What if accessorizing was more than just a fashion statement? Imagine if those little baubles, trinkets, and decor items dotting your life held the key to mental tranquility and self-care. We unravel this fascinating connection, shining light on the riveting interplay between accessories, be it jewelry or home décor, and our psyche. Learn how these often-overlooked items could be significant symbols that send momentous psychological messages, potentially aiding in reducing anxiety and creating a sense of safety.
We further delve into the art of accessorizing as a unique form of self-expression, every bit as important as your sartorial tastes or spoken words. Discover how even the simplest items like lighting fixtures or plants can add comfort and individuality to your space, making it an oasis of your personal style. But remember, accessorizing isn't just about aesthetics, it's a mindful exercise. We urge you to contemplate the environmental impact of your choices and embrace the power of color to influence your mood. Tune in, get inspired, express yourself, and transform your space into a sanctuary that screams 'you'.
What if accessorizing was more than just a fashion statement? Imagine if those little baubles, trinkets, and decor items dotting your life held the key to mental tranquility and self-care. We unravel this fascinating connection, shining light on the riveting interplay between accessories, be it jewelry or home décor, and our psyche. Learn how these often-overlooked items could be significant symbols that send momentous psychological messages, potentially aiding in reducing anxiety and creating a sense of safety.
We further delve into the art of accessorizing as a unique form of self-expression, every bit as important as your sartorial tastes or spoken words. Discover how even the simplest items like lighting fixtures or plants can add comfort and individuality to your space, making it an oasis of your personal style. But remember, accessorizing isn't just about aesthetics, it's a mindful exercise. We urge you to contemplate the environmental impact of your choices and embrace the power of color to influence your mood. Tune in, get inspired, express yourself, and transform your space into a sanctuary that screams 'you'.
accessorize your life. Yeah, that's what we're going to be talking about today. And get real with the English sisters my accessories are so important and yeah, and how they can reveal very important parts of your personality to yourself and to others I know. So unusually, you wouldn't expect accessories to be part of a mental health discussion. However they can be, they can be, they can be important. We would like to shake things up a bit, don't we? Yeah, absolutely, and we love accessories, don't we? Yeah, they are very important. We like, like jewellery and things like that Jewellery, yeah, like fashion accessories, but all kind of accessories, really. So tune in and listen to this week's episode of Get Real with the English sisters.
Speaker 1:
Do you like your jewellery? Do you like adding that extra touch to your outfit in the morning? No, but what about your home? Like, you can accessorize your home by adding a painting or, yeah, anything, a little jug of flowers, fresh flowers here and there. It says a lot about your personality, I think, because I think they can be like undervalued accessories. You can think it's just an accessory. What is it? Well, of course you can.
Speaker 1:
Accessories are symbols though, aren't they? And they're important symbols and they carry great meaning. I know they carry great meaning, because it means if your home is filled, for example, with nice accessories, with things that give you pleasure and enjoyment when you look at them, small things Give you joy. They give you joy. Yeah, there's an important psychological meaning behind that. It means there's being self-care, it means you're paying attention to your needs and your desires and your also wanting to make your home or your personal self as pleasant to the eye as possible, and that sends off a trigger to our brains. It's unexpected, you wouldn't think it, but it does. It does, doesn't it? It gives you endorphins. It gives you endorphins, but it also seeing beautiful things and things that give you pleasure actually sends off another very important signal in the brain. I'm going to say, of course it does. I like jewelry, I like accessories, yeah, and the signal is that you're safe. So it reduces anxiety. When you have pleasant things around you and you make your environment as pleasant and as lovely if we want to use that word as possible, it sends off signals of security. So the cortisol reduces. It's an important part of this.
Speaker 1:
You place importance on something that's not actually a necessity. It's superfluous, but it's not really superfluous, yes, but you would think that it is. You would think so Because it's superfluous. It's something like extra care has been taken to to curate it. But what it does to the mind and we're not saying go and compulsive buy it could be anything. It could be adding a flower to your living room, exactly, exactly. Yeah, just just going and getting some roses or whatever, if you're lucky enough to have roses in the garden, I mean whatever, anything, anything at all.
