For someone who cleaned other peoples houses for some ten years I am a grot in my own space, maybe because of cleaning other peoples houses for some ten years. When I cleaned with cloth, sponge and detergent, I also cleared space with smudging, incense and candles, so it was a bit of a double whammy, and no-one spoke up to say they were unhappy with the results. For myself though its a discipline, I procrastinate and dither about domestics. Once I actually start, then I go into a body state of just doing it and it becomes quite enjoyable. If the stereos cranked it helps.
The odd thing is I do love an ordered space, so whats the deal with avoidance of those dishes until they look like they might bite back, or crawl away. I believe its a phenomena known as 'put it off for a long time cos then when u do it, its a real transformation' and we all love transformation. Thats why people pay other people to clean and clear for them. Its a version of backyard blitz, domestic blitz. You leave your home kinda at the point where u just dont have the energy to deal with it and call in someone else. Damn, wish I could do it every now and then.
I also did gardening jobs for a few people, just kind of organically happened from cleaning. One lady I worked for, Olive, was a classic. In her heyday having a gardener was for the fancy folk, so to her having me weeding away was an absolute luxury and when I was working in the front yard she took visible joy in introducing me, to as many people as possible, as 'her gardener'. Hilarious, but I digress....
Yesterday I whipper snipped all the lawns, which Ive nurtured by picking up leaves and storm blown stuff that would otherwise have smothered it fr months. Felt very suburban, but you know what, they looked better, clearer, like the ol place was loved. Bingo, thats what its about for me, an energy of lovin your space. Acknowledging the roof over my head, which is something not all folks have.
Home and hearth is virtually a mood ring for me. Ive had this theory verified by memebers of community mental health teams. They can get some insight into how someones going by visiting them in their own homes and observing what they see. Which i suppose is why it can be a form of practice, to keep your space reasonably clear. Of course the version of 'reasonable' varies.
I love creative chaos, when your in deep midproject nothing else matters and this process is so full of life! Oh the joy of having my own space where I can leave a project half done and spend some time on another without having someone else say those words, 'put that away', 'have you finished with that?', 'tidy up after yourself'. To leave possibly inspiring texts and materials strewn about in my visual space nurtures my makings, you never know where that'll lead. When I spent 6 weeks camping with my brother, we function in exactly the same way, what some would call chaos made sense to me. Lay it all out where you can see what you might need, makes it easy to find things.
Again its a juggle as to how much chaos or clean space is functional for how long. I know after I left a space clean and clear for someone, they'd walk straight back in and start making life mess. That's how come I'd be called back in a week or two to do it all again. Life is messy, on so many levels and to some degree we have to embrace it as such. Sometimes, infact I find that I overembrace...
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