The Things We Cultivate
A few days ago, I posted an old photograph.
My sister and I are sitting on a sofa in Hamburg. Behind us, shelves filled with books.
I looked at the photograph for a long time.
Not because I wanted to go back.
I don’t.
But because I suddenly noticed how much of my life was already there.
The books.
I have always loved books.
Whenever I travel, I end up in bookshops. Paris especially. While others might return home with souvenirs, I often come back with books. Some are carefully chosen. Others simply find me.
I have always dreamed of having a library of my own one day.
Not a grand library.
Just shelves collected over a lifetime.
Books with notes in the margins. Books discovered on travels. Books recommended by friends. Books that have quietly accompanied me through different chapters of life.
Looking at that childhood photograph, I wonder if the dream started there.
There are other things I have loved for as long as I can remember.
Beautiful clothes.
Music.
Good food.
Not necessarily expensive food.
Some of my happiest memories involve a bowl of noodle soup on a Bangkok street with my mother.
A flea market on a Saturday morning.
A song that suddenly follows me home.
A café where nobody rushes me.
The older I get, the less interested I become in status.
What interests me is character.
Soul.
Craftsmanship.
Stories.
The things that reveal how people live rather than what they own.
What We Choose to Carry Forward
I come from a family with a long history.
Like many families, there are stories attached to names, titles and ancestors.
But over time I have come to believe that the things that define us most are rarely inherited.
They are cultivated.
Curiosity is cultivated.
Taste is cultivated.
Appreciation is cultivated.
A love of books is cultivated.
A love of beauty is cultivated.
Looking at that photograph, I realised that many of the things I still love today were already there, quietly waiting for me.
The books.
The curiosity.
The desire to wander.
The pleasure of discovering something beautiful.
Some things change.
Some things leave.
But some things stay.
Nobility is inherited.
Cultivation is practiced.
Rooted in Depth.
Radiating Light.