"Love yourself. Then forget it. Then love the world." | mary oliver
i am a lifelong student of the invisible. i’m also a student of beauty, and am pulled like a magnet towards items that seem, to me, to have a certain presence. i don’t know what it is, exactly—perhaps an infusion of the intent or personality of their maker, or the souls and experiences of their prior caretakers, or their former environments, or all of these. whatever it is, i know that—though appearing to lack any life by our definition—certain pieces of art or clothing or particular books or crafted items comfort me, or act as a salve, or shake me up and confront me, or inspire and enchant me.
i try to find pieces with such presence to share with others.
my items are imperfect. i can raptly admire an impeccably sewn 18th century quilt in pristine condition, but many of the items that speak to me are ‘flawed’: some may have discoloration, or faded colors, or stitching coming undone, or scratches and dents. while i use my basic senses, i am drawn more towards how they feel.
i have been thinking recently about ontological design—how our environment shapes us, how the items we keep around us and even their placement influence our thoughts (thank you feng shui) and how the way in which we organize and label and categorize certain things—like items for sale within an etsy shop—can impact how we think about the world, ourselves, our friends, our current difficulties or joys, our life’s mission. every human has experienced some form of suffering, and many of us carry it around with us, and this invisible weight colors our perspective and inhibits our ability to do a great many things. i want to inspire others to figure out how to move those dead weights out of them, so they are empowered to love themselves and the world in their own unique way.
my categories are based on a process i’ve lived through while healing. healing is not linear, of course, but i've had to learn (over and over) that i can’t effect much change in the world when my own soul lacks peace. i’ve designed the categories kinda like a loosely defined path, from the pain and loss and survival to the healing of what’s within us and bringing ourselves back to our own presence to slowly expanding outward to the world.
DESCRIPTION OF CATEGORIES
SURVIVE—items of comfort and function; to stay afloat in the midst of grief or uncertainty or sadness or fear or loss; to wrap us up; items that seem to have been loved and to have loved.
ONE SMALL THING—items inspiring or enabling the taking of one small step. sadness and depression and grief often involve isolation and stagnation and the absence of motivation. part of our medicine lies in forcing ourselves to move or create or allow another’s presence when we’d much rather not.
BREATHE | RELEASE—items emanating calm, encouraging release of energy and fear after a unexpected | difficult | terrible | frightening event.
SEEKING PRESENCE—items calling us back to ourselves, to drop all distractions and technology and be here, now, even if for just a short while; items encouraging us to sit with and feel our discomfort, sadness, fear, anxiety.
DEVOTE YOUR ATTENTION—items encouraging us to look within: where are we placing our attention? How are we investing our unbelievably precious, finite hours and minutes and seconds? Are we investing our power and attention and time in the right things?
EXPAND—unexpected, surprising, thought-provoking, hopefully mind-changing; items encouraging us to get outside of ourselves, our home, our habits, our old beliefs, to see in a new way.
FIND AND SHARE JOY—items of beauty, color, delight, with a joyful presence.
LOVE THE WORLD—items encouraging us to look outward; items to share with the world; gifts | thoughts | art that inspire or guide or enable us to discover our own path for loving this world.
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If you’re still with me, here's an excerpt from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Ninth Duino Elegy—part of my inspiration for the store:
Praise the world to the angel: leave the unsayable aside.
Your exalted feelings do not move him.
In the universe, where he feels feelings, you are a beginner.
Therefore show him what is ordinary, what has been
shaped from generation to generation, shaped by hand and eye.
Tell him of things. He will stand still in astonishment,
the way you stood by the ropemaker in Rome
or beside the potter on the Nile.
Show him how happy a thing can be, how innocent and ours,
how even a lament takes pure form,
serves as a thing, dies as a thing,
while the violin, blessing it, fades.
And the things, even as they pass,
understand that we praise them.
Transient, they are trusting us
to save them—us, the most transient of all.
As if they wanted in our invisible hearts
to be transformed into—oh, endlessly—into us.
Earth, isn't this what you want? To arise in us, invisible?
Is it not your dream, to enter us so wholly
there's nothing left outside us to see?
What, if not transformation,
is your deepest purpose? Earth, my love,
I want that too.
