Continuing on the last writing about the Selah conference I attended two weekends ago.
The one about Simplicity and discovering that less is really more.
One of the things the speaker talked about was how one has to change their thinking before one can change behavior.
When it comes to collectibles and things to go through she said, ‘It is not about stuff’.
It is deeper.
She said ‘de-cluttering’ needs to be a lifestyle not an activity for the day or week.
It is something you continually work on, it is not something you tell yourself,
‘I will arrive someday’.
I certainly have said many times, “when I get this closet cleaned out, or this messy spare room clean…. then peace will take place” or my sense of accomplishment will be finished or…whatever I might add to the ‘final goal’.
She said, “Ladies if you think you will arrive you will be disappointed.” She said, “It is a new habit of order not disorder. It is growth in the process of action. It is not blame or bad self talk it is investing in yourself… your peaceful place and your calm home.”
She said, “In order for you to de-clog the clog you have to be a student of yourself.”
Learning how or why you keep and not throw away or give away is critical to this process. She said, “The patterns of your life are the issue not necessarily the stuff.” She said, “Ladies you can put behind you what doesn’t deserve you.” Whether that be a pile of books you have wanted to read, or that sewing that never gets done or that clutter than never gets removed.
It is the process of reprogramming faulty thinking.
She said, “The process of taking back spaces and changing a room, is about order. It is about taking back your life.”
She said, “Let your environment serve you not enslave you.”
The first thing is to make room for what matters.
Then the rest needs to leave. Purge. Clean and remove. Give it away and remove it before you change your mind. In the process of removing and cleaning pay attention to the triggers surrounding the process. The triggers are very important as they teach us what is really behind the collecting.
My counselor said it is about attachment.
The speaker said there are three programs of life management we all work from:
i am what i have
i am what i do
i am what others say about me
Can I ask you today which question fits for you?
Let us encourage each other in this new process of simplifying our lives as we press forward to a new direction of freedom.