In a suburb of Melbourne, a cobwebbed chandelier was hanging in the corner of a cluttered courtyard. No light from this guy.
I was leading the project to declutter the house. This hand-me-down chandelier watched from its spot, as one by one, week after week, the objects around him were given away.
I moved in, the owners moved next door. We took down the fence between us and announced we were creating a Realm of Beauty, Truth and Love, a Retrosuburbia paradise in Rosanna.
'I'd love a bath' muttered the chandelier, watching us and our dreams from his dusty perch.
Luckily I’ve designed my life to include others so that dreams can flourish: their dreams, mine, and even the dreams of the objects that surround us. Nousha joined our retrosuburbia, fluffing up soil, harvesting figs, and then Tien, baking treats to send to the neighbours. Ah, and the chandelier, we didn't forget him.
Nousha took it down, carefully washed each prism and re-hung it at the bright end of the courtyard. It started smiling again. Like magical goldfish, rainbows swam through our living room and made our hearts leap. How easy it can be, to give beauty a chance to filter through, to turn up in our lives.
We wanted more Rainbows!
I remembered the prism scene from the 1960s film Pollyanna. A little girl with a good attitude re-hangs a string of crystals to catch sunbeams. These prisms were rescued from the depths of a grouchy old lady's parlour. I got Nousha to watch the film, as part of her professional development, now that she is a permaculturist too. She liked the prism-on-string idea too, so our project of sharing our chandelier's spare prisms started.
She got some fishing line, and marked some random spots under the eaves for Tien to drill for hooks. Together they made this, to enchant our days:
You can barely see them most of the time, just the enchantment.
When I wake up in the morning, rainbows are swimming over my doona. They don't cost anything to run, and no trips to the gift shop can improve this. So self sufficient, all they need is the sun's rays to delight us.
This Realm of Beauty, Truth and Love we thought up is working.
So here is my question: How often are you a rainbow-maker stuck in a dark place?
It happens to the best of us.
Let's dream up the energy to put each other in a good light. Let's shine each other up. We can watch our work make the world softly shimmer.
Design Webinar This Sunday
This Sunday, I'm holding 'Turn any corner of your home into a sacred space' It's a hands-on declutter webinar, and Yes, I'm going to shine you up!
You'll get to make an enchanted spot for yourself to do yoga, write out your thoughts, or go 'Ahh' with a well-deserved cup of tea. It's a place to re-create yourself. But you have to create it first. Or uncover it.
I got a mail from a former participant this morning, Veronica, who said:
"I'd love to attend but it's going to be at 5 am in Italy. I'd love to join you and walk into your magical space again. Your workshop has been a highlight of my last year."
This 90 minutes can be the highlight of your 2021 too, and it's 'gifitivist', so there are no financial obstacles to joining us. Come!
I might even make a special European version event if you share your enthusiasm.
I need you to shine me up too.
