When I consider what to write for a Nurturing Thursday post, I start by reflecting on what I’ve learned over the past week about how to nurture myself better. Usually, something comes to mind from my recent experiences, or perhaps I notice changes that have taken place over a longer period. Although I still wasn’t sure what to write for this post when I considered it last night, I realized that I was taking better care of myself just by thinking about it! Simply making time to reflect on self-nurturing is a valuable practice in itself, just as going to the library or downloading e-books regularly are ways to create opportunities for learning. Even if no significant insights happen on a particular day, the chances of learning something useful are much improved.
 

Library shelves as seen from above the stacks.

(Creative Commons image via flickr)
 

I would also put reading blogs regularly in the category of valuable learning opportunities that promote self-nurturing, provided they have a consistently positive tone and contribute to nourishing the souls of the readers. That’s why I set aside time every day to read positive blogs! And I am grateful to have found the Nurturing Thursday community because the weekly reminder to focus on self-nurturing has been so worthwhile. I hope everyone else involved is enjoying it as much as I am!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

Setting aside time for reflection, with the aim of discovering one’s authentic self, is common advice in inspirational books and articles. The modern world’s distractions and responsibilities often lead to the feeling that somewhere along the way, we have gotten much too busy and lost a clear sense of who we really are. Meditation, long walks in the forest, and spiritual retreats are seen as ways of reconnecting.
 

Path in autumn forest with fallen leaves.

(photo credit: publicdomainpictures.net)
 

When I started clearing clutter out of my house earlier this year, I wasn’t thinking about it in terms of improving my sense of self; I just wanted to tidy things up and feel more comfortable at home. I’m starting to feel that it’s all part of the same process, though. Letting go of physical clutter brings up thoughts and emotions having to do with each item’s source and what function it once served in my life. This in turn causes me to reflect on where I am now and what has changed since then. So I’m not just taking old stuff to the thrift store, but also clearing out my old emotions and routine behaviors associated with the stuff. I am making space for creative energy, positive thought patterns, and feeling more present in the here and now!

The subconscious mind is full of associations relating to the stuff in our environment. Even when something gets to be so much a part of everyday life that it doesn’t get noticed consciously, it still triggers emotions and habitual responses just by being there. So I would say that discovering one’s authentic self is not just about remembering the past; it’s also about clearing away whatever doesn’t feel right in the present.

Last week I wrote about giving up an old coat I’d had since the 1980s. This week I decided that I really didn’t need the accessories I had worn with it either—a matched hat, scarf, and gloves in bright, cheerful colors. I can’t remember when I got this set, but it probably was at least two decades ago.
 

Red hat, scarf, and gloves set, spread out on bricks. 

Winter accessories generally don’t go out of style, and they were still in good condition, so at first I didn’t see them as clutter. But my mom gave me two very pretty hat and scarf sets that she knitted not long ago, in lovely shades of purple. I’d like to buy new purple gloves to go with them. Why keep the old set when I had very little interest in wearing it? This time of year, someone else surely will enjoy finding it at the thrift store, and letting it go frees up space on my closet shelf.

About Clutter Comedy: Every Sunday (which I envision as a day of rest after a productive week of de-cluttering) I post a Clutter Comedy article describing my most memorable clutter discovery of the week. Other bloggers who wish to join in are welcome—just post a link in the comments! There’s no need to publish any “before” photos of your clutter, if they are too embarrassing. The idea is simply to get motivated to clean it up, while having a bit of fun too!

I planted a row of willows in my backyard in 2006, thinking they’d be well suited to an area that was lower than the surrounding terrain and often got soggy in the spring. They were so tiny that I had to put cages around them so they wouldn’t get nibbled to death by rabbits. And although they did indeed thrive on all the rain and snowmelt in the spring, they needed plenty of watering through the summer. It took a while, but now they have grown into a lovely, tall, solid hedge.
 

Row of willow bushes in my backyard. 

Also in 2006, an educational charity of which I am a board member was incorporated—the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), headquartered in Washington DC, which teaches leadership and self-advocacy skills. Like the willows, it started out tiny, with just a few volunteers. But over the years it has grown into a stable corporation with a solid track record of grants and projects, and will be celebrating its eighth anniversary next month. (Here’s a link to the Gala Registration Page for anyone who will be in the DC area on November 12th and would like to support ASAN’s work by attending!)

It’s not quite three years since I started my blog, but I have the same feelings of positive growth and solidity with regard to my writing. At first I didn’t post as often, got fewer comments, and wasn’t as organized with the blog as I wanted to be. This year it’s all flowing more easily, I feel more connected to the blogging community, more content has built up in my archives, and I’m having more fun overall! It’s really amazing how much power there can be in the small things we do over time.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

I had in mind to write a post for today about the concept of an authentic self, and put together a few paragraphs on that topic yesterday. But then I got busy with other things, never got back to it, and put my partial draft in a folder with other half-finished stuff. That wouldn’t have been a problem except that I started worrying about whether I’d have time to finish the post today, and how it would mess up my planned schedule for the blog if I didn’t, and I had some work to catch up on, so maybe I wouldn’t be able to get anything written for Thursday either…

And then I thought, whoa! What’s going on with all these pointless worries! First of all, a personal blog is supposed to be fun, rather than just another chore to get done. If I didn’t enjoy it, there wouldn’t be much reason to keep writing it, would there? So there’s no sense in taking the fun out of it with self-imposed production schedules; my job gives me enough of those already! And second, to the extent that I write for insight and sharing rather than just for fun, I can accomplish those goals much more effectively when I set aside the time I need for meaningful reflection. Hurrying through a task never gets the best results, even when it’s just a blog post!

So, I took a few minutes just now to refresh my mind by browsing through photos of peaceful nature scenes to put myself in a reflective mood. Here’s one that I enjoyed:
 

Photo of trees reflecting on water at sunset.

(Creative Commons image via flickr)
 

That was definitely more fun than worrying about whether I’d have time to finish writing yesterday’s draft. Hope you enjoy it too!

I have a green coat that became a favorite when I got it—26 or 27 years ago. Even after it went out of style and I bought other coats, I still wore it sometimes because it was comfy and warm. Last winter my husband bought me a new coat made of modern synthetic fabric that keeps me just as toasty, even though it’s not as thick or heavy. That was very welcome in last winter’s long string of freezing cold days!  So I have no good reason to keep the old coat. It might once have been useful, but it is just taking up space in the closet now, and there’s no getting around the fact that I’ve got to give it up.
 

Old green coat hanging on a doorknob. 

In honor of the occasion, I’ve added a classic old-school music video to this post. Yes, I know that getting down and dancing was what Marvin Gaye meant by “Got to Give It Up,” rather than getting rid of stuff, but I think the song fits anyway! After all, having a comfortable, clutter-free home can go a long way toward feeling in the mood to dance and celebrate! So let’s all give it up for conquering clutter, yay!
 

 

About Clutter Comedy: Every Sunday (which I envision as a day of rest after a productive week of de-cluttering) I post a Clutter Comedy article describing my most memorable clutter discovery of the week. Other bloggers who wish to join in are welcome—just post a link in the comments! There’s no need to publish any “before” photos of your clutter, if they are too embarrassing. The idea is simply to get motivated to clean it up, while having a bit of fun too!

As another year approaches, many of us choose a word or symbol to represent an intention for the new year. While it may still be a bit early for that as we’re only halfway through October, I happened to notice a figurine while browsing on Amazon last week that felt just right for how I’d like next year to go! So I went ahead and bought it, found a place for it in a sunny room where I’ll see it regularly, and took this photo.
 

Figurine of fairy holding small white dragon. 

The title is Release Dreams Fairy Holding Dragon (I’ve made that into a link to the Amazon page for anyone who might be interested).  It gives me a lovely visual reminder of what I want to do in the upcoming year—release my dreams to fly free and grow into something beautiful! And I do believe that seeing it every day will keep my thoughts focused on bringing more positive, creative energy into my life.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

We’re often told that we must be willing to go beyond our comfort zones if we want to accomplish anything significant and that otherwise, we’re doomed to stagnate. But not everyone agrees with that view. I recently came across a blog post entitled Comfort Zone Malarkey, in which the author pointed out that when we are more comfortable, we are also more productive. Why shouldn’t we want to arrange our lives in comfortable patterns that reduce our stress and make us more productive in our everyday tasks?

I’d say that as with many things, it is chiefly a matter of self-awareness and finding the right balance. Some of us naturally have wide comfort zones and are always eager to try new activities. Others get anxious about small changes in routine. Because the modern world is so full of change and disruption, those who get anxious more easily are often advised to work on expanding their comfort zones.

When a disruptive situation can’t reasonably be avoided, getting used to it is probably good advice. For instance, advances in technology may seem intimidating, but we’re much better off to get comfortable with new products as they come into use, rather than keeping obsolete stuff. Considering how quickly things are changing in our society, though, I don’t see a need to randomly jump into all sorts of activities with the aim of expanding our comfort zones. Just keeping up with today’s new technologies and cultural changes ought to give us plenty of practice in that!

