Creative Aging: The Organized Mind
Our brains are inherently good at creating categories. —Daniel Levitin
This week, I started reading “The Organized Mind” by Daniel Levitin. It was a clear-out-clutter book on steroids! Levitin wrote that an organized environment frees up your mind for creativity and productivity. Given bait like that, I was hooked.
I put down the book after reading Chapter 4: Home Organization, and I was pumped. I could do this! I would never have to hunt for anything again.
Chapter 4 offered a myriad of new organizational motivations and possibilities. The task of organization, according to Levitin, is to provide me with maximum information with the least effort on the part of my brain. We not only need a place for everything and everything in its place; that place needs to be an appropriate one. Store similar things together, or group items that have a similar use. And make the storage location near an object’s place of use. Getting organized means gaining control. Don’t keep anything you do not use. Most important, however: Have only one place for everything, and ALWAYS use that place. Designating multiple locations for the same item will result in wasting time hunting for it and more difficulty remembering the location.
I immediately decided to resume always using my fanny pack for my cell phone when I was at home, and a special purse compartment for the phone when away from home. I designated my bedside stand for my Kindle, since bed was where I most frequently read it.
Consistent use of these locations required commitment. I found myself absentmindedly putting the phone or Kindle down on the table, the desk, or the entry table without even thinking about it, and then I didn’t know where to find them. The solution for that, says Levitin, is mindfulness. Truly being present to a moment rather than functioning on automatic pilot.
I then started organizing my home storage with a file drawer that was crushed full. I removed all folders dated 2021, a removal long overdue. I disposed of most of their contents. Hurrah! My file drawer now boasted some usable space.
My priority the next day was the bathroom cabinet. I was tired of hunting for the nail clipper, face wipes, and Tylenol in the mishmash of miscellany on the shelves. I got out some plastic storage boxes and started sorting. Each category received its own box: lotions, over-the-counter medications, hair-styling equipment, manicure supplies, etc. Usable items I no longer wanted went into a cardboard box for the local thrift store. I put some scented lotions and soaps (which make me sneeze) into a bag to gift to my daughter-in-law.
Outdated medications I put in a plastic bag for disposal, called a local pharmacy about medication disposal and learned I could take it to a Pella Police Station drop box.
Organizing that cabinet gobbled an entire afternoon. When I had finished, I paused for what my husband and I have come to call an “admiration stance.” It was satisfying to have a place for everything and everything in its place.
Putting things back into the correct bathroom space was easy compared to putting my cell phone and Kindle in place. I used an item, took one step to the cabinet, and put it in place. It’s what I always have done, except now that place was more specific.
Having one organized space, I considered new goals. It felt so good to have the bathroom organized; imagine how good it would feel if I organized the whole house!
My closet bulged with clothes. I had not pruned my electronic files in several years. Tangles of electronic supplies lurked in the plastic drawers in the office closet. A mess of cleaning supplies hid under the kitchen sink. Cards and envelopes were crammed in a dresser drawer. The laundry room sported a catchall junk drawer. And I didn’t want to begin thinking about my portion of the garage shelving.
Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, my energy burst ended. One organized drawer and one cabinet were all my energy could sustain for the moment. I wanted to write and read. I wanted to play pickleball and do some quilling (crafting with paper coils).
When I am ready for another burst of organizing energy, I will reach for my copy of “The Organized Mind” again.
.Adapted from Creative Aging by Carol Van Klompenburg, published 2023, available from Amazon and for Pella-area residents directly from Carol. Carol has an MA in theater arts and is available for reading performances of her writing on aging, moments in her gardens, and other topics.