Unlock Your Creativity: Why Clearing Out Leads to Fresh Discoveries

Literary Wisdom for a Lighter Mind & Home

Unexpected treasures found in a tchotchke box.

I’m clearing the air.

Here’s a few literary quotes to lead the way:

“You wanna fly, you gotta give up the sh*t that holds you down.” - Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison (1977)

• Friends, I have been on a bit of a clearing rampage (not cleaning so much). Happens every time we return home to St. Louis after weeks in our sparse Arizona place. By contrast, our Midwest house feels heavy with its fifteen-year accumulation of stuff. Because I have been known to bemoan my crammed bookshelves I’ve started there first. One grocery bag/day. Donated to a used book drop-off to benefit libraries. I will no doubt buy more books to fill my shelves’ gaps but that just makes the shelves open to possibility.

  
  

Winnie-the-Pooh, ever the sage of unexpected perspectives, shared another side of stuff.

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries." - The House at Pooh Corner, A.A. Milne (1928)

• I found a little box hidden away in our storage area I’d labeled “tchotchkes,” knickknacks that had gradually moved from the top of my desk into its top drawer and when I couldn’t open it any more, away into a miscellaneous carton. And hey, fun stuff! Potpourri (still smelled good), a box of Japanese Hibi incense matches, a hand thrown pot, a 3D-printed vase from my niece. And then, under it all, a talisman “Did it Anyway.” What a find! I invested a good half hour sniffing, unscrewing jars with fragrant candles, remembering the gift-givers, then tucking them each back into the box. They’ll have another life: Last Christmas I made up a “concentration” matching game to play with the grandkids. Inside upside-down cups I’d put various colored bows. The object of the game was to “match” two cups with the same color, turning over only two cups each turn. If you found a match, you could pick out a prize. I’d cleared out my other “tchotchke” storage boxes to be little gifts so now these can start a new stash.

  
  

The daily deluge of life's demands often feels like this next quote:

"I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once." - Jennifer Yane

So true, lol! The CEO of a company I worked for once said, “I like people having more to do on their plates than they can possibly accomplish because it forces them to prioritize.” This is, of course, annoying, especially if you’re an underling and your direct boss thinks “everything must get done!” Now a similar tyrant lives in my head but I’ve fooled her into believing she’s in control by satisfying her with impossibly long to-do lists, ending up doing only the most important anyway, crumbling up the rest. If you don’t toss the scribbled list, those line items populate like rabbits, consuming everything.

This practice, I'm discovering, opens up space not just on my shelves, but in my mind, leading me to agree with Alice Munro:

The constant happiness is curiosity." - Alice Munro

I was just talking with my sister yesterday about how curiosity can be a marker for what makes you thrive. I’m finding that by jamming less to-do’s into my days that they are feeling plumper. At a recent writing conference, histfic author Hazel Gaynor said, “Remember to romance your writing from time to time. Give your creativity days to explore.” I’m trying this out. This week it’s tomorrow, Wednesday. In her book, The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron names this idea an “Artist’s Date. Dedicated time alone to follow my curiosity and do something enjoyable and inspiring, simply for the sake of play and replenishment. And if Workaholic Joan struggles without a firm agenda, I can bribe her with mocha ice cream.

And, after all, focusing on new discoveries and growth means we can't truly return to what was:

"It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then."Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll (1865)

• I love how this quote flips the idea of longing for the past on its head. Just last night, I finished reading Girl Groomed, a memoir by my sister author Carol Odell. It is brave, clear, profound, and fearless in sharing her rise from, and beyond, the ashes caused by abuse to her young girl-self. Even now, I feel the reverberations of her telling in my cells. So, yes, I’m different from the self that was here two days ago, and I’m grateful. Forward movement can come from confronting errors of the past when we’re ready, and from witnessing another’s courageous climb.

  
  

Embracing change, letting go of the unnecessary, and finding joy and growth through curiosity and courageous forward movement. . .

Who knew letting go could feel so deliciously light?

Warmly,