#Meaningful Reading :: Big Magic ::

Happy Thursday everyone! I have finished Big Magic a while ago now, and never got a chance to review it properly here. It is probably due to the fact that I loved 3/4 of the book and the other quarter did not really talk to me. Liz's creativity outlet is obviously writing and the final part of her book was more focused on that type of creativity. 

However I love (3/4 of) this book. Let me begin by the fact that I loved Eat, Pray and Love. I read it, I went to see it at the cinema, it is my go-to-feel-better film on Netflix (alongside the Holiday) if I am having a bad day. The only issue with my obsession with Eat, Pray and Love is that I now think that Liz Gilbert looks like Julie Roberts. So I read Big Magic thinking that Julia Roberts was talking to me - it is fine but a bit weird, especially when I started stalking Liz Gilbert on IG, and realising that Julia Roberts was never featured on Liz' feed - what?! 

Anyway back to Big Magic. The book is really fun as well as being deep. I loved the fact that Liz was not scared of sharing her experience of the success of Eat, Pray, and Love and her experience of her not so successful other books (yes she has written others since, and before, that I have never read). If you were as taken as I was by Eat, Pray and Love, Big Magic is worth a read, just for that. 

I find the book liberating and empowering for my creative process. Liz asks a lot of very meaningful questions about your passion, whether it matters or not; and she also tell you that you should never expect to make money from your art. Well hold on here, I was not expecting that... At first I thought to myself, well it is a bit easy to tell us this when you wrote Eat, Pray and Love - but now I found this quite a liberating statement. 

She splits her book into six parts: Courage - creative living is having the courage to follow your aspirations, longing and talents and recognise (and overcome) fear; Enchantment - ideas are disembodied energy that wants to manifest and you have to make space to welcome ideas; Permission - Liz asks her readers to give themselves permission to start living creatively (but to avoid getting into debt in the process); Persistence - keep going and don’t be disheartened if the first thing created gets no recognition, Trust - living creatively is all about following where curiosity takes you; & Divinity - creativity is scared and that the reader should start creative living immediately.

If you are a fan, you might find that you've already read or encountered many of the core ideas on her Facebook page or in the accompanying podcast. I have never listened to any, but heard that the podcast does cover some of these topics.

Big Magic is inspiring, and incredibly pragmatic. This book will resonate with anyone who wants to live a creative and fulfilled life. On the one hand, it’s deeply mystical and out there (ideas floating around in the universe looking for an owner for instance). I believe in that sort of stuff, but I can see that this might not be for everyone. On the other, it’s incredibly pragmatic, offering down-to-earth advice that applies to anyone engaged in a creative pursuit, whether purely for the joy of it or to make a living as well (avoiding getting into debt in the process). But this is not a “how-to” guide, but a series of essays and meditations on some of the challenges and contradictions involved in creative endeavours - based Liz' experience as a writer.

Has anyone read it? What did you think?

#Meaningful reading :: The Year of Living Danishly ::

or the full title.. the Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country. 

'Buddha teaches us that desires are inexhaustible. The satisfaction of one just creates new desires, like a cell multiplying ... Living danishily has given me a glimpse of a more meaningful way of being. An understanding how life should be, or at least, how it could be'. 

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope you are having a great week! Going back to work does have its perks - I am reading again. Quite a bit actually. And it is wonderful. I had already made a point of going to bed early and read a few pages every night, but obviously an hour and a half commute every time I work in London means that a lot of reading gets done. 

I am not saying I always read interesting books, although I try to select them carefully. In fact I just finished Grief is the thing of feather - thinking it might help understand what Baby MiH is going through (and maybe us), it definitely did not. I saw some comments about how funny the book was, I never laughed once, in fact I would like to know where I should have laughed. I did not cry either - it left me emotionally cold, and we are talking about grief here. I was more upset when reading the latest Bridget Jones Diary, Helen Fielding dealt with bereavement better I thought...

Anyway I am getting sidetracked because one book I was very excited about reading was The Year of Living Danishly and whether I could find ways to make my life more meaningful. Helen Russell did - as you can see with the quote above - and managed to get pregnant, have a baby and sign up for another year in Denmark in the process. But is there anything for us mere mortal who are not Danish born? This book is not just about Danish culture, it also deals with the general experience of relocating to a foreign country, and the author's personal life and development. I found it really easy to read, and, in some places, it was absolutely hilarious. You should have seen Mr MiH's looks (he is reading the Big Short - not so many funny moments in that). 

I took notes, which is a sure sign that there was indeed something for me. Many of my notes are about Danish design and hygge - ie taken from the first chapter of the book. This is not surprising, I love Danish design and the feel it creates. And apparently rightly so as Helen explains 'when you surround yourselves with quality design it influences our mood. If one surroundings are nice, we feel cosy and safe. It makes us happier'... So let's start shopping! Of course, this is not so far from what Marie Kondo was saying of course.  

