That "noticing" stuff.

In Dicks book "Is your Genius at Work?", he says that one of the strongest hints as to our "Genius" is in the stuff we do when we don't notice what we are doing.

Now this isn't easy to do. To notice what we don't notice is a little weird isn't it?

Yes and No!

Even though I have named my Genius, I've been doing this exercise all the same and I've found it to be a positive reinforcement of the name I've chosen to describe what it is I do.

These little things I do every day are in fact simple habits that I cannot seem to break or imagine NOT doing! I get irate - quickly - when others don't see these little quirky things as "important" too.

They eloquently describe my need to "construct coherence" around me even though they seem on the surface to bear no relationship to Genius or coherence at all! :)

So here are my observations so far:

1) I absolutely HAVE to put the lid back on the toothpaste tube! I hate open tubes of toothpaste gunking up the bathroom!

2) I need to put CD's and DVD's back inside their jewel cases AND I like to have the original cover intact too. I get really irate with people who just leave CD's lying out and about without putting them back into their proper covers or sleeves ASAP.

I've kind of learned to tolerate the kids CD's being left to get ruined by their lack of "coherence" re CD care - they're old enough to take responsibility for their stuff now - but with my music/DVD's - no WAY! rrr!

3) I'm forever shutting things like cupboards or drawers. I can live okay with open doors - that isn't quite such an issue but I get slightly sweaty and agitated when cupboard/closet doors and drawers are left open for any length of time :)

4) I am always assigning "homes" for things. If something doesn't have a proper "home" - it tends to get tossed in the bin or sent to charity. I prefer order and symmetry in my surroundings and tend to be slightly more minimalist in my tastes than cluttered (the "Country Cottage" look drives me insane! :) hahaha!)

Achieving this order is a never ending battle between my natural laziness and my need for coherent, uncluttered calm :)

These things are just simple - maybe silly - quirks of my temperament but I've ALWAYS done them (yes.. I had to put LP's away in their covers too before the advent of CD's etc ;). They describe to me "Constructing Coherence" in a simple but profound way.