It has been a minute since I last posted. I started a challenge last month which I renewed for a second month because it is something I desperately need: intentional order.

Recently, I have started to explore the shadow parts of my personality. In Jungian psychology, these are the 4 cognitive functions that are relatively unconscious to us and considered ego-dystonic, meaning we struggle to identify with them either positively or negatively.

The last function in my shadow is introverted sensing, which is occupied with organizing our environment, information, and experiences. I’ve always viewed this function as something that I was at least mildly competent in utilizing – definitely not as a repressed or unconscious part of myself. I think this stemmed from the fact that most of my immediate family has this as one of their dominant functions.

If you asked me a year ago, 5 years ago, or 10 years ago, if I was an orderly person, I would have said yes. However, I think I was confusing an ordered internal environment with an ordered external environment. Recently, I have become more aware that all of my everyday spaces feel cluttered, even when I don’t have that much stuff in them. Also, I lose and misplace things all the time, sometimes having to look for the same item multiple times a day.

A deeper concern, however, was that I felt completely lost when thinking about fixing some of these issues. This was the impetus for my current challenge. Here are the specifics:

• Find and listen to a podcast – I need external motivation, encouragement, and ideas with regards to organizing my environment. More so than any other area, I easily feel lost. The challenge: 15 minutes a day of some type of organization podcast. Experiment to find one that I enjoy and is effective for me.
• Immediately put away used items – I like the rule I heard recently that if it takes less than 2 minutes to clean up something or put it away, always do it immediately. This also means only having certain locations where you allow yourself to drop things (phone being the prime example).
• Purchase organizational products – Another difficulty I have noticed when I do try to be more tidy, is that sometimes it is impossible to do so because I don’t have enough places to put things. This is not because of too little space, but because of not enough structured compartments within that space. I want to purchase at least 1 organization aid each week.
• Dedicate time each day for organization – A tidy space is not going to happen on its own. However, it also doesn’t have to take enormous swaths of time. I am committing to 10-15 minutes each day; initiating this right after meditation would be a plus.
• Exclude laundry and dishes from dedicated organization time – I want to break new ground, so to speak, with my organizational habits, not just get the laundry or dishes done sooner. If I am trying out a new way of doing a daily task, that can be fine; otherwise, I want to tackle new areas.

The biggest lesson I have been learning in this arena in particular (but really in all of life) is to simply do things a little better or get things a little cleaner. Also, sometimes doing a task wrong is a good thing if it simplifies a routine and eliminates visible clutter more quickly.

Namaste.