She talks a lot of about the work/life balance in Denmark, something that we have tried to incorporate in our lives here when I decided to go back after Baby MiH was born (my work life balance before that was shockingly bad). Mr MiH is doing the drop off and pick up from nursery. We split everything equally, housework, finance etc - except cooking. Also when I travel for work (which I have to do more than Mr MiH), there is no issue - he can do everything that I do around the house. 

The book paints a very good picture of Denmark - although referring to some not so good parts - ie the long winters. I was living in Scotland at some point in my life, and I had to move back to France during the winter. I could not deal with the short days. Maybe I should have bought more candles? I am not sure it would have been enough at the time. However the way Danes deal with it (according to the book) made me reflect on how we could deal with our winters here and try to enjoy being indoors and with family a bit more. 

Finally, the Danes and I do share more than an interest in design, we love Midsomer Murders - apparently the best rated TV import. I would feel right at home!

Totally worth a read - there is quite a bit to be learnt from the Danes, but also from the actual research in what make people happy (in Denmark or elsewhere) - of course I could question whether the book is not making too many generic statements out of examples, and not reviewing the all 'literature' but I am not going all academic on you, because at the end of the day I did not really question it. 

Reading about women equality was really interesting, and gave me a bit more confidence to look for more recognition at my workplace (whether I will get anywhere is another story). It is as serious as it is funny - a great balance. 

#Meaningful Reading :: The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up ::

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope you had a good start of the week. This is my first week back at work - so I am still trying to find my feet and my new routine. I will be blogging regularly but I need to find the time to do it properly. Just bear with me for a couple of weeks. 

However I really wanted to tell you about the life-changing magic of tidying - the Konmari method. Other bloggers have referred to this book. It took 4 months for me to get it out of the library - clearly I am not the only one wanting to read it. And was it worth the wait? Oh people, it was! I read it in 5 days, and I kept taking notes. At first I was only going to mention it on a Friday Randomly Sharing post, but this book is so important to me that it deserved a post of its own. 

I have to add a little bit of disclaimer here - because it might explain why this book spoke to me - I love tidying, and I have no issue getting rid of things. Also since Little Baby MiH left us, I have been rethinking the meaning of stuff - hence my word for 2016. So the book came exactly at the right time for me. 

The book explains two main points to enjoy the magic of tidying: deciding whether or not to throw something away and deciding where to put it (only after you fully decluttered your house). As Marie Kondo explains 'tidying is just a tool, not the final destination. The true goal should be to establish the lifestyle you want most once your house has been put in order. .. This lifestyle should bring you joy'. 

As I mentioned I love to declutter my house - whereas Mr MiH is quite happy to accumulate and be untidy. However I actually never thought of a method to declutter, and I would usually work on one location and then run out of steam quite quickly. If you have read reviews of this book, you will know that the key to throw away is to take each item in you hand and ask whether it sparks joy or not - and by taking it in your hands your body is supposed to react. This is a very powerful tool of course. But I was also really interested in her way to approach tidying by categories rather than location. And finally she does address the guilt in getting rid of things that might be still new or were gifts from people. 

The book explains everything step by step. It is not written as a manual per say, but processes are clearly identified. Also she spends quite a bit of time explaining why some of her steps are more likely to work than other methods of tidying. From my point of view, the main driver to follow her method is my aim - being surrounded by meaningful objects that bring joy into our lives. In fact I wanted to tackle one category quite quickly - my craft stash. I have been quite uninspired recently. And one of my main issues is that my stash did not inspire the person I aspire to be - an ethical crafter. I have started with my yarn stash, and already I feel much lighter and happier to knit. There is still a lot of tidying to be done, before I get to where I want to be, but I feel I am on my way. 

A snippet from my new stash

One area I also had to tackle was my handmade accessories - I tackled the category 'accessories' yesterday (scarves, belts, mittens, beanie hats etc). I had kept everything I made for myself, except that not everything I made sparked joy yesterday. In fact only a small proportion did and I parted with the majority of it - and it was fine and in fact enlightening. I had to make decisions about my style, what suits me (colour, shape etc) - and the next day I was sporting my favourite beanie hat on my way to work - because it was easy to access, and I knew it sparked joy. I do not regret making any of the other accessories I got rid of because I learnt construction techniques, improved my knitting and crochet skills, made some mistakes and got engaged in the craft community - and it helped me the crafter I am now. 

I loved the book and its message. I have to say though that sometimes I felt she was totally OTT - she was reading homemaker magazines at the age of 5 and started being interested in tidying techniques then - well WTF?! Equally I am just wondering about her early fascination for filing devices - I am not sure I am getting it. However these quirky aspects of the book makes it a much more palatable read than a mere tidying manual.

Read it, be open minded about it. You will find yourself nodding at some of the characters she refers to. I will now carry on with my own tidying. I have not followed her recommended order - because of how strongly I felt about some categories. So accessories, socks, underwear and yarn stash. Tomorrow is jewellery. According to the book, it should take 6 months... I might be able to do it, whether I can rope Mr MiH in my tidying adventures... and ask him which object spark joy to him... yeah I may need more than 6 months for that to happen.