The Saturday Share!
Hello! Grace here, as always on a Saturday!
How are you? What a week this has been.
I’m on a mission this weekend to clean my apartment up a bit. I’ve already cleaned up the bedroom and vanity area! Next up is the living room and kitchen. And then the office. I’ve been a bit all over the place this week, and whether it’s the news, current affairs or just those pesky hormones, I find (like my Mum) that cleaning & tidying helps clear my head.
I don’t know about you, but I can get quite down on myself when my space isn’t clean. I silently judge and berate myself for the mess and clutter, but it usually takes a messy and cluttered headspace type of week to do something about it.
TOP TIP: Always focus on ONE area at a time. Otherwise I personally get overwhelmed… I start clearing off bookshelves in one room, then get distracted by more clutter halfway through the job and suddenly I’m sat on the bathroom floor surrounded by the contents of those shelves too. ONE AREA AT A TIME.
I used to meditate multiple times a week at an amazing place called ‘Inscape’. I found that it helped declutter and clear my mind in a pretty epic way. And even Dave has said that there was a time where he could feel positive energy just emanating from me, because of the time I invested there and in myself. When I started working from home (for Clarity) I stopped going as often. Life was great, much less stressful! And I found I didn’t ‘need’ to go as regularly, particularly since it meant going into the city, rather than popping in on my way home from work.
Fast forward 1.5 years & a global pandemic later and I don’t do either; go into the city or meditate. Two of my once favourite things. And I wonder why things can affect me so, and throw me off kilter. Hmmm.
SO… The plan is to start meditating again. But of course, WHO ON EARTH can meditate in their home surrounded by clutter and mess? Not me. So this… is a process 🙂
Let’s sort the outside job, so that we can work on the inside job! Not to say anything is wrong, or that I’m struggling. I’m not, don’t worry. It just suddenly hit me that collectively we’ve gone through A LOT this year. And if I thought I needed meditation to manage balance & reactions in 2017, I imagine it would come in VERY handy now in 2020.
Sometimes it is good to do a check-in with yourself, and see what’s better now and what needs further improvement. Is there anything that you need to do more of? Because it’s beneficial to your peace of mind? Cleaning too? Gardening perhaps? Beauty/skin routines? Exercise? My Mum and Dave talk about going on their walks through the woods. It’s no different really. Should you be Crafting more? Since you know that it reeeeally calms your mind?
Speaking of crafting, I found peace in searching through your stunning artwork this week, on Groovi Worldwide & Clarity Worldwide… Many of the cards I picked this week happen to be on theme with today’s blog too. Check em out…
Glorious little gallery of your work, eh? Thank you for taking the time to create with Clarity… and giving me something to show off on a Saturday!
As you can imagine (and guess from some of this weeks selection) I’m obsessed with Tina’s Spiritual Mandala A5 Square Stamp Set… They’re available separately, but they’re exceptionally discounted as a set right now! 🙂
I’ve just started seeing all the samples begin to circulate online, and I’m very much in love with these designs! Not so dissimilar to this beautiful elephant design on my wall… look!
I must love ya and leave ya, so I can get to clearing! Because Clarity matters, in so many ways 😉
Lotsa love, Grace xo
Clarity – The Home of Art, Craft and Well-being.
Hi there, Grace, What you say in your blog is so true. The chaos around me reflects the chaos within and it does feel good to clear away the clutter. My problem is that I get so far and then I get stuck. I reorganised my study (and painted it ) which also doubles up as a craft room – more crafting than studying done in there, I can tell you. I filled six or seven black bags with shredded paper but I’m still left with six plastic boxes of stuff that need to be gone through and that is where I have got stuck because I have no idea what I will do with most of it! I was thinking about how I would tackle them – one box at a time – as I picked up the Mac to read your blog! Must have been meant for me today. However, maybe I should start with the piles on the sofas! They are definitely more manageable and clearing those would definitely make me feel a lot better! There’s a lovely selection of cards chosen again today. Nice to see Sue’s. That’s the PTC and card I got from her for the monthly swap. You take care of yourself, Grace, and stay safe. Hxx
Morning Grace, Hope you are well. Yes always good to declutter be that mind or matter!. Stay safe x
Hi Grace, I think ‘cleaning and clearing’ is a female thing as it’s also the place I go to when I feel everything is getting on top of me, and like you I can easily be distracted by the items I am supposed to be sorting if I’m not careful; then I get annoyed with myself and pull it back. I don’t think I’d be any good at meditation as I don’t seem to be able to clear my mind (as I know when I lay awake for hours). Yet another beautiful set of work from the talented clarity family. Wishing you both a wonderful weekend.
