Category Archives: Physical space

Heavy Weights

March 28th 2012

As a personal coach, I spend a lot of time helping clients clean up and throw away the crap in their lives that takes up a lot of emotional space: stuff ranging from dirty man caves to “taker” friends to unrewarding jobs. As a coach, I’m really interested in what clearing that detritus makes room for. Last week, I got ...

Lockdown Frugality

November 13th 2011

Everyone’s going skiing. “See you on the mountain,” someone called after the last soccer game of the season. We won’t be there. We’ve been in lockdown frugality since I quit my full-time job last year. The answer is now “No!” to things like skiing. I’ve been surprised to discover an odd thing about our newfound frugality: It’s a lot easier. ...

Mess or Music

October 20th 2011

I’ve been thinking about mess. Messy rooms; messy corners of life. I have a coaching client who is trying to turn down the noise in her life. Too many demands, too much complexity, too much chaos. She doesn’t have room to think or breath. We started with the literal. She cleaned up some messes that had been distracting her: the ...

Museum Happiness

August 26th 2011

I have a new favorite, quiet place in Seattle. Stuck downtown by a three-hour break between coaching clients, I headed to the downtown library. On the way there, I happened to see a sign for the Frye Museum. On a whim, I changed my plan and drove to the Frye. I’d always meant to go. Opening the doors to the museum, ...

Housework: Housewife :: Email: Middle Manager

July 13th 2011

Housework is my guilty secret. I find it deeply satisfying keeping my house in order. A clean house feels reassuring. But I’ve been thinking about the balance between keeping my house clean and getting anything else done. Housework is a lot like email was in my corporate jobs. Never ending. You could spend all your time on it. Never get ...

The Value of Ivy

April 18th 2011

I got in a fight and learned something about myself. The fight had to do with invasive ivy along my property line. I ripped it out and angered my neighbor. This conflict has upset me. A lot. I was talking about this conflict with a coaching colleague of mine. I fear I’ve behaved badly. I’m deeply saddened that I destroyed ...

Perspectives on a Clothesline

April 9th 2011

I just hung a clothesline. Back in my corporate life, in my air-conditioned cube with a peek-a-boo view of the sky, in front of my email and word docs and spreadsheets, I used to fantasize about having a clothesline. Warm sun, warm breeze, wholesome clean clothes. I had to hang the clothesline in the dog run. Where the puppy is ...

100 Pieces of Clothing

March 13th 2011

I once read about somebody who intentionally limited their wardrobe to 100 pieces of clothing. I want that. Imagine the simplicity. The space. So this afternoon I purged my closet. My partner was not supportive. “Why would you throw away perfectly good clothes?” he asked. (This from a man who has issues throwing away old newspaper.) I’m not throwing them ...

Two Weeks Out

February 18th 2011

Today is my two-week anniversary out of corporate America. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Is it okay to be this happy? I don’t feel like I’m on vacation, exactly. There’s already a structure to the week – it’s not like I’m reading novels in bed every day. But there’s more room to my life, which has ...