Rearranging the Furniture Compulsion

reply to post by Spiramirabilis


Maybe you just like things out of the ordinary! Or you might enjoy being an individualist? Who says we have to do things the same way all the time?

Originally posted by Hazelnut
I've been curious about people who rearrange their furniture very often. I've been in some homes where the furniture is never, ever moved for any reason.

Interesting that this is in the metaphysics forum ...

because rearrange furniture is what most of us humans spend our lives doing.

Namely we change jobs, relationships, ambitions, beliefs, opinions, etc, but it's always based on the same conceptualized and relativistic premises. So we essence nothing ever changes but the furniture and how it is arranged ,,,

Not sure if that's the response you were seeking but there you have it.

From a Feng SHui perspective, shifting the furniture and cleaning every so often clears stuck or stagnant energy, so those of us who are more sensitive then normal...see other thread!....might indulge in this more often. It makes places feel different on a level we might not understand to start with, and if we have moved around a lot as a child, this feels familiar to us. I'm sensing another pattern here...I'm an army brat...although I didn't move too much compared to some. Maybe 8 times before I was 12 or so?

[edit on 3-6-2009 by caitlinfae]

reply to post by Hazelnut


:-)

Maybe you just like things out of the ordinary!

I do...

Or you might enjoy being an individualist?

not sure about this one...

Who says we have to do things the same way all the time?

well - people do :-)

people I know - and love - ask me all the time - what is wrong with you?

:-)

frankly - even when I think I love it this way - the chaos - I usually arrive at a point where I realize - it ain't really working for me

but - I hope this one (this thread) gets bigger and more involved - because there's a lot to it - way more than my personal nuttiness

it really is a fascinating subject

reply to post by schrodingers dog

Interesting that this is in the metaphysics forum ...

it is - isn't it? because whatever is behind it - metaphysics - or psychology - it does say something about us

first - that we have things to arrange at all is interesting

then - that we have this idea that there's a right way or a wrong way to arrange them...

Namely we change jobs, relationships, ambitions, beliefs, opinions, etc, but it's always based on the same conceptualized and relativistic premises.

I think the psychology of place is something we (most of us - there are people who devote their lives to it) don't examine very often

why something "feels" right - comfortable, why we think moving a chair from here to there is important - at all?

why the big chair - why the south wall - why blue and not red?

Not sure if that's the response you were seeking but there you have it.

:-)

like everything - I think the simple, obvious things have meaning somehow...

so, forgot to add - I think your response is getting closer to the point...



[edit on 6/3/2009 by Spiramirabilis]

OP,

Since your curious about people who do this, I can tell you about my ex-wife who had this same issue.

At least once a month she would rearrange all the furniture in the house including the bedrooms and pictures on the walls. Rarely was this all done on the same occasion but usually it was in sections. IE: Monday-living room; Tuesday-our room; Thursday- dining room.

I thought that it was cute and endearing at first and since she never bothered me to help, I figured if it made her happy, go for it.

Turns out that that was just a symptom of underlying psychological issues. She was later diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Extreme Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Bipolar Disorder.

I am not saying that everyone that moves furniture around their house is as messed up as she was but from my experience, it could be a symptom of any number of psychological issue.

reply to post by Hazelnut


Well, my dad doesnt say much. But sometimes his comments are funny when he would come home and the sofa would be in a different location. Im sure he will get a huge kick out of it. I Might send it to her too

I never thought that much of it - it did not bother me. My mom can be pretty wacky So I just figured its her "thing".

I sometimes move furniture - but not near enough to call it a compulsion. Maybe once or twice a year if that. I just get bored with things sometimes

reply to post by SuperSecretSquirrel


Yes I read that somewhere. But did you know that even the "professionals" agree that diagnosing those mental conditions is extremely difficult to accurately identify? There are many mental health professionals who will not accept a new patient if they suspect Borderline Personality Disorder even with the proper insurance. The problem being that depression is a symptom of Bipolar and Borderline disorders. The three are the least understood and most commonly diagnosed and medicated by "professionals".

Something to consider.

I'm interested to ask how many people who have contributed to this thread are female?

It sounds like some kind of nesting instinct with a soupçon of OCD thrown in.

I've never moved any furniture, nor have any compunction to do so; i am a bloke

Originally posted by PrisonerOfSociety
I'm interested to ask how many people who have contributed to this thread are female?

It sounds like some kind of nesting instinct with a soupçon of OCD thrown in.

I've never moved any furniture, nor have any compunction to do so; i am a bloke

Interesting observation there. Perhaps there is something appropriate about the nesting instinct and OCD may be a symptom of the condition of "man's" world?

