If you only has one day to keep a design magazine...

I love books; most of my design studio friends and lecturers would concur with this statement.

I subscribed to magazines, as well as bought them off the counters. As a result, I accumulated many magazines - Metropolis, Space, Digital SLR Photographers, National Geographic, etc.

Because I always thought I would love to refer to them in the future, I kept them as neatly as I would with my other books in my bookcases; they actually looked as new as they were first bought. There is a catch. I never bother to read them; I would merely scan through them before they went into the bookcases.

Recently, there came to a point where I no longer see a need to clutter my life with things. I made it a point to discard books and magazines. Yes, most of them cost me > SGD 20.00 or more.

This is indeed a turning point for me: I started to read the books and magazines. I select those articles that I like best and I read them, feeding my mind with past design knowledge (well, they are few years old by now; but good design principles are timeless anyway). I also sliced out some beautiful images of design, photography and of objects and use them to form a collage for my office wall. Finally, my magazines are living up to their lives that was meant to be - use and not kept.

There is wisdom beyond just clearing of clutters of books and magazines to make one's life simple. I am reminded to live for now, not for the unknown future. How about you?

@ 9:06 AM