List 10 cherished items or keepsakes that you would bring with you to any place in the world to help make that place l-o-v-i-n-g-l-y-y-o-u-r-s. You might even add a line or two beside each object that explains its significance.

Word from Work Wicket – which is the title of the song I’m listening to by Gabrielle Aplin.

SALVATION

My laptop
My angel/oracle cards
Incense/candles
Books
Music
A quilt
Photos (printed)
My grandmother’s ring
Art
Musical instrument (guitar or piano)

I’ve thought about this a lot.

Eventually, I’d love to live on a house boat. Uncluttered. Always in motion. On the port of a bustling city.

But a houseboat specifically for its life on the water and for its small size.

Currently, my living space is filled. It is a home filled with many things…and people and animals. It fills me up. It feels like a hugs – strong and safe.

But there are many things. I know it is because of what things mean to me. I like seeing them, passing them, touching them, holding them…but they exist in my space for the purpose of making me feel a certain way. It’s as though I need the help (guidance? history? stories?) of these things to bring me joy. I need to feel surrounded. And these feelings are important to me right now.

I want to get to a time (confidence? peace?) in my life when I can fit everything I need onto a small boat. This list of ten things…I’ll admit was difficult to fill. I had to wait for # 9 and #10 to come to me after I started writing!

I don’t want to want a lot of things. I want to need only things that fill my soul with joy, that allow me to continue my spiritual journey, that allow me to communicate with the people I love, that allow me to continue my creative writing journey.

Scent is important to me. I burn candles and incense every day. The sweet smells. The beauty of the flames. They calm me in a way that only they can.

The thing is I hope that I’ll have taught myself – and practiced enough – to get to a point where reading, writing, eating and immersing myself in art is all that I’ll need for fulfillment.

I didn’t put my family on the list because they are in my life no matter what! They ‘go without saying’…

Salvation from things can be a hurdle for humans…I feel how things – the getting of them, the pull of wanting them – play a role in our lives.

Salvation comes to me when I write, when I read, when I’m with the people I love…and so, if I work from there, then I know what needs to be on my list.

I am attached to how things and people make me feel, and therefore, help me express myself creatively. I don’t want to change this part of me. But I know that in the heart of this journey, I could find salvation in this list of 10 items.

I like that word – salvation.

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