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Author Archives: Robyn
Simply Imperfect.
Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Haul Out the Holly (And Put It Away Again)
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
“He who knows he has enough is rich.” – Lao-tzu
Wabi-sabi’s complicated two-step of spacious but not stark, comforting but not cluttered, requires nurturing and refinement.
Slowly, over time, you pare down your possessions. You might live for years with three candles, a lamp and a bowl on a side table, then one day realize that removing the candles lets the lamp’s clean lines … Continue reading
Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Christmas Ease
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
“After all, what is your hosts’ purpose in having a party? Surely not for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they’d have simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi.”—P.J. O’Rourke
I wanted to give my kids the elaborate Christmas Eve memories that my mom had given my siblings and me. When I was growing up, we … Continue reading
Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Our Stuff is Us
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
“Every possession is a symbol of the self.” —Georg Simmel
We Westerners struggle mightily with stuff. Every year, books full of advice on uncluttering and organizing are published; websites and newspapers revisit the subject regularly. Nothing sells magazines better than cover blurbs promising to help readers unclutter.
According to the Self Storage Association, the average person owns four and a half tons of material … Continue reading
Posted in Happy Home, Wabi-Sabi
Tagged Americans and clutter, overconsumption, psychology of clutter, too much stuff, uncluttering, wabi-sabi
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Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Cleaning As Moving Meditation
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
“Put your hands to work and your heart to God.” — Shaker saying
An ancient Tea master described wabisuki (a taste for all things wabi) as “putting one’s whole heart to cleaning and repeating it several times.” The Dalai Lama says that cleansing your environment is a ritual means of cleansing your mind.
Cleaning is a wabi practice. Every … Continue reading
Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Stop Fiddling with the Flowers
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
“If you fiddle this way and that with the flowers and consequently they wither, that will be no benefit. It is the same with a person’s life.”—Sen Soshitsu XV
Wabi-sabi flowers (chabana) aren’t arranged. They’re placed, in their most natural form, into unpretentious vessels.
Nagarie, a simple, austere style of arranging flowers that literally translates as “throw in,” evolved alongside tea ceremony in the … Continue reading
Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Long Winter Naps
Excerpted from Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House
Walk in every season. Try to find contentment in winter’s dim afternoons as deep as you find in June’s exuberance. You have to try a little harder to find the beauty in November’s pale, low light and barren fields, but consider how garish a blooming rosebush would be against autumnal muddy browns. Feel the earth signaling it’s time to go within. After summertime’s manic energy, appreciate the relief. (Rolling with the … Continue reading