Last week I began a major clutter-clearing project in my apartment. It is amazing what one can accumulate in 15 years. It might not have been so bad if I had done some of this when I moved here from my last home. In any case, I had huge plans to get rid of anything that I did not absolutely need or love. I was told by several teachers and friends on the spiritual path that if you want to manifest something, you have to make room for it. I am trying to manifest a new home, so it stands to reason that I would want to only bring to a new home those things that I require for my new life while releasing those things that no longer serve me or that tie me down.
If you read last week's posting you saw that I made some good headway but in the beginning all of my best intentions went right out of the window when I stood in the middle of my apartment looking around at all of my belongings and was immediately overwhelmed by all my stuff. I remember an old George Carlin routine about having so much stuff and having to organize it all. In that moment I felt as if it was an impossible task for little old me. Then I remembered some advice I got from one of my favorite teachers whom I adore, Denise Linn, who always tells us when we are facing some seemingly enormous task to "start from where you are." So I took a deep breath and looked around me. I was standing in the living room. "Start from where you are." I opened the entertainment center doors and started going through DVD's and VCR tapes (yes, I still have a VCR ... so you can see my need to start unloading some of this stuff). Before I knew it I had filled cartons with things to be donated, things to be sold and lots of old things to be tossed. It took a few hours but the relief I felt was nothing compared to the sense of determination that told me I could do this not only in one room but in every room.
Sometimes we are faced with situations in our lives that seem so overwhelming we just can't wrap our minds around them. We simply have no idea how we will ever accomplish it or even survive it. It just all seems too big to handle. When this happens, Denise's advice of "start from where you are," makes even more sense than just for clutter clearing. Break the task or situation down to small steps and then just take the first one. You don't have to drive yourself crazy trying to figure out how you will get it all done, you just have to do that one small thing. For me it was just standing in the middle of the room and deciding to open that one small door. As I began to move from one room to the next, I realized that with every small step I took, the task before me got lighter and lighter. I am a long way from done as we speak, but I no longer feel as if it will never get done. I am even starting to get excited at the prospect of being free of so many things. With this kind of spirit going for me, just imagine what kind of new home and new life I can manifest ... starting from right where I am right now!
And so it is.
