Actually I learned a lot of the spiritual concepts I now practice right away in my teachings and have been deepening into and expanding on the experiences ever since.
And decluttering is no exception.
It is a pretty simple concept that we’ve been hearing about a lot in the last few years, but it always bares repeating.
It’s essentially the act of cleaning up and prioritizing your life! Your whole life: physical, mental, financial, relationships, virtual, emotional, spiritual…. every single area.
Start small if you are overwhelmed with the idea of going through everything in your life. This is a big commitment.
One step at a time.
And usually cleaning up one area affects the other areas as well. So it’s not as overwhelming as it seems.
Example- cleaning up your physical paperwork in your office might affect your finances and even your mental or emotional clutter around that area!
Cleaning out your closet of old clothes will make room for new fashions, or help you let go of old experiences you have been holding onto – I remember when I fit these pants, or I remember when I wore this dress…. these experiences are in the past. If these clothes are not meant to be in your present experiences they can be donated to someone whom will appreciate them.
Doing physical or virtual or any type of decluttering makes room for MORE new adventures and clears out your old experiences.
If you are busy holding onto the past you really can’t step into the future.
But again this is a process and if you’ve never done it before can be a large process! Give yourself time. As I’ve said take it one step at a time.
When I first learned about this concept and started my own journey of cleaning up my life it seemed never ending- but it gets easier.
I always liked my spaces clean and organized but I was also very sentimental…and I kept a lot of things I really didn’t need anymore.
Like one time after college I was keeping most of my belongings at my parents house and as I prepared to move out again I was deciding what I was going to take or not take with me…. as I’m in the middle of this process my dad came in and we were just visiting and I picked up a pair of boots. The boots I’d worn throughout my last year at college. They were worn out and I’d already replaced them with a new pair. But I was keeping them because they reminded me of my college experience….
My dad took one look at me and said honey they are garbage…. you can’t use them anymore so why keep them? I said because of the memories… he replied that all ‘garbage’ has memories but even if we let go of the physical item we never get rid of our memories.
And so the boots went out … and since then I’ve really learned what matters to hang onto and what doesn’t.
Life seems to go in phases and seasons and I find myself changing with the seasons now.
At first it seemed like a never ending process- one room after another, moving from one house to another. Even starting one project to another… but the more we continue to clean and organize the less there is to organize the next time.
Instead of large month long cleaning sprees it becomes daily habits and small project organization skills.
Our minds become clearer, our boundaries become stronger, we can keep much better tabs on our emotions.
And by cleaning up our relationships or even our calendar of events we aren’t continually being bombarded with excess emotional baggage from outsiders.
Once we have cleaned up the ‘easy’ areas of our lives we can then take a better look at the more difficult areas… what is still not in flow?
What areas of life don’t seem to be working? Where are we still stuck?
Again. My only two rules for this process is start small, take it one step at a time.
And I promise it gets easier!
And with the first day of spring right around the corner (this week) what a better time to start than now!
Life seemed to be stirred up for many of us these days, so why not jump right in and start re-prioritizing. Let us take the time to regroup.
It’s such an amazing way to feel more light-hearted, open minded, receive clarity in places you were unsure of before and help us breathe a little easier with a cleaner more organized physical space. ?