Let me tell you a story about a woman who lived in a sweet little house, which was completely cluttered.
There were piles of magazines and newspapers, and boxes of stuff that wouldn’t fit on shelves; it was actually hard to walk through her home without feeling like you were exploring an old dusty attic.
One day a friend gave her a most beautiful vase.
This vase was exquisite – it was very thin porcelain, colored with rich hues of blue and green, swirling together, and just the barest hint of deep, pearlescent ivory. She fell in love with it immediately.
She carried it around the house, and couldn’t find anywhere appropriate to put it. So, deciding it should be a focal point in the entryway, she cleared off the little sidetable, and got a beautiful cloth to put under it. She polished the table, laid the cloth and set the vase in its place of honor.
As she stood back to admire it, she noticed how shabby the wall behind the vase looked, and after trying to wash it, finally decided to paint the whole room. In the process she found the perfect picture to hang on the wall, behind and slightly to the side of the vase.
Now anyone coming in the door knew they were entering a special place indeed!
However – can you guess it from here? Yes, when she walked from the entryway into the living room, she was aghast at how it felt. She began gathering newspaper to take to recycle, magazines for the library, and called her nephew to carry out some heavy boxes that had been sitting waiting to be put elsewhere.
As you can imagine, eventually her whole home came to feel peaceful, beautiful, and welcoming.
As you read this story, does it bring you to wonder:
Where, in my own physical world, what does my own beautiful vase look like? Where would be the best place to set it?
What is your vase, inside? What image will you hold at your core which will create the vortex of peaceful, loving energy that will reconnect you to who you really are, and what you truly want in life?
12 comments on “How Can a Vase Inspire Change?”
Thankyou Scout – A great reminder about the benefits of “decluttering” –
I find one of the best ways to declutter my mind is regular meditation. xxoo
The Cluttered house sounds like me,
i have just done a round of decluttering last weekend after a bad relationship ending. I noticed that i needed to detox myself of all the negativity and toxicity spiritually and physically. so i went on a bout of throwing away all my old clothes, mag, newspapers and slowly ornaments, books, pictures, and so on. It does feel good – liberated, Sometimes i feel like i like to hold on to the past – hold on to things that remind me of the past… It is good to look back to see how far we’ve come ; but it has come to an extent that i look back much more than looking forward.
What a great project, to clear out that old stuff!! Good for you.
I’d also invite you to change one other thing: the language you use when you talk about an old habit that you’d like to release.
In this post, for example, when you can put everything you don’t want any more into the past tense, it’ll go along ways to clearing out mental clutter.
For example (from what you said above) : “I USED TO FEEL like I held on to the past – I held on to things that reminded me of the past – now I really notice how good it feels as I find myself looking forward and appreciate my new way of being…”
It is remarkable, rather amusing information
Hey thanks for your valuable ad”vase” even about my self-talk! You are so inspiring.
The first time I heard this story I spent hours decluttering my office. This time I need to spend time decluttering my mind of the old stuff that keeps resurfacing.
Dear Scout,
thank you for being my scout and guide!!This is a totally refreshing and light hearted approach.I am thoroughly enjoying it and following your path lighters recieved through the 9 CTQs.
I have also started to love my gatekeeper!!
Thank you for sharing such a profound knowledge in a simple, easy to grasp way.Shall be in touch.
Sending you my unconditional love and Best Wishes-Sewak
Lovely story! Trickier to find the equivalent inner space but intriguing to look for. 🙂
"What picture, thought or feeling can you hold inside that will be so beautiful that only peace can exist in its presence?" I was especially touched by the beauty of this sentence!
The healing power of Beauty needs more recognition in our culture. Thank you.
Like Eleanor, I was deeply moved by your last question:
And it was very moving for me to visualize "where" I will hold that beauty and the resulting feeling of peace within me, to initiate a practice of touching there often. Thank you, Scout! Beautiful message 😉
Thank you both, Eleanor and Renee, for these thoughts.
Recently I’ve been very moved by related deep thoughts about what it means to love something or someone. Here’s what I am coming to in a very clear way: When you love something, you take care of it. Love is a verb. Thank you both again, for your presence and sharing.
I love this – thank you, Scout. I echo the comments made here by Lynette, Eleanor, Renee and others. As within, so without – and vice versa. An awful lot of clutter both internal and external can accumulate if we let it.