Clutter and Creativity

I am excited to share that I have a Creativity Coach! I am feeling that there is something that I am meant to create and she is going to help me “give birth” to it! She asked me what fears and obstacles I have that may be standing in my way. Hmmm…My fear is that I won’t experience everything I can possibly experience. So, I have to get busy! I can’t put my finger on what is standing in my way. I do know that clutter can stand in the way of many things, creativity being one of them. So, I tackle the “stuff” I own once again, wondering if it is keeping me from living a fully creative life. Having recently moved into a 3 room casita, I am having to dig deep to keep the place tidy and I have already gotten rid of massive numbers of “things”. When we got back from Colorado today, I had 5 newly purchased books which means 5 others have to leave this house. I rationalize that it doesn’t have to be 5 books, it can be 5 things that take up the same amount of space as the new books. Hey, these are my rules, I am making this up as I go! So, two pairs of capris that I never wear are stuffed into the Charity Box. Capris should be against the law anyway. I have never seen anyone look good in them. Bad design. Pedal pushers went out of style for a reason! Two more pairs of dress paints that would require heels that didn’t make the last clutter cut. A white shirt and a white tank top. I don’t look good in white since I stopped coloring my hair. ONE book, a dress that had a huge print that made me look like a giant flower garden (WTH was I thinking?)-GONE. Okay, that’s 7, so I get to keep the books!

The next set of clutter that works against this ADD girl will be remedied by my Artist’s Way Morning Pages. One of the books I came home with is actually a pretty new journal. I’m such a sucker. Like a 99 cent spiral wouldn’t suffice? So, three pages of dumping my brain on paper every morning rids it of all that chatter so I can be productive in some other way. That mind decluttering process begins AGAIN tomorrow!

Maybe I should change the 3x3s and incorporate the daily decluttering of my brain and my belongings! We will know if this process works, if I ever actually have any art to post on this blog! For now, an occasional photo will have to suffice. Those Aspens in Colorado were strutting their stuff! That's how I see it!

3 x 3 s

Want to know what 3X3s means?

Okay. A few years ago, I had been beat up and beat down and so had my niece. We were jobless and depressed and had a hard time putting one foot in front of the other.
So, niece #1 and I committed to each other to share, via email, a system we called 3x3s. We wrote three simple lists daily to each other.
#1-3 Things we would accomplish
#2-3 Things we would do that were fun
#3-3 Things we were grateful for

Seriously, if you have ever been depressed, you know that these lists can feel insurmountable. Sometimes, getting out of bed, getting dressed, taking a shower were seen as great accomplishments.

Having fun lists. Really, we are pretty fun girls. But, in those dark days we struggled to find fun and had to rely on each other to figure out what might bring a smile to our faces. There were days that eating a pint of Hagen Daz was the fun thing and we praised each other for it! Well, that’s ALWAYS a fun thing, right?

Gratitude lists—we knew the grand importance of that component. But, sometimes we were saying things like “I am grateful I got to clean the cat box because it means the cat is still alive.”

The 3x3 system works. When I feel a friend is in that dark, cobwebby place, I invite them to play along. It ALWAYS works. Sometimes takes a few days. Always brings light to the darkness. You don’t even notice that you have stopped playing anymore. Life has simply returned to “normal” and is once again joy-filled. If you ever want to play with me, I am thrilled to do it. We will both be lifted!

So today, for me, it goes like this:
A (Accomplish):
*Empty those last two boxes from the move
*Wash clothes after dryer repairman comes
*Take stuff to Goodwill—okay..have Charles take stuff

F (Fun):
*Yoga
*Mexican Food for 1st time in 64 days
*Zozobra event—burning of Old Man Gloom! It’s a Santa Fe Thang


G (Gratitude):
*I am grateful that we followed our hearts to Santa Fe
*I am grateful for the windows and doors being open with a breeze coming in
*I am grateful for walking home from my gallery gig in the rain. How romantic and urban it was walking from the Santa Fe Plaza to our Casita a few blocks away!

3x3s—it’s simple-it works. Join in anytime! (You don’t have to be depressed to play!)


p.s. Linka encouraged me to try to paint BIG after I struggled with the tiny, detailed stuff I used to do. The painting on the blog is my wild and juicy attempt at big and abstract.