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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to build a cabinet of curiosities. Collecting

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Speaker 1: random items can lead to clutter, but done right, it

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Speaker 1: can also renew your sense of wonder for the world,

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Speaker 1: which is every bit as important as looking like a

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Speaker 1: minimalist paradise. Today's tip, like some other recent ones, is

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Speaker 1: inspired by Jeffrey Davis's forthcoming book Tracking Wonder, which will

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Speaker 1: be published this fall. This book is all about how

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Speaker 1: to get back in touch with your creative side. Davis

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Speaker 1: points out that many famous scientists of old, like Charles Darwin,

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Speaker 1: we're prolific collectors. They came back in their travels with

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Speaker 1: all sorts of curiosities which could then be displayed and studied. Now,

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Speaker 1: of course, there are some problems with some of the

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Speaker 1: things they collected, and it's also not like they could

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Speaker 1: look things up on the internet. If you wanted to

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Speaker 1: study pretty much anything, it had to be in your

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Speaker 1: possession or somewhere you could go easily. When lots of

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Speaker 1: people kept collections, this meant that our naturalists could ask

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Speaker 1: a friend to let them look at say, a rare bird,

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Speaker 1: and they'd be able to compare the wings and learn

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Speaker 1: about the natural world from that. Even if we these

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Speaker 1: days might like to see the rare bird stay where

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Speaker 1: it is. In any case, we don't need to see

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Speaker 1: as many things in person these days, thank goodness. But

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Speaker 1: the impulse to collect interesting things is still part of discovery.

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Speaker 1: I see this every time my six year old returns

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Speaker 1: to the house from his backyard quests, where he has

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Speaker 1: found interesting leaves, interesting seed pods, and occasionally squirmy living things.

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Speaker 1: I am not such a huge fan of those squirmy discoveries,

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Speaker 1: but there is something to be said for staying curious.

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Speaker 1: It's how we come up with new ideas. One way

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Speaker 1: adults can do this is to be on the lookout

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Speaker 1: for things to put in a cabinet of curiosities. This

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Speaker 1: could literally be a cabinet or a drawer or a

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Speaker 1: closet or a display case, but have a spot. Or

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Speaker 1: you put things just because you find them fascinating. Maybe

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Speaker 1: it's a postcard with artwork you find appealing. Maybe it's

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Speaker 1: a colorful scrap of fabric. Maybe it's a clipping from

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Speaker 1: a magazine that you cannot stop thinking about. Or a

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Speaker 1: delightful set of buttons or bottle caps. Now, yes, on

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Speaker 1: some level, all of this is junk. I follow a

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Speaker 1: lot of decluttering and minimalist accounts on Instagram, and I

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Speaker 1: know that in general, the modern esthetic is pretty streamlined.

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Speaker 1: We are not supposed to acquire things or hold onto

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Speaker 1: them if they have no purpose, or if we're not

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Speaker 1: going to display them prominently somewhere. I know how this goes.

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Speaker 1: Don't keep a collection of feathers. Take a photo of

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Speaker 1: one feather, frame it and put it above your mantle.

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Speaker 1: Much better? Right? And maybe it is, But there is

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Speaker 1: something to be said for mixing random things together and

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Speaker 1: for being a little bit less discerning. We don't want

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Speaker 1: to become hoarders. But a single cabinet or drawer devoted

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Speaker 1: to randomness has a few upsides. First, it's just fun.

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Speaker 1: And second, as we go through the world thinking about

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Speaker 1: what we might be able to put in there, we

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Speaker 1: are on the lookout for beauty, for interest, for novelty.

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Speaker 1: When we look for such things, we see more of them,

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Speaker 1: and that is not a bad way to go through life.

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Speaker 1: So think about creating a cabinet of curiosities for yourself.

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Speaker 1: Where would you put it. What items do you have

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Speaker 1: already that might find a home there. Then, once you

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Speaker 1: start such a cabinet, take some time every few days

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Speaker 1: or weeks to go through it. Do things still appeal

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Speaker 1: to you? What thoughts do they spark? If the items

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Speaker 1: in there no longer do anything for you, let them go.

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Speaker 1: Things can definitely rotate out of the cabinet of curiosity,

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Speaker 1: but its sheer existence can make life more interesting for

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Speaker 1: not too much space when you think about it. In

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Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E

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Speaker 1: the number four then Breakfast p o D. You can

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Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at

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Speaker 1: i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look

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Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows,