I have many fewer belongings now than I did even two years ago. And yet, I still have enough to create quite a bit of clutter in my room. Which tends to clutter up my mind, heart and spirit as well. I talked about this with my spiritual director last week. I know that when my personal space is fairly clutter free--at least with things in their place--I feel like I have more space for quiet and contemplation.
And yet, the busier I get the more I let the clutter pile up. Which as we just discussed clutters up my mind, heart and spirit. Which means that as I get busier and my space gets cluttered and I get cluttered, I find it harder to find balance.
I wrote earlier this week about my plans for self care--a mini-art retreat this afternoon, a retreat weekend coming up. Part of my plan was also to de-clutter my room. Which, as always, was accomplished in a fraction of the time I spent ignoring the clutter in my room and avoiding the job.
Funny how our old patterns re-emerge, isn't it?
3 comments:
I REALLY need to do some de-cluttering. But with 3 assignments and a test this week, I doubt I'll have the time to de-clutter. I'll be lucky if I have the time to sleep.
I hear ya...and it does seem the more cluttered our living spaces get the harder it is to focus. I often joke with friends that my closet, especially is a good way to tell how my inner workings have been. But, its sometimes hard to tell what comes first....the interior clutter or the exterior....or is the exterior a reflection of the interior?
I've had an interesting 'de-cluttering' this week.
The bullying of my sis-in-law culminated in a very dangerous situation for my husband. It was time for it to stop. Sis-in-law and I spend the weekend e-mailing various attempts at communication. (essentially me saying: You will never verbally abuse my husband again. And her telling me that it was obvious that she wasn't respected and that she would speak to him any way she wanted.)
An amazing amount of clutter was sorted through in the conversations that my husband and I had. The trauma of the event created the need for some very difficult conversations and some not-very-nice things to be realized. But in the end, there was a clear place where a very negative thing lived.
It also was de-cluttering old ideas about his sister. A case of her unstoppable force meeting my unmovable object. He realized that she could be stopped and in the end... she was a bit of a Paper Tiger... at the beginning she was huge and scary. But as we stood our ground, she began to show her irrationality, manipulation and attempts at guilt and he was able to see the patterns that I had pointed out to him.
And then he stood up too... the true and full meaning of 'speak even when your voice shakes...' and told her to stop...
There is a peace in our house that I have never seen... and a strength in my husband...
a true de-cluttering...
thanks for listening...
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