Let’s travel to our:

Heart

It’s going to help us discover why we find ourselves bouncing between…

chapters we’ve lived through, right now in the moment experiences, and what is to come!

Let’s get to the core of where we choose to spend most of our time emotionally.

If you are having difficulty figuring that out – look at your outer environment.

What’s the ratio of past, present, and future use items?

If I’m looking solely at my dwelling space – it seems that I have perhaps 40% past stuff, 30% present, and 30% future. This is a really rough breakdown.

About 6 months ago I moved, loaded my vehicle a few times with items and had a mid sized moving truck.

What did I haul to a new blank canvas?

A bunch of past stuff. The thing is I never thought of it as causing clutter – I logged it as being a must keep due to lingering feelings of “let me hold onto this just in case” or “this is special”.

But honestly, it’s just another pricey burden – thing to think about on top of all the happenings of the present. Not to mention that I could’ve had a smaller moving truck had I let that stuff go sooner! I could’ve used the space at my new place differently much sooner as well – filling it with what will help me create a future aligned with who I am now.

Speaking of burdens, I recently had a conversation that really shifted my perspective on what it means to be truly free…

Yesterday, I talked with a man who was abruptly evicted from his dwelling place a couple months ago. He left with very little and no longer has any of his sentimental heartfelt items. He lives in a tent in the woods somewhere and has maybe 2 backpacks. Even when I was offering to give him some things – he took what only he needed as he didn’t want the burden of having to maintain items. I gave him a roll of toilet paper, a lifestraw, apricot seeds, snack bars, dates, candy, batteries for the electronics he carries. Again, he likes to be light as he walks a lot.

In talking to him, he looked so at peace and youthful. He looked free – unburdened from all this “stuff”. In the physical, he has lost over 100 lbs in the last couple of years. He proudly showed me some of his flabby belly skin – where his present day abs are starting to show through. His weight loss was gradual and not immediate else he would’ve had more skin baggage.

He talked about some of his past experiences and shared with me how it’s like he knows he went through some painful movie worthy chapters – but he has processed them and filed them neatly. We discussed how we as adults need to work through our childhood and even adulthood traumas – deal with it. This has to be done with intention – just dumping it all out can be too much for us to handle. He told me how at one point he contemplated – expiring himself. I’m glad he didn’t as we laughed quite a bit and as I focused on him – he looked like a skinny version of:

Robin Williams

I find this interesting as this comedian made humanity find the humor in life – all the while battling his personal darkness and succumbing to it. I told this man about his resemblance to Robin Williams and he joked about how he could be his son cause he didn’t know his dad for real and how they don’t even look alike! bahahahahahahahahaha Given this mans age – he definitely is not Robin Williams’ son – but I appreciated his light heartedness!

Talking to this light traveling man – had me thinking about the “stuff” that I have emotionally as it ties to what is in my outer world.

I’m revamping my garage to be a place that will bring present day joy.

The issue I’ve run into is that there is a lot of past in there.

For example, clothing from the years I spent reselling on Poshmark – which was a fun time for me! I was able to treasure hunt for fashionable finds, model, post, and get preloved items to new homes. However, that endeavor has been stale for years – yet I cling on to “one day” or ” I could do this with this stuff”.

I’ve got about 10 bins of preloved clothes in my garage.. At one point I was actively diving into those bins to ship items out. Now I am not. These bins are taking up space in my new chapter – emotionally and physically.

I haven’t wanted to let them go because well …what about the money I spent? – can I recoup some of what I spent? Does getting money even matter that much? Do I even want to do the effort of reselling? Do I want to “waste” more time?

I’ve answered these questions for myself and landed on -> I’m ready to let it go for free or heavily discounted – and I want it done ASAP. The chapter served it’s purpose. I am thankful for the joy it brought me and the lessons learned. Time to move on.

Yes, I bought those items – but I am not that same person anymore. This is like me clinging to diapers when I’ve upgraded to lingerie. I’ve matured beyond sitting in manure. Fresh sentiments only. 🙂

I only want to be in whatever is actively happening while anticipating what is up ahead.

Let’s not spend our time trying to keep the water of the present from destroying past sandcastles that we loved. It’s okay for them to be washed over. Love has no end.

Letting go is courageous!

Are you ready to sail off to a new shore?!?

… or are you set on weighing your boat down with more of your past?

If you’re having a hard time getting unburdened – I’m right there with you.

Last night – I was researching storage units to hold items from the past. Then I thought about it – paying 50+ dollars a month for stuff from the past that may never get flipped and will still be running in the background of my life “silently” is not worth the burden.

In looking at your outer world – be honest about the way you operate.

If you are sentimental like me – you may have a bunch of artwork, awards, notes, – be paper heavy. Consider, digitizing those things yourself – snapping a quick photo and putting it in an online album. I’ve done that with quite a bit of things. Then you can discard the physical items. (Handling of digital clutter is a whole other topic – that needs attention at a later time). I’ve also taken video with the physical items holding meaning, but may need to be discarded. A few years ago, I arranged an art gallery for each of my sons displaying all the art I saved for them over the years. I invited their friends over for them to view them giving a presentation of their art – walking through the years of what they created. I have the video saved. This created a fun present moment and memory – while giving thanks and appreciation to their past creativity.

If you are spending quite a bit of your emotional energy in the past – I encourage you to restrict it to a few zones. For physical items – consider giving yourself a storage bin max or dedicated section for past items. For emotional stuff – consider getting a journal to unpack your stuff, pray and tell God therapy, and/or seek therapy to effectively process your past. This way you aren’t dumping everywhere and on everyone – you’ve got a focused, safe outlet.

The present is a gift – let’s fill our spaces and hearts with what will help us to fully engage with the moment. Those we spend our time with as we journey make our life monumental! Cling to what really matters!

The fresh wind of the future is on the way – let’s be prepared without being so weighed down by what ifs that we cannot receive what God will bring us when we actually need it.

Share below where you are emotionally cluttering – past, present, future.

Love,