If you ever come to see us and visit us here at The Campbell Clinic and Academy, come and see me and have a look at my office and ask me what the point of the things are on the walls and the shelves.
I collect things of significance.
Other people collect things of different significance to them than I do, but mine are never really related to how expensive they are or how far away they came from, or even necessarily who gave me them (although that plays a part in many).
These are just things that I look at that remind me of stories that inspire me and help me when things are harder, or I just need a lift.
Two of the most significant things in my office are two stones, and I've written about these before, but it's worth revisiting this as I sit waiting for a job interview which was mistimed and has kept me waiting for 45 minutes in a shut room with no one else!
The first is a piece of slate that I found by accident in my garden. For some reason, I decided to pick it up, and underneath it was a vein of gold inside the slate.
I have never had this analysed or tested, but I'm almost certain it's ferrous sulfate (fool's gold), and that stone seemed to teach me so much in an instant.
It's such a beautiful thing and something very precious to me, but it is of no value to anyone else.
I found it by accident, only by looking and I wasn't looking for that when I got it (that's a lesson too) but when I picked it up, it glittered, it was beautiful, but it's not real gold, and it reminded me (from Lord of the Rings) that not all that glitters is gold.
I look at that stone a lot to help steer me through some hard decisions in difficult times.
The second is my white stone, which was stolen from Charles Handy's memoirs, which are extraordinary.
The white stone comes from the Bible, and in short order, it basically means that you live your life to get to the end to pick up your stone, and when you pick up your stone and, and look at the underside, you'll understand who you are and what you were supposed to do.
It's a fundamental philosophical thing, and you'd need to read the paragraph yourself, but the white stone is always a reminder, a frame of your values, your philosophy, and where you're going next.
I'm intrigued to find out what's on my white stone if I get the chance to look at it just before the end. I think I'll probably know and hope I'll be satisfied.
I surround myself with things like this all the time (and realise I'm a complete weirdo) but there's peace in these things, there is solace.
I suggest if you're not already doing this, you have a try yourself.
It's not about the cost of the art on the wall. It's about the significance of the art on the wall.
Blog Post Number - 3428
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