Inspired! The Happiness Project
UMBERTO DAVINI ARCHITECT, GARDEN DESIGNER, INTERIOR DECORATOR
Lucca, Tuscany, age 67, lives in the beautiful hills in Valgiano/Segromigno in Monte.
What makes you happy?
I am happy when I feel good within myself, when I can be present to myself, free from thoughts, from the labyrinths of the mind, from the lure of my ego and from the attacks of my inner judge.
When I manage to free myself from these two entities then I can experience moments of happiness that comes without there being a particular reason for it.
And then I finally find myself traveling on my way, along the path of inner research that brings me home, to myself, to my being.
The work on myself only concerns me and I am aware that I can only be happy with others if I am happy with myself first.
One of the things that makes me happy is nature and its beauty.
The beauty of people hides many pitfalls because it is often linked to projections, judgments and aesthetic canons internalized over time, while that of nature is perhaps the only one capable of deeply nourishing.
What inspires you?
Nature is my source, perhaps now the only one left to be inspired. Its language is wise, simple and direct, but most humans today are interested in something else and unfortunately are no longer able to understand it.
I love the places that once belonged to man, then abandoned and later reconquered by nature. Parks, ancient gardens, palaces, courtyards, greenhouses, spaces, where man has lived, and then for some reason he is gone. Here nature has finally had its revenge and has been able to recover the freedom to express its irrepressible creativity.
Its beauty manifests itself in sometimes surprising ways: plants settle, develop and reproduce and green combines with architecture, redefines the sense of space and the experience becomes magical.
Ivy and vitalba envelop all that they can in vegetal embraces, they finally take advantage of the unexpected freedom to be able to appropriate the space.
The manifestation of so much energy is a performance that takes place before our eyes. They are real visions that communicate with us through mysterious languages and messages in code.
The only way to be able to perceive and understand these is through our feelings, beyond the mind that often does not allow us to open ourselves to this kind of experience.
To be able connect with the soul of these abandoned places we need to be open and have no expectations. Then, surprisingly, they will talk to you.
Umberto’s daily meditation is to spend the evening on the beach. He has a special talent for finding and capturing these amazing scupltures nature has produced.
You can follow Umberto on his Blog umbertodaviniarchitetto.blogspot.it