I’ve been thinking about the Broken Window Theory since attending a meeting on the litter problem in an industrial neighborhood here in Louisville. The theory says, if you keep urban environments in a well-ordered condition, ie. replace broken windows and control graffiti and litter, you may prevent further vandalism and possibly more serious crime.
Though I don’t break windows, paint on trains or litter, my desk is often a mess. And when it is, I have less respect for my work and I don’t put things away. When it’s orderly, I feel good and I want to keep it that way. Even my thesaurus knows we can’t separate our mindset from our visual world. Clutter: mess, litter, disorder, untidiness and confusion.
“I don’t have as much clutter as I used to and I certainly don’t have as much as clutter as she does,” I can tell myself. But the best rationalizations and projections don’t matter as much as the question, “Am I living the life I want to be living?”
Our life is frittered away by detail…..Simplify, simplify. - Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau could have said, “Our time, energy and true selves are frittered away by clutter - those collections of things that aren’t useful, meaningful, nor bring joy to our lives. Which all leads me to wonder about the cost of my clutter?
WASTES:
- How much time do I actually spend moving, arranging, putting away and finding stuff? What else could I be doing with this time? Can I find or use those things I need, care about or like to look at?
- Do I have space available – space for the things I want in my life.
- Could someone else be using or enjoying the things that I’m not.
- Can I think at my best when I am looking at clutter?
- Can I relax in this room? My thesaurus gives the opposite of clutter as “space."
DEMORALIZES:
- Does my clutter make me feel bad?
ME: I like the image of my family playing cards. And, don’t some card games require more than one deck? (I wouldn’t know this because …. my family doesn’t play cards.)
CARDS/ CRITICAL SELF: What?! You have not made your family into a card playing family?!??!
KIND/WISE SELF (Think Maria Von Trapp meets Mary Poppins for this one): You may not be a card playing family, but you are a 20 questions family, a walking in the neighborhood together family, and a hiking family. Must you be every kind of family?
With this and the discovery that three of the four sets are incomplete, I begin to send the cards into the trash.
CARDS/CRITICAL SELF: Wait!!!. Couldn’t you do something artistic with three incomplete sets? Shouldn’t you be the kind of artist that only uses recycled materials?
WISE/KIND SELF: You really don’t have enough room to collect all the things that you could possibly do art with. All this stuff is getting in the way of the art you want to do right now. It’s okay to let go of the recycling art dream, because your bigger dream is waiting for you to get started. You can’t if you’re kicking yourself for not being a card playing artist or a playing card artist.
In THE END the three incomplete sets are gone. They can no longer tell me I’m a bad parent and artist. The fourth set – the complete one survives… for now.
KEEPS ME IN THE PAST:
- Does my clutter keep me linked to moments, places and people from my past that are no longer part of my life? My mother thoughtfully kept four large trunks, one for each of her children. They contain such things as baby clothes, blankets, baby books, art, cards, awards, newspaper clippings and even some report cards The volume makes sense if as a parent, you want your children who are moving every three years to have a connection to the places, people and events in their lives. Continuing with this theme of keeping things over the years and for years, I've saved college and medical school documents and reports, photos, cards and letters including those from old boyfriends, and even those from friends I can’t remember.
ME: These things had meaning at some time, but now??
GRANDIOSE SELF: Well….. maybe someone, someday will want these things, you know to open a museum, a presidential library of sorts,....
WISE/ KIND ME: But isn’t your reality, that you are grounded and connected to family, friends, place and your current life?
With this thought, I keep weeding through the items my mother and I have saved. At present, I think I’ll keep my baby book, a baby dress, select photos, my journals, letters to and from my parents, husband and a couple of lifetime friends – the things that carry meaning for me now and that I may want in the future for inspiration or comfort. I find that as I get rid of things that don’t matter, I am able to see what does. As in life, I hope I can turn these large boxes of stuff into one smaller box of meaningful treasures.
Stay tuned if you're thinking,
"I could get rid of all this clutter, but I have a child and it is the year 2011!" Now that’s a different story! Is it really? Does it have to be? I’ll be wrestling with that one next. In the meantime, I’ll be trying to channel that all wise and compassionate mother with Julie Andrew’s voice ….for myself and for my daughter.
For those without children, stay tuned. I’m also learning some practical ways to remove clutter and keep it from getting into my house. All this inevitably leads to tackling relationship clutter, activity clutter and emotional clutter.