Speaker 1:
I remember once I bought a vintage tray it was like so cheap at a flea market and I remember it was a very pretty wooden tray and I put it on my little coffee table in the dining room. Every time I looked at it would give me joy. Don't give me joy as well when I see it. It's the same one. It's the same one.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, with that with the little pretty inscription on it, obviously has has a history. I mean, there was literally no money spent on that, it was just insignificant amount. But that was an accessory that send it off some messages in my brain to make me feel calm. And you would think why? Because it's something that you chose when you were probably in quite. You were feeling probably quite good at the time because you were browsing yeah, creative being, just creative, browsing the market and you saw this cute little thing that you liked, yeah, and you thought I'll get that. And then our place is somewhere, and then the fact that you have to curate and place it in a special place means that you're like spending time on yourself and your home, on your own night. Wishes that, your personal wishes. It's like a superfluous thing. It's not like tying your shoes that you have to do. No, there's an extra that you do it because you want to do it, because which is signage your brain, that you love yourself. Yes, that's why, yeah, there's a lot of self-care and a lot of there is an importance to accessorising. That's why everyone loves it so much. Yes, exactly, and why people talk about accessories so much.
Speaker 1:
Culturally, it can be very strong as well, because, let's say, a ring, let's say is that an accessory? That's a that it could be. It's an accessory to the hand. It's not very. But what are the symbolic meanings behind a ring? Yeah, who gave it to you? Well, obviously, whatever kind of ring, it is engagement handed down from someone. We all know the importance of a ring in today's society. Yes, so that's an accessory. The same way, perhaps bangles are in certain cultures, and tattoos everything you're. It's a very clear signal that you're taking care of yourself, yeah, that you are important, sort of thing. It's like you're telling yourself you are safe enough to think about an accessory. Yes, you're secure enough to think about accessories.
Speaker 1:
So maybe we should think about, you know, accessorising even a little bit more in our life today and and could that possibly help us reduce anxiety? Yes, you would think it could, but it can. Yeah, but I think it's the same as how clutter can make you anxious. Accessorising isn't clutter. It's something that makes something more beautiful Because it's been chosen, because it's been chosen with care. So it's something that's a bit special and is to be like enjoyed. It's something to be enjoyed and valued.
Speaker 1:
And why do people always, whenever someone's got a nice ring or necklace or something pretty or shiny on, people tend to say, oh, you look nice, that's pretty, they like other people like seeing shiny things or even if they're not shiny, you like shiny things. I mean, we can see the person with preferences shiny things. Yeah, it's hilarious. But yeah, yeah, I know, I know, yeah, I like shiny, but it could be, it could be black, and if you're into the Gothic style. You like the black accessories. It could be anything, it's just an accessory. It's the same way.
Speaker 1:
Sometimes at work you say why are you like accessorizing your desk? Why do you do that? Why do you add photos? Add photos, flowers, stickers, whatever. Why? Because you're leaving, you're telling the world something about yourself on that tiny little area that's yours. You're, you're person, personalizing it. You're making it safe with accessories. Silly as it may sound, you are making that place so that when your brain and you walk into that space, you think oh, that's a safe space. There's something that I have added to this space that makes it different to the human as well. It's not just another cubicle, it's a cubicle, but it's got a picture up behind it or whatever it's got. Yeah, plant, yeah, plant, whatever you have. My husband was desperate to take a plant to the office. He was, wasn't he? Yeah, he doesn't even normally like accessorizing, so it was quite unusual to hear that he was looking for like a plant to take. Yeah, desperately looking for a plant. Well, he was. He kept on going on about I need a plant for my office desk, exactly. So there you go.
