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| Arrangement Catherine Al-Meten Meyers |
When wanting to change things up in life, it is often suggested that we look at something familiar from a different angle. Years ago I recall a suggestion to do this to get a different take on life in general. Sit on the floor to see how young children may be looking at things, or look at a view of the ocean by standing with your back to it and looking at the sea from between your legs---upside down. While this may seem like an odd thing to do, you certainly see the world from a different angle when you do.
When I was an overwhelmed young mother, my friend Lois and I would help each other get our homes in order. I'd go to her house and help her clean up or clear out things she'd been struggling with. At her house it was her sewing room. Her sewing room had been a nursery for two of her children who had died of Cystic Fibrosis. Her sewing room and dealing with her memories and grief, were very difficult for her. So I helped her by moving things around with her and listening to her talk about her lost lambs. She came to my house and helped me get down and dirty in the kitchen. We sat on my kitchen floor rearranging the lower shelves so they would be child-friendly, and we talked about the challenges of marriage, raising families, and being women with dreams in the 1970s.
Our homes, offices, and studios are our world. They are places where we spend a great deal of time. The longer we live in a home, or in fact, the longer we live, the more we have to deal with. We have more stuff. We have more memories. And we have more energy that need to be channeled. As much as we declutter, rearrange, or redo our homes and offices, the energy builds up in some areas that we haven't quite been able to deal with. And at certain times, we need a new approach, a new way to get a different angle on just what energy needs to be changed.
This week I had the very special gift of having a good friend help me look at my own home from a different angle. I had asked her to come by to give me her take on what I might change. I'd gotten to the point where I had run out of ideas. Her input, the input of someone whose own home was designed so artistically, meant I was willing to listen to her ideas. To see things through her eyes. It also meant I was willing to let someone see the areas of my home that I was struggling with most.
Before she came over, I had imagined we'd start with something simple like some ideas about how to rearrange the furniture or ideas for how to repurpose items to new uses. Perhaps she'd help me figure out how to use my office space better. What happened was something else.
As I have mentioned in the past, the art of Feng Shui is about energy. Our energy is tied up in all kinds of ways especially in our homes. Those closets and drawers where we have stuffed things or those out-of-the-way corners and hiding places that are packed full of who-knows-what. All those spaces that are filled up with clutter or where piles and boxes of disorganized stuff sit, block the energy or the flow of Chi in our lives. Not just our homes but also our lives. Why is that? Because as long as a 'mess' remains, it takes up space in our minds and blocks the flow of energy. Whether or not you buy into this concept, allow that at the very least, we feel better when things are cleaned up and cleaned out. That is energy and our relation to it.
Anyway, when my friend arrived in the mid-afternoon, we walked around and ended up in the office/studio. I had cleared off the top of my work table, but most of what had been on it now sat on my desk. Before we had a chance to go further, she asked me, "Where is the place you'd like to start?" Without thinking, I said, "Well, if you really want to know" at which point I pulled back the white curtain panel that serves as a door to my large walk in closet, "this is what is a constant issue for me. As many times as I've rearranged it, it still isn't working." So that is where we started, and stayed for the remainder of the afternoon. She began asking me what things were and how they were used. The large closet, by the way, is the only closet in the entire apartment. It houses primarily supplies--office supplies, art supplies, photography supplies and equipment, and boxes and files of paperwork, letters, photographs, and lots of baskets.
Create a Focal Point of Beauty. The first thing she did was create a beautiful arrangement of some of my baskets on a top shelf of a book case beneath a window. Out of all the 'mess' that I saw, she spotted my beautiful assortment of baskets. She began by finding the beauty and creating a focus point to work around. I love this idea because it's like having the ice cream before the vegetables.
Make Room: Another step we took was to clear off all the shelves. As we cleared shelves, we were able to discover what needed to be tossed in the recycling bin, what needed to be donated or given to someone who would use it, and what had been hidden away and forgotten. I found a drawing that I'd stored away and forgotten, and with that I started a pile on my work table for items that needed to be reframed.
As we cleared all the shelf space, table tops, and closet shelves, we discussed how best to use the space. The high up space that I cannot reach, we decided would be used for items like blankets (stored in safety covers), boxes of files, boxes of decorations, and pieces of luggage.
