Find the calm in the stormy seas of change

Got to go from messy to get to clean.

I’ve always been into getting things organized. My spaces, my thoughts, my work, my technology, my life. Even as an adult, my mother would describe me by saying “she’s so organized.” I’m not a fan of clutter and really love that feeling of calm that comes from bringing some sense of order to chaos.

But today it hit. I realized that my approach to bringing order or calm to the chaos requires that I first make it even messier or more chaotic. Even as a kid, I would have an intention to clean and organize my closet but the next thing I knew I had emptied every drawer, removed every piece of clothing from the closet, pulled every book from the book shelf, and cleared off my desk space. Everything strewn all over the bed and the floor. Piled. Thrown. Dumped. Grabbing items from other rooms and adding it to the expanding chaotic piles. 

I still approach organizing in this same whirling dervish approach. I bring the mess from the darkness of drawers and closets and into the light of the open spaces. Co-mingling it. Expanding it. Like splattering every color of paint onto a blank canvas. At first, it feels cathartic even liberating. But at some point, as the messiness becomes apparent, I begin to feel like it’s an insurmountable challenge. The path forward is no longer clear. 

It can feel overwhelming, this mess of my own making. And yet, I sense, deep down that I have what it takes to bring order to the chaos. I realize that I have to go through this exploration of the mess to find the clarity that I seek. I have to explore all the possibilities to discern what matters most. I have to be in the mess and feel what it’s like in order to have the capacity to see what’s essential and to bring structure to my world and clarity to what matters most. 

Mindful Reflection:

• What messiness do you need to go through to get to clean? 

• What meaning do you find in the messiness of life?

• How do you bring order to the chaos?