Grey

It’s the kind of rainy and dreary day today that makes everyone just feel like doing this:


I went into my room to find that the rain had blown in through my wide open glass sliding doors and pooled all over the floor, narrowly missing my stack of magazines, diary and a leather bag.

Anyone who knows my bag obsession can imagine how my heart briefly seized up like nipples in the wind.

On the brighter side though, the weather is lovely and cool today and any form of sleep is suffused with a dreamy, warm grey, as if an artist has just lightly smudged the edges of a lovely graphite sketch with his thumb.

Today is a day for making hot tea and watching loads of old movies, so I snuggled down in French stripes and ballet flats.

Striped top: Dorothy Perkins. Skinny jeans: Topshop.
Canvas tote: Harajuku. Ballet flats: Mimosa. Earrings: A gift.

My father showed us a talk today from TED on happiness (oh, the irony!). It was delivered by an Indian dude, Srikumar Rao, who is apparently a life coach of some kind.

I’m normally highly allergic to any kind of Deepak Chopra-esque baloney, but he spoke so matter-of-factly and made so much sense that I couldn’t help but buy into the philosophy.

We’ve spent our lives learning to be unhappy, he said, because we live by an “if-then” model. If we get what we want, then we’re happy.

Substitute “what we want” with numerous different parameters like wealth, health and wonderful relationships and change parameters ad nauseam, because really, who is happy with attaining just ONE type of thing?

Rao pointed out that with this framework, we invest too much in the outcome and if the outcome isn’t achieved, we go into apoplectic fits.

What we should really be investing in is the process. The process of doing something, learning something, building a passion, working towards a goal.

Sounds commonsensical (is there such a word?) really, but all too often, I think we forget this, even when we work on something we love.

For too long, I’ve been writing with the goal of being read and being liked and people enjoying it. Nothing wrong with that per se, but then I feel utterly wretched when people rubbish or criticise it, or don’t like it, or even worse, aren’t interested in reading it, simply because I’m investing in the outcome.

In reality, what I should really be concentrating on is the process of writing and putting the thought and ideas and stories down on paper. Bringing to life the universes in my head.

Writing this blog and not expecting anything out of it other than the enjoyment I get from taking photos and documenting things that move me. Putting my own outfits together in a way that’s fun to me and not caring who teases me about them.

Because I LOVE IT.

And no matter who praises or rubbishes the things I’m passionate about, I have a sneaking feeling I’ll love them all the same.

Check out the talk in its entirety here. It’s about 20 minutes long and I’d recommend it heartily, even just as a refresher for things we already know.