[edit on 3-6-2009 by Hazelnut]

reply to post by Hazelnut


very good

The three are the least understood and most commonly diagnosed and medicated by "professionals". Something to consider.

and besides - while I'm willing to believe the worst :-) I think much of the fascination (read obsession) with OCD starts to look like it might be a little OCD - if you see what I'm saying :-)

I just think it's interesting how we, as individuals and groups, manage and arrange the different elements of our environments - including objects, time, space, relationships, concepts - everything...

as long as people do what almost everyone else is doing - it's fine. When it breaks away from the norm it's sometimes seen as a problem - even if it's not a problem at all

on the other hand - if it interferes with your life in someway and makes you unhappy - that's different

I had a friend once that had to rearrange everything in her environment to suit her

she once completely rearranged everything in a hotel room where we were only staying for 2 nights - including unbolting the art from the wall. We (we - because I helped) got in trouble for that - and, we weren't kids - so...embarrassing and costly

she once was house-sitting for a family spending their summer in Europe - huge house - lavishly decorated

she rearranged every room while they were gone - art - lamps - dishes...garden furniture.

she rolled up all their oriental carpets and put them in the basement - because she didn't like the colors - she swore they would thank her when they returned and could see what she'd done with their house

they did not thank her

:-)

she had a little problem...and it did spill over into other areas of her life

Originally posted by Hazelnut
...and OCD may be a symptom of the condition of "man's" world?

A definite

Men create the crap, you girls clean it up not through necessity but through some underlying DNA compulsion to clean

I'd better stop for fear of sounding misogynist

p.s. i would just like to add that i have found myself checking the oven a few times on rare occasions, to see if i turned it off. I believe everyone has a degree of OCD; it may be natures way to instigate some kind of self-protect mechanism. However, when you start flicking light switches 50 times, then it becomes obsessive.

reply to post by Hazelnut


I actually talked to her shrink (with her permission and in her presence) and was told what he believed her issues were. I had no idea what the heck he was talking about so I took it upon myself to research everything I could about them. Turns out, she exhibited every symptom for BPD, most for Bipolar, and after talking with her, she admitted to crazy OCD thoughts and activities such as counting objects like telephone poles and cracks in sidewalks, had to keep an impeccably clean house; I would ofter see her cleaning places that were already spotless, and in our personal relationship, she had to know what I was doing at every possible moment.

Unfortunately, medications (that she got for free because she was in the military) only exacerbated the problem and she became extremely unstable and violent.

I agree that these disorders are over-diagnosed and not sufficiently understood but in my case and hers, I believe the diagnoses were accurate.

Like I said, the furniture moving was just a manifestation of her disorders.

reply to post by SuperSecretSquirrel

Like I said, the furniture moving was just a manifestation of her disorders.

sometimes I wonder if it isn't an individuals attempt to give themselves permission to believe they have some control - in a universe where they feel they have no control whatsoever

I very often find myself doing something like this when I'm unable to control or fix something else

so, whatever her other diagnosis - maybe the medication couldn't help this part of the problem because it wasn't really a symptom of OCD at all - just her trying to accomplish something?

Originally posted by Spiramirabilis
reply to post by SuperSecretSquirrel

 

Like I said, the furniture moving was just a manifestation of her disorders.

sometimes I wonder if it isn't an individuals attempt to give themselves permission to believe they have some control - in a universe where they feel they have no control whatsoever

I very often find myself doing something like this when I'm unable to control or fix something else

so, whatever her other diagnosis - maybe the medication couldn't help this part of the problem because it wasn't really a symptom of OCD at all - just her trying to accomplish something?

I believe that OCD is exactly what you just described. Doing something that others find strange or unnecessary so that they can feel in control.

Defcon 5 wrote in the ATS issues thread that he goes away for a short while and the site is changed! posted on 3-6-2009 @ 02:20 AM I would post a link to it but don't know how.

Apparently unexpected change has a negative impact on some folks who prefer consistency and regularity.

Is ATS guilty of compulsive rearranging?

reply to post by Hazelnut


That's an interesting observation.

May i conduct a quick thought experiment...

If you have 10 CD's in the corner of the room and you line them up into a neat pile and leave the room. Someone else enters the room and re-arranges them, perhaps even putting some CD's onto a coffee table, you would notice this and feel the need to put them back in their original order.

That's the physical realm.

Now what if i took the same CD's and started to splice 'n dice the tracks into different play-lists; if you noticed this new mash-up, would you feel the need to re-order the tracks?

That's the digital, non-physical realm.

I'm just curious to know how OCD manifests in the real World with furniture et al.

reply to post by Hazelnut


Probably. I like the idea of "it it aint broke, don't fix it". I feel that this applies here on ATS and so that I do not derail this thread, people that rearrange furniture very often are indeed fixing something that isn't broke.

Perhaps the furniture movers and ATS wizards share something in common. They need to do change things to feel in control...

reply to post by SuperSecretSquirrel

My dad was the one who moved around the furniture constantly. At times he'd even move the living room furniture into the master bedroom and the master bedroom furniture into another bedroom and so on. It used to drive me crazy because he'd make us kids move all the stuff while he played supervisor. He was later diagnosed as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) with Bipolar Disorder also. Of course he won't take his meds so he's still messed up.

reply to post by SuperSecretSquirrel


The need to control could be increasing with the level of world instability. Many of us feel that the world itself is cartwheeling out of control. That need for control works itself out in amazing ways. There are worse ways of taking control of an uncontrollable situation.

Rearranging furniture seems harmless enough albeit annoying to some. Rearranging our personal realms may be an outward expression of an inward fear. A harmless expression of the feeling that something's got to give?