Tag Archives: wabi sabi

Mujō (無常)

Posted in bread, budgeting, California, camping, cancer, Death, husband, Myeloma, simplicity, Uncategorized by

The transient and ever-changing nature of things. As with Wabi Sabi, impermanence of things and the beauty in the imperfect.

Mono no aware, Mono no aware (物の哀れ): 
This term translates to “the pathos of things” and is an aesthetic appreciation for the transient nature of life. It involves a gentle sadness or wistfulness at the passing of things and a deep sensitivity to their ephemeral nature. That’s exactly how I feel in my life. It feels somewhat ‘unreal’ Barclay is not here with me to laugh with, joke with, travel with and everything in between. But I do take comfort in he’s not suffering anymore. It was a very difficult painful last 3 months of his life. Well, now to fall.

Fall is in full swing, here in N. Ca, I get the feeling of Mono no aware and Mujo, and wabi Sabi all rolled up together. We’ve had rain and cloudy days, as well as Tahoe-like days with big, fluffy clouds. I’ve had a few twinkly fires already, since the house stays cool even if it’s nice outside.

Just to back track a little here:

Barclay and I practised Zen Buddhism for many years after our Quaker roots seemed to fade away. However, Quakerism and Buddhism are very similar in fact. Both embrace simplicity and a WAY of life. Of course, Quakerism is rooted in a Christian context, and Buddhism in Eastern philosophy as taught by Buddha.

Right now, the impermanence of life is very real for me and maybe somewhat depressing. I am trying to embrace the Mujo concept because it does help me get through the day and realize that life does go on, and it will for me what whatever time I have left. Some of that is on my mind because of my rising kappa light chains and thinking about having to change treatments by January if they continue to go up.

I know that things will change, and I need to change too. But for now, I’ll try and take comfort in Mujo and mono no aware.

On a brighter note, my kids put together a very nice birthday for me. My son came and took a huge load to the dump( which I wanted done). We got a Round Table pizza, and my daughter had gone to Safeway for some small squares of cake to share. I didn’t have any champagne that day to celebrate, but I will soon.Turning 73 is not much different than 72 for me. The real change for me was at 70. Then I felt like I was getting old. Now, I’m old and just keep trying to do the things I love like swimming, walking, the gym and I hope some day in the near future doing some camping again. If i could afford the camper type van that’s what I’d do. We still ( my daughter and I) are going to check things out sometime in the spring. A small tent trailer is very doable, but I like the idea of self contained. Time will tell. Also, If I got one I’d get a loan so that the payment would be what we were paying for rubi. And we’d have the trailer as our trade in.

Well, I’ve rambled on a bit here, so that’s it for me. I do have the day home today after going to the gym yesterday, so I’ll do some tidying and make some sourdough bread.

Wabi-Sabi

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I’m planning on ordering his book called “Wabi-Sabi”.  I have a great affinity for all things Japanese( hence my daughter’s name’ Sachiko” or’ Sachi’ for short. I also feel a deep connection to all things Wabi-Sabi. It’s sort of the essence of simplicity and beauty. Nothing too shiny. Worn and used is best. Think of old barn wood. Beautiful and yet useful. We have an old funky barn and though it is definitely funky it is Wabi-Sabi.  The wood is aged and greyish. There is only a dirt floor except where B has added some concrete along the foundation. The barn was probably built right around the time of this house so 1950. It’s been useful since the house is small, most of our storage is out in the barn. B used it for all his samples when he was doing sales work.  We’ve since given all that to the food bank. At one time it housed my 40 bins of Life magazines I was selling on eBay. Now there are 4 small bins with the ones I’d like to keep( Kennedy assassination, Kent State, Martin Luther King assassination, The moonwalk, Some Beatles, and lots of others. I actually never had the very first issue of Life that was in 1937 or 1936 can’t remember. It’s fairly iconic.

 

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Maybe someday I’ll buy one off eBay.

Anyway, back to Wabi-Sabi, I like the blend of midcentury furniture that has a beautiful line and the Scandinavian look( mostly for the clean lines).  Most of my Heywood Wakefield is from the 1950s and has a wonderful Wabi-sabi feel and look.

Well, anyway, the quote resonates.

Think about it. How would you pare down without losing the poetry?

Still walking…….

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Sunday started week 11, of walking some everyday. I think the “just walk” has really worked for me. and i am now doing 2 miles. I like challenges and actually need them. It’s more like mini goals. I like to set them almost every day. I think this started when I first was  on chemo. I had a list of one thing I needed to do. I felt good if I did that one thing. So, then a while later I discovered Flylady. Her program opened up a whole new way of cleaning house. Her motto is ” 15 minutes at a time” . I realized I could do a lot in 15 minutes. Try it some time with a timer and you’ll be surprised. So I started doing her zones and it was wonderful and I could do it. Her lists gave me focus. So this is my 4 th year doing Flylady and it still works. 

Flylady also started me on the path to decluttering.  I started with just stuff and now I’m trying to embrace minimalism. I’ve gotten rid of tons of stuff and I I think when you start looking at your space this way ,you start seeing the possibilities. I don’t think there was way to much stuff, it’s just it was too much for our space.  Back in our old hippie days, B and I really wanted the wabi Sabi look and a Japanese clutter free space. That didn’t really happen,but interestingly enough minimalism and mid century looks very similar.

  • so, maybe a full circle. But back to lists…. 
  • Walk
  • work
  • wait for revlimid to be delivered
  • Finish organizing the bathroom drawers( the bathroom is this weeks zone.)
  • Put up new shower curtains

So, I’m a list person, and I like having a notebook to write them in. I use mostly Martha Stewart  notebooks and in the aqua blue which is my favorite.