Today on The Artist’s Way Every Day: A Year of Creative Living, this bunch of beautiful words dropped on my lap:

If your head is awhirl an you “cannot think straight,” then start by straightening something up. Fold your laundry. Sort your drawers. Go through your closet and hang things more neatly. Straighten your bed……often, when we are engaged in such small, homely tasks, a sense of being “at home” will steal over us. When we take time to husband the details of our lives, we may encounter a sense of grace…… Often, in making a sense of order, we encounter a direction we can valuably express ourselves in.

It’s counterintuitive but it works, this straightening things up tip. When we’re stuck, we tend to put more mental resources into it, and stubbornly force a conclusion through, all the while sweating profusely and panting. The more fluid way to deal with stuckness is to cast a longer line, let the fish fight to the point of fatigue, then reel it in at your leisure. Just like straightening something up. After putting the necessary force of thought into it, let it all go, and let is sit in the back of your mind. Let the mind do its own magic, while you busy yourself with mundane handful of menial tasks, or a walk to nowhere. I do this when I don’t know what to write. I do this when I’m stuck debugging some code. I do this when I’m thinking and planning ahead, but can’t figure something out. Most of all, I do this when I’m stuck emotionally; when I refuse to move forward out of fear or anxiety.

The activity is key, it seems. Movement in the body drives the movement of ideas and thoughts in your subconscious. The type of activity seems to be key too, as the book mentioned. Tidy things up, and your thoughts tidy up too. Stuff get put in order, and your perspective gets orderly too.

As below, so above. As without, so within.