I was recently challenged to create a mix of my well-loved businesses. Part of my research included listening to New Earth by Eckhart Tolle and looking for a link (if there is one) between form (things) and formless (spirit). The challenge is to see if there is a connection between Sage Interiors (Interior Design) and Luminous Life(Healing Arts).
My wonderful participants answered these four questions:
- Do you feel beautiful things in your home/office are beneficial? If so in what way?
- Is there a color theme, shape, element of light that captivates you, making you aware of the present moment?
- Please share a room or a loved thing that is something that makes me feel a sense of inner spaciousness.
- Over time we may not really see our beautiful things in daily life, what is in your experience keeps a space fresh and a place of peace and presence.
I was able to interview two women who also happen to be artists that I highly respect. They have both played big roles in my life showing me what an inspired life looks like. You might guess that as artists/designers they appreciate beauty but the everyday way they access peaceful moments from their built environment and loved objects that may open your eyes to new simple ways of connecting simple things to inner peace. Whoa, that is big! READ ON:
Pippin S. from Kalamazoo Michigan is an artist who loves colors, shapes as well as an avid nature enthusiast. If you want to roll with Pippin you better let off the brakes and speed through life while still smelling the flowers.
Yes, I do feel that beautiful objects in my home/space are beneficial. Having beautiful/pretty/stunning objects in my personal space gives me a sense of tranquility/ease/calm. Thus, I feel more grounded, centered which then makes me be in the moment.
Our bedroom makes me feel a sense of inner spaciousness. The windows face east, and on sunny days the light is beautiful. I don't like clutter, so keeping it clean and in order, makes it restful.
I like to swap out accessories with different seasons. Mainly in winter and summer. For example in our bedroom, I use a white thin blanket with light green pillows on the bed. In the wintertime, I use a thick duvet comforter with a light gray linen cover. Also, I add two big plants to our bedroom that sit on our screen porch in the summertime. The plants add a bit of freshness in the dead of winter.
This hits the message right away! Pippin’s observation of feeling grounded and centered from being surrounded by beautiful, pretty, stunning objects hits right on this idea of how the form of beauty creates a bridge to formlessness tranquility.
Can you feel a sense of calm and the bedroom image embracing you? I loved her connection with the morning light in the bedroom and the focus of a meaningful and organized space.
Pippin talks about physical elements that lift the spirit! Michigan might be grey skies in the winter months but Pippin found a way to bring nature and life into the bedroom with greenery and life of plants.
So many great tips to connecting elements of the home with a sense of wellbeing. Thank you, Pippin!
Lynette S. runs a nonprofit teaching Alzheimer's patient's art. In addition to that, she spent years as a successful interior design and the best interior designer teacher ever!
I have to surround myself with organic & inorganic images I find beautiful! The color aqua, anything green like plant cuttings on my kitchen windowsill, I call my alter! I even taught a class in a senior retirement community, how to create your alter, their windowsills were the only place available to them to do something truly meaningful! They loved it, they did it! Filled my heart!!! Small can be very profound!
My walls are filled with framed Alzheimer’s art from my students... I remember their souls and sweet faces every single day
I’m an umbraphile! I love shadows!! I love a vase full of sunflowers on my dining room table, but not as much as I love the shadow it makes! I love the reflection of a sunset in my birdbath, and the shadows of the doves drinking! You can read in my words I’m overwhelmed with all of this appreciation 24/7!
If I see a swallowtail I say “hi dad” I see one every day til winter! If I see a monarch, I say “hi mom”, out loud, I talk to them out loud all the time
oh I see so much beauty in my life everywhere, all the time! I would wilt away without it! Simple beauty is ever-present. The footprint of bunnies and birds after it snows! The flock of doves that meet at my birdbath every night at dusk for cocktail hour!
But mostly I love to enlighten people to this simple beauty. I love teaching, sharing, and inspiring others. It brings me great joy
I thank my parents for this great gift!!
Lots of gifts here from Lynette! Thank you for letting us see through your eyes.
Ok right out of the gates Lynette is creating an “alter” in an everyday place most of us don’t think of utilizing. A place to pay your respects, pray, meditate, be mindful, grateful, and here she shows us how to do it in a place we all have access to!
It occurred to me that Lynette teaches people in her Moments of Memory, teaching Alzheimer's to create art and then is able to remember each student by the masterpiece they created. I see this as Lynette helping folks create art and bringing it into sacred spaces in her house and extending the memory of those who might have forgotten how talented and beautiful they are! Makes my heart happy!
Shadows, how cool?! We must all pay more attention to this.
The link between nature and her ancestors sent me directly to all my classes in the shaman world and it is no surprise Lynette knows the direct connection (which we all have access to).
It is easy to feel the joy Lynette has for teaching, sharing, and inspiring others.
In conclusion, these two vibrant beautiful women have clearly demonstrated for me that YES, beautiful, meaning objects, light, shadows, altars these tangible things help connect us to our sense of inner peace and serenity. What about this idea of "inner spaciousness"? Well I see it as those moments we are immersed in appreciating the beauty of our surroundings where our mind chatter is silent long enough to feel the breath coming in and out.
If you found this blog helpful or try some of these techniques, I would love to hear from you, or if you have your own creative ideas to share.
Beauty Inspires.