As I see it, the main reason why people get stuck in unproductive routines is not that they haven’t tried to expand their comfort zones, but that routines can get outdated quickly without it being noticeable. We’ve all had to adjust our comfort zones hugely in recent years, just to deal with the massive changes taking place all around us. Even when a change is good, we still need some amount of time and mental energy to get used to it. And when we get stressed trying to keep up with everything that’s going on, we fall back on familiar routines to calm ourselves.

Having comfortable routines is not a problem in itself. We all need them! But if we don’t take enough time to reflect on whether our routines suit our current circumstances, we can end up mindlessly stuck in habits that don’t work well at all. Especially as we get older, it’s all too easy to keep on doing something a certain way because that’s how we have done it for the past 30 years, whether or not it makes sense anymore. That lack of reflection is what causes people to stagnate, much more than being afraid to leave a comfort zone. After all, if it hasn’t even crossed our minds that doing something different might be possible, then we never reach the point of considering whether we might want to do it—and our comfort zone slowly shrinks.

When that happens, it’s not because we lack the intelligence or imagination to notice that our circumstances have changed. Rather, it’s because the complexity of the modern world forces us to adjust our routines much more than our ancestors ever had to do. Keeping up with everything that has changed around us is a lot of work—it’s no wonder some things get overlooked! So, when dealing with people whose routines seem overly rigid, kindness and understanding are needed. After all, we may have our own stagnant habits that we haven’t noticed yet!

Keeping a few of those little plastic dose cups that come in a cough syrup package can be useful. If more than one person in the house catches a cold at the same time, there are enough clean cups to go around, and nobody has to wash the cups immediately while feeling tired and sick. But on the other hand, it’s not necessary to keep every cup from every package of cold medication bought over the past ten years!
 

Four stacks of old plastic cough syrup dose cups. 

As with any other clutter, they just take up space and get in the way when they’re not purged regularly. The stacks get so tall that when someone reaches into the cabinet, the cups are likely to tip over, making an annoying mess. And I had some particularly useless cups because the manufacturer recently changed the markings and dose instructions from teaspoons to milliliters. So I threw away all the old cups marked only in teaspoons, while keeping the new ones with metric markings and a few transitional cups marked with both.

In general, it’s important to check the contents of a medicine shelf or drawer regularly. Otherwise it gets cluttered not only with old dose cups, but also with old expired medicines, which can be dangerous. To prevent environmental contamination, old medicines should not be poured down the sink; they need to be disposed of properly.

About Clutter Comedy: Every Sunday (which I envision as a day of rest after a productive week of de-cluttering) I post a Clutter Comedy article describing my most memorable clutter discovery of the week. Other bloggers who wish to join in are welcome—just post a link in the comments! There’s no need to publish any “before” photos of your clutter, if they are too embarrassing. The idea is simply to get motivated to clean it up, while having a bit of fun too!

As children, we sought out comfy little hidey-holes almost by instinct. A favorite spot might have been a branch halfway up a backyard tree, surrounded by colorful autumn leaves. Or maybe we had a secret cave inside a closet where we went on imaginary adventures with a storybook and flashlight. It was all ours, and it was great fun. Pets like to find and claim cozy little spaces around the house, too!
 

Puppy lying on a wood shelf in the kitchen. 

When we grow up, though, it’s not so easy to find places that feel like our own comfy space. Maybe we’d like to sit and relax with a cup of tea and a good book on a rainy weekend; but there isn’t even enough room for a teacup on the kitchen table because it got so full of clutter, and someone else already took the couch and settled in to watch TV. And of course, sitting in a tree or closet while reading the book is not something a grown-up would even think of doing! So, instead of enjoying a restful afternoon, we end up cleaning off the kitchen table again…

That can go on for many years while we assume it’s just the way adult life goes. But eventually, after neglecting our need for restful places, we start to develop symptoms of Comfy Space Deprivation—stress, tiredness, and general blah feelings. Fortunately, there is a cure. Instead of letting everyone’s junk pile up all over the house until finding a place to sit feels like a game of musical chairs, we can take control and get the house organized the way we want it.

Yes, we still have the power to create comfy spaces, just like when we were children! Although we probably wouldn’t want to hide in a closet like our six-year-old former self or climb up on a shelf like a puppy, even if we were small enough to do it, there are plenty of other options to creatively decorate our own cozy little corner—a bamboo screen, a cheerful painting, our favorite music, and maybe a new chair if the budget permits. All it takes is a bit of time and imagination!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.