One of the reasons I love to travel is the new perspective I always bring home with me. No matter where I’ve been, or for how long, I come back to my home base with fresh eyes.

Upon this most recent return from LA, those fresh eyes of mine took one look at my chaotic house and went AAK!

True confession: Neatness is not my strong suit, to say the least! Books and papers stack up, jackets get thrown over the backs of chairs and just stay there, clutter piles up everywhere. I get busy doing other things, thinking other thoughts, and I tune out the gradually increasing mounds of disorder.

But after a week away, in a clean hotel room (well, except for the contents of my suitcase spilling out on the floor, and the Sunday LA Times I never quite finished which got strewn next to the bed, and all those receipts and business cards and change and ticket stubs littering the dresser…), I was newly energized towards CLEANING UP my house.

And I made a pretty good dent, all things being relative. House Beautiful won’t be shooting here anytime soon, but I did manage to find the floor and unearth the coffee table. Plus, I found the will to take a number of my too-many beloved nik-naks and put them in the closet. That was hard because I love all those items. But, my house is just too little to have them all on display at once.

I guess I wasn’t the only one back from LA with fresh energy. P. took yet another look at my TV and DVD set-up (they were stacked in a too-big, chunky antique chest that was taking up way too much space in my small living room). It’s been one of our standard topics of conversation for months now; we toss around all the possible solutions, and then never get around to making any change (this, I must admit, is mostly due to my endless stalling and foot-dragging about such matters. I find them so befuddling!)

But this time, P. just silently got to work. He took the TV and DVD down, unplugged and untangled all the various cords in the back, hauled the heavy chest upstairs and out of the way, cleared the books off of a smaller cabinet and brought it down, and set up and plugged in and organized the whole new set-up. It looks great and works perfectly, and my living room is so much more spacious! What an improvement!

This is the sort of thing I NEVER get around to. I just find this sort of thing so daunting, I typically just shut it out of my mind and go open a book (or write a blog post) instead.

Besides being oh-so-grateful to P., I am also reminded that, often, what a person needs is just a small, simple piece of tangible help from another human being. I see this so often in my students; often, what a kid needs is just my company and a few words of guidance or encouragement as they write a term paper or plow through a math project. We’ve all got things which are hard for us, for whatever reason, and it’s so precious to have someone else who finds it easier lend us a hand.

I’m also reminded how much more valuable action tends to be, as opposed to advice or instruction. Teachers and parents too often offer kids words, words, words…but I find that pitching in, shoulder-to-shoulder, and participating in the actual work to be done, is so much more meaningful.

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From Psych Central's website:
PsychCentral (July 27, 2010)

    Last reviewed: 26 Jul 2010