May 31, 2016 · 4 comments · Categories: Musings · Tags: ,

Modern life is so complicated and full of things that need to get done, it can feel overwhelming at times. Not so much because of the existence of the to-do list, which is simply an unavoidable fact. What causes to-do anxiety is the feeling that there’s just too much on the list to ever get it all done.

And, you know what? There probably is. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however. Much of the stuff that ends up on the to-do list wouldn’t be a calamity if it never got done. Chances are, nobody would even pay enough attention to notice. It may feel like it’s been hanging around embarrassingly on the list forever; but the fact is, nobody else cares because it’s not a big deal and never was.

So I decided to write a “who needs to do it list” where all the annoying stuff that has been buzzing around on my to-do list for years can go take a nice long nap. Preferably on the ancient couch in my living room that is #1 on the list.

old couch

When I say ancient, I mean it has been around since my two college-graduate kids were little preschoolers gleefully jumping on it when I wasn’t looking. After they inevitably broke something and left a sagging spot, my daughter (who was full of good practical ideas even as a child) helpfully suggested putting an old pillow under the cushion.

Replacing the couch was something I wanted to do for a very long time. But, even though we are not paying tuition anymore, it still hasn’t gotten done. My husband doesn’t seem to have much interest in looking at furniture—like many guys, he’d rather buy gadgets and do fun stuff.

And I started thinking, well, what difference does it really make? Who needs to do it? After all, my husband is the one who sits on the cushion with the old pillow underneath; my side of the couch is not as broken down. If it doesn’t bother him enough to want a new couch, then why should I care?

I was going to finish this post by listing a few more “who needs to do it” things; but after writing about the couch, while sitting on it with a notepad and pen, I felt like I’d really rather take a nap instead! And of course, the list itself is another “who needs to do it” because it wouldn’t matter one iota if I never wrote it. Ditto on finishing the blog post at a particular time or writing a certain number of words; it’s just for fun and to reflect on whatever’s on my mind. No biggie!

May 29, 2016 · 4 comments · Categories: Musings · Tags:

Last spring I wanted to plant lantana next to my mailbox. I’ve always liked the flame-colored ones, in particular. But when I looked at garden stores, I didn’t see any lantana and ended up planting mandevilla instead, as shown in this post.

The mandevilla was pretty, and it reminded me to keep an open mind to finding beautiful things everywhere. This year I walked into the garden store just thinking I’d browse for a little while and find something I liked, rather than having a particular kind of flower in mind for the mailbox area. And, you guessed it, they had plenty of lantana on display, in my favorite colors too.
 

Small lantana with orange, pink, and yellow blossoms. 

Sometimes, what we’re looking for is more likely to show up when we’re not looking for it!

* Good Things is a weekly series featuring the many unexpected joyful things that show up when clutter and stagnation have been cleared away. It’s meant as a reminder that life is always full of happy little surprises, when there’s enough space for them!

I had a conversation with a coworker in which she asked: Would you face a dangerous situation with bravado, like the heroes on TV and in the movies, or would you run and hide? She said that she likely would run away, since she couldn’t even be brave about facing a bug.

My answer was that we can’t know what we might do in a situation until we are in it. Someone who runs away shrieking at the sight of a bug might not hesitate to go into a burning house to save a child. We don’t have to swagger around with bravado like action-movie heroes before we can do something that is needed.
 

Three firefighters do a training exercise with flames in background.

(Creative Commons image via flickr)
 

Because we see hero images so often in our culture, if we are not full of bravado and don’t fit the hero archetype, it subconsciously makes us feel more powerless than we really are. We believe there’s not much we can do by ourselves, so we want a superhero to swoop down from the sky and save us.

As a result, we leave ourselves open to marketing efforts designed to prey on our sense of vulnerability. Companies promise to save us from the embarrassment of being our real selves if we buy their amazing miracle products. Political candidates who lack qualifications rely on bravado and bluster to make up for their shortcomings. Like the Wizard of Oz behind his curtain, there’s no real magic to be found; but we’ve gotten so used to looking for a hero that we often can’t spot a humbug.

Even if we don’t feel like heroes, we’re actually doing much more in everyday life than we give ourselves credit for doing. As with Dorothy’s companions, we are likely to find what we’re searching for through the journey itself, though we may not know it at the time. Bravado is not required.

Our society has gotten so competitive that people stress themselves out all the time worrying that other people might be doing better than they are. And whether we’re talking about work, school, sports, or anything else, there’s usually another person who is doing something better. After all, the world is a very big place and it’s not reasonable to expect perfection in everything we do.

It’s much healthier to take a step back from the competitive frenzy and remind ourselves that it’s not really about who wins or loses on a particular day—rather, making simple little changes for the better in everyday life will add up to much more as time passes.
 

Word-art that says "The only person you should try to be better than, is the person you were yesterday." 

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.

May 22, 2016 · Write a comment · Categories: Musings · Tags:

Last week I wrote a Good Things post about replacing old garage shelves. They looked much better, and we had more space for everything that we moved there. The only problem was that one of the items moved was a decrepit, grimy plastic basket where I kept small gardening things such as a spade and gloves. I hadn’t yet gotten around to buying new gardening gloves for this season, either.

