A Curious Mind Is An Active Mind

I don’t know why it is, but I cannot seem to keep my desk cleared. Oh I make the necessary valiant effort when it becomes overrun but I just can’t seem to keep it cleared for very long. It seems that each day a new piece of paper, or a tin of mints, or another pen pops up - almost over night. It calls to mind, an old fence out on a prairie against which bits of paper, kleenexes, and other discarded detritus of the careless passer-by have blown - and remain stuck there, emitting a sick, empty feeling of nothingness. But there is something - all that paper!

It’s almost as if these things are alive and multiply under cover of darkness in the hope that I won’t notice - but I do - and then I ignore it - until it cannot be ignored anymore.

If I just filed that which needed filing and tossed that which needed tossing, I know I’d save myself a great deal of angst when the inevitable day comes on which all the separate bits must be sorted - but it never happens.

I have become better at keeping it slightly tidier - but I’m nowhere near where I’d like to be. Now, don’t get me wrong - I’m not a hoarder - just a little messy when it comes to my desk - or any of my personal space, for that matter. I like to think of it as an attribute that comes with being an artist; we need space, we need things, art is messy, etc. - this prevents me from any other analysis that might make me feel that I’m just a slob - because I’m not.

In fact, in other areas I am obsessively neat and things must always be ‘just so’ or they require adjusting - this even extends to the gym. Take for example, today. I’m in the gym and I’m just about to begin my squats (with weights). I always do these in the same area with a wall behind me and on the opposite wall, directly across from me, are 3 exercise balls - 2 grey and 1 blue. They are usually in the following order: grey, blue, grey. Today, as I began my squats, they were arranged like this: blue, grey, grey. That would never do. There was something about the imbalance that cried out (to me) for the harmony of a more formal configuration - and after I’d finished my first set, I complied.

Now, is this the kind of thing that would disturb someone else? Anyone else? I don’t know. My point is - the necessity of order was required for me to have a ‘good’ workout - and the same thing applies to other areas in my life - so why not my desk? What is so different about that?

Perhaps it is just as I’ve always suspected - at least for me. Creativity requires a bit of chaos - a variety of objects to gaze upon can perhaps in some way stimulate the process - even if at some point agitation sets in and the ‘stage’ must be reset.

I think it’s time for resetting to begin.