Instructions for Collectors First, a confession. Isometimes stay in the museum after hours. Sometimes I sleep there. Youwould think a museum would be quiet at night, but no. The objects talkto me. I have secret nooks where I listen. They tell me their storieswhile I make notes, scribbling in the dim light. Recording as much as Ican.

After all, as a curator, it is my job to listen and makeconnections. Towards dawn, I often sneak home for a quick showerand a bowl of oatmeal. When I arrive back at the museum, crisp and cleanand inspired, no one is any the wiser. I lay open my notes on my deskand survey the night's work. Few things are more pleasing than writingby hand in a notebook. If I've learned one thing from the objects,it is this: the secret to life is loving what you do. Not in certainhours of certain days, but in every moment of every day. I have decidedto love.

It was not always this way. Although I grew up in afamily of collectors, there was a period of time when I stoppedcollecting. To be more accurate: I never stopped collecting completely,but I stopped believing in my collections. During that time, I feltadrift in the sea of the world, subject to random winds and tides andcut off from mystery and beauty, while happiness skirted my periphery.This continued for some time, until I finally realized that I had totake control of my own boat and come home to myself. So I chose adifferent course and resumed my observing, collecting, and documentingpractice. I immediately regained a sense of purpose. Knowing what I nowknow, I will never lose my way in this manner again.

You can't abandonyourself and expect to like your life. And so, a short set of instructions. 1. Never allow someone else's no to annihilate your yes. 2.Always listen to and follow the thread of what attracts you, whatignites your curiosity. For example, the enchantment of drawers, thenesting of artifacts inside boxes, the joy of the secret wardrobe, thehome inside the home inside the home--such delicious pleasures. Your yesis your guiding light.

3. Collect handmade images and objects. Thevalue of the unique over the reproduction is inherent. Read WalterBenjamin--one of the great collectors--on this topic. The antique plate isalways fully itself. 4. Your collection tells a story. In thiscollection, you can be anyone you want to be.

You can create the storythat matches who you are inside. You can change, you can transform, youcan start again and again and again. This is the privilege of thecollector. 5. Collecting equals learning. On many levels. 6.The object is a repository for magical thought.

Objects containstories. You have a relationship with the object. The object offers youits secrets. By association, you become magical. 7. Be ready tolet everything go. The collection is meant to be shared. It starts itslife with you and then you hand it over to other minds, otherimaginations.

In this way, the object becomes expansive and takes on alife of its own, carrying your contribution with it. Evolution iseffortless and effervescent and never-ending. Always the forwardmomentum.