One in, one out

Today was the second week of attending the introduction to behavioural therapy seminar which the therapist I found insists on everyone doing before starting individual sessions. While I thought at the beginning that this is probably a good idea, and while so far it has been interesting to learn a bit more about the development of modern psychology (a topic I find interesting anyway), I'm not really convinced that the guy leading the seminars is as good as he needs to be to keep things going and in order for the group to get the most out of these sessions. I consider myself lucky in that I have already been through all of this before, as although I am learning new things about psychology, I don't know that his explanations and methods of going through some of the basic tools we can use to get through to a more positive place would really have been effective for me. Since I am already familiar with them (basic mood monitoring stuff and simple breathing meditative techniques) I am sort of ignoring the bits I don't like of what he's doing and just concentrating on the positives.

This morning on the way home, I walked a slight detour so that I would pass by the Turkish supermarket (with its delicious feta dips and pitta bread) and the bike shop (still don't have a pump for mine). I noticed that a new shop had opened up across the road selling what looked like expensive interior design stuff and I debated whether to go in or not but when my eye snagged on the sign which had "outlet store" in small letters, I thought maybe it wouldn't be as far out of my price range as I expected and decided to take a look. It's not so much an outlet store as it is the sole physical shop for an online retailer. Lots of what's called shabby chic with some things costing far more than I would ever pay for what they were and other things seeming to offer ridiculously good value for money. I wandered around a little bit and as I was doing so I was coming up with a new challenge for myself: to not buy anything else new until I have gotten rid of at least 100 things from my apartment.

And then on the way back out to the front of the shop, I spied this and it just fit in with where I am at the moment, or at least where I'm trying to get to and, at a price of 9.90, it wouldn't break the bank. So I went ahead and got it. It sort of fits in with a lot of thoughts about decorating and building a home that I've been thinking recently, too but that's all for another longer post on another day. What do you think? Too kitschy and sentimental?

This will eventually hang in the kitchen as it should go nicely with the wallpaper I got to put up there. In the meantime, rather than shove it in a cupboard for months I've put it on a blank piece of wall in the sitting room, just beside my bedroom door - it'll be right in my line of sight several times a day and as mantras go, it's not a bad one.

Of course, now I really need to get rid of a few things. I at least need to stick to the one in, one out principle. I did start a couple of weeks ago actually, when I decided to get rid of these small vases, which I picked up at Ikea years ago.

I was visiting a friend in Brussels and it was my first time in Ikea so I just had to buy something. And these happened to be in one of the baskets beside the kitchen area where he was getting his stuff from.

I've dragged them around, tried to find various uses for them and they've just never really fit in with anything and so I finally decided to just let them go. Even when I had decided to get rid of them, I still found myself dithering about perhaps keeping the white ones, as they almost match a very nice full-size vase that I was given a present of last year. But I know getting rid of them is the right thing to do. Perhaps I'm moving closer to accepting and living by that well-known William Morris quote: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." (Also, having just looked that up to make sure I quoted it correctly, I think I may need to spend some more time reading about William Morris, he sounds like a fascinating man). I haven't actually gotten them out of the house yet but they are in a bag, all tied up and standing near the front door along with some books waiting to be taken to one of the second-hand shops. Next Saturday I will take them downstairs when I'm heading out to my seminar and leave them in the entrance hall. When I get back it'll just take me a few minutes to pop in and grab them and get to the shops just around opening time.