Absence of Clutter, Part II

Copyright 2001 by Thomas J. Leonard. No duplication. All rights reserved. There are two letters/comments rom participants regarding Absence o Clutter....! share these anonymously.

Comment #1 Thomas: Hello and Happy Holidays and hope you are enjoying your time off... free from compulsion! I took some time here to give you my experiences by describing my type of clutter, some reasons you didn t mention for !hy I believe I clutter, and a fe! solutions I ve tried. I describe myself as a "victim" of clutter #often does feel po!erless$ and !ould agree it s cellular. I ve just recently, proudly, emptied % cartons of paper clutter that I moved from my last house to this one & years ago. I did handle each sheet of paper, un!illing to toss the !hole thing !hich non'clutterers love to recommend be done. I found a valuable ring and a fe! surprises I !ould have hated to lose. (aved the heart'!arming momentos and a some papers that should be filed. )hat s interesting is I found the notes and handouts of * Ho! to (top +lutter classes! That is hysterically funny to me! It may be useful to kno! that my experience !ith clutter is almost entirely paper based and I did gro! up !ith it. ,y dad continues to be as bad or !orse than I. ,any others keep collections of things that might be valuable or are fun to collect #like thimbles, shot glasses, matchbooks$ but can clutter. -./(01( I +23TT.-: 4. 5eing an information junkie to support insecurity about not kno!ing enough and not being good enough no! #remember, I also clutter in my email and discovered I tend to clutter my verbal and !ritten communications to protect my truth$ &. +luttering to support my perfectionism.... in order to do it all I have to take on lots of tasks that cannot be done as they cross my desk so I have to save the pieces of the task *. (imilar to the first, some of the papers, even if filed neatly, are about keeping symbols or proof of past achievements because there is a fear that maybe no future successes !ill come 6. /n attachment to things and the emotional good feelings #or old !ounds !e are still licking$ that bring back memories !e fear !e !on t hold onto in our heads or hearts. I love this one line from a class I took............ "don t love anything that can t love you back". %. ,aintaining an environment that brings up shame and discomfort. In my case it s stacks of "(houlds" that if accomplished !ill make me a 7ood )ife, 7ood 8aughter,

7ood Homemaker, 7ood 9erson. /nother side of the perfectionism. )ithout /22 of them done, I think #hmmm, making a discovery as I !rite to you$ I give myself and the !orld evidence to see that I really am not good enough. (023TI01(: I believe you are right some extent that this is a "condition" that I live !ith. / fe! things that I have tried and have helped keep it manageable are belo!. ,y current clutter can be stacked and hidden !hen company comes so it isn t horrific. The tendency I #yes$ struggle !ith is to spread out those stacks during a typical !ork day and my carpet becomes covered, only to be straightened up once a !eek or so for the cleaning lady... good motivator, as you said. 4. I try to create a file heading for almost everything, even if it says 9ending or has a project name. The !orst stack for me is the to dos... home and !ork. I have a :uture /ction file that I rarely look in, but at least it s filed #and haunts me$. &. I have had a good release of shame and guilt from getting rid of the older boxes of clutter !hich contained very fe! happy memories and mostly unresolved old issues. :elt good to get them gone and I chose to release as I tossed. *. 5iggest lesson for me is to let go of the pressure I put on myself by taking on (houlds in the first place so I try to toss out mail that !ould be nice to read or charitable efforts that are !orthy #I m a charitable enough person no!$. I try not to hold onto as much coaching email that !ill make me a better coach, !hich it !ould, because I am a good coach no! and !ill take the courses, read the ne!sletters if I have time in the moment. I am trying not to save them. It may be re!arding for you and your staff at +; to hear that your emails are some of my biggest email clutter! I get so much from the courses and ne!sletters that I tend to save those and am on )/< to many distribution lists. I get /bsence of, 9assive -evenue, Ho! to +oach /nyone /18 all the ne!sletters. ,y I m not a good enough coach gets hooked. Hope this is helpful, even if long, Thomas. Has been cathartic for me. I !ish you restful, serene days off and contentment !ith the year that has passed. I already kno! you have visions for the year to come. =oy and health to you! Comment #2 I am by no means an expert on clutter. I ve just lived !ith clutterers all my life. I m a reformed pack rat, so perhaps I m over vigilant ! :'$ /ll the stuff you list belo! is so incredibly true, especially >4? #that s the clutter I ve lived !ith, my father is a painter and graphic artist, my husband is an inventor$. I ve come to accept that some people are hard !ired that !ay and -.;.2 in the clutter. I

!onder if it s less an expression of their creativity and more about !hen they re surrounded by order it stifles their creativity. I ve !atched my father s creativity dry up the minute his studio@office !as organiAed #!hether I did it or he did it$. :or !hatever reason, that much order took a!ay the chaos that let his mind roam free. 5eing so incredibly visual, he relied upon the flo! and shapes, colors and textures of his "mess" to soothe his mind and let it roam !here it needed to and inspire him. #His primary genre is abstract art.$ It may sound !eird, but I could al!ays tell by the !ay his eyes moved !hat he !as searching for and needing. The difference in his eye movements !as extraordinary bet!een a neat studio and a messy one. 1o! mind you, his immediate !ork area !as organiAed #the four foot diameter around his canvas@easel, his paints on his taboret$. It had to be, so he could move freely. His paints !ere al!ays organiAed precisely and predictably. I ll bet you re !ondering !hy the heck I observed him so much. 5ecause I !as fascinated by his creativity and desperately sought such talent for myself. I thought that if I !atched him enough, spent enough time !ith him and imitated him, that it !ould "rub off" on me. :'$ <ou, being as creative as you are, might understand some of this. ,e, I ve just learned to accept that some people get a healthy energy from clutter.