Empty of

This to me is a pleasing room:

I like the way the light can touch each surface and I can see every corner so clearly. Spaces like this leave a calm feeling for me; everything is under control and there are no emergencies in this room.

Unfortunately, while the living room looked like this, the kitchen and dining room looked like this:

Because while I was having my overly simplified dream, Life was still going on all around me. Life in our house includes five people who must put on clothes and occasionally be clean and eat quite regularly. It includes some schooling which has its own set of cumbersome stuff. Add to that a few perks, like nice pencils, a computer, and a comfy couch, and room number one just isn't about life.

Of course room number 2 isn't really about life either, as no one could actually function in that room. We ate 4 out of 6 meals out while the kitchen looked like that because we could not function in that space; we would not make it work. No one felt peaceful enough to assemble ingredients; the clutter smothered all the prep space.

Mostly we live somewhere between that empty room and that room overflowing with the detritus of our daily lives. We can feel peaceful in an empty room, but we cannot relax, as that room does not allow us the messiness of life. And we can feel neither peaceful nor relaxed in the cluttered room because the possibilities are hidden under stuff. Now, we have to find that space between.