This will be the first in a series of posts about aspiring to live an uncluttered life. I'm not talking about messy vs. clean. Creativity is messy. Springtime, with its rain and melt and mud, is messy. A child at play is messy. Watching someone take a machine apart or compose a work of art encourages us to transcend simplistic notions that mess=bad, clean=good.
And besides, clutter is not just about objective physical surroundings. As someone who has struggled with OCD during my life, I know what it's like to seek to constrain the environment around me because within me, my mind was total teeming chaos.
When I talk about clutter, I'm remembering the roommate I once had who didn't see the floor of his room for months at a time because it was littered with books, clothes, music, everything. Not knowing where anything was, he was, literally, living at a loss from moment to moment in mind, body and spirit. That's clutter. And we pay dearly for it if we live in it.
Clutter in our lives is like a plaque that builds up in our arteries. It constricts freedom of movement and limits the opportunities for flow. It is the opposite of beginner's mind and the enemy of simplicity. Clutter obscures reality and costs us peace of place and peace of mind.
In the days to come, I'll be writing about different kinds of clutter: physical, environmental, emotional and interpersonal, and how some spiritual practices can help us create peace beyond the clutter.
For now, I'd like to know, do you struggle with clutter, around you, inside you? Is that struggle part of what draws you here to this practice?
Sometimes I need to close my eyes. Then at least the visual complexity (clutter) goes away for a while.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite topics - clutter! My observations often lean toward amazement - from watching entire industries that are built around the tools of organizing our clutter to recycling our clutter to tossing our clutter to simply ignoring it and letting it grow so now we need a bigger house with additional storage hahaha. Whatever ones particular style of handling it, it is a huge topic for all of us - and one that seems to require constant vigilance and determination. Just look at the average mailbox or email inbox to see the amount of junk that arrives as unrequested clutter every day! As within, so too without.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your reflections.
My family probably hates it, but I am the anti-clutter bug. I send bags upon bags upon bags to the trash, recycling, and Goodwill every month. Somethings go WAY before people were ready to let go of them hahahahaha. Mostly it is because my kids grow out of clothes/toys faster than I can keep up. I get bogged down with all of the clutter and I go into TRASH IT mode, especially when I am overwhelmed or stressed. I think it has a lot to do with simplicity. I need simplicity. I thrive when things are well organized, structured, and clean- mentally, physically, and spiritually.
ReplyDeleteI know that ridding ourselves of spiritual clutter is our focus, but if I could only get control of regular clutter, I might be able to tidy my spirit as well. But being tidy takes time and I convince myself I have more important things to do.
ReplyDeleteI think going on an anti-clutter crusade is the wrong approach. Take on one thing at a time. As you walk around your house, you'll find something to put away, take up/downstairs, put in a file. Each step is simple and effective.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother used to say, "It doesn't take any longer to put something where it belongs." I don't think that's true, but putting one thing away takes less time than putting everything away.
You know fighting clutter is dear to my heart! Sometimes clutter is a reflection of how boxed in I feel inside. Releasing it makes me feel lighter and freer.
ReplyDeleteTeresa what you said about clutter being a reflection of how boxed in you feel inside hit something with me. I talk a lot about how I will clear out the clutter in my life and I enjoy talking but I haven't gotten to the "doing" yet. I do feel boxed in from the inside and outside. I also feel lighter without the clutter but then it builds up again. Apparently I am not tending to this very well.
ReplyDelete