I start each day with an email from Martha Beck. She is one of my heroes, both as a life coach and as a woman. She imparts lots of wonderful nuggets to which I typically relate. I guess I should add that these aren’t exactly personal emails from Martha. Given the opportunity to actually meet I have no doubt that we would become fast friends, but so far we haven’t been able to connect. You know how it is. We both have pretty demanding schedules.
Anyway, one recent quote was:
"Living space is such a powerful metaphor because everything in it- every pot, plant, and pillow – reflects choices we make from among countless options, for countless reasons. The portrait that emerges is all the more accurate for having been created unconsciously." —Martha Beck, O At Home--Fall, 2004
I read it over several times. The word “portrait” particularly caught my eye. Does she mean portrait as in a depiction of who I am and what my life represents? I think maybe she does. I think I may be in serious trouble.
For instance I have only one plant in my house. That alone seems pathological now that I’ve actually taken a plant census, but the really scary thing is that the solitary specimen of vegetation looks like it belongs in a botanical ICU. Does that pitiful, spindly, greenish black sprig really accurately reflect my essence?
And then there are my closets. I don’t like chaos and disorder. In fact it drives me crazy. So why are all my closets so bloated with junk that closing the doors is like trying to squeeze the spring-coiled “snake” back into the faux can of peanuts? These cluttered closets should not paint a stroke on the portrait of me! Or at least not the me I want to be.
The result of all this reflection has created an urge to purge. As in throwing it all away and starting over. I guess it is not unlike my feelings of starting anew with this blog after all my work was launched into the great unknown of cyberspace. I have fantasies of gathering up every stitch of clothing and hauling it to Goodwill. I envision people carrying off my firmly used furniture from an oh-so-successful garage sale. I want a fresh start, open space, empty hangers and shelves. Oh, the glory of it!
Okay, so back to reality. I can’t throw away all my stuff. And, of course, even if I could, I wouldn’t. But, what else? Is it just about doing a little premature spring cleaning? Will that satisfy the urge to purge, or does it go beyond the surface? I do know one thing for certain; if serious cleaning isn’t going to help, I’m seriously not going to do it.
I think Martha owes me an answer on this. I’ll have my people get with her people to see if they can set up a little pow-wow. However, given that I don’t have any actual people, the prospects for a quick resolution might not be all that good.
Instead, I may have to depend on the fristers who already know they’re my fristers (I’m sure Martha would qualify if she only knew!) to offer suggestions. What do you say?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Oh no! My home is overflowing with plants (mostly healthy thankfully, although some are occasionally plagued by those pesky little bugs...), clothes I can't seem to get rid of due to the emotional attachment (think skinnier days), every holiday decoration and ornament I have ever purchased, the list goes on and on. I have donated actual truckloads, and still it lurks. I tried to kid myself that I was saving some of it until our son had a house of his own and could use it but that day has come and gone. I am ashamed to say that I have filled his home with as much as he will tolerate (lucky him, much more like his neat freak father, keep nothing you haven't used in, oh, say 5 minutes). At least my excess of stuff is neatly organized by my better half, perhaps I could just insinuate myself into his portrait??? Oh well. I have found that having a party really puts my house in order, so to speak. I have a deadline. I can deal with deadlines. You can almost reach out and touch them. I think you have inspired me. I will clean closets, at least one a week until clutter is under control (there is a word to think about) -maybe I should schedule a party. As I look around, I am realizing that I have surrounded myself with reminders of good times, good friends and the loves of my life, can that be all bad? Of course, perhaps that urge to purge has more to do with changing ourselves than our surroundings. And Clare, I will see if maybe my people can't get with your people to demand some explanations from Martha....in the meantime, maybe I will just polish my frame!
ReplyDeleteHow is the closet cleaning coming? I haven't hit a lick! I, too, probably need a deadline. I have clothes that, even in the unlikely event that I lost enough weight to wear them, are now out of style anyway. Bill is not big into organizing my stuff, so I get no help there. I just need to start. Like everything else, I'm sure the first step is the hardest. I just hope if I invest this effort I feel like the new woman I yearn to be!
ReplyDelete