So this week I made a point of getting out to the store to buy new gloves in a cheerful pink color for spring, along with a somewhat bigger plastic basket, which fits nicely on the shelf in place of the old basket and keeps everything a lot tidier.
 

White plastic lattice-weave basket on garage shelf. 

Much improved—now everything in that area of the garage is looking fresh and new! We also brought a medium-sized plastic garbage can, which hadn’t been used in years and was still in good condition, up from the basement to replace an icky old one in the garage. Always best to be thorough when doing a makeover, whatever its subject may happen to be!

* Good Things is a weekly series featuring the many unexpected joyful things that show up when clutter and stagnation have been cleared away. It’s meant as a reminder that life is always full of happy little surprises, when there’s enough space for them!

With so much going on in today’s busy world, it’s all too easy to get a bad attitude when something doesn’t go as expected. I have to confess that I let myself get annoyed recently when I wanted to make an appointment and was waiting for a call back, but did not get a prompt response. I started to feel like maybe I was being ignored on purpose. They did eventually call, and of course the most likely explanation is that they were just disorganized and it was nothing personal at all.
 

Word-art that says "Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." -Winston S. Churchill 

Sometimes those little annoyances are best taken as nothing more than life’s helpful reminders that an attitude adjustment might be called for!

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.

May 15, 2016 · 2 comments · Categories: Musings · Tags:

My past blog entries about clutter never featured a photo of the old shelves in the garage, but not because it wasn’t deserved. The shelves, left behind by the previous owners when my family moved into our starter house in 1993, probably had been there for many years already. When we bought our current house, we moved the shelves without thinking much about it. Just one more thing to replace eventually.

After that, we didn’t think much about the old shelves, except that sometimes when we walked past them we noticed the obvious fact that they had seen better days. But they weren’t falling down yet, so there was always something else that got our attention instead.

On Monday afternoon, when it was so cold and rainy that we didn’t feel like going anywhere, my husband decided that it would be a good time to put together some new shelves. Not only are they sturdier than the old creaky ones, they’re also larger and hold a lot more stuff, letting us organize things in the garage much better. There was so much difference, it left us saying “Wow!”
 

Particle board garage shelves in a metal frame. 

And garbage pickup was the next morning, which was good because there definitely wasn’t anything worth salvaging in the old shelves! When we took them apart, one of the screws wouldn’t turn because of all the rust, and just had to be broken loose with a kick.

Sometimes a little more structure goes a long way—not only as to the shelves, but also making sure to replace old worn-out stuff when it needs to be done!

* Good Things is a weekly series featuring the many unexpected joyful things that show up when clutter and stagnation have been cleared away. It’s meant as a reminder that life is always full of happy little surprises, when there’s enough space for them!

I’m listening to the rain as I write this post, with occasional thunder rolling through. This past week has been dark and humid, leaving an oppressive feeling as if I’ve lost much of my mental energy for no particular reason. The stories and blog posts I’d like to write seem as if they’re far away, washed out to sea with the tide on a dark moonless night, with only a faint gleam of dawn to be seen.
 

Sunrise at Bellambi Beach, Australia

(Creative Commons image via flickr)
 

But, there is peace in those quiet spaces too, and time to reflect. It’s the same in our minds as in nature—the sun and the tide always return.

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.

May 8, 2016 · 2 comments · Categories: Musings · Tags:

One of my Clutter Comedy posts featured the shower caddy with a bottle of men’s shampoo, which become completely useless several years ago when my husband decided to shave his head. All that time, I had been putting my shampoo and conditioner next to it without paying attention. I tried a few different kinds, but nothing seemed to be quite right for my hair, and I was getting frustrated. On my bad hair days, it has an unfortunate tendency to stick out on the sides and make “wings” around my ears. Last week I bought this “calming” shampoo and conditioner by Nature’s Gate:
 

Nature's Gate calming shampoo and conditioner in shower caddy. 

My husband thought that “calming” was a funny thing to call shampoo and conditioner, but they really did help to settle my hair into nice calm waves, rather than wildly sticking out all over. And they are sulfate-free and made with healthy herbs, so they’re better for my scalp than the other stuff I had been using. So, I give them a big yay. And, if the shower caddy hadn’t been decluttered last year, it’s likely I would not have found them. I wouldn’t have been as adventurous in trying new hair products because clutter subconsciously makes people expect that things won’t change.

* Good Things is a weekly series featuring the many unexpected joyful things that show up when clutter and stagnation have been cleared away. It’s meant as a reminder that life is always full of happy little surprises, when there’s enough space for them!

May 5, 2016 · 8 comments · Categories: Musings · Tags:

I ordered a flat of snapdragons again this year for a junior rowing fundraiser. Some of last year’s plants are still alive because of the mild winter (as shown in a late November post), but they’re not blooming yet, so it will be good to get some new ones in next to them!

The plants were delivered to the boathouse this afternoon, and my husband picked them up. He hasn’t gotten home yet, and the flowers are still in his car, so I’m posting an image that I cropped from the order sheet instead of the actual flowers.
 

Picture of mixed-color snapdragons from plant sale flyer. 

Tomorrow afternoon I’ll get them planted while my husband mows the lawn. Wishing all my readers in the Northern Hemisphere a week of happy spring planting too!

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.