Thought yoga and meditation were the way to happiness, health and enlightenment? You might find your collection of Cornishware or coins is just as effective
Collecting often gets a bad name psychologically, with many believing that people collect in order to fill a hole that is missing in their lives, perhaps things they weren’t able to have as a child, or were unable to afford previously. There’s also a school of thought that collecting is something built deep within us, as a way of displaying to potential mates all our many and glorious possessions. And don’t ask Freud about his theory on collecting, unless you have a strong stomach.
But psychologists now believe that there may be many positive benefits to collecting. And we’ve collected a few of them here:
Collecting can make you happy
Hunting for something and finding it, whether it’s a rare stamp, part of a coffee set, or a teddy bear, gives us a sense of joy. And having something new and beautiful in our homes is always a pleasure. We tend to collect things we love so having those things around us increases our happiness.
Collecting can create community
Whether you’re attending conferences and collectors’ fairs in person or simply talking to others online about your collection, a collection can give you a link to others with the same passion and perhaps even create new friendships. It also gives us a sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves.
Collecting can reduce anxiety
Spending time absorbed in any activity, such as arranging your collection or searching out new finds is a stress reducer. It allows you to escape from everyday life and focus completely on something else.
Collecting allows us to be childlike
Children tend to be more natural collectors than adults, and peak ‘collector’ age is about 10. It’s something we tend to do more when we have lots of time on our hands, so children, people who have retired and, let’s face it, quite a lot of us in lockdown, are bigger collectors, and it’s lovely to rediscover that pleasure and pride we took in collections as children; like stepping back to a simpler time.
Collecting improves our knowledge and brain function
As well as the obvious increase in knowledge about your subject area, being a collector helps with memory function and brain power, as you stretch your grey cells, remembering facts, dates and where you put that Penny Black...
You can meet more collectors in this month’s My Place pages which feature some beautiful collections from Instagram. such as the one by Nicky Guymer @somedaystuidio.co.uk pictured above.
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