19 Sept, 2022
We’ve just returned from a sun-drenched trip to Europe. Many of our friends had booked trips and holidays and so we were able to house sit five wonderful homes in five different historic towns. The five different cats we cared for kept things interesting and lively.
Packed to the rafters
Space is precious in a tiny country like the Netherlands, which is the size of Northland but crowded with nearly 18 million inhabitants. The houses are a lot smaller than the ones we’re used to seeing here, since 95 square metres is the Dutch norm for a family-of-four home. With such little space, it surprised me to see how much stuff the homes were able to harbour. One house particularly, built around the turn of the 20th century, was literary packed to the rafters and gave me a unique insight in living with an endless array of earthly possessions. Two bicycles were permanently parked in the office; the huge kitchen was bursting at its seams with boxes of cereals, pans, pet food and water bottles all stored on the work benches; and the bedrooms were home to vast collections of shoes, clothes, laundry baskets, jewellery, and books.
Overdrive
The bathroom however topped it. The bath itself was in use as towel storage with large piles of towels stacked in the bath and a smaller pile balancing on the bath edge. The four shelves of a narrow cabinet were filled with cosmetics and medicines. The two wash basins were proudly displaying some 20 perfume bottles. Plastic containers were overflowing with eye-liners, lipsticks, toothbrushes, toothpicks and deodorants. The window sill was hiding under an impressively large collection of hair gels, hair foams and hair sprays. The radiator happily housed wash cloths in all the colours of the rainbow, while the generous shower enclosure offered ample room to four large plastic containers bearing an incredible assortment of soaps, shampoos, conditioners and scrub creams. The bathroom floor was offering refuge to different toilet cleaning products as well as to the cat, since only in the bathroom could she get to her water and food bowl undisturbed by the dog while also eyeing her stock of biscuits in a large glass jar.
Wow. I was impressed and terrified at the same time. It was like taking a shower in the middle of the Chemist Warehouse-slash-Bin Inn-slash-cattery. It sent my mind into overdrive, and I was happy to bring some order in the bathroom by simply reorganising
things – thankfully appreciated by my friend when she and her family got back home again.
Shed some stuff
I find it incredibly hard to be mindful when living spaces are being dominated by too much stuff. So what about you? Do the things in your home make you feel relaxed, or stressed? Are things ordered, or chaotic? Can you get something from the cupboard easily, or do you have to shift other stuff first? Things have an energy of their own, their presence is always tangible. Surrounding yourself with too much stuff can cause an overload of triggers, which makes it hard for the mind to focus and remain calm. If you often feel anxious, overwhelmed or exhausted, it might just be a case of needing to shed some of your stuff. It will not only free up space in your house, but in your mind too.
n Marisa Garau is a mindfulness expert who has lived in Mangawhai since 2007. Find more practical tips on how to de-stress your life at her website or flick her an email if you’d like to have a personal chat: marisa@growingmindfulness.com
