STUFF A
“I have too much stuff,” she said. “I have too much. My husband has too much. My kids have too much. The house has too much. The garage has too much. Heck, our storage shed has too much, because we just rented a second space to store more stuff.”
She shook her head as her eyes slowly closed and re-opened. She shook her head once more.
“Nobody wants to get rid of their stuff,” she continued. “But I’m starting to get worried. It clutters our living space. It clutters our ‘extra’ space. It clutters my mind.”
I continued to listen quietly, since I sensed she wasn’t done yet.
“Do you know how much time I spend just cleaning the stuff, and moving the stuff to clean under and around the stuff? It’s ridiculous. Half the time, I don’t even bother any more.”
I nodded, reassuring her that I understood.
“We tell ourselves we’re simplifying, but we’re really not. We’re just getting better at organizing and storing things out of sight. But I’m telling you, in this instance, out of sight does not mean out of mind.”
I still hadn’t said a word, and she still wasn’t done spilling her words.
“Actually, I’m getting better at organizing and storing things out of sight. My husband treats his space like it’s just one big filing cabinet. Except things aren’t in order, they’re just in space. And the kids treat their room like it’s a huge toy box, even though they have toy boxes and storage bins to put their stuff away. They just don’t.”
She paused, as if looking through the storage boxes in her mind and trying to find the one that would offer her some solace. Then she shrugged her shoulders, giving up her mental search.
“What would you do? Where would you start?”
I told her the first place she has to start is in herself.
“If you can unclutter your mind,” I said, “the rest will come much easier. You have to picture in your mind, what your simplified home looks like. See it in fine detail. Imagine yourself, walking into the living room and notice where everything is and how you feel about it. Once you know exactly what your living room looks like in its ideal condition, infuse that mental picture with feelings of contentment and satisfaction. Once you feel good and at peace with your uncluttered and simplified room, then begin to bring what you have conceived in your mind, into the real world. You will quickly discover that once your mind knows what the end goal is and how good it makes you feel, your body will work toward that end goal too.”
It’s really a simple goal achievement process that works in almost every area of one’s life. And in the era of simplifying our lives, it works remarkably well and remarkably quick.
See it. Infuse it. Do it.
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