Been reflecting back on my time up in Maryland, and one of the jobs I did while up there: I worked with the Executrix of an Estate for several months, with all that work culminating in a 2-day Estate Sale over two consecutive weekends. This event was the end-results of months of inventorying, trashing, donating, and then the final sale of furniture, artwork, linens, nicknacks and bric-a-brac that had accumulated over a 60-yr lifetime of the deceased.
Upon this reflection, and looking at my notes, I have one thing to say: “People !!! Unclutter !!!!” {Was just reviewing the inventory I had made: 36 pair of just exercise socks?? 7 spatulas?. 5 sets of dishes? 3 sets of luggage? Really?} I’m not ‘dissing’ anyone ~ especially the deceased person whose home I had been working in ~ yet …. it was a great re-Minder of the ‘why’ to ask Self next time there is a desire to buy something, especially if it is something I already have.
I remember after the “May Event” (which is what I call the Nash flood back in ’10). Nature helped me unclutter quite a few items. Then 4 yrs later, moving from 1800sq ft to 1000 was another time of let-go-Lin of more … well … just stuff. (During my most recent move, I donated over a thousand […yup … you read that right …. over a thousand] books. I still have more packed up right now in boxes.) And really, it IS ‘just stuff.’ (Very, very few true treasures amongst it all.) I could, in all honesty, probably lighten my load by a third, if not half, were I to re-evaluate what remains.
I’m not after living like a monk ~ or monkess ~ and I am not spurning ‘worldly possessions.’ I like my worldly possessions. Most all of them bring joy and that would earn the approval of Marie Kondo. Ha! There are items which others may look at and go ‘Huh?’ That’s okay. When I look at it and go ‘Huh?’ that’s something else altogether.
Doing this side-business has brought it home again … thank you universe for the messages !! ….and I find myself looking, really looking, at what I surround myself with, what I choose to purchase, and the Why. Doing so creates a mindset of truly enjoying and appreciating what I have [3 spatulas – of different sizes, she said justifyingly : ) ] ~ feeling comfortable in the space I create ~ and having Breathing Room to boot !
I remember hearing a wise-one saying that the serenity of the Mind is reflected in the serenity of the surroundings. Cluttered space, cluttered Mind ~ and vice-versa. There is Abundance …. and there is the antithesis of the joy of that. Clutter and too-much-stuff is not Abundance. Let’s look at the places where the clutter resides …. and find solutions to letting go (emotionally and physically), thus making room to truly enjoy and appreciate what remains. Free yourself.
Now that is Abundance !!