And the knowing that comes from an ‘in house’ metaphor.
Last month, we cashed in some Apple shares to have a friend’s brother fix our bathroom. The floor was sprouting an unidentifiable mushroom which pushed the front-of-throne orange linoleum into a psychedelic topographic feature which boldly showcased our poor homemaking.
The ordinary art of your every day: do you see it DADA2?
Today is a gorgeous breezy summer day and I’ve been sitting outside working my day job, occasionally looking up to see a piece of everyday sculpture, a toilet leaning against my fence. And since there’s a contractor inside fixing my bathroom and I had enough money to pay some bills, life feels so sweet. My floor is getting fixed and the mushrooms may never return.
Sayonara enoki assholes
What’s up for me today, is how often I often I call myself a “plumber” to describe my role and day job. I usually explain that I’m kind of like a contractor with specialized skills who comes in to build/fix a flow of digital marketing stuffs3 “like a plumber.” I also make sure I design some pretty and useful things, then carry on my way to support someone else’s pipe dream with Adobe Creative Suite subscription in tow, and a secret wish to sit quietly and make things while my house gets fixed.
I’m often called a contractor.4 But this is not true. I’m neither a specialist, nor a plumber. I’m an artist hiding out in a “suitable” profession to earn dollars.
And so was the person who designed this toilet in my back yard
Even if that creator doesn’t get the daily outpouring of appreciation they deserve for such a functional and beautiful piece of porcelain, I know who they are. I acknowledge them every day, in a certain way.
My house, my life
On a related note, have you ever noticed how your home can reflect back to you something you need to look at – maybe in your body, or your relationships, or (in the case of my remote-working brethren), your business?
My mom used to say when the toilet was broken, something was “clogged up” in her energy. She also used to say you could clean your perception by washing windows. I now think she was wiser than the average lauded world leader. More savvy than the highest-paid expert. More, more, something…
Thanks Mom. I’m so lucky.
Ever notice how fixing broken stuff frees up energy?
Until this toilet was lifted to the outdoors, I’d occasionally arm myself with bottles of bleach to kill that sprouted sh!t growing at the fore, then carry on pretending like I was living a Stepford-style middle class life with a normal WC.5
And today, I may actually wind up appearing like that, thanks to a skilled professional, a gentleman, and quality use of a silicone sealant and new nuts and bolts.
But nah. There’s nothing ordinary about today. It’s actually amazing6.
Practical questions for ye on a breezy day:
If something is not working well in your life, can you identify a household system that reflects it? And, what can you do about that?
For instance: is your closet full of stuff you are afraid to look at? What would happen if you did? Can you just chuck one item that no longer serves you?
For another instance: are weeds choking the front of your house? What needs to be cleared there?
And still another: what little breaks, frays, cracks, or minor annoyances are you tolerating anywhere in your life, that you could handle and build pride and joy where once was a problem?
Let me know if you’d like help creating and “blitzing” your toleration list. It’s a thing I learned as a life coach and happy to help you around now that my bathroom is no longer dragging me down…
FOOTNOTES & SUB-SUBTEXT 😉
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- Marcel Duchamp was the most famous Dada movement maker, in the ranks of Man Ray. Look them up, and learn a thing or two about modern (post WWI) art if you like! I also have got to say René Magritte’s *this is not a pipe* (truly named The Treachery of Images ) is super on my mind right now, and I feel is also related to this movement, even though the work is considered more a meta message* than comment on ready-made stuffs in an industrialist western world. ↩︎
- But when it comes to flow of energy – even digital energy- there’s a big value grab happening against most small businesses via tech bro companies trying to get everyone to subscribe to their “latest greatest” service, instead of trusting local human folks who get the web wrangling job done. But this is another post. I’m kind of pissed about this inherently sexist transfer of wealth, with no pun intended given my art references above. ↩︎
- I never call myself a “pro” because, you know, I’m a woman. ↩︎
- WC for Water Closet, pronounced in shorthand like “Doubya See” ↩︎
- The gentleman helping the man fixing my bathroom just told me a special thing about metal, wear and electron movement, and how pros leave decoys of lead or set up running current to prevent bolts like the one he showed me from deterioration. Something taught to him by master engineers. Gotta love engineers and all those who learn from them! ↩︎
