My Own Utopian Experiment #31: Sharing a few things my soul enjoys
Soul loves beauty, creativity, imagination, contemplation, reflections, constant attentions, pure joys and pleasures, not mere entertainments and anything that is authentic to your true self. I love lots of things that I enjoy and I would love to share a few here. If you have been reading my posts, you already know I satisfy my soul via reading books and also writing posts here for the kindred other souls. Books are such a big part of my everyday life. I always have a book going. I laugh and cry with books. They are full of surprises, twists, moments of ups and downs just like my life. Books are like mirrors. I see my own reflection while I am reading someone’s stories. I write journals and even dream about what I am reading. My relationship with books is very personal, intimate and warm-hearted one. I already wrote about this fuzzy feeling so I am not going to repeat it once again. If you are interested, you can read my relationship with books in the previous post. (Link)
After I realize things have souls, I enjoy it much more. I love architectures, old things with histories and arts. Back in old days, things were built in more artistic and beautiful ways instead of being practical, effective and economic. When I walk in an old beautiful building, I feel like I am part of the art, someone’s master piece. My imaginations will take me to the time that the buildings were full of people dressed in different ways. For this purpose, I always check when it was built. If needed, I do some research as well. The extra information heightens my amusement and imagination. The folks back then appreciate beauty more than the time I live now. You can tell the past general public had high value on beauty. People with the skills were valued as artists who create beauty. It is often sad that we lost this side of arts in modern living. Many buildings do look the same with lots of factory-made stuff. When I visit a master piece, I tend to pay attention in details like stone tiles, door knobs, colors, textures, wood trims, original paintings on the walls, murals, signs that they kept, old mail boxes, tiny elevators (I wonder if we got that bigger), the color of each room, handmade things, furniture, other artifacts and the atmosphere that’s affecting my mood and mental state. I once found fossils in the stone walls and floors. How cool is that! I spend hours there being amazed. More I look, more details I catch. When I soak all up within me, it often stays with me as photographic images. I can go back there after I left. Architecture is a truly immersive art for me in a time traveling way.
I also love old things with histories. They also have its own soul. They were once cherished by someone long time ago before me. When I witness it, I take my time. I can see what it meant to someone and how it ended up at a museum. Even at an antique shop, you sometimes get to know how ended up there and a bit information on the owner or the people living at the time. I always love to know the time of the object. They certainly had different standards of beauties and life styles. I have once seen a handmade silverware from 1925 in a perfect condition from France. Even those little things bring so much joy and wonder. Almost 100 years later, it caught my eyes. Some of the things you can actually touch it and hold it in your hands. I go to museums a lot whenever I have a chance. I wish to learn more about antique. It is very hard to see “real” antiques so you need some knowledges to find the real treasures. I am a very beginner and need a mentor. I am working on it.
I love arts. I truly believe everyone is an artist in one’s own ways. We tend to draw line between fine arts and not-so-fine arts. There’s a big bold line between professional and amateur artists. Yes, there are different kinds of arts. At the end, they are all arts. In my world, art is doing anything that you enjoy in creative and mindful way. In this sense, we practice arts every day. I read author’s devoted works in a book format which is a kind of art. I contemplate, reflect, re-evaluate, imagine and write. That’s also a form of art, your inner art. I enjoy 10 mins walk in nature around my house. In that 10 min, I open all my sense to smell the season, witness the today’s gift outside, experiencing the season changing, listen the birds chirping, squirrels and insects bustling among fallen leaves, the sky, the animal shapes of clouds, the white smoky carpets of clouds on the sky, the wind, the tree shaking its leaves like wind chimes, warm morning sunlight against my skin, different kinds of weather and anything else that’s on my way. Opening my day like this and being able to enjoy my surrounding are also forms of arts in ordinary living. I make crafts and occasionally paint at home. I am not selling anything or show off but it is just for my own fulfillments. I love to try something new here and there such as canvas paining, pottery making, stiches, soap making, etc. The simple crafts are also form of arts, expressing myself in a very intimate way. Nobody else has to love it but myself only. My own personal arts!
I will share more on arts in our ordinary life next week. Stay tuned. Don’t forget you are your own best artist. Live artfully today. Sending my love as always.