When we love something, we take better care of it. Love is not just a feeling, it’s a resource.

Exercise

We form relationships with objects much like we do with people. Some things we care for, rely on, and keep close. Others frustrate us, drift out of use, or reach a point where we need to let go.

In this exercise, you write either a love letter or a break-up letter to an object in your life. You might reflect on how your relationship began, what the object has meant to you, what has changed over time, and what you want your relationship to be going forward.

The exercise helps make emotional attachment visible — including affection, irritation, and ambivalence — and supports more conscious, circular choices. It encourages you to care for and keep what matters, and to let go responsibly when a relationship has run its course.

How to

Choose an object you own or once owned.

Decide whether you want to write a love letter, a break-up letter — or a mix of both.

Write freely for a few minutes. Be honest.

Reflect on what this relationship needs now: care, repair, time — or a goodbye.

Exercise

Objects carry memories — of moments, hands, places, and time. In this exercise, you create a small diary around a single object by returning to it day after day.

By writing just one line each day, you slowly uncover how your relationship with the object shifts over time: what you notice, remember, or feel in its presence. Small observations become a way to see how attachment grows, fades, or changes — and how meaning is built through everyday use.

The exercise invites slowness and attention. It helps make emotional value visible and reminds us that lasting relationships with objects are shaped over time, not all at once.

How to

Choose one object to focus on.

Once a day, write a single line about it.

Notice memories, feelings, or moments of use.

After a few days, read the lines and reflect on how the relationship has evolved.

Ritual

Everyday objects are often used without attention. In this exercise, you turn a simple moment with an object into a small ritual.

By slowing down and repeating a caring action – cleaning, adjusting, folding, placing – you give space to awareness and presence. The ritual invites you to notice how care changes your relationship with the object, and how intentional actions can transform routine into meaning.

The exercise frames maintenance and care as essential, circular practices. It reminds us that longevity is not only built into materials, but sustained through repeated acts of attention.

How to

Choose an object you use often.

Decide on one caring action (clean, repair, arrange, prepare).

Perform the action slowly and with intention.

Notice how the object and your attention changes.

Exercise

Every object has a journey — long before it reaches us, and hopefully long after we are done with it. In this exercise, you use a classic design tool, the user journey, to map the life of a single object across time.

By tracing where the object comes from, how it has lived with you, and where it might go next, the exercise makes visible the many lives hidden within everyday things. It invites you to see your object not as a fixed possession, but as part of a longer story of materials, hands, places, and relationships.

The exercise helps connect emotional attachment with circular thinking. By mapping both memories and material flows, you reflect on care, responsibility, and future possibilities — and how your choices shape an object’s next chapter.

How to

Choose one object you own.

Divide a page into three parts: Before you, With you, After you.

Map what you know — or imagine — about the object’s past (materials, production, transport, previous owners).

Add moments from your own life with the object: use, memories, wear, repair.

Imagine its future: repair, reuse, pass on, or transform.

Exercise

We often look at the things we own without really seeing them. This exercise invites you to slow down and spend time with one object through drawing – not to make a perfect image, but to notice what is already there.

By drawing an object as you see it, line by line, you begin to observe details you may have overlooked: wear, textures, repairs, fingerprints, small imperfections. The act of drawing becomes a form of attention – and attention is a powerful way to rebuild connection.

Object croquis shifts the focus from ownership to presence. It invites care through seeing, rather than through fixing or replacing.

How to

Choose one object you own.

Sit with it in front of you. Take a moment to really look.

Draw the object slowly, without erasing or correcting.

Let your hand follow your eyes – not your expectations.

Notice what changes in how you feel about the object as you draw.

Exercise

Most choices about objects are made for now. This exercise stretches time forward and turns the future into circular actions.

By imagining where an object might be in ten years, you begin to see it as part of a circular flow rather than a fixed possession. Will it still be in use? Repaired, transformed, passed on, or returned to materials? The exercise links emotional attachment with circular thinking by making future scenarios visible and actionable.

When an object is given a future, present-day decisions shift. Care becomes maintenance. Repair becomes a strategy. Letting go becomes a deliberate act. Circular economy starts not with systems, but with choices.

How to

Choose one object you own.

Ask yourself:
- Where is this object in 10 years?
- Who is using it?
- What has changed — form, function, meaning?

Map one or more circular paths for the object:
- Care & repair
- Upgrade
- Reuse & pass on
- Transform

Finish by choosing one concrete circular action you can take today to support that future.

Behavior

Our relationships with things are shaped by habits. We place objects in the same spot, use them in the same way, and stop really noticing them. Over time, familiarity turns into invisibility.

In this exercise, you make a small, intentional shift in how you live with one object for a week. By changing one simple condition – where it lives, when it is used, or how you interact with it — you disrupt routine and open space for renewed attention.

The exercise reveals how habits shape attachment, care, and wear. A small change can bring new appreciation, highlight hidden frustrations, or suggest better ways of living with what we already own.

How to

Choose one object you use regularly.

Decide on one small change: a new place, a new moment, or a new way of using it.

Live with this shift for one week.

Notice what changes: attention, ease, care, or feeling.

Reflect: Does this object need something different to last longer?

Behavior

Most objects come with instructions for use – but rarely with instructions for care. Over time, we forget how things want to be treated, and small neglect turns into damage, replacement, and waste.

In this exercise, you create a personal care manual for one object you own. By translating care into simple, human terms, the object’s needs become clearer and easier to meet. The manual becomes a reminder that durability is not only designed – it is practiced.

The exercise connects emotional attachment with everyday maintenance. By making care visible and intentional, you strengthen the relationship and extend the object’s life through attention rather than replacement.

How to

Choose one object you want to keep for a long time.

Write a short care manual for it, including:

- What helps it last

- What harms it

- How often it needs attention

- Signs that it needs care or repair

Keep the manual with the object or return to it when the relationship feels worn.

Reflection

Objects rarely ask for our attention – yet they hold stories, traces, and emotions. This exercise invites you into a quiet, guided moment with a single object.

Through stillness, breath, and gentle focus, you are invited to observe the object without using it. To listen, rather than act. Memories, associations, and feelings may surface – or nothing at all. Both are part of the experience.

The meditation creates space for emotional attachment to become visible. It invites a deeper, non-verbal understanding of how objects accompany our lives and how presence can strengthen care and connection.

How to

Choose one object and place it in front of you.

Sit comfortably and take a few slow breaths.

Observe the object without touching it.

Notice thoughts, memories, or sensations as they arise.

End by acknowledging what the object means to you right now.