Re-enchantment of Everyday Life!

Thoughts on Everyday Life

February 20, 2012

Last night I came across a title of a book that has really aroused my curiosity.   The book is by Thomas Moore and the book is entitled is “The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life”.  My imagination has gone crazy with thinking about what that means.  I looked for the Kindle version of the book and could not find one.  They have a hard copy version but nothing for my Kindle.  I am sad.  I have to decide how badly I want to read this book and if I want to purchase a hardcopy.

Enough about my issues with Kindle versus hard copy of books.  The thing that captured my attention was that everyday life could be enchanting.  I looked up the definition of enchantment and came across this definition: captivation: a feeling of great liking for something wonderful and unusual.  Well, that certainly does not sound like my everyday life.  I sometimes feel like my everyday life is lacking in color and lacking anything captivating.

Last night as I thought about what an enchanted everyday life might look like my heart seemed to expand and fill with so much love.  I had a vision of a life where things were set up in my everyday life to inspire my family and I could not go to sleep.  The possibilities of this thinking could really reshape my life into one of beauty.

I have thought about what this can look like and here are some specifics.  Keeping my house picked up.  In the past I have thought about housework as a something I “have” to do.  It is drudgery and something that has to be repeated over and over.  When I look at housework through the lenses of making life beautiful then it takes on a passionate quality.  I am doing something that will bring beauty into my life and make my home and family live a life above the level of mediocrity.  It is a worthy occupation of my time and energy.

Now looking at a kitchen that has dirty dishes on the counter or unfilled ice trays is not a reminder of what I should be doing with my day.  It becomes a disruption in the beauty of the life I am surrounding myself with.  Leaving the living room in a disarray of books and shoes and “stuff” is no longer acceptable to me because it is not adding to the beauty of life.  It is something I hope that I can convey to myself and my family and anyone who visits my home.

Thinking about adding a sense of enchantment (and hence beauty) to my everyday life makes me think of a dear friend of mine in Fort Wayne, IN.  She has such a gift for making everyday life beautiful and enchanting.  I love looking at her posts on Facebook and reading her blogs because of the plethora of ideas she so willing shares with her friends.  In the past I have thought that there was no way I could start doing that and sustain it.  When I looked at doing these sorts of things I felt that I just don’t have the creativity and energy required to make beauty happen.  Guess what?  I was wrong.  My friend makes her home beautiful and adds enchantment to it’s daily activities and so can I.

I think I will start small.  We have an island and bar in our kitchen and often times we eat there at night.  It does not set an enchanting atmosphere.  I can start by setting the table with nice lines and having the family sit around the table and visit.  I can light some candles and create an atmosphere were not only are our physical bodies being fed but our inner bodies as well.

I can start by simply staying on top of clutter.  It adds up so quickly.  It is as easy as bringing up a basket of clean laundry and saying I will fold it later and later becomes a couple of days.  Having baskets of unfolded laundry on your floor does nothing to create an enchanting daily life.  It is a reminder of tasks left undone and for me it makes me anxious.

One thought that comes to me as I think about and write about re-enchanting everyday life is that this is how Papa God wired me.  It is who I am deep down inside.  I can do this for myself and let it spill over onto those around me.   I am starting to see value in what Papa has placed in me and that because it is not super “spiritual” it is not worthy of my pursuit.  I can relish in this desire to create enchantment as a gift from Papa God.  It is something He loves as well, He created it after all.

I am sure that I will come up with more ideas of how I can make everyday more enchanting and I will share them as they come to me.  I would love to hear any ideas you have in how you create enchantment in your lives.  I will let you know if I decide to buy the book and read it.  I would love to wait for it to come to Kindle but I don’t know when or if that will happen!

Be blessed y’all!

Cindy