Speaker 1:
You know it's not just accessorizing your in a fashionable way and becoming a slave to fashion and to all these accessories. It could also make you like more individual. It could. It could help you, like, stand out if you wanted to stand out in a particular way, so like you could put two people wearing the same outfit and you've accessorized it differently. You've added your grandmother's scarf or, oh yeah, I don't know vintage piece or something new or old or borrowed or whatever, but it's, it's something that's unique to you. It's like that personal touch, like what you're saying, that makes you feel safer. Yeah, it shows the world something about you, about what you care about, and I think it can also give you more confidence, a lot more confidence. If you have the confidence and the self care and you care about your environment as well, you look after it by is.
Speaker 1:
You know, if you don't do it yet, you might start doing it and, like what we were saying, in your personal space, your bedroom, wherever, whatever rooms you've got, you can start looking for small little accessories that can really they bring you a lot of joy, like I was thinking of some students that I used to know that would like to like accessorize their dorm with pretty things. I'm not surprised, otherwise, it's just like everyone else's. It's not like a, it's not like a personal space. It's going to make you remind you of home and feel safe. Yeah, it's all about that, really.
Speaker 1:
I think that's why we accessorize to make things look prettier and more pleasing to the eye. But there's a deeper meaning. There's a deeper meaning, as with everything. As with everything, yeah, everything we always do.
Speaker 1:
I would say that even animals accessorize. You've seen those documentaries with the little birds that fly off and make things ever so. I mean they're not mammals, no, sorry, birds aren't. But I mean, you know, animal in the animal kingdom, they go off. They don't. They're not amphibians at all. Anyway, no, no, I can think yeah, no, no, you put my brain on a tilt now because I was thinking about these little birds. I think they're called the birds of paradise or whatever, and they would make the vampires like accessorising Gosh, yeah, they're still stuff, the shiny stuff, yeah, but I mean I think this is part of our instinct, once again, to decorate.
Speaker 1:
I mean, think back, even like in the caves, they would decorate, wouldn't they? What they had were all the drawings. There was that creative part of accessorising the caves With those incredible drawings. I mean, do you really think they I mean they had to worry about basic needs and finding food and everything you would think would they have time to draw Exactly? But, yeah, they did. That was their creative. Yeah, that's a home decor as today. It's the same part, so don't think you're being superfluous. If you want to.
Speaker 1:
I mean, we like the lighting, don't we? Because it's so, cell lighting, we love the lighting. Lighting is super important and vintage lighting, and we also like the fact that it's like an accessory, because it's a necessity to light your home, yeah, but you don't have to light it that way. You can light it anyway. You don't have to light it that way. So it becomes almost it's a personalised choice, isn't it? Definitely the accessory to have a beautiful light up or something that you think is beautiful, whatever it is Lamp shades, table lamps, all of them they're accessories.
Speaker 1:
I do love them. What? The table lamps? Yeah, the like, the special lighting, yeah, like the one that gives ambience, oh, definitely, ambience. Lighting, yeah, yeah, indoor lighting or outdoor lighting, you can make a place look amazing. Your garden, you can put some of those pretty I always think of like pollution now, though, because it's so nice. I know what you mean. I know I like to leave it natural. I don't usually light it up unless we're having a party or something. No, because it's nice to look red. Yeah, that's very rare. I must say.
Speaker 1:
We tend to like going out more, hermit. No, but like go out instead of. I prefer to go out Instead of having, you know, guests come. Yeah, if you've listened to other episodes of our podcast, you'll know that we prefer to go out, even though we don't go out that much compared to other people. But we do like to go and have a pizza or something. Oh, definitely, it's nice to get out. Yeah, that's kind of like accessorising your life by adding little dinner and going outings because it's not essential, is it? You don't have to go out, it isn't? It's another way of looking at dinner, but it's another way of making your day have more pleasant Vibes to it. Yeah, vibes and having more dimensions into your life. It gives you a different prospect.
