Yes, the piles in the house are talking to your wife

In our house we tend to have these piles that develop.  One is by the stairs to the basement.  These are

things that are supposed to go downstairs.  Another other pile is by the back door.  These are things destined for the garage, the trash, or the attic.

Then there's the desk in our kitchen.  It just collects all those things that go...somewhere.  

I do try to take things where they need to go, but more times than not I walk right past them because I'm on my way to do something else.  

I just discovered, however, that to Beth, these piles "scream" at her. 

Here's how Alison Armstrong put it in her book The Queen's Code.  The book is written as a fictional story, but she communicates male and female differences through the characters.  Here Claudia explains to a younger wife why her husband ignores the socks on the floor:

The socks are irrelevant to whatever Mike has committed himself to. Whatever he is focused on. It takes no effort for him to screen them out. He is not even consciously doing it. His brain takes care of that. The feminine brain, however, is taxed by the effort to screen out socks on the floor, crooked pillows, grungy counters and anything ugly. If a woman has to live in a mess, you will find her engrossed in a book or a movie in order to find some peace.”

However, to a woman “Every one of those things is ’talking’ to her. Demanding that she do something about them. Her awareness makes a disorderly environment ’loud’ and disruptive. It is

why a woman ’multitasks.’ Because the things in her environment are competing for her attention. Demanding that she attend to them. Literally, nagging her. And not only things. She is aware of the mental, physical and emotional states of all the people around her as well.”

Excerpt From: Alison A. Armstrong. “The Queen's Code.” Routledge. iBooks. 

Even though I'm still a male, I try to be much more sensitive to things that might "scream" at Beth.  This has also helped me not get frustrated at her when she is bothered by things that seem unimportant to me.  I've realized she's not me.  She's not a man.  She's sensitive to things I am not and I have the privilege to help bring some peace to her mind and heart.