Hi Grace, tidying cupboards & craft room are my hardest tasks to do, I get distracted when I find things & when I have sorted stuff I forget where I have put them. I can go to my Mum’s house & be ruthless with sorting there but get home & its like being in a different zone altogether !!
Thanks for choosing my August PTC swap as one of your weeks selection of great cards.
I need to have a catch up before Tuesday’s SHAC as we took our daughter & 2 granddaughters away for a few days this week to give them a change of scenery after being in shielding/lockdown since the middle of March. Needed to get them back into the outside world & make them less anxious about doing things. Having done online shopping for 5 months going into a shop was a big ask but they did it. We went canoeing on Monday for an hour & a half – managed to stay dry followed by an hour of archery – I have decided that varifocals are not the best glasses to wear when trying to hit the target – at least that is my excuse !! 2 activities I haven’t done for years but it was good to do things with the younger ones. We also managed a day on the beach with a paddle in the sea & a nice walk through an old country estate which is now a public park. We dodged most of the rain except on Thursday when we got a bit wet but all in all a good week. Back home now, washing on the line (watching the clouds though as it keeps going dark) so tomorrow I can have a craft catch up as although I took some Groovi with me I didn’t get round to doing any as we spent the evenings playing board games – it wasn’t until Thursday that we realised that we hadn’t even switched the TV on & no one had asked for it either.
Hope you manage to get your sorting finished then you can settle down to some meditation in your tidy apartment. xx
Hi Grace, completely agree with you about decluttering. I’m about to start on my house now I’m retired – you’re so right about the clutter around you getting into your head. I’ve got a friend coming to help me, so much easier to do it with someone who hasn’t got any emotional attachment to all my ‘stuff’! Like you say – bite sized chunks is best, and I’m taking it one room at a time. Loving all the artwork from everyone – so inspiring
I like to be tidy and orderly so I can find everything. When we moved here the removal people put things in the wrong rooms so we had a problem to start with. We had to have a new kitchen, bathroom, utility and en suite as they had been left lethally unhygienic. Then instead of waiting for the rooms to be cleaned and decorated (the whole house was left in an awful state) hubby decided he would empty all the packing boxes. Not having a chance to place the furniture and unpack properly things were put wherever there was a space. Nightmare wasn’t in it. Eventually I got most things in the right rooms. However as I started to make some space hubby filled it with his gear- he rarely puts things away!!!!! Five years later I am still finding things not where they are supposed to be. The new shed and workshop purpose built for OH in the garden are mostly empty (not suitable for crafting) and the tools and equipment they should house are on racks in the conservatory which was supposed to be our art room. My art table is presently buried under boxes of gear he has accumulated over the last few months of Covid mayhem. I’ve given up on this area. The bedroom is now looking fantastic folowing the purchase of a new bed which has loads of storage space within and I am tempted to spend more of my time in there. The spare room which doubles as a sewing room and office is a work in progress but the kitchen has been blitzed and everything is where it should be.
I agree that it is difficult to declutter when distractions arise but one room at a time is optimum. The problem is that while one is concentrating on that one area someone is making mayhem elsewhere. Excuse me while I growl.
Despite all this the Covid situation has not made a lot of difference to our way of life and we are happy to carry on isolating for as long as it takes. We must take care of others as well as ourselves.
I’ve been loving your blogs and looking at all the art work. Thank you Grace.
Stay safe.
Hi Grace
My little book of Hygge has arrived and it is Devine. Such a sweet book, and the photography in the book is adorable. It’s all of normal everyday sort of things that you wouldn’t normally look at twice, but it has made me look at things longer and almost study them.
I’ve only just begun to read it so I will let you know how I am getting on with it a bit later. So I would just like to say a huge thank you for picking me to be the recipient.
Good luck with your clearing and cleaning. I struggle with clearing things out. I’m a bit of a hoarder, or at least I don’t like throwing things away. If I can find someone who has a need for something I have, that’s fine, I’m quite happy that things are going to be made good use of. I just can’t throw things away. And believe me I do try, except I normally go and get them back out of the bin!!!!
Loving your selection of artwork that you have put on here today too.
Love & Hugs
Penny
Xxxxx
Such beautiful and clever cards this week. Filing is the thing I hate most (I think as a result of in my first job as a junior in an office that was what I did for 80% of my day!). My craft room is our office and there is a little pile of filing growing which I know I’ll feel better when I’ve filed it but I just have to be in the right mood. I had a very frustrating afternoon yesterday with the gelli plate. For me it either works – or it doesn’t and yesterday was definitely a doesn’t work day! It’s gone back into its packet for a while. On a bright note I’m off to the zoo this afternoon with my grandchildren before they go back to school. Can’t wait. Good luck with your tidying 😀