Design as Meditation

Often I start a design project in my house with one inspiring accessory, fabric, or color.

During the Holidays I often thumb through magazines or trowel the

internet looking for interesting Xmas, or ethnic room designs that might offer

a new path to adventure down. Maybe I am just a little too obsessed with interior design

or lead a phantom life as a top designer, which I am in my home, and mind, but that is the

fun of being a complex woman. Anyway this year I had O bandwidth to handle the

pre artists dark creative den, which I have cherished in the past, where colors, fabrics,

and shapes ferment and bubble to the surface to explode into a plathora of inspiration.

Not this year. As many times I tried to surf the internet, magazines I just could not get

going on creating " my new country modern holiday home", or a look that defined "the new me".

At some point I stoped to considered what was going on between the lethargy that lived under the busy holiday schedule trying to stay ahead of the onslaught of gifts, parties, decorating.

After several rounds of my practice and, for once, speechless, I could feel my concern and maybe a bit of grief that lay with the animals on the planet. I wondered how animals were weathering, not to make a pun, climate change, missiles being dropped into the ocean, elephants being poached, and some rare species in the ocean going extinct. just to name a few issues. Forging my way in a new career in real estate, I have learned to listen and listen

to what is and is not being expressed. Not so easy for me but I knew I had to embrace beginners mind if I wanted to succeed.

Once listening became a daily practice I could feel into other beings that had different languages. It did not take long to feel the well of sadness, that I am sure some of you reading this share. This year I decided to design my home as a meditative practice. I dedicated my design meditation to the earth crawlers, four legged, finned, and winged beings. I have never considered design as a meditation but I guess you could say I was looking for a way to

tap into hope and bring some deeper meaning to presentation and beauty.

Skeptically I began to search

for animal figures that I could bring into my holiday design that would not be too childish. To my surprise Crate and Barrel had a whole group of pretty animal ornaments that were perfect. I started decorating my house as if it were an alter. I feel sure that subconsciously I am uniting with a larger echo. movement that defies time and space.

It feels good to walk into my living room and see my tree with magical creatures

roaming through the pine branches. That feeling has brought smile to my inner designer and sometimes a quiet smile moves us beyond words.

Darcy Elman, 12/17