‘Everyone’s got a story’ and sometimes hearing others helps us to clarify our own. So I offer these scenes of life from the rear view mirror of a VW van.

A while ago, I spent some time building 10 by 8 foot “houses” in a settlement camp south of Colombo, Sri Lanka. These houses were simple and didn’t even have one mirror for 700 people. When I reflected and viewed the world from that earthen floor, I was shocked at how much stuff I had that I really didn’t need. Back home, my sacred objects were still crated in a plastic bin… but so many other unused things still lingered. What did I really need except food and love and honest communication, I questioned?

As I returned to Canada, on the 18-hour flight I contemplated “stuff’ and gave the whole concept of clutter bustin’ a good long think.

At home I faced my ‘paper-collector’ self, the one who needs something to touch /show to prove ‘facts’ to another. I faced my ‘recorder’ self – who saves endless images and words (truly thousands of them written). Thus I was determined to reassess the storage container and pack only the essentials in a VW van. It was obvious some things had to go. Actually a LOT had to go!

During this process, I realized there is often as much clutter inside us as there is in our closets and basements. When I sifted through this concept it was apparent that my mind quickly focused on friendships and ideas. Fascinating, how these invisible forces, taking up little space physically can be such a powerful force in our lives. Emails flying through the electronic universe 24/7, to red lights bleeping on the answering machines. Could the ‘physical stuff’ really go…practically unnoticed? As long as love and friendship prevailed! So what could I do to begin removing some clutter, I asked myself? I wanted to make a smaller tidier footprint so first I gave some of my shoes the boot!

Selling and giving away certain items seemed easy, but what about all that personal stuff. The looming question swelled up within me. Shred my old journals? These journals were my life – literally. Yet as I read random sections page after page, they were boring even to me. The same stories over and over and over. The character’s faces always changed, ‘but’… Definitely time for a change! Time to free my inner self. Time to take the shredder to almost melt-down heat!

So there I sat, shredding thoughts and feelings and using them as packing material for breakables. What a joke – what a relief! Inside I could feel a release of old emotions I did not realize were even there. I felt free at last. I was lighter and yet I still weighed the same.

Most people need to define themselves by what they possess, so finally I put the day’s date at the top of a piece of paper and listed what remained. I began to watch who I had instantly just become.  I’d say most people want the same things – peacefulness and love. So what if this year, each of us could/would begin with a new fresh slate? What if we not only cleaned the cupboards but did an inner overhaul at the same time? Forget/Forget and Move On. (ah … I can hear my van motor rumbling)

In our quiet spiritual inner place, let’s leave the narrow rear view mirror behind. Let’s look out the big front window in full appreciation of the panoramic view stretched out before us and peacefully embrace what lies ahead in 2007.

 

 

If you need help clearing the clutter call Janit Bianic 250-331-3335.

Janit Bianic is a life coach and videographer. Contact her at  www.missclutterbuster.ca
email: janitb@mars.ark.com