Monday, December 19, 2011

relief = space

For fast-acting relief try slowing down.

Lily Tomlin

That's what my Sunday looked like. I never got dressed--wore my pajamas all day. A friend stopped by to pick something up. I put on a vest and a hat. That constitutes properly covered in my book.

I puttered. I got things done. My progress resembled erosion more than tectonic plate shifts.

When I putter I circle. I work a while in one room, take a newly sorted pile to a different room to put it away, find a task in the second room, move back to the first, taking small bites of the project in each room as I go. By the end of the day, an observer can see the difference. In any given 10 minute segment, the mess looks worse--not better.

Yet, I persevere. Give away. Throw away. Store. Move stuff that is no longer useful where it is. Make room for the new. Make room to breathe. Make room just because space feels better than stuff.

Doing it while slowing down makes even more space--inside and out.

2 comments:

Joan said...

I am really trying to pick up on your energy and begin to do that in my world. I am beginning to like clean empty surfaces rather than the clutter...even if the clutter is decorative. Keep pushing forward and keep telling us about your progress. Maybe some of it will rub off on me!

graceonline said...

Sometimes I dream of living in a house like some photographs I've seen of Japanese homes--just a few objects, perfectly placed. All the furnishing elegant and simple. Alas, despite years of putting things away, I accumulate more clutter. I shall try your slow and steady on a project later this week, making more inner space along with the outer.