Life Just Keeps Getting Better!

Birthday celebrations, oh yes,

Provide the backdrop of snapshots

Of what we were back then,

Little snots, tiny tots.

And the mirror with our friends today,

Provides a dead giveaway

We have lost some of our youthful look,

Our past grace, there is just a very small trace!

We celebrate other’s birthdays, laugh as they age,

And relish it’s not ours!

Celebrating each moment

We get to enjoy under the stars.

I hope you know I am feeling melancholy

About the days that have come and gone

So many trials and tribulations

The letters wrote starting, Dear John.

Missed opportunities for me

But I’d not change a thing

Because through it all

Faith always rings

To celebrate another year

Sometimes feels like a punch in the gut

Especially when I realize

I am doing it with a bunch of nuts!

But I remind myself that God

He always shows me the way,

People are brought together,

And some are meant to stay, to play,

And be there for my birthday!

Closet Cleansing

Cleaning out your house is like doing inventory on your mind. Over a relatively short period of time, we can easily accumulate so many items. Unlike carpetbaggers, who would refer to this this as removable baggage some would it call garbage. Perhaps it should be relegated to the curb!  And your mind, it must be routinely de-cluttered as well.

As I began a project of working from room to room cleaning out closets, I was shocked to find out how many miscellaneous ‘things’ I had. Mind you, most had very little value and were waiting for a purpose. Each one was taking up space and collectively, they were piling up needed space for either newer items or simply freedom.  In my mind, freedom is room to roam without constraints.  My closet needs room to breathe much as my mind needs room to grow.

The work of cleaning out the clutter of the house is a trip down memory lane as the items collected in one’s lifetime are all representative of some moment in time.  Each moment should have been some stepping stone to future growth, a revelation. If the possessions served no purpose, why hold on to them?  What is the point of simply hanging on to items to fill space?  My closets can only hold so much and my mind may have an unlimited amount of resources but my ability to retain it, at this age, has serious limitations. I don’t need frivolous junk floating in there. Pitch the unnecessary, unneeded, the dirty and begin anew.

Any item that was old, I evaluated. Does this bring me pleasure or pain?  Living today, in the moment is key to happiness, the present and the future. Staring in the windshield too long is a surefire way to get smashed with what’s coming up ahead. How often do we hold onto painful memories wishing they would be different and knowing they never will?  Seeing items that bring up disappointments should be considered carefully if they hold value clinging in the cobwebs or not. Just as in the mind, should your mind be filled with memories so vivid constantly that you are unable to process what is going on around you?  Should anyone from your past steal your joy today?  If the items are worrisome, get rid of them. They have served their purpose.

As my pile grew, the items I was giving away, I realized how many happy hands and faces would receive it. These would be people who would have empty closets and be grateful to fill them. The irony did not escape me that I was working on not only decluttering my house but my mind. These receivers were focused on so much smaller demands in life than I, survival. The irony of having so much is wanting so much more. Having so little entails being satisfied with so much less. Aye, we with plenty have much to learn.

And so, as my closets became more open, my mind became clearer. I realized I needed to be more committed to not hanging on to so many thoughtless items. I also recognized my desire to be less focused on the frivolous things in my life and more balanced and determined to concentrate on what matters most to me. Cleaning out cobwebs is hard work. It shouldn’t be done by the light hearted. And once done, it should undo a web of clutter in the house and mind.