soul satisfaction

My office is really beginning to come together, and it is enormously satisfying to see things finally have a place to call home. Like photos that have yet to be scrapped. The corner cabinet came with a lazy Susan--not my first choice, but I am working with it. The top level I am using as a stationary section for, you guessed it, photos and their archaic counterpart, negatives. The lower, swiveling level holds containers of ribbon, glue and heat guns, and a miscellany of other craft items. It is amazing how much space is now free elsewhere to be designated as home for other items.

Scrapping accessories are a real challenge. There are some obvious items of like kind: embellishments, for instance, and buttons. But then there is the solitary item acquired at a workshop, or which is a one-of-a-kind by virtue of its function. Does all that get stashed in a bucket collection like the Isle of Misfit Toys? I'm not overly concerned about what I do with those things, but such decisions slow down the process of putting things in place.

It is that "putting things in place" stuff that drops pearls of satisfaction into my container of joy. On the Meyers-Briggs scale I am decidedly a "J," a person who prefers order and structure in my world. I like symmetry and precision, and the poetry of coordinated movement (hence my attraction to Scottish country dancing, and the heart-tugging "missing man" formation of military aviation). I enjoy the bonus of having very good spatial relations skills, so fitting things into spaces is a no-brainer for me. Is it any wonder that when clutter abounds in my life I feel fragmented and distracted? I am giddy with the release of energy resulting from this reorganizational coup!

My eupohoria, however, is not simply about accomplishing a task. The soul satisfying aspect of this experience reminds me of the simple (if delayed, in this case) ways available to us to connect to the inner sacred. A general label of what resonates with my inner sacred is the aesthetic. I appreciate beauty and respond to it in ways that perk up my soul. Call it spiritual endorphines. Whether it's the flowers at the nursery (since I have none in the garden this year), or music that stops me in my tracks, a certain combination of the world's elements is pleasing to me and connects me to the divine. I can appreciate the value of chaos, but balance contributes to my well-being.

So this morning I am grateful for achieving a degree of soul-satisfaction in my space. I will continue to organize and place things, aware that some things never quite "fit" anywhere, a reflection for another time, but doing my best to restore order to what has been my chaos. Who knows what will flow from the resulting peace, but I am more than ready to find out.