This morning I was thinking about clutter, chaos, and creation and their relationship with each other. Last month I dealt with other people's clutter. Motivated by a desire to help these individuals feel less overwhelmed by their messy, cluttered living spaces and having some organization skills, I found myself navigating in a sea of chaos. Most people wouldn't dare to let you in rooms of their disaster areas of their homes. It's just too personal and embarrassing. These individuals took a chance and trusted I'd help without judging, taking advantage or being disrespectful while sorting through their personal possessions. Typically, when a visitor comes, we'd rather show them our nicely decorated, clean living spaces. It's better to keep the mess hidden-it's too much to organize. However, no one wants to drown in their own stuff.
When dealing with clutter, perhaps I'm just willing to take it on-go inside the proverbial "belly of the beast" Yuck! When I'm sizing up chaos, I try to follow some basic principles. Have many containers big and small to put items that are alike. Take it slow and careful. I am not a de-junker who simply throws all the stuff quickly and randomly into boxes and gets rid of it to clear the apartment for the next tenant. No matter how tempting it is to start fresh and clean without any stuff, sometimes I must deal with it piece by piece and decide first what it is, how the person might value it and where it could possibly go. Sometimes I have to do micro-organizing with lots of little items. I scatter the pieces in a large space so I can see what I'm looking at- then gather things and synthesize. As I clear areas of shelves, drawers etc, I start to view these areas as potential spaces to put the like things I have gathered. Deciding how each area will be used requires imagination and insight into the person's values. The goal is to have easy access to the things that matter most. What's the good of organizing if you can't find anything? Once everything has a place, it becomes a maintenance task-basic household cleaning. It's the good ole' have a place for everything and put everything in it's place.
Objects represent values. Usually after a while, a pattern starts to develop of the different categories of stuff. It's not as broad as we would like to think. These areas I'm trying to repurpose must represent these values, even showcase them or protect them. By organizing a person's stuff, I can support them in what they value and hopefully give them access to do what they want to do. If you love fixing things-here's all your tools organized. If you love crafts-here's all your supplies organized-go at it. If you love flying kites-here they are-go and use them and don't just let them sit around as cool Christmas presents you gave 5 years ago. Here are your resources! Do something with your life man!
I can't multitask when organizing. I need all my wits about me. It's the gathering and synthesis that requires creative energy. It's starting with chaos and then putting things together. That's how I create. It's my big bang theory. About 20 years ago I tried to explain my creative process in a book I wrote for primary choristers. I stated, "If you were to step inside my head, you might not like what you see. For one thing, it would be a mess-much like my house. Utter chaos is what my creativity thrives on...Chaos requires tremendous flexibility of thought as I take one starting point and essentially blow it apart into many different ideas. I make the giant mess on the floor. Then I focus my attention on the task at hand and clean the mess up. These are the same steps I use in my creative process: The initial idea or starting point, the chaos of thoughts and finally the focused synthesis of ideas."
This week I should have been embarrassed as I showed someone my cluttered, chaotic mind. It was a mess, or as he called it"nutzo" and "scatterbrain." Talk about a mess of wires of neural activity! Yet, I don't want to de-junk and yank out all my tangled wiring and throw it in a pile. I can become a master organizer to de-clutter and create. I can use that scatterbrain quality to blow things apart in my inner space and start to gather and synthesize concepts-get down to the nuts and bolts of my "nutzo" mind. That's hardware my friend and can ultimately help hold things together-to make important neural connections. I can group similar concepts, sort things according to my highest values, establish a place for them so I can ultimately find and access these resources and utilize them fully. As I examine ideas, I need to first figure out what they are, decide their value, and then create a place for them and access them-put ideas into action. I'm certain there will be ideas to discard. I don't have to keep everything. But there is all sorts of good stuff I will find as I organize my cluttered mind. I too, will be able to use my resources and can go about the business of living life in a creative yet organized manner. I can do something with my life!
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