Gwyneth Paltrow Bookcase - Thank you for your order!

Thank you so much for ordering your Goopcase!

You may notice we haven’t included illustrations of what our finished product looks like.

That’s because it’s really important that before you begin construction, you visualise the type of storage space you would like to create. Please read our instructions carefully. If you follow them correctly and have not constructed a working bookcase - we have a strict NO RETURNS policy. You simply did not want a bookcase hard enough. Maybe this wasn’t the right time for you.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Close your eyes.

  • What does your ideal bookcase or “storage womb” look like?

  • What sounds can you hear when you think about your bookcase?

  • What does it taste like? Some bookcases taste of adventure, ideas and ancient cities at dusk, others taste of varnish and old shoes.

  • What feelings are coming up?

  • Where in your body are you experiencing those feelings?

2. BREATHE

3. Now you need to clear a space. First clear a literal space for where you're going to assemble the bookcase. (Again, remember we feel providing actual dimensions for your bookcase is too restrictive for the journey you're going on, so we don’t have exact measurements but maybe give yourself a foot?)

  • The most important space you’ll need to create is a MENTAL one to welcome this new object into your life. Do you have any negative associations with bookcases that need to be removed before this new one can fully enter? 

  • You’ll need to create a ritual to remove the idea of a bookcase that no longer serves you. This can involve burning some sage, an image of a bookcase that caused you pain or your actual old bookcase. (Please be advised, if you do use this option, remember to remove the books from the shelves before burning as not doing so has caused problems for our customers in the past.)

 

4. Congratulations! Now you are ready to assemble your new bookcase. Take the parts labelled A1, B3 and C4 and welcome them individually. Ask them where THEY would like to go. Sit with the silence until the answer comes. Make peace with not knowing. This is a dance between you and the parts, a partnership between your desire to impose will and the destiny of each object. The more you resist, the more problems will persist. Do any preconceived ideas on what a bookcase should look like intrude? Challenge yourself. What even is a bookcase? Here are some suggestions we find helpful:

  • Begin.

  • Remember, everything in the outside world is a reflection of what is within.

  • The journey is the destination.

  • Jesus was a carpenter.

  • Remove everything that is not a bookcase.

  • There are no “right” angles, just angles that are “right” for you.

  • Before you can support books, you need to be able to support yourself.

  • Balance.

  • If you think there is a part missing and that you cannot hold it together without that one screw and someone forgot to put it in the box, maybe you were never meant to have that screw in the first place.

  • Laugh!

We really hope you enjoy your new bookcase. If you are really struggling, create a vision board of a friend, lover or family member helping you assemble the bookcase. Leave it somewhere this person will see it a lot. In their wallet, over their bed or posted through their letter box. Eventually you’ll discover the bookcase has been assembled. When this happens remember to thank the universe!

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Gráinne Maguire