Sunday 7 October 2012

Uncluttered Mind

Hello all!!

This weekend has been busy, but I also made sure that I found time just for me. 

The day has started with a yoga session at the fabulous lululemon in King's Road. For some reason, I found this morning's practise very challenging at first. I think last few weeks have caught up with me and I just couldn't relax. My mat was next to the window and I could feel the sunshine on my face. And slowly my mind and body let go off everything that is happening in my life and for an hour, I lived in the moment. It is very difficult to do that on a daily basis, but I try very hard to do that in my every day life.


So, after an hour of challenging practise, I was at peace with the world and my mind became uncluttered. Wonderful, wonderful feeling. 
I did a bit of window shopping and people spotting in the trendy Sloane Square:






However, I did not give in to the temptation and instead had a healthy lunch. Trust me it tastes much better than it looks. In fact, this has now become a staple diet:


But to keep an uncluttered mind for as long as you can, your living/ working space needs to have some order too. I am guilty of being messy (although, quite a few people told me that my style is "controlled mess"). I work well in a messy environment and I like the style. However, my working space has been an uninviting place for quite some time (probably even 3-4 months). I have never had it in such a state, and the longer I left to clean it, the harder it got to actually doing it. 
But in the spirit of the day and uncluttered life, I decided to finally tackle this space and make it more enjoyable. 

To my shame, this is how it looked a few hours ago:




And this is how it looks after an hour of tidying while listening to some pretty funky music to help the process:




Sure, it still has more stuff than it maybe needs (I don't do minimalism in anything), but I now find it inviting and will probably spend hours working in there tonight.

So, with my mind, body and my living space in harmony, here are two pictures of nature doing her bit to keep my mind balanced:




A week ago I was with a group of people participating in an activity that I found somewhat boring. My mind wondered and I started to think about mundane stuff going on in my life. However, the group's enthusiasm and joy for the activity brought me around and I thought: "I am clearly in the wrong here. If I can't enjoy the activity, I should at least let myself go and enjoy other people's satisfaction and happiness." And just like that, I was brought back to the here and now. I lived in the moment, and not surprisingly, I actually started enjoying the activity. I left the group smiling. It is so easy to give into the negative and so hard to will yourself to work through a tricky or challenging moment in life. 
To help you along in enjoying the moment, here is a quote I tell myself on a daily basis:

"To be alive is to totally and openly participate in the simplicity and elegance of here and now." 

Hope you all have a peaceful week, noticing the small and the beautiful around you and of course, living in the moment.

Red xx

2 comments:

Magical Daydream said...

I actually really like uncluttering. I always feel so refreshed after cleaning my room and everything is neatly into place :)

Unknown said...

I love that you are doing these good things for yourself, I want to bring even more balance into my own life as well. I had to laugh about your "mess" - our studio can get like that x10 within hours! And now I'm off for some me time, thanks for the inspiration :)
xo Mary Jo