An Organized Mess

When we observe nature, we see the way living things effortlessly demonstrate infinite varieties of gorgeous, perfectly balanced and structured creation. The radical opulence of nature is not hodge-podge or random – it has inherent coherence. The natural world creates easily. It just flows – it is not the product of the difficult and uncomfortable processes of our left-brain human world.

Observing this can help us to trust the power and strength of our own innate ability to produce beautiful creations that flow from a natural organization.

The stack of post-its in the picture provided me with a revelation. Like every author, I experienced the editing process of my book as difficult. Day after day I reviewed the manuscript making changes then marking the pages with different colored post-its. I used larger ones for substantive changes and smaller ones to let me know that there was a smaller change on that page. After I addressed each change, I removed the post-it and enthusiastically slapped it down on the desk.

What I didn’t see at the time was that while I was hard at work nit-picking, I was simultaneously forming the post-its into an artful creation – a vibrant, living demonstration of my progress. When the stack got too high, I’d throw it away and start a new one, but one day I actually took time to look at the stack. Without much thought, I was drawn to take a picture of it. Looking back now, I see why.

All life is naturally creative, including us! And even when we are focused on struggling with some task, another part of us may be showing us the easy side of our creative expression – the part that simply flows into being. Here’s to those post-its!