Finding Center

A couple of months ago our family took a trip to the local Costco. Years ago, after we first got married, the hubby and I had a membership to a Sam's Club back in Missouri, which I wrote a post about way back then. Since then (7 years ago), we've moved to five different states, and haven't always been in a city with a warehouse magnate. So we just decided to forego the idea. Recently, however, we had a discussion about how it would probably be a smart investment, now that we have a small-sized clan that goes through toilet paper, paper towels, cereal, milk, fruit, etc, at a dizzying rate. So, once a month I take my littlest partner in crime with me and we head to Costco to stock up on all of the things we need in mass quantity, or can get for a way more economical price.

My Mom will always tell me about everything that is wonderful about Costco. That's where she works part-time, now that she's retired. I used to laugh and tell her she was easily brainwashed by the company, but then I got the membership and I totally get it. Costco is fantastic! And I have to say - based on what she tells me - the pay is pretty good ($12-20/hr), the benefits and perks are pretty awesome (discounts, travel packages, vacation time), and they have a solid health insurance package. I feel like I'm my mother these days, touting how I don't know what I was doing without this place in my life prior to this!

Today, as I made my way through the brightly lit warehouse, on my mission to secure my list of stocking items, I looked at the rows and rows of neatly organized shelves. Everything is always dressed right and lined up, and there's something inherently pleasing and desirous about extremely tidy and neat things. I like things when they are in their place, but that doesn't mean the shelves in my pantry at home are so neat, or that the thoughts and emotions in my own head are always in order...far from it.

Life is an exercise in taking in what's around us (physically and mentally), making sense of it, and then organizing all of it in our own personal space and mind. Sometimes we think we have everything sorted and put on proper shelves. Sometimes we open up our own proverbial warehouses and realize there is nothing but chaos. And sometimes our lives are a combination of both; tidy and seemingly in working order, but messy and cluttered when you start opening all of the drawers.

So the task I have for myself, and for anyone reading, is to recognize where the items of life are properly placed, and where they are not. Let's organize the personal space we occupy and the mind in which we live, so that when we step back and look at everything we can feel calm. Life can get messy and disorganized, so take a moment to take a deep breath, tackle the clutter bit by bit, and order your space and mind so you can find your center.

Bit by bit, organize personal spaces...

…and declutter your mind.

In the Moment

My dear friend gifted me a wonderful book for Christmas this year....

Yes, that's a pillar candle with Christopher Walken in Saint robes! 

If you're ever in San Antonio, check out the shop Leighelena at The Pearl to get one!

I've been reading it daily, and it's been a great catalyst for personal introspection and external acceptance of the world around me.

For those not familiar with stoic philosophy, it's pretty much accepting the world around you for what it is and understanding that aside from your own personal choices, you can't control outside factors and environs. 

Wikipedia aptly explains it as such:

"According to its teachings, as social beings, the path to happiness for humans is found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or fear of pain, by using one's mind to understand the world and to do one's part in nature's plan, and by working together and treating others fairly and justly."

In a world in which we often get angered and frustrated by the milieu around us every day, stoicism tells us to relax and be mindful. 

I last wrote nearly two months ago, prior to receiving this book. In that post, and some of my earlier posts, I tried to wrap my reflections on life around an idea that I was forming. It's funny how the core of what I was trying to explain was really, idealistically stoic.

I think we often forget that our "modern" problems aren't new at all. People have been dealing with issues for millenia. Pain, joy, angst, love, hate, lust, loathing, laziness, idolatry, gossip....all of these things and more.

One of my favorite passages that I have read so far from the book is this:

"How many have laid waste to your life when you weren't aware of what you were losing, how much was wasted in pointless grief, foolish joy, greedy desire, and social amusements - how little of your own was left to you."

-Seneca, On the Brevity of Life, 3.3b

I wanted to share all of this because I feel like it has helped me to gain some perspective so far this year. My goal is to be constantly mindful and aware; to remember what I can influence, and what I cannot, and to find happiness where it exists. Despite the ugliness and pain that is constant in this world, there is also beauty and joy. I hear it in the song of a blue jay flitting in the trees. I see it in the sunlight when it rises every morning. I feel it in my heart when my daughters wrap their hands around mine and lay their heads on my chest. 

Find the beauty in each day. Find happiness as it makes itself known to you. Don't be consumed by fear and pain and the unknown. Live in the moment and be mindful. And to quote my generation's most beloved stoics, Bill and Ted..."Be excellent to eachother!"

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References:

Stoicism - Wikipedia

Holiday, Ryan. The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perserverance, and the Art of Living. New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2016. Print.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure