Many years ago a friend used to tell me that you can tell a lot about a people when you scan the titles on their bookshelves. My bookshelf personality screams loud a clear that I don’t read fiction but I could live in the non-fiction section of any book store or library. A couple of weeks ago I started reading a book that I picked up at a free book sale that my local library was setting up. All the books were free. A book hound never turns down the opportunity to get free books. I remember that day well. I was only going into the library to return some books and movies, I never planned on spending an hour scouring the tables of neatly placed books and magazines of all kinds. But I did and to my benefit I stumbled on a book that has really got me thinking about life in general and all the stuff I think I really need.
Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh was written in 1955, yet its premise still holds true today. The author wrote this little book for herself to help you find balance in her own life between family, work, and household obligations. I find myself relating to this author because her mind worked better with “pencil in hand,” and she was able to distinguish her “own little corner” of life when wrote. I find myself writing to make sense of my own life. I too am constantly searching for my “own little corner.”
This little book has also lead me to begin shedding the unnecessary items I’ve kept for my entire married life thinking that I would some day use them when in reality I’ve only used them once or twice in 28 years. The process is called shedding. It’s like shedding our winter wardrobe for our summer clothes. So far I’ve sold jewelry I don’t wear, shoes I don’t need, sewing machines I don’t use, plates we never eat on, clothes that are not my size, and stuff that has filled my closets for too long. Maybe this shedding process should be called a freeing process. It’s liberating to get rid of stuff that has been holding me back. Don’t get me wrong I love looking at pretty things but I really don’t like dusting those pretty things. Plus, I know that if something were to happen all these things would just be given away.
I am not my things and my things are not me
but set my books side by side and you will see me from the inside.
My bookshelf personality!
Wellness My Way 