Week 7: Curating your life

A museum curator doesn’t try to display every piece of art in existence. They carefully select what deserves space and attention. What if you approached your life with the same intentionality, choosing carefully what deserves your energy and space?

Life as Curation

Curation is the art of thoughtful selection and arrangement. When you curate your life, you become the conscious designer of your experience rather than a passive recipient of whatever comes your way.

Most people add things to their lives without removing anything else. But a curated life requires both addition and subtraction. It’s not about having less for the sake of minimalism; it’s about having exactly what serves your authentic self and removing what doesn’t.

Intentional Selection: Choose what enters your life consciously

Regular Editing: Periodically remove what no longer serves

Quality Over Quantity: Prioritize depth and meaning over accumulation

Areas for Curation

Physical Space: What objects, decorations, and environments surround you

Digital Space: What media, information, and online environments you consume

Social Space: Which relationships and social commitments receive your energy

Mental Space: What thoughts, beliefs, and mental habits you entertain

Temporal Space: How you spend your time and what activities fill your days

Exercise 1: The Life Inventory

Choose one area to inventory this week (physical space, digital consumption, social commitments, or time usage). List everything in that category, then for each item ask:

Does this add value to my authentic life?

Does this align with who I’m becoming (or unbecoming)?

How do I feel when I engage with this? What would I lose if I let this go?

Exercise 2: The Subtraction Practice

Each day, consciously remove one thing from your life:

Unsubscribe from an email list that doesn’t serve you

Delete an app that pulls you away from presence

Decline an invitation that doesn’t align with your energy

Clear one drawer or space of items you don’t need or love

End a conversation topic that drains your energy

Exercise 3: The Addition Ceremony

When you add something new to your life this week, do it ceremonially:

Pause before saying yes to any commitment

Consider what you might need to remove to make space for this addition

Ask yourself: Does this deserve space in my carefully curated life?

Only add things that genuinely excite or serve your authentic self

Exercise 4: The Beautiful Life Visualization

Spend time visualizing your ideal curated life. Don’t worry about practicality; focus on what would feel most authentic and nourishing.

What would your physical space look like and feel like?

Who would you spend time with regularly?

How would you spend your days?

What would you have less of? What would you have more of?

Weekly Practice

Each evening, review your day through the lens of curation. Ask: What from today deserves to stay in my life? What would I prefer to edit out?” This isn’t about judgment, but about conscious choice.

What aspects of my current life feel consciously chosen versus inherited or accidental?

Where do I need to practice saying no more often?

What would I add to my life if I had more space and energy?

How would my life change if I treated my time and energy as precious resources?

Design a personal curation statement, a few sentences that capture what you want to prioritize in your life and what you’re willing to release. Let this guide your future choices about what deserves space in your carefully curated existence.