Is getting organized a matter of sorting papers, using file folders, throwing things out and such? On one level, it is. And it?s much more than that.

Organizing mindfully, as well as physically, manifests our particular way of being in our environment. How we think, what we do, and how we envision ourselves comes forward into the world. As we throw things out, we see before us the values that tell us what to keep and what to toss. We find meaning. As we rearrange space, we engage with the world as we choose. We exercise power. Through organizing we get to know ourselves in all our fullness. Organizing calls on our most human talents ? perceiving patterns and participating in how those patterns play out. As we sort through stuff, we perceive the patterns that give it sense. As we arrange our environment we participate in letting our power flow. By exercising these particularly human talents we enliven our souls and take our places as co-creators in the world.

Organizing touches the whole of our being ? not just the down-to-earth papers, files, and closets, but also the farthest-reaching, grand patterns of Nature. The papers on our desks are connected to the universe, and in fact, are the universe, in part. When we work with them, we are working with the cosmos. What happens in the small influences what happens in the large.

For most of us though, organizing seems to be mere drudgery ? distasteful, trivial business when compared to the creative, productive, or urgent pursuits we feel called to do. If we see this as an either/or situation ? either productivity or drudgery ? guess which wins out? The important things, not the trivial pursuit of organizing. Yet, when we pursue only productivity, we have nagging anxieties about organizing; when we pursue only organizing, we feel we?re missing out on life.

Changing our perspective from either/or to both/and shows organizing as a valid activity in itself. It supports and upholds us. It gets our down-and-dirty systems in place so we can reach the heights and explore the depths.

Organizing, however, is a not a primary goal. It is, in fact, secondary. Nonetheless, it requires our attention. Without proper attention, disorganization can sap our energy, get us lost in a fog of confusion and make whatever we do doubly difficult. When that happens, the need to organize muscles its way into the driver?s seat, demanding our attention. If we give organizing its due, however, it is perfectly willing to take the back seat.

We might think we?re putting organizing in its place when we hold our noses, close our eyes, and do it as mindlessly as possible. But what are the consequences? If we withdraw energy from our stuff, we become constricted, inflexible, and shut down. If we operate mindlessly, that?s exactly what we become ? mindless. Life holds less and less meaning for us, becoming a real hell ? the place of ever-diminishing being. Denying any part of ourselves denies our whole selves, so if we shun our stuff, we shun the rich, complexity of our lives. If, on the other hand, we embrace our stuff by organizing, we embrace our wholeness.

Copyright 2006 Pamela Kristan, adapted from The Spirit of Getting Organized: 12 Skills To Find Meaning and Power in Your Stuff, Red Wheel/Weiser 2003