of living is what I've finally and firmly come to believe - as of yesterday. It was kind of there in the back of my mind, but yesterday it somehow took shape and crystallized in my mind. And I realized that for style in living one has to believe in it. You don't need much money, and you don't need too many things....it lies in the graciousness of living.
We never had much money growing up, as my Dad was a priest who firmly believed in his vow of poverty, and lived it....but it was not poverty of spirit.....and that translated itself into a very lovely way of life. Gentle, slow, pretty - some flowers here, or some potted plants there - a garden which he used to religiously tend, a way of arranging the furniture, sea shells that we used to collect put in a glass vase or bowl, maybe, definite rules of quiet behaviour, and manners at the table....so many little things came to my mind. I remember we had to cut down this huge tree that stood near the house. He scooped out the inside of it, filled it with earth and put in a plant, and arranged the rocks that I used to collect around it, creating this lovely rockery...or he would put some creeper against a window...definitely flowers on the table, or a spray of violets on a tea tray. Worn out Christmas decorations would suddenly look renewed when kept, supposedly carelessly, here or there.....and pictures or artifacts on the walls...Every room had some touch of beauty. Adult life too did not bring in very much by way of money, but some candles here and there, some incense sticks, or something picked up from a fair or roadside stall and used as a pencil holder, or spoon holder....pretty cushion covers to hide the oldness of a sofa....we used so many inexpensive things to make 'house' a 'home'. I always remember my Mom telling me that if she put me in a corner, I would make it look pretty.....but it never came home to me till yesterday, that it was part of the style of living that I had inherited from my Dad, and which had been a way of life in our family.....it made life so lovely!
This line of thought totally syncd with my belief in wabi-sabi, and reinvigorated it..
Living in style also makes it easier to bear the difficulties and hardships, pain and hurt that is part of life...