I know a lot of people go in for spring cleaning – they like to start the spring with a fresh start. I find myself right now doing a lot of autumn cleaning an decluttering.
To me, in the spring, I am starting to spend more time outside. I’ve been cooped up in the house all winter, and the last thing I want to do is spend a warm spring day inside cleaning out all my junk.
In the fall, however, the weather is not as nice, and the days are getting shorter. Very soon I’m going to be cooped up in my house again, so now is the perfect time to move out all the things I no longer use.
Another bonus about clearing out the clutter is that it makes room for more and better things to come into my life. I’m the kind of person that tends to hang on to something because I might need it “someday”. It’s something I’ve been working on-releasing what is not necessary. Because it really sends the wrong message to the Universe. Instead of showing the Universe that I have faith in its abundance, holding on to something for “someday” sends the message that I don’t trust that I will have the resources to acquire that something later if i let it go now.
This letting go process has definitely been one of baby steps. In high school, I kept all of my homework and assignments, just in case I needed to reference it for something. I threw most of that out when I moved to college, but there was a lot of other stuff I kept. Each time I go through a clearing, a little more goes out the door. And most of the time, I find I didn’t really need it anyway! And I feel a little more free from the attachments to all those things.
Baby steps are good. They mean I am making progress.And the cleaning out becomes a meditation itself, practicing detachment.
“Detachment is a plant of slow growth; if you pluck the tender plant to look for the pods, you will be disappointed.” ~Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Whether it is cleaning out your closet, or cleaning out your inbox, how are you letting go of things you no longer need?
Blessings,
Mary