Hi Friends,
I don’t know how many blog posts I’ve started and not finished. I am doing my best to keep up with the speed of my life and right now, that seems pretty fast! The picture above is one of my favorites, taken in the subway during a recent trip to New York. I am by no means a photo expert but there was something very cool and “deep” about the blur and movement within this shot. While there is focus there is also the constant, continual motion that is ever around us. Our daily living is evolving and at times, I do not recognize my own life flow. I suppose this has something to do with being in my home ki energy stations; both one water and three tree and known for their love of quest, discoveries, experiences, and explorations.
Back in February (when I celebrate the new Ki energies each year) I created a Feng Shui based vision board. This included both visuals and written intentions corresponding to the guas. My motto for the year is “keep it light enough to travel” My focus was to release non-essential material items, to really pare down to the basics. Traveling each month has helped me “hone” my packing skills as well as streamline my possessions. After on and off efforts of de-cluttering (I still have a LONG way to go, might take a few years) I can see the results. Yesterday evening upon returning home from NYC, I was unpacked in about 15 minutes. Everything I took in the suitcase came out. This was a first, my norm is to leave the crap in the suitcase until I need it or find a time to put it away (which is usually like two weeks from when I get back).
Other than the clothes I brought along the only other things I unpacked were Yankees cap for each of the boys and one for myself. Parker got NY wristbands, Pake got a baseball, and Pryce got a Mariano Rivera Lego (goes against my no junk policy but she’s agreed to release all of her Tinkerbell fairy collection in place of her Ninja-Go items, so fair trade there.) This really made my past month of closet cleaning and excavation feel worthwhile. It gives me hope that I can get to my goal of less crap around here. I’m on my way, I just have to stick with it.
One of the things that I notice (and followed since my early feng shui training is to use the “fresh eyes” that we have when we return to our normal spaces. We expand when we travel and are away from our ordinary images and energies so when we come back we can notice things that we have, perhaps grown accustomed to seeing on a daily basis. I did come back to the same mess I left, my work is far from done but it was glorious to come back to a neat, tidy and spacious closet and bathroom. One of the places we stayed was on Wall Street. It was a very “swank” hotel, sleek and professionally designed. Once we got to our room, we were shocked, The entire space, could have easily fit in my office. There was a bed, a desk, a chair, a night stand on either side of the bed. The bathroom had a nice shower, toilet and sink. All the standard things that any hotel room has, with the exception of space! Two people could NOT be in the bathroom at the same time. Everything was there, we had all we needed but there was not a feeling of, or even the illusion of space. We brought very few clothes but what we did looked like we brought an entire closet because it was all piled up everywhere. Had we brought the kids, there would have been no place for them to “bunk up” except for the hallway and that was likely against fire code.
Let me tell you I felt like a queen last night. I have space, abundant space in fact and THIS, this very concept of having space is part of what has got be into the clutter predicament in the first place. I’ve had plenty of room for possessions, so why wouldn’t I fill it up? I believe we are naturally programmed to do this. And the more unconscious of it we are the more likely we are to “fill ‘er up”. If I lived in a tiny apartment, I’d have no choice to have less possessions. I don’t though. What I have is a spacious location that is in serious need of less objects!
Space is an interesting concept and I can see how it carries dual interpretations. I, however, am focusing on the concept of freedom, expansion and exploration. My focus is not to further accumulate, it is to allow experiences. I’ve had my time of collecting and acquiring. I know that the vital elements to life are NOT possessions, rather the connections we hold with ourselves and others. For me, possessions, items, things, stuff have filled spaces that I haven’t really wanted to look at or perhaps taken time to address? For example, I had to face how much money I wasted on buying something I didn’t need (but at the time I’m certain I wanted it!) This alone prevented me from coming home with a super cute NY Yankees baseball purse. I’d love to say I am done buying but I’ve figured out that is just an invitation for temptation to come my way..or for crap to breakdown. I am more “awake” to what I am purchasing and I am making a conscious effort to streamline what comes in the door. I have realized there is very, very little I actually NEED. Past the basics, the rest is pretty much luxury.
I won’t be able to fully devote my days to clutter release. We have a BUSY May in store. It will require focus. I have a feeling it will be a blur, just like the picture. I have had to launch operation Declutter in an entirely different fashion than my normal power cleaning; the slower pace has MADE me stop and focus and really take stock of what I’ve accumulated. In feng shui our possessions reflect our lives and our lives our reflected within the possessions we store. To change our lives, we begin taking stock of what we house both internally and externally, making conscious, focused choices about what to keep and what to release. That is where I am right now. I have an idea of where I want to go from here and the experiences I wish to invite. I’ll continue to lighten the load and chronicle the experiences. I realize that not everyone may be into this “phase” that I’m writing about but it’s brought some interesting insights my way for sure. For example, I know now that I CAN walk away from a cute purse, this in and of itself is a personal victory. I’m not saying that I’ll never buy another bag, but as “former” purse shopping addict, clutter clearing maybe have helped me bust the habit. It’s still early. I won’t get over-confident so please (you know who you are...) no sending me any links this month or next about anything I NEED! (I have girlfriends with FAB tastes!)
