If you read this blog often, you may recall that I recently got my very first real bookshelf. If Marie Kondo came to my office for a visit, she might want me to tidy it up a bit. I would immediately be able to share with her just how much joy this bookshelf brings me, and I think we’d have ourselves a deal. The books on these shelves are some of my favorites, and they all tell their own stories, of course.
But I grouped them by the stories they tell me.
Until now, I never really knew just how much simply seeing the cover of a book can take you back to the time and place you were when you read it. Not just physically, although I feel that too, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It’s fascinating to me that when you read a book, or experience anything in your life really, you can only see it through the lens of your past experiences and current understanding. “Books are mirrors. You only see in them what you already have inside of you.” (- Carlos Zafon) Looking at these books everyday while I’m working at my desk, talking on the phone, or even talking to my kids, makes me feel stronger and wiser. It helps me realize just how far I’ve come, because I remember who I was when I first read them.
I may not be fully who I want to be yet, but I’m certainly not who I used to be.
I zoomed in on this pic just a bit, so you could see all the little accent pieces. To Marie, those might look like clutter, but to me, they each tell a story. (And they spark joy!) Those three gold-trimmed hummingbirds and the hand painted gold vase on the top are my most recent additions. They’re from my Grandma on her 89th birthday last week. As she was packing up her home to move to Texas she asked us each what we wanted out of her curio cabinet, those were my choices. The birds tell the story of her love for birds and all the days we watched them from her kitchen window. The vase reminds me of the way I was a wild-child little girl, but I always loved dainty, pretty things, like lace and flowers. The hour glass has timed many shared stories around a table of women, creating sacred space for each of us to be seen and heard. The HeartStories mug on top from our first crowdfunding campaign. . . oh that one.
It reminds me just how far I’ve come.
I don’t know what things in your life remind you how far you’ve come, but I sure hope you get to look at them often. Sure, at first, they might bring the sting of pain from a challenging memory, but in the end, you need to be able to look back and see just how far you have come. Your wiser self will see the journey your younger self couldn’t have possibly seen. Today, I challenge you to grab a book, a mug, a trinket. . . whatever it is that reminds you of your journey. Set it in a place you can see it and look at often. You’ve come farther than you give yourself credit for.
You’re not who you used to be.
“Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, remember how far you’ve come. Remember everything you have faced, all the battles you have won, all the fears you have overcome.” (author unknown)
Remember how far you’ve come.
to more love,
Crystal
