Learning how to "SEE"

As you know, Messies just don't notice how the house looks - not on a regular basis, that is. Now and again we'll look around and say "Egad! What is this!?", when we notice how out of hand things have gotten.

I find it hard to keep the mess in focus once I've "seen" it. I'll start to clean up the place but as I start cleaning, my vision seems to slip away.

So, I've developed several techniques to help me see what needs doing in the house. I will share one of those with you today. It involves deliberately getting a different perspective on what I see.

When I was a raving Messie, I used to marvel at how nice houses looked as I walked around the block in the evening, glancing in the windows as I went. The scene in each room was framed by the window casing. How nice the houses looked! How they seeming to sparkle in the light of the lamps. How could they look so pretty for no reason at all? How could they be so neat and pretty?  I saw flowers and decorations, pictures and lamps chosen with care as though the owners knew they had a neat home which would showcase their treasures. (There's not much point in buying something beautiful and putting it in a pile in a cluttered house.)

Well, anyway, I use the showcase technique at night to help me see my house. First, I turn on the lamps, open my curtains and then I actually go outside and walk down the sidewalk looking in the windows. Now I see my house as a stranger would. Does it look neat? Does it look beautiful? Does it sparkle? I begin to see, really see, how my house looks and what it needs.

Perhaps some night you will see a lady walking down her sidewalk with the drapes of her home pulled open and lights blazing, don't be surprised. Perhaps it will be you. Perhaps it will be me.

Warmly,
THE ORGANIZER LADY® 
Sandra Felton
Founder, Messies Anonymous

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