November 14, 2019 - 62 - Book Report: "Living a Beautiful Life" by Alexandra Stoddard

"Living a Beautiful Life" by Alexandra Stoddard   

      This book by Alexandra Stoddard, more than any other, has influenced my approach to daily life.  Every move I make at home is inextricably tied to something I've gleaned from this wise and inspirational book.

     I found it in the strangest place.  It must have been around 1989.  I was working a corporate 9-5 job and made a rushed stop at the grocery store on my way home. 

     There was a funny wire basket at the end of an aisle filled with a jumble of random books.  

     "Living A Beautiful Life" caught my eye.  I was so drawn to the pretty image on the front, and then the simple, evocative drawings by Pat Stewart I found as I leafed through the book.  

    I literally couldn't set the thing back down.  I don't know how long I stood in the aisle leaning on my cart reading the book but I knew I had to have it and I knew it would change my life.

    I wonder about so many moments like this one.  These tiny decisions that become a crossroads where you veer off in another direction altogether.  


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     There is 'A Note to the Reader' at the beginning, and I couldn't do any better than the author to explain what the book is all about:

     "Making the things you do every day as beautiful and pleasurable as possible is a way to live a happy life.  yet many of us don't seem to do this.          In my work in interior design, I've noticed that many people have a tendency tos save up 95  percent of their money and effort to spend on 5 percent of their lives---festive occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries and holidays, and the special, more public places in the home, such as the living or dining room.  Instead, the way to live a beautiful life is to make the daily 95 percent of your life wonderful." - Alexandra Stoddard

     The book goes on to tell you exactly how to make your daily life more pleasurable.  I think the most important lesson is the same lesson I get from spiritual reading, or motivational gurus.  It boils down to this:  

     Wake up!  Pay attention!  

                                        Illustrations by Pat Stewart

     In the case of this book it's about paying attention to how your soap smells; whether it be bath soap or dishwashing soap.  And the color and texture of it.  How your sheets feel.  What you look at when you open your eyes first thing in the morning.  The way your coffee mug feels in your hand.  The details of your environment that either lift you up or pull you down.  Life is in the details.

     Nothing looked the same after I read it.  I still pick it up regularly and always come away with some new idea or inspiration.  

     My copy is dog eared and I don't think there's a page that doesn't have an extra little bit of underlining, or a note of something to try.  

     I have tried to write this recommendation more than once.  I always try to do a little research for it, but end up being pulled in by the flow of words in the book.  Then I drift off into visions of some new little tweak to my own daily rituals.  

     So, rather than end up quoting the book front to back, I will just say:  It is a delicious book to read, and using some of the ideas in your daily  rituals will surely enrich all of the days of your life.  

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"The thoughtful little things we do each day have an accumulated effect on all our tomorrows."

-Alexandra Stoddard

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"The only life worth living is the one we take responsibility for choosing."

-Alexandra Stoddard

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"Slow down.  Calm down.  Don't worry.  Don't hurry.  Trust the process."

-Alexandra Stoddard

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"Life is too short for you to be the caretaker of the wrong details."

-Alexandra Stoddard

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