This is my debut post at Romance Blogs ‘4’ Us and I’m delighted to be
here.
Cluttered spaces and cluttered minds have much in common. Clutter is a
weapon of self-sabotage with which we unconsciously block our energy flow and
disrupt our harmony.
Have you ever searched through stacks of paper for an invoice you put on
the dining room table two days earlier? As you waste time looking for it you
might try to cut a deal with the saint in charge of lost items, as you promise
to get your act together. As you may suspect, I’m all too familiar with this
cycle.
I recently discussed clutter by email with our own dear Rose Anderson. She
offered up an idea I found very appealing: happily shovel the mess into the basement,
brick over the door and walk away!
Imagine the visual these words created in this author’s mind. Archaeologists
in the year 2233 celebrating with champagne at the entrance of a sealed
subterranean chamber as they discuss the impact of this cache of artifacts
lying just beyond them, and how it will enlighten our descendants about the
ancient world. Rose is chuckling from another dimension as she watches them ‘ooh’
and ‘ah’ over each trinket they uncover with reverence and catalog with
precision.
At times I imagine the gods of Olympus laugh at us when they observe us
painstakingly gluing shards back together. Dionysus probably threw that vase
against a wall because his wine was not quite chilled enough.
Speaking of clutter, ancient China had Feng Shui and India had Vastu
Shastra. These similar scientific systems are ancient arts of placement and
energetic harmony that encourage us to create our surroundings with purpose and
intent. The concept is that humans and their dwellings are interconnected, so
we benefit or suffer from our surroundings.
My spring cleaning clock is gone haywire, kicking in for the first time
ever in autumn. My inner guidance system senses a shift in our living patterns,
a move in 2014. Time will tell.
A certain ruthlessness accompanies the spring cleaning bug, enabling me
to toss things without a second glance. The rest of the year, purging is
half-hearted. I’ll go through every page in a two year old magazine, then tear
out a few pages I may need someday. I’ve got boxes of such papers, and never
need any of them. It’s time to purge and cleanse my home of all the papers I’ll
never need, books I outgrew decades ago, and clothes I’ll never fit into again.
If I had a basement, I’d take a leaf out of Rose’s book and shovel all
my old skinny clothes, boxes of magazine recipes I’ve never cooked, and diets
that never worked in there and brick it shut. Future archaeologists might
decide I was a food fanatic or a kitchen goddess…
How about you? If you had to shovel some of your clutter into a
basement and seal it away for future generations to discover, what three things
would you make sure to include?
You can always see what new projects I’m
working on at my website. Thanks for
reading!
