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Dalton
Roberts |
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“De-clutter” is a fine little word. It sounds so harmless. In fact, it sounds helpful. People must be interested in de-cluttering their lives because there are dozens of books on it. I know, I have bought most of them. Yet, my place stays cluttered. Rev. Angelica Jayne recently wrote her Friday column on “Creation is Messy,” and I took comfort in that thought. “Ah, I am just creative, not messy,” I kept repeating to myself. Yeah, that’s it! Recent experiences have taught me one valuable lesson about de-cluttering: the secret to success is to just de-clutter one room. Especially if it is your main workroom. The joy of working in a de-cluttered space will whet your appetite to de-clutter another room. Here’s what happened recently in my own personal Clutterville, USA. A TV station wanted to do a feature on me right here in my computer room. I could just picture how it would look on TV with piles of papers and a lot more etcetera, miscellaneous, ad nauseum and ad infinitum surrounding me. People would say, “So that’s how the Manager of the Year gets it done! Looks like all I need to do is make a bigger mess.” I spent a day carrying stuff to the dining room, stacking it on the large table, under the table, against the wall and into every available nook and cranny. By the end of the day, there was absolutely no way I could walk from one side of the room to the other. Yet being in my computer room was heaven. I could find everything. Instead of hunting my basic reference books, I bought a carousel and placed my 16 basic reference books at my fingertips. Right where I sat that carousel had been the location of my biggest pile of paper. If it had fell over on me, I might have smothered. I had a friend who had retired after 25 years in the Navy. When a smoker doused a cigarette in one of his ash trays, he would swoop in, tote the tray to the kitchen, put the cigarette in the garbage, wash and dry the tray and return it to its original resting place. If you picked up a Coke in a paper cup and took it to his house, he was constantly shaking it to see if you had emptied it. When you did, he grabbed it and ran to the garbage. Heaven knows I do not want to be that de-cluttered. The poor guy was obsessive-compulsive to the point of making himself miserable. I think a house should tell you when it is too cluttered. Like my books did one night. I had piled so many half-read books into the headboard of my bed that they fell on me while I was asleep in the wee hours one morning. They literally buried my head and shoulders. Thinking I was under siege, I was scrambling for my pistol. I hope I am right in thinking we don’t have to be anal retentive to become non-cluttered. Just getting my computer room functional gives me the hope that this is true. It seemed to me that my mother had that perfect balance between chaos and order. She was not obsessive about housework but she had a place for things and kept them in their places. She didn’t expect you to keep your room immaculate but she did expect to be able to walk through it without breaking a leg. This may seem like a strange topic for a Sunday column on spiritual values. My experience with de-cluttering one room convinces me that order is a high spiritual value. Being efficient in your workspace is as important for a writer as for a surgeon. If you feel the need to de-clutter, start with the room where you do your most important work. I believe it will motivate you.
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