It all started with a table lamp.
I’ve had a tiffany-style table lamp for years and years, and I love the soft light it adds to the room. Not exactly enough to read by, I’ll grant, but the colors of the shade make up for that.
About… let’s say six months ago, because longer is embarrassing, it started to flicker whenever one of the cats went by. I promptly unplugged it, but that’s about all I did promptly.
“I need to find a shop to take a look at that” wandered through my mind every time I saw the lamp. In the evenings I’d make a note of it again, and turn on another lamp, and forget.
The turning point came, oddly enough, not with the lamp itself, but with a clock. While we were out one day, our cats had a fine time playing and knocked over an old clock. There’s a large spiral of metal that I’m pretty sure is supposed to go somewhere inside… but I have no idea where.
The clock is by my desk. I glance at it probably thirty times a day
. And two things being so obviously out of joint was too much.
Once I made it a priority, within an hour I’d found places to repair both the clock and the lamp. And once the ball was rolling, we started looking at some other things around the house.
One of the fuzzy suspects in the clock incident.
Sean figured a clever solution to a hanging extension cord that had bothered us for AGES, and now is perfectly fixed. I have a possibly better place to put some art supplies.
Nothing is one-hundred percent tidy, and the house certainly isn’t ready for any sort of surprise visit by a white gloved inspector, but things feel a little smoother.
And I realized it’s about alignment, congruence.
We want our house to be a refuge from the outside world, our safe haven. And when we can make little changes to bring it closer to the vision we have for it, everything feels better, more comfortable.
That works with things outside of the house, too.
I’ve been thinking for a while about the tangle of websites I have – some old projects that are no more, some current projects that are on hold, some that are terribly active. And it’s all just a mess.
Redoing the sites, figuring out what should really go where, and how each site could be best used has been on my list, but wasn’t a priority. And I was sure it was going to take FOREVER.
Until I realized that this is also about congruence. Making it clear to the outside world, and myself, who I am and what I do. Bringing what I say I’m doing, and how I’m presenting that, into alignment with what my vision is for my life.
That bit of clarity made it more of a priority to get things untangled, to clear and reshape the paths that people can use to find me. And again, once I got started, it didn’t take forever. Four days of very off and on work has gotten quite a lot of progress done. There’s still more tweaking, more rewriting, but what felt like a dark tangle of chaos now has an order to it.
Looking around now for more small adjustments I can make to add more congruence between my life and my vision!
What changes can you make in your life that would bring you into greater alignment? Let me know in the comments below!
(Don’t forget the last Realizing Your Goals class for January is coming up this Saturday! Click here for more information and to register.)
Oh, I can think of a many things that need a bit of alignment and shifting in my apartment. Your post has definitely inspired me to do something small in my living space to shift my energies. Over the past few months I’ve been struggling with clutter moreso than normal. I think it boils down to not having enough places to put stuff away or finally deciding to do some spring cleaning and offer up some items for donation. Hmm … hard choices. Today I choose to work on my desk area. It’s small enough to actually make a difference and realistic enough to get done. Thank you, Corie!
The clutter. The clutter is an ongoing struggle here, too – and a major project for the next few months. Good luck to us both!
There are artificial ways to have the “white glove inspection.” Over a month ago I started a project for some students I work with but then hit a snag and just left it. Now I am scheduled to see those student next week! And the project will be finished by then. Deadlines – even artificial ones – can motivate.