Speaker 1:
I did notice when we go out, if they have like a little accessory on the table, if it's personalised to the restaurant, I really do enjoy that. Yeah, not just plastic flowers or something. No, it's something a bit special. Yeah, I know. Yeah, that's really nice and it makes for me. I really notice these little details. I notice them incredibly as well. Yeah, very, I do like them.
Speaker 1:
I think it shows that someone's taken a lot of care into thinking about it. There we go again. So it sends a message you know like. So this place is like, we care, yeah, we love it, we take pride in our business. We take care in you because we provided you maybe with a cushion or with an accessory, because cushions like Well, cushions are comfortable as well.
Speaker 1:
They're comfortable, but they're an accessory, it's not just the chair. Do you remember when they took that cushion away from you? Yeah, that's what I was thinking of. Once we went out and there was a chair that had a cushion on it, and they came and they said oh no, sorry, this cushion belongs to this other chair. Yeah, yeah, what so hard without the cushion? It was weird, yeah, but you felt like you had it hand-dunted, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that wasn't very good customer service. No, that wasn't. No, that was. That wasn't not something you could really recommend. No, definitely not.
Speaker 1:
But yeah, there is, behind the small, we might think, superficial things in life, there is more meaning. So, you know, say don't. You know, don't undervalue them. And the next time you see a little accessory that you think you don't really need or something, just think is it really going to bring me joy for a long time? Oh, if it doesn't, don't get it, because it's just clutter, like what you said before, and that can do the opposite of instilling that kind of safe feeling. You can feel overwhelmed when you live in clutter. That's the opposite. So you don't want to do that.
Speaker 1:
You want to choose very special and I think if you, if you're like, if you're depending on your budget, if it's an impulse buy and you're thinking, do I do? I really want that, and you feel as if you do, but you really kind of know that you might not need it or it's not really going to be an accessory, it's going to give you great joy, then just saying, oh, if I want it, in like two weeks I'll come back and get it. Yeah, that's a good idea. And then, if you still really feel it, it'll give you joy. It's also the time and the anticipation of looking forward to buying it as well. Yeah, definitely, because I think that's very undervalued now. We don't with all this impulse stuff that we can just press the button and that and buy on the line and it arrives at home. There's not that enough time to actually think about whether you really need that accessory or really want it. It's probably a good idea Put it in the basket and if you still want it, like whether it's virtual or whatever, then you go back to it. Yeah, you're right about that one.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, my daughter did that with a little teddy bear she saw. So it's really cute. It's like you know, it's like a little accessory for the accessory from her bag or something. She didn't buy it straight away and she waited and waited for a couple of weeks and she realized she still really would like it. She thought it was still really cute and would bring her. It was going to give her real joy still. So she got it. She got it, yeah, and she was really pleased about the whole thing and it made a difference to her and it still does so I think you know that's incredible. It made a difference to her.
Speaker 1:
It was a tiny little accessory. You would think. How could that make a difference to you? Why? Because when you look at it, it sends a message. It sends a signal to your brain. It triggers off feelings of safety that you're worthy, even. I know it's a bit of a taboo to say you're worthy when you're buying things. But this is not. We're not talking about that, you know. No, it's a different, because you've pondered, you thought about. It was very low cost item, so it was just.
Speaker 1:
Feelings of self-worth have to come from within, not from an object that you're buying. But even in this case, though, they can send off signals though. Well, because in this case it symbolizes your self-care. Yes, yeah, yeah. So just wanted to make an important distinction between that. Because, obviously, yeah, no object or anything that you buy will ever give you self-worth. If anything, it does the opposite it makes you feel inadequate. Yeah, yeah, you can only get self-worth from within you, from working on yourself and seeing where those feelings of lack of self-worth come from, and most of the time it's really from conditioning and from advertising, or because you're hanging out with the wrong people. Yeah, yeah, exactly so. There's only one accessory you need there, and there's the belief in yourself. Yeah, there's nobody that's going to give you self-worth by buying anything. Nothing, nothing at all. It'll never come.
