Themeattics

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Thanks for coming to take a look at this here post. I appreciate that. Now stop. Put the phone down or turn away from the computer, and take a look around you. A real look. A nice, long one. Tell me what you see.

I’m in my living room. There are a few scattered Halloween decorations – most notably a very nice Department 56 town passed down from my mom that we’ve got on the mantle over the fireplace and a big themed garden gnome (my wife’s current obsession). The floor is covered with a smattering of dog toys and school items that were tossed off by gleeful kids after getting home for the weekend. TV trays are out, one holding some random knick-knacks me writing on the other. Tissues and toilet paper from the latest Costco trip that hasn’t been stored up yet. My daughter is in the kitchen getting herself a bowl of cereal. Water bottles and tupperware are leaned up on one another to dry from my recent run of the dishwasher. The low hum of the dryer provides an underlying white noise while I listen to Poppy’s Choke album.

There’s more, of course. I could go on for paragraphs – pages – and only give a modicum of what’s really here, happening in this moment. All the mundane things we gloss over, the things we want to ignore or, through time and habit, have simply learned to get used to. It’s understandable, of course. If we were truly in the moment every moment of our lives, we’d never get anywhere or do anything. Yet, we end up doing the opposite. In our rush to be everywhere and do everything, we lose sight of our surroundings, and those surroundings are meaningful.

Do me a favor. I know I don’t have my whole 30-Day Project thing set up (I covered why here), but bear with me here. One more quick thought experiment. Think about your day – where do you spend the most time? Where do you go to decompress or be productive? It doesn’t have to be your work, but maybe it can be. When you’re in that place, are you gaining the most you could be from it? Would it be better if you added a bit more beauty to it?

Again, using me for an example. I hate mess. I’m generally a neat, orderly person by nature. All the stuff I mentioned above drives me a little nutty, even while I’m here clacking away. That’s why there’s a dryer running and drying dishes in the first place – I couldn’t focus on getting this article done while there was still so much to do around me.

But that’s besides the point. What is my place? Well, it used to be the office, but I’ve ceded that ground to my kids. They spend more time in there than I do now, and with my computer being something like nine years old, the keyboard is misfiring and I think it’s developing a personal grudge against me. It’s often too loud out here in the living room, so recently I’ve been doing the vast majority of my writing in my bedroom.

Is that really where I want to be, though? Eh, probably not. That’s why I’ve moved around so much when I can. I write out here, in the office, at the island in the kitchen, in the dining room – nothing’s really stuck for me as “the place,” which, while great for keeping me out of a pigeon hole, means I haven’t really figured out the place that I’m talking about us finding.

I’ve been thinking about it since I brought up the suggestion. Really thinking, actually. Just kind of sitting here staring off into space (certainly not at the mess which I’m going to get to work on after this) and wondering what that idealized space would be.

For me, beauty comes in a few forms. I’ve talked about the beauty of effort before, but there’s also a beauty in form and function. I’m a music junkie. I don’t want to need headphones, so a place I can close the door to not bother others or corrupt the yoots is ideal. I love art, so a place to hang some would be great. Already, I’m leaning to an underutilized room in the house. Once I get a few minutes between writing for the contract and editing my novel, I’m going to go take a few steps around and see if that might just be the place.

A small table. Masterfully done art on the walls. Maybe a way to run my music through better speakers. I might even try to get my hands on some nerd things I’ve been eyeing for a while. Yeah, I’d feel at home in that. Keyed in. I could flip my brain into creative mode there.

Try the same. Bring beauty into your shelters. Give yourself more of a reason to smell the roses. Appreciate the gift of life you’ve been given. Of anything, we could all use a little more of that in our lives.