What Are You Collecting This Year?

We can find comfort and calm in multiples and patterns.

It’s probably time to have me committed: I am sitting here color-coordinating my candle stubs. The whole candle thing started after I watched a video of British flower and garden design guru Sarah Raven using different colored candles (in four palettes!) to show how she plans color in her garden. But now it’s just a visual game for me, something that pleases my eye and offers me a sense of calm.

Last week I talked about my love for the color brown, especially in nature, but I neglected to mention that I am in the habit of dragging bits and bobs of brown (not to mention white, yellow, green, pink, purple, and blue) into the house. I arrange my finds in little bowls, on shallow plates, in jars, or on trays. Always like with like. I realized last week, when I went to restore post-Christmas decoration equilibrium, that I have these little collections are all over the house.

Scallop shells, sea glass, heart-shaped rocks, pieces of purple clam shell (wampum), dried flowers – feathery celosia, crisp strawflowers, papery hydrangeas – and spiky seedheads. Pine cones. Willow branches. Shark’s teeth. Acorns. Rose Petals. Bits of broken pottery. Sand dollars.

The act of collecting requires focus; it can be a mindful activity if you let it. And the arranging of repetitive patterns is incredibly soothing. You might think I’m crazy, but it’s not just my imagination. Science backs me up. Our brains seek out patterns to find order. We recognize symmetry as balance and harmony. And multiples are predictable, which can ease anxiety.