On, In, and Around Mondays: Our Creativity House Keeping
My house is messy.
Not the dishes (they're done). Not the counter-tops (they're wiped). But the common spaces.
Books stacked, artwork strewn, cards built into mansions, sculptures tucked in an around our ordinary things.
I can't keep up with the stream of creativity, the interests, the experiments. I clean around them.
Home educating has always required this of me. The willingness to let the dining room be strung into a massive web or let the stairwell be home to a doll playland complete with zipline.
This past week, my kids went to an extended family function. While they were gone, the house got cleaner. It was nice to see the couch with its pillows all lined up in a row. I do like a place with a little more feng shui.
But then I remember that feng shui, as orderly as it can be when applied to a living room, was also strongly associated with the architectural planning of tombs.
I'm sure there's some kind of balance to be found. A living, creative place where you can walk from one end to the other without detour. But I haven't found it. To let my house be alive with creativity has meant a rather large dent in our feng shui.
Maybe even after the kids are gone some day, I should leave it this way.
______
On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.
If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)
This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...
posted by L.L. Barkat at 9:11 AM
15 Comments:
I have a hard time writing and even just thinking clearly when my house is disheveled. Brad and the boys are heading out of town this week for a few days -- I expect to be very productive in my neat-as-a-pin house!
It's lovely to meet you! I found your site via Home to 4 Kiddos blog and actually had a post written to participate in your link up! I too have cluttered common areas - there are always paper stacks, either with sketches or new stories on them, a play dough container nearby and of course, reading books galore! Along with the mess, there is frequent noise. And one day, I'm going to truly miss the noise :)
I do like a clean house, but sometimes you just have to have the resources for creativity "out".
It's a balance indeed not easily struck
Creativity and lack of clutter don't always go together! I'll opt for creativity any day. Thanks for the great post & for hosting the linkup!
God bless,
Laurie
Currenlty, my living room is littered with toddler toys. I've just resigned myself that such is life right now!
Mary Beth
Amen! My left brain always at odds with my right -- but relationship trumps all. That is what I remind myself. Cultivating there souls, igniting passions and fostering their growth -- that is my greatest accomplishment. Not a clean house -- I'm still learning, as old ways die hard.
Your house says, "People live here. Life happens here. Love dwells in these rooms." Don't worry, friend. It's all good!
I love this! I am grinning from ear to ear with thoughts of "feng shway"...don't even know how to spell it and I am a good speller!! Just not a household word in my house nor my world! I like the creativity left to inspire more, especially when children are involved!
loving you, ~ linda
I strongly dislike clutter and untidiness, but I try to keep in my heart that a house which is all perfect and neat is missing a radiance which I would never want to be without. I dread the time when it's just me with my neat, plump cushions and washed dishes and tidy silence. (Which doesn't stop me having regular hysterics about the MessMessMess!)
Mess and the sight of clutter can stimulate creativity rather than squelching it, because the "elements for activities" are right there reminding us of what we can do with the materials. Now, sigh, if there were only more time to actually do the creative things that the materials beckon us to work with.
Have a great day, Laura. Be blessed in the name of Jesus.
And Fengshui can be a great excuse for why things go well or poorly (during SARS, one university I know said that nooone would get sick because of the school's Fengshui :)). That being said, I do feel better when things are picked up.
Even though I'm not a home-educator, I get this one :). We live in this place--no tombs here! I keep thinking, "One day..." But you are probably right. There will always be other creative endeavors filling up my corners ;).
the most gracious words ever spoken to me by my mother-in-law were, "let the house BE while the kids are little."
LL, you said "To let my house be alive with creativity has meant a rather large dent in our feng shui." This would seem to be a contradiction in terms. A sort of oxymoron. What I know about feng shui is that everything is alive and connected with Ch'i. And the Ch'i in everything is always changing. If you live with what you love, you are practicing a hallmark of feng shui.
Your consulting architect and feng shui advisor. Blessings!
Love how you let your daughters be creative :)
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