Coffee with Yoko

   As I state in my little box at the top of my blog header, design and inspiration is all around us - even where we least expect it.  It is my observation that it is within those mysterious nooks and crannies of our everydays, that the profound pieces of the puzzle, we call life, are provided.   

 

 

About 12 hours before the ball dropped in Times Square this year, it had already dropped in another sense of the word - in my world, anyway . I won't bore you, dear reader, with the details. All I knew for sure was that, in what felt like a heartbeat, the New Year was already full off changes that I had no part in creating - not knowingly, at least.  And it got me thinkin'.  Then, this morning over coffee, out of the blue, my hubby pulled out Yoko's CD and read me her sleeve notes and lyrics to Rainbow Revelation.    And those got me thinkin'.  All THAT thinkin'  combined with the thinkin' I was already doing about what to share on my next blog post, provided the perfect  coming together of, well, thunked thoughts,.... aka,  inspiration.   

Our mission, if we choose to accept it, is to be conscious and conscientious; to step outside of ourselves as often as possible. As we move along through each moment of each day, it is up to us to make sense of those puzzle pieces in order to help us see the bigger picture, so to speak.  On occasion, those pieces have clean and predictable sides to them. Finding their tidy little niches comes easily. Mindless stuff. Smooth as "butta". No major investment required. Then there are those pieces that just don't make any freakin' sense..... what...  so.....ever. Some of us get stuck holding onto  those "stupid" pieces determined to override and overrule every aspect about them.  Wonder sets in about how to shove 'em, squeeze 'em and even manipulate 'em into where we want them to fit. God forbid we are left feeling powerless . Frustration creeps in. Before we know it, we find ourselves spinning our wheels like a car sinking deeper and deeper into the mud while randomly spewing muck all over everything and everyone within range. When this happens, it is a sure sign, my friend, that it is time to play the mindfulness card cuz mindlessness really isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
By now you are probably thinking -"ummmmm, wait - I thought this was a design and decorating blog!?"  The short answer to that is - Yes - it is.  The long-ish answer to that is- Yes, - it totally is. For me, design and decorating is fundamentally a reflection of how I happen to process life; part of the whole puzzle-putting-together process while doing my best to not track mud into the house.  People. Places. Things. Time. Food. Money. Weather. Pets. Events. (etc etc) = Color. Texture. Placement. Lighting. Furniture. Art. Style. Perspective. Scale. Form vs Function. (etc etc)  My wishes for a Happy New Year to anyone who may take the time to stop by and read this. If I could, I would brew up some coffee and share it with ya while we chatted about life....and how you decorate yours.  So instead, perhaps you'll feel inspired to share some thoughts here before heading elsewhere.  I'll go put the coffee on. 

 

Rainbow Revelation
by Yoko Ono

It was after the rain. I was looking out from my window. The buildings on the opposite side of the park were shining with a touch of pink in the evening light. There was a faint rainbow hanging in the park right in front of my eyes.

I said to myself “Wait a minute, an arch is a segment of a circle and usually it has a support underneath it. Is there a support for a rainbow like the fertile ground that supports the trees? Is there a part of a rainbow we’re not seeing? It could even be that a rainbow is a circle!”

Then a tiny voice said to me “Yes, a rainbow is a circle, and more. You are just shown an inkling of a rainbow. Just like the best of you think and communicate in shorthand, things are shown to you in little bits.

And you know why?” I heard myself say

“Why?” with an exclamation point.

A perfect silence is what came back. Only the park was shimmering in its full glow. The little voice started to whisper to me again, this time in what i call long hand. I kept writing it down as it came to me until it was about a hundred pages, and the sun started to rise from the window.

This is its first page. I hope it will be of some use to you.


Bless you for your anger for it is a sign of rising energy.
Direct not to your family, waste not on your enemy.
Transform the energy to versatility and it will bring prosperity

Bless you for your sorrow for it is a sign of vulnerability
Share not with your family, direct not to yourself.
Transform the energy to sympathy and it will bring you love.

Bless you for your greed for it is a sign of great capacity.
Direct not to your family. Direct not to the world.
Transform the energy to giving.
Give as much as you wish to take, and you will receive satisfaction

Bless you for your jealousy for it is a sign of empathy.
Direct not to your family, direct not to your friends.
Transform the energy to admiration and what you admire will become part of your life.

Bless you for your fear. For it is a sign of wisdom.
Do not hold yourself in fear.
Tranform the energy to flexibility and you will be free from what you fear.

Bless you for your poverty for it is a sign of great possibility
do not hold poverty in your mind.
Every drop of your generosity will come back in 10 fold.
Give as though you were a king, and you will receive a king's due.

Bless you for your search of direction for it is a sign of aspiration.
Transform the energy to receptivity and the direction will come to you

Bless you for the times you see evil.
Evil is energy mishandled and it feeds on your support.
Feed not and it will self-destruct.
Shed light and it will cease to be.

Bless you for the times you feel no love.
Open your heart to life anyway, and in time you will find love in you.

Bless you, bless you, bless you.
Bless you for what you are.
Remember you are loved.
Remember I love you.

from the sleevenotes of the album STARPEACE by Yoko Ono
images courtesy of flickr - credits listed in properties of each pic

Creme de la creme

Rose Tarlow

I just added a new favorite to my list. Obviously, I am behind the design times. Until recently, I have been more focused on the roll up your sleeves and DIY kind of stuff. Lately, I have made the conscious decision to step up my knowledge base and design efforts. In that effort, I have discovered so many talented decorators and designers who are writing amazing blogs. Once I start reading one, I get led ot another one and then another. Before I know it, hours have passed and my adrenaline is pumping. It's addictive but oh so inspirational. In today's Things That Inspire blog, she highlights Rose Tarlow and one of her beautiful side tables. LOVE the table, LOVE Rose Tarlow even more. I just had to share Rose's home page off her web-site. Even if I never saw any of her work prior to reading that quote, I would be hooked immediately. Right on, Rose!

Another woman I adore is Bunny Williams. Her philosophy of comfort and livability while creating an elegant and blended decor speaks to my core. I embrace her style in spirit.To date, I have not been able to materialize all that I see in my mind's eye which is inpsired by her approach to design. But there is no deadline to accomplish this. My approach to decorating one's home has always been and continues to be that of building layers over time. Just as the years build the layers of who we are as people, our homes should evolve over time in much the same way.  My favorite book of Bunny's is An Affair With A House and it's all about just that - how she fell in love with an older home and over time made it her own while still honoring the house's architectural and historical integrity.

Bunny Williams, An Affair With A House

One of the top items on my design wish list is to someday  inspire just one person as much as these women have inspired me and so many, many others.