As the Autumnal Equinox brought balance to our days earlier this week, we revere the opportunity that the fall brings to find the same balance in our homes. This can be a family affair, an activity with friends whom we entice with promises of wine, or a deeply personal practice that we pair with personal reflection. No matter your tradition, we use this time of year to do inventory, both physically and mentally, of our homes to ensure we approach the end of this year, and the beginning of the next with peace, patience and purpose.
Our prime activity for finding balance is in eliminating clutter. We’ve always found that a home free of clutter is not only peaceful, but efficient. This practice of diving deep into the drawers and closets of our home not only gives us a physical inventory of what has been stowed away in the various crevices of our living space, but lends opportunity to give back and donate the various odds and ends which we’ve accumulated unnecessarily over time, while being mindful of the luxuries we are afforded and exhibit grace in shedding the excess of our lives.
In doing so, we often find the areas of our homes which might need a little help, a brief spruce, or some replenishing. The most prominent of which is typically our table linens, as they are a highly trafficked staple of any home; especially for those of us with children. We admit, we try very hard to keep them unstained, without blemishes or tears, and only keep linens of the highest quality handy in our homes, but it only takes an unfortunately placed cup of coffee, or an improperly placed sauce pan to turn those pristine pantry partners into something a bit more abstract.
Our utensils are also something, while cherished, that seem to be somewhat enchanted and enjoy performing a disappearing act with a frequency higher than we might like. We personally can appreciate an eclectic home, with mismatched silverware and dishes that have a charm all their own when presented to a dinner party; though for our own homes we prefer a bit of continuity. With the holidays approaching, and the potential of family gatherings around the table, we use this time of year to ensure that the mysteriously vanishing spoon from our cutlery set doesn’t offset our table settings come Thanksgiving.
We speak a lot about “inventory” and while at times we may be referring to the physical inventory in our shop, many times we use it a bit more abstractly, either in regard to our mental or emotional clutter. This year, more than any other, we’ve found it so important to find ways to shed our emotional clutter to find an internal balance; afterall, the external and internal need to balance themselves. While we won’t impose our own practices upon you, as we are all individuals and process differently, we do find that the most basic of all practices generally boil down to keeping mentally and physically active while being mindful of what we consume (both externally and internally) and balance our sleep practices.
Life, as we all know, is a balancing act. And while it’s perfectly normal for things to fall towards one side or the other at times, we have found that keeping regular practice in reflecting on these things is incredibly helpful in preventing them from falling too far out of harmony. We treat our homes, bodies and minds as something to be cherished, and in doing so we strive each day to maintain equilibrium.
