The Art of Enchanted Recycling, Re-solutions or "Earring-Inspired" Resolutions

My fireplace crackles and like a voracious dragon, the hearth eats pieces of wood that were another offering at the House of Enchantments when I moved in and that are as oddly shaped as the windows. The bitter cold even froze sound into silence and left the new chime, Christmas present from Ken, mute. Welcome to my winter. Because having spent most of my life in Québec, it is not truly winter until you reach below freezing temperature. So January really means winter this year. The fern-shaped nature art on my skylight, the frost on my roof behind my silent chime and hail balls in my deck were evidence of this fact yesterday morning. 

I slowed down and paused last Saturday, day of the Magi, or Epiphany, well celebrated by people in Spain and my dear friends from Barcelona. And I paid special attention to any creative idea that would arise.

I welcome more and more of these moment-to-moment enacted solutions, or daily recycled solutions or "earring-inspired" new year resolutions... 

Why always pick resolutions that are grandiose or put too much pressure on our limited motivation budget ? This year, I decided to go simple, concrete and practical. In addition to intentions (which are more embodied and within our control than certain outcomes), I started paying attention to the little habits I have that get on my own nerves or create inefficiencies that can have an easy solution, or recycled idea, or re-solution. I am selecting new metrics to improve my day-to-day life.

For instance, a few days ago at the Dharma center I reached a threshold of annoyance upon losing (or rather, noticing the drop of) an earring. I hate it when I am confronted with the asymmetry of the display of ornaments of my head, or when my hand meets a deserted earlobe... Over the past 2 years, I probably retraced my steps 5 times to search for a dangly jewelry's soulmate. For two unfortunate pairs, there was no reunification. A partner went missing forever (interestingly, these are presents from my best friend in medical school, Stéphanie, and a common friend of ours, Yves, had nicknamed us "Siamese sisters" because whenever one of us would say something, it might as well have been from the other's lips, like two souls vibrating at the same wavelength, two spirits always meeting in some way... I deeply miss Stéphanie. I don't even remember the last time we saw each other).

But I was thankful to find three others quickly enough, and the tiny turquoise one was rediscovered after six months on the carpet of the house I had just steam-cleaned before vacating it 6 months after it had probably gotten caught on my turtleneck or heavy scarf ! I thought I had lost it forever after wearing it only twice. And the one I ended up finding near my boots at the Dharma center (with beads of my favorite color, green), is also a pair from Stéphanie, which could be a positive omen for maybe visiting each other in 2024 ?

Not sure why the obvious solution of wearing bows for this deceivingly loyal-looking earrings took me so long. But I plan on doing this. It will improve my quality of life and reduce the energy wastage over losing something I have to wear at all times or else I feel "naked". These mini silent chimes provide some grounding to my racing mind, just like a barrette or pony tail.

As for the heartbroken earrings who never got reunited with their identical twin, I have been wondering how to give them a new life. Use as a pendant with a chain ? Or have an assemblage of all the lost ones, like some kind of memorial or sanctuary for the wailing jewelry frozen in time and grief (there needs to be an equivalent for similarly-faithed socks and gloves) ? Or is there something sacrilegious about wearing mismatched earrings ?

I am also enjoying the enthusiasm rising as emerge other very simple ideas while I "unsuitcase" these thoughtful presents from family during the holidays, like organizing my piles of books that have been begging for my attention for years into a "non-read" pile and a "started" pile (and maybe I should go over the hidden sections of my house to create a pile of "will likely never have the time or guts to read"). You'd be amazed at how many books I start and "forget'' to finish because I get distracted by another one... I drooled with envy recently when on social media a friend posted he read 37 books in 2023, and another one, 70 !!! Reading has always been one of my favorite things. But maybe I am more of a slow reader than I thought, or my capacity to sustain attention diminishes with age, or I simply have been spending time writing more lately.

Now that I am getting less intimidated by Apps, I plan on creating more playlists on my phone as ambiance music that fits the opera of my life in every given moment.

Another quality-of-life-enhancing resolution is refusing to wear socks with huge holes in them (small holes are ok, I can still repair them).

But the most important for me is, as a sentimental accumulator (this will be the topic of my next blog, in French), is to learn not so much to let go of material stuff that clutter my place (I tried the Marie Kondo method and I failed miserably) but to prevent too much stuff to be added to my existing pile to begin with, and if inevitable due to functionality, not get attached to these items. Basically, non-attachment will be less brutal than de-attachment towards what is already in my landscape and elevated to the rank of existential cue or reminder of my identity. I also plan on finding more reused stuff rather than brand-new, pristine items that make my heart sink whenever they become a lesson of impermanence...

I want to continue to be more carbon-neutral and be more mindful about what I consume, trying to reuse more of anything I have than use new. And of course, maybe the most important wish, although it is nice to expand a network of friends, is to reconnect with significant people in my life. I want to find a way to meet my dear Stéphanie, my studying buddy, my Hochelaga-Maisonneuve top floor neighbour, my impromptu dance party partner, my hand-squeezer while watching The Titanic, my co-earring (or rather co-"earrer") of life's sorrows and joys, and my shining co-chime bursting out laughing over the absurdity of it all in a contagious and heartwarming way like only Steph does...