engaging with the posts. Also people obviously took heed of the fact that I was on a facebook break which I'm very grateful for. So there were no tags or messages for me to read when I sidled back on to the facebook saddle.

Tweet: I am taking care of myself by disengaging with the noise.

Now I don't know if it's just been a symptom of the fact that summer has finally arrived in Edinburgh and it's making me feel very happy and energised or if it's to do with the facebook break but I'm feeling a lot better for having done it.

I've been having a ponder about what I've made space for in my life instead- more attention, spending more time with Mr MC, reading books, listening to music, learning Spanish, gaining confidence in riding my bike, going out for walks in the sunshine, asking for creative opportunities from numerous angles, creating a new workshops to deliver over the summer, thinking, getting creative in my sketchbook again, organising my wardrobe, harvesting salad at the croft and giving the plants some tlc, going to interesting meetings/events, meeting new people, being inspired and sitting writing this blog post without being distracted.

Would I do it again? YES!!!!

So, I'm intending on creating a new facebook habit- an all social media habit to be honest.

My intentions

1. Sign up to one of those social media limiting programmes

2. Only allow myself a set amount of time each day to engage in each platform- business first and then personal- and have a clear idea of what I want to achieve before opening the platform. That way I'll know when I'm DONE!

3. Create and keep handy a notice of all the things I gain from not being online too much- to look at often!

4. Relax and know that I am free to chose the way I live my life.

I hope my story helps you and I'd love to hear your story.

What is distracting you or bringing you down in your business or your life? What can you do to take the first step to cut down or eliminate it from you day to day life? What new habits or intentions do you need to form? Do you need help from someone else to achieve it?

I can give you my undivided attention. Let me know if you want to talk.

With warmth and wonder

Jaimie x

on finding your patch of peace

I know it can be hard to be truly 'in' natural spaces sometimes. You might find yourself especially disconnected in an urban setting. I've felt it. Especially when I first moved here. I felt lost.

We forget who we once were. Wild. I know I do sometimes. The memory of being immersed in nature is so strong you imagine that maybe, just maybe, it is part of you and returning there is the missing piece. However, trying an urban nature space on for size might throw up some resistance, no matter your background, a feeling like it might swallow you whole if you let it. Like you just don't know what to do next.

But what if we leapt in and tried anyway?

We have to learn to trust nature again, to learn how to be in these often humble spaces and let them surround us and to take care of our inner nature.

Our urban settings have many, neglected or stalled nature spaces ripe for people to see them again and to find themselves in. They are not ugly, not really. Ugly is only neglect deep! These spaces know how to be beautiful and they are trying their best despite our efforts to conceal and squash them. These spaces just have forgotten how to shine in our eyes because we have forgotten how to see them. They will only shine when we pay attention and nurture them and allow them to nurture us. 

A deep appreciation for a patch of green- and ourselves- may take time. It takes a feeling of belonging, of stewardship, of slowing down. A deep mutual care. Returning often to notice and give effort and grace. 

Even living in a very green city like Edinburgh I can see that there is often a feeling that public parks don't all seem like our own either. They have been preordained to 'be' the green that we are given in our cities, often seen as flat plains with little interest or different areas to belong, to explore, to settle in, to be playful, to be peaceful, to be creative in.

But what of our imagination? What would you love to see and do in your local park? just as it is? What would make it seem more like a space that is for you?

With my Pop up peace mission of late, I've been thinking, wouldn't it be wonderful if every street had a communal garden or a space on the street that is like a mini park- but like a garden, a place to come together and feel part of a community. 

I expanded my green space adventures to find the patches of peace in this city just a few days ago. I went on a lovely wee tour called ' Hidden Gardens of the Royal Mile'. 

I had been wanting to do this for ages and when I saw it again in the Edinburgh Fringe Programme it was the first thing I booked. The weather stayed dry if a bit windy in the midst of the tail end of Hurricane Bertha. 

Jean the tour leader and owner of Green Yonder Tours http://www.greenyondertours.com/ was a delight and invited us all to 'coorie in' ~ a scots word meaning to nestle or snuggle~ and hear her stories of the past and the present lives of these hidden green spaces. Throughout the tour she talked about the transformation of the Royal Mile with slums being cleared to make way for light and air to enter in, and the importance and her admiration of the passion and focus of the pioneers of greening our old town and recognising it's power in living a healthier life. 

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She spoke of the first children’s gardens/nurseries that were set up in Edinburgh and showed us beautiful images of children in their Victorian petticoats and bloomers being taught outdoors and how to garden. Gorgeous! 

She also showed us modern community gardens, public spaces which have been claimed by local residents and are now spaces to be, enjoy and grow their own. Moments of care in patches of peace. 

So, it is being done and being done beautifully- YIPPEE! ...I'll be sharing some other adventures of green space advocates here very soon....

But right now I'd like to set you a challenge-

I'd like you to notice your very own urban nature patches of peace in your day to day life.

When you are on your way to work, when you are in a new part of town, or when you are taking your loved ones out for the day. Whether they are established public spaces and/or full of positive possibilities. I'd love to hear how you feel in stepping into those spaces, how you experience being in them, what do you notice? how you feel when leaving them. Do you feel a sense of connection there? Do you feel welcome? What small thing could you do to make this patch of green even more of a patch of peace?

Share your story on facebook or twitter with a photo and #patchofpeace and let's start a conversation.

With warmth and wonder,

Jaimie xx