Clean this up. Now!

8 out of 10 times it so happens that something that I need urgently goes missing. And each time this happens, I resolve to clear up the clutter. In the hope that next time, I will not be wasting my time and effort. A resolution which is forgotten as soon as it is made. And the history keeps on repeating itself.

But when I could not locate the driver CD for my laptop, I finally decided that enough was enough. And I started off with the project “Cleaning the clutter”.

So far it has been going good. And it feels good to.

But believe me; it is not as easy as it sounds.

For one, we just do not hoard up things and stuff. We hoard up smiles and tears that brought it to our drawer in the first place. Every paper that you will pick up will bring back bitter sweet memories. May be that is one reason why I kept postponing the activity. The fear of facing and then loosing those memories forever. But having faced them today … I realized ... I can always hold on to the memories and let the stuff go.

The emotional reasons aside, it is really tough to decide if the life of a given article, clothing or piece of paper is really over. But this is an exercise that sharpens the objective outlook of mind.

Starting with the articles of clothing … does it fit, do I actually wear it, is it useful, out of date, can be used as hand me down … similarly for papers … do I need the receipts, can it be replaced, have I ever used it … general rule says if you have not used a paper in last 2.5 years, you are probably never going to look at it ever. And the list is endless.

Exhausting … but worth the effort.

And one thing that always stands in this exercise is “mental clutter”. Fretting, worrying, multi-tasking – all take their toll on our lives and environment. And getting round this is the real challenge. Only your will power guarantees results.

So, as I am learning to say no to cluttering and hoarding … I pray for de-clutter in your lives too … So that  we can all enjoy the early sunrise and the late sunset, feel the spring air and hear the birds chirping … joyous and peaceful. J J