"Change Your Vision"

Five easy steps to awakening your wabi-sabi mind.

1. Give yourself five minutes of quiet time each day. If you like it, work up to 20. Slowly.


2. Visit a flea market or junk shop. Don't buy anything. Just walk around and note what really appeals to you. (Okay, if you see something you must have, go ahead and take it home.)
3. Take a daily or weekly walk outdoors. Keep a mental or actual log of seasonal changes (color, light and nature's mood) that you see.
4. Make something ‑- anything: a painting, a paint-your-own pottery piece, a driftwood picture frame. Place it in your home where you'll see it often. Admire it. No matter what it looks like.
5. Place one flower, branch or stem you've found outside your door (no matter what the season) in a place where you'll see it every day: your desk, your bedside table, next to the refrigerator. When it catches your eye, stop for a second or two and admire its singular beauty.

Excerpted from The Wabi-Sabi House by Robyn Griggs Lawrence. Clarkson Potter/Publishers. © 2004. Used with permission.