Next we began designating certain spaces for certain elements of my work. There is a section for writing and mailing supplies. Another section houses the art supplies, and another houses photography supplies.
Let Form Fit Function. The next thing she did was ask me to suggest items that could be stored in the baskets. Baskets or open bins provide an accessible and easy to see way to store items you use regularly. With a wooden cube that I had once used for a temporary table, my friend saw a step stool that would make it easier for me to reach the lower shelf of the closet space. It was placed so that it was both handy and out of the way.
I have boxes of framing materials, and she took the frames out of the boxes and created room for me to store them so that I could see what I had. The spare glass was stored in a safe place, and a space was cleared on top of a table where the frames were displayed and where I could actually work on them. While I do most of my framing on a special high work table, this closet space gave me extra room to work on preliminary ideas. It also used the supplies as an arrangement...it looks beautiful in and of itself. She found a sign from an old art exhibit, and propped it up in front of the frames. Creating another focal point of beauty.
As one who is always finding beauty in the ordinary and simple, I had changed the way I was looking at this closet and its contents. No longer was I seeing the 'mess' of it all, but I found the elements of beauty that needed some care and attention.
Cleaning Up. We all know that when we do things one step at a time, big tasks are easier. Many of us however, get so involved in other things, that we let some areas of our life go. For me it's been THE CLOSET than has been draining the energy. As we sorted through and decided how to use the space, find places for what was in the closet, and took a lot of things out to be recycled or given away, we cleaned up as we went along. Using my Mrs. Meyers' all purpose cleaner, we washed off the frames, the surfaces, and later, we swept and washed the wooden floor. I shook out the rag rug I keep in the closet, and wiped down the window sills.
Recycle, Reuse, Remove. The items that we removed from the closet, were set by the front door. I carried items for recycling down to the bin, and put a number of items in my car trunk to take to donate or get rid of. A good idea is to have a TO GO box by the front door. Another good idea is to take the box out regularly. Avoid letting the recycling pile up; that's another huge energy drain.
Establish New Routines. Many of us are really good at getting the major cleaning and clearing done on a semi-regular basis. However the trick to keeping the energy/Chi flowing is to build in routines in your life that keep the energy flowing. Making the bed first thing in the morning. Changing the linens at the same time weekly. Sweeping the floor daily, or vacuuming and dusting on some kind of regular cycle. Doing the dishes as you go along (especially important for those of us with no dishwashers).
Find a way to establish a routine that works for you. I for example am a late-night gal. I do things in the middle of the night quite often because that is when I find myself most motivated. Dishes at one a.m., is better than facing a sink full in the morning. Changing sheets before going to bed assures a good night's sleep. A weekly cleaning out of my purse or the daily inspection of the refrigerator, is preferable to facing the giant science experiment there is to face if I let cleaning out the refrigerator become less important than it should be. The refrigerator holds the foods we use to prepare our meals and feed and nourish ourselves. Decide for yourself what wastes your time and energy. Then look at the chore or space to determine how to use your energy better.
To help determine your routines, establish some priorities. Decide what is taking the most energy from your day. What is taking more time or causing you more distress, and then take a new look at how you might tackle the problem. It might mean you find a friend to help you see things with fresh eyes. It might mean you get someone to come in to do the big chores for you (cleaning outside windows, painting, gardening), or it may mean you eliminate what's not being used. For example, if there are a bunch of appliances in your kitchen, taking up space but not being used very often, change things. Either recycle the items or give them to someone who needs them, or find a new place to store the items. In my house there are items I use seasonally. Winter clothes go into storage by the beginning of summer. Items I used exclusively in the summer, are stored away until it's time to use them again.
Each of us has a time when we need to change our perspective. We each also have our own way of doing that reset. If you haven't figured that out yet, think of when you feel at your best, and then notice how you got there. Was it after a time out or by taking a day off from your normal routine? Was it by calling in help or was it by taking a break and rethinking and reimagining? Play around with this, and make it fun. Do what lifts your spirits, and try different ways of recharging your energy batteries. Look at the world from between your legs, upside down, and use your imagination or photographs from a magazine or a memory of a beautiful spot in a friend's house, and let yourself expand out beyond what has become familiar. Clear things out, make some room, create one focal point of beauty and work around that as you find a new angle to view your life and space.
