On December 12th my mother, who was 101, died. She left this world with grace and peace, much the way she had lived.  Since I had moved her to Pennsylvania in 2005 from Florida, a significant amount of my free time had been spent taking care of necessities for her and simply being with her. With the memorial service behind me and most of the necessary paperwork out of the way, I began to feel the nudge to uncover the next phase of my life.  Not certain what that meant or how it would look I decided to connect with a Life Coach. The preliminary reflection work she gave me revealed that I needed, and wanted,  to de-clutter and organize several aspects of my personal environment. Because my creative endeavors have taken a back seat the past two years and I am missing it greatly, I knew I needed to start on the “sitting room” that became my art room eight years ago and now, due to neglect, is a paradise of disorganized fabric, paint, yarn, beads, clay, books, and all the supplies. I’ll stop short of using the word “hoarding.”

I know that if there is clutter and disorganization around me I cannot focus or be creative.  A few weeks ago I cleaned out my bathroom drawers of all those old make-up samples and unused cosmetics.  It allowed me to have a counter top free of contact solution, moisturizers, and tooth paste because now it is all organized in the freed up drawers.  The accomplishment felt wonderful and it motivated me to tie into the “sitting room.”  Although, deep down I knew this was a much more demanding challenge.  So far I have spent five hours on this project and at the moment you can’t walk across the room safely.  Two hours were spent putting together a shelf unit for storage.  It took three tries to get one of the shelves facing in the right direction.  The next three hours were spent going through everything, throwing away unwanted items and bagging up donations.  I have now reached the hard realization that this project cannot move further until I clean out the crawl spaces and the free standing wardrobe to make room for these items to be stored out of sight.  Trust me, this is all a needed process, but it is also why I have avoided it for several years. I have to keep the eye on the prize.  I conjure up that feeling I will have when the space is freed, items are  stored out of sight, I can find what I want because it has a proper home and I can enjoy a creative endeavor without frustration. If you are looking for some motivation and guidelines to help you organize and de-clutter here is a helpful link:

Become A Clean Person This Year In 10 Steps

This is all symbolic of our lives that get encumbered by misplaced issues and emotions, bogged down with tasks and commitments that no longer align with our values until we feel as if we are wandering, not sure of our direction and purpose.  Cleansing our surroundings and implementing organization is a beginning in our search for personal insight and direction.