Desk space
Collage by Christina Carty

Desk space

Whether your office sits in a corner of a room, or a chair at the kitchen table, I suspect that millions of us have stared at the same patch of wall for years now.

Over Christmas, I cleared my desk.?On it, I placed some art and objects that make me smile.? When the New Year swung around, I had become attached to the new decor. Report writing, I’d fix my eye on the brushwork, trace the blue sky or try and find a combination of words to describe the artist’s style. I wanted to crawl into the canvas and immerse myself in colour.? And I wondered if I was alone in feeling this way.?

It brought me back to thinking about space and place. If something colourful in your eye line helps loosen your synapses just a bit?

I remembered colour theory lectures in art college. My fascination with Albers and the primary palette of Kandinsky and de Saint Phalle. I thought about the colours we wear, how the right colour temperature and tone can make you look shiny and glowing or lacklustre and grey.

I thought about office buildings, and their monotone shades, schools with breeze block walls painted over in beige. How can inspiration flourish in seas of insipid magnolia??

For many of us, our physical spaces are smooth and shiny. Flat and sterile. Piled with all the paper digitization promised to save. What a fallacy that was. Laptops getting smaller and smaller, and smartphones bigger and bigger.?

I thought about curiosity and connection. The first sated by viewing the curated lives of others, while the second, feels further away than ever. Dopamine fixing as we doom scroll, getting high from ever-moving technicolour pixels.

Does loneliness, rated at epic proportions, come from this dislocation? You get a window in. But no human welcome. No one says, how about a coffee,? would you like a sandwich with that? Something profound is missing. If these limitations of our work and personal lives are to be traversed skilfully,? how do we move beyond them and reintegrate our senses, bodies and minds into this world??

Humans love the novel not the mundane.

We seek colour and texture, warmth and coolness. We appreciate the subtlety of tone and shade. We pour our stories over them and make new narratives, something precious and internal. We make meaning, we make memories, and we connect.?We have become so disconnected from the earth we live on, and from each other that our senses have become stunted.

Research shows that if you feed your curiosity often enough, vitality and well-being increase. Synchronicity, chance meetings, found books, crazy conversations, great giggles. That’s what our souls demand.

Make some space for beauty?

Maybe today, take a walk outside. Look for shapes and colours and textures. Tear out some pictures from a magazine and make your own art. Put something on your desk that has meaning to you. Change it often. A shell from the beach, a fallen leaf. A drawing by your toddler. Why not wear a bold new colour, and spruce up your socks if your work is formal? Carry a colourful hanky in your pocket. Keep a sketch in your purse. Find a cloud and remake it in your mind.

No alt text provided for this image
Collage by Christina Carty

Why not visit a local gallery, museum or library? We are blessed to have free admission to so many public spaces in Ireland. Go back again and again. Bring a friend. Why not host your next office meeting there? Do a walk and talk. Go old school and phone while you stroll.?

Let me know if your patch of wall feels differently now and what happened next.


References?

Colour: Travels Through the Paintbox by Victoria Finlay

Thin Places by Kerri ní Dochartaigh

Handiwork by Sara Baume

Image by Christina Carty

Dr. Lucy Michael

Impact Founder I Sociologist in Practice I Serving Public, Private and Third Sector Organisations at lucymichael.ie | Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) | Human Rights | Strategic Planning | Evaluation |

2 个月

I know it's a year later, but I just read this and I love it so much! Today I sign the lease on a new office premises and this has really got me thinking about our space and our wellbeing! Hope you're well, and happy Christmas!!!

回复
Andrew Bellavia

Business Development l Branding l Advisor l Speaker l Content Creator l Hearing Care & Communication Advocate l Co-Host of This Week in Hearing Podcast

1 年

Mary, you are always so thoughtful about the things that bring harmony into our lives. Freshening up my office decor is long overdue, and thanks to you I just might do it now. On the other hand, since I'm alone in our home for most of the day I can move down to our personal workstation at one end of our library. Being near the books always puts me in the right frame of mind for creative thinking, and there is natural light from windows both east & west.

  • 该图片无替代文字

Mary Carty FRSA, I am reading The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters on the back of a recommendation from Jennifer D. It talks about the importance of space and connection. I think it would be right up your alley if you haven't read it.

Trisha Wilkinson

Supporting professionals to live a balanced life through the Harmonizing Life Alignment Coaching process , Reiki Master, Founder of time4change.ie , Trainer, Empowerment & Wellbeing Supporter.

1 年

Your musings got me musing, about chaos and energy, without colour can you feel inspired or to feel energetic… I love my little workspace. For me it has a nice balance of colour , of calm, of love and care… that makes me want to sit here.. and also excites me to step away from it to experience all of this and more good energy and good chaos from the world around me.. in nature, with my kids, with my friends and community.. you know me Mary.. I’m all about balance… thanks for a great post and prompting me to enjoy my surroundings by looking and thinking deeper ??

  • 该图片无替代文字
Nikos Patedakis, PhD, PDC

Consulting Philosopher, Wisdom-Based Leadership Training, Ecofluency, Personal/Organizational Development, Education Specialist, Purpose and Meaning of Life, Helping People Who Want to Help the World

1 年

Wouldn't want to give up my office view, or my wild office friends ;-)

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Mary Carty FRSA的更多文章

  • What legacy?

    What legacy?

    This week I have been reflecting on legacy. So often we are asked what legacy we want to leave in the world.

    27 条评论
  • Lesser-known vistas

    Lesser-known vistas

    While in New York recently, I attended the Hopper exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Art. It was incredible to see so…

    3 条评论
  • On the wing

    On the wing

    I do not know how this happens, but since my very first flight many years ago, I invariably end up sitting on the wing…

    27 条评论
  • Hitting the ground running

    Hitting the ground running

    If I got a euro for every job description I have read with “candidate must hit the ground running”, my charity bucket…

    29 条评论
  • What I have learned about building community

    What I have learned about building community

    Last week, I had a wonderful conversation with a colleague in the UK. We talked about the impact of Covid-19, building…

    29 条评论
  • Changing the ratio of women in STEM.

    Changing the ratio of women in STEM.

    In a wide-reaching keynote on leadership at InspireFest, Margaret Burgraff VP Intel’s Software and Services group…

    16 条评论
  • Be the one to open doors

    Be the one to open doors

    In every career there is a moment, where on reflection, things might have been different. If you didn't get that…

    18 条评论
  • How we built the first ever incubator for girls in STEM

    How we built the first ever incubator for girls in STEM

    In 2009, as a freshly-minted tech founder, I had just left a job in the public sector. I saw an ad for the Internet…

    32 条评论

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了