Speaker 1:
But you can signal off, put signals of pleasure, and especially if it's something like what you were saying, referring to you like your daughter. It was a small thing. Your daughter is an intelligent woman, obviously, and she just thought about having that little thing. That, because a lot of times, especially when you're accessory, you do it without really thinking about it and it's not something that it's just a more of a compulsive or impulsive buy. It doesn't give you nothing. You take it home, you'll put it somewhere and you won't even take care, whereas if you're accessorized in an efficient and like I would say, mindful way, like your tray, years and years, it's giving you great pleasure and it gives me pleasure every time I see it. And it's a little wood. I mean, it's a handmade wooden tray with it. It's very pretty.
Speaker 1:
It was pennies, wasn't it? It was pennies, it was worth nothing to the person who was selling it, but to me it was important and it still is today. So that wasn't an accessory that I just clicked on a button. I thought I'll get another, because that does that, that gives you, that does nothing for you. No, it's the opposite effect. It creates anxiety. So it's a fine line with, yes, choosing the right accessory for your home to show that you, and talking about sustainability as well.
Speaker 1:
I was thinking that sometimes you can buy these trinkets as well, that you you can wear them like for a couple of weeks or whatever, and then they wear out the the, they tarnish and they are horrible, and then you have to kind of throw them away, which is a little waste as well. So that makes that causes anxiety if you're thinking about the planet, because you're thinking I'm just wasteful here, I'm just throwing something away, yeah, yeah, obviously you know, be mindful as well of what, what, what you, what you buy and how you accessorize your life to. Yes, totally, absolutely, yeah, yeah. And if you think you've got too many accessories in your home, you can also do a clear out and give them to someone else that will give them, it'll give them great joy, like, like, yeah, take them to a good market or, yeah, thrift shop or whatever, yeah, and that way you declutter and then you can have a clean slate and decide exactly with mindful being mindful of what you really like, and then you can really make a mindful choice about very detailed like it. You know you think it was something so easy, but really it's something that takes some thought. It takes a lot of thought if you want to do it properly and mindfully? Yeah, because you have to think about that.
Speaker 1:
Colors can influence you and they can make you feel really good too. So sometimes, maybe, choosing something with a particular color that's going to make you feel you know I mean, for me, colors are really important, so I know that if I have things that have a certain color in my house, they're going to make me feel happy. Yeah, pink, because it's sort of in fashion now and I'm very conditioned, but really it's that turquoise color that always makes me feel, yeah, turquoise, and it always makes me feel calm and it gives me joy. Yeah, well, I bought those special plates that were that color and really every time I use them, I still have that feeling. Yeah, I prefer your pink plates. Yeah, I know you do. I like them as well.
Speaker 1:
I love my pink plates. I mean, they were just bought in a vintage as well. They were just they're just 12 plates, but they were hand painted. I thought, gosh, you know they were like I don't know five euros or something. They're made with love, aren't they Made with love? Yeah, I just hope they were anyway, because, wow, you would think somebody they were, because they were made here in Italy.
Speaker 1:
They're ceramics, italian ceramic, italian ceramic. No, sometimes I'm thinking that these things are made out of duress as well, unfortunately, oh well, yes, unfortunately. Yeah, that's not, but that was made with love. That's just a small artisan, I imagine. Yeah, but things like that is what we're talking about Exactly. That can last and can send off those signals of calm, calm and serenity. That's what we all want, I think. Yeah, absolutely. So what do you think? Do you like accessorising? Do you think it's a good thing, or do you find you have too many accessories and they become clutter and that can also be a problem? Yeah, so let us know what you think and also come and see us on YouTube and please, please, stop by and leave a review on Apple Podcast, because it really makes a difference and get real with the English sisters is continually growing. Thanks to all your support. It's going up and up in all the charts around the world, so we couldn't be more grateful for you listening in. Thank you so much. Bye, bye, bye. Love and smiles from the English sisters, bye, bye.