House and Hold Goals

I was thinking about how well my 2007 Learning Goals have been working, and wondering if I could do something similar in thinking about my household. If I divided my home into what Flylady calls Zones, I could consider one zone every month. Not just talking about deep cleaning here. ... I already have a schedule for weekly Zone cleaning.

This would be more about Seeing the View.

This month I've been focusing on the master bedroom. Here are the other areas:

• Kitchen and Pantry
• Hall and Laundry Room
• Childrens' Rooms
• Great Room
• Loft/Schoolroom
• Deck, Porch and Entryway
• Garage
• Outside
• Community -- Church, Library and Beyond

If I spent some time brainstorming about each area, I could allow myself to have a vision about what they COULD look like, even if it's years before they actually get like that. Julie Bogart calls these BHAGs. The metaphor is a bit too, um, cave-man-like for me, but it gives you the idea.

I've noticed when I take some time and thought to visualize ideas, they are more likely to happen even if I make no conscious effort to implement them. It seems weird to me, but I've noticed it several times. However, very often I get rushed and distracted and a bit stressed and forget to actually do this. I settle for "OK" -- which is OK, of course, but it's not really enough.

Please note that I'm not talking about going all out for some perfect Ideal House.. I'm just talking about the little things. The words "inspire" and "reflect" and "focus" -- etymologically, inspire referred to air, breath, spirit, and reflection referred to light bending back. Focus originally referred to a hearth or fireplace, convergence. So when I'm talking about envisioning changes in the house, I'm not talking about going out to hire an organizer or buying a bunch of fancy decorations. I'm talking about a bit of gleaming reflection here, a breath of fresh air there, a focal arrangement there. Focus, Inspiration, Reflection, -- how can I be completely geeky and finish the acronym? How about Energy? The etymology of that word refers to movement, expression, work. So there I'm talking about the living energy in a house -- what makes it flex around and enfold a family like arms. There you go -- FIRE -- warmth and light : ).