My father dearly loved and adored George Carlin!!
This routine about STUFF was one of his all-time favourites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac
As my husband and I were literally vacuuming the garage floor last weekend … yup … we did that … I started thinking about how organizing our stuff during the pandemic has made us feel so much better!!
Not only better, but more CREATIVE!!
It turns out it’s really a thing!!
Physical surroundings drastically affect our mood, and our creative thinking.
Statistics say that workplace mess reduces our brain activity, and can negatively affect our work.
Being organized plays a crucial role in creative thinking. It literally allows us to better organize our ideas.
What I didn’t realize until it happened, was that the more our space/the garage was organized and decluttered, the more I thought of things I wanted to do!
Making the space around us clutter free, made space in my mind to create!
When you have less organizing to do in your home, the more physical space you have, but it also opens up space in your mind.
Clearing the physical clutter (including vacuuming the garage floor), also cleared the clutter from my mind.
So what about the idea that creative people are messy??
In the process of making something, there can be chaos, for sure! But for creativity to thrive, I believe the surrounding space needs to be organized for ideas to come to fruition.
A dishevelled environment can halt our creative performance, largely by diminishing our well-being.
Research tells us that people who describe their homes as cluttered exhibit greater depression and fatigue, diminished coping skills, and increased difficulty transitioning from work to home compared to people who view their place of residence more positively.
The problem with being stressed out by a messy environment is that the mess tends to remain in place, thereby leading to constant cortisol production!!!
AND, there’s more!!!!
Another consequence of mess-induced stress is weight gain.
According to several sources, people with unkempt homes are 77% more likely to be overweight than those who reside in organized surroundings.
When you declutter your physical environment, you have more mental bandwidth to make better decisions, set priorities, and create space for new creativity, possibilities, and ideas to come to you.
Do you get more creative in a decluttered space? Have you recently vacuumed your garage floor? J Please let me know!! I would love to hear from you!
Marilyn
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