Releasing…

I went to town on Saturday. A simple little thing I used to take for granted which I haven’t done in ages. In a random shop I came across two unexpected things. The one was Organic Earl Grey tea. This is my tea of choice and that Friday I had run out of it. I did my shopping Friday and the shop had no Earl Grey tea. I decided I was going to believe that it would find me without me having to go to a shop specifically for it.

And it found me…

The other thing was a book by a lady whose methods I have watched on tv before and tried to loosely apply but never in earnest. This little white book called to me on the shelf.

So on Saturday when I got home I started reading it. Picking it up whenever I got a moment I managed to finish it by Monday. The hardest part was reading to the end before starting to declutter.

Now I don’t consider myself a hoarder. Not more than the average person in any case. My other half likes a tidy house so on average we don’t have that much stuff standing around. We do have five kids though. Just saying.

Her method says you start with your clothes. You handle each item and keep only what gives you a spark of joy and release the others to leave your life. Their purpose fulfilled. Whether it made you happy only when you bought it but you never used it. Thats okay.

I couldn’t face my cupboard. So I took one corner of the kitchen. I ‘released’ an iron holder full of utensils that I had had there for 8 years and never liked. I found space for it within a drawer and voila my worktop space looked cleared. Every time I walked into the kitchen I had to stop and stare at that corner…it made me feel amazing. Weird right?

So yesterday I took the plunge and gathered all my clothes on my bed. After the clothes I tackled the jewellery, knickknacks and cosmetics. I found 8 sugar packets with motivational quotes on that I’ve kept for years without ever looking at them. Perfume I’ve had for 19 years that I never use. The lipstick I got on my wedding day that is almost finished. I released these stuff that I’ve had connected to me for so long in one fell swoop.

It felt….terrifying. Why? Why is letting go so hard? Marie says there are only 2 reasons – attachment to the past and fear of the future. But we were meant to live in the now. If it doesn’t give me joy NOW what does it matter that it meant something in the past. Do I need things to remind me of the past that I have left behind good or bad – might it be preventing me from living fully now.

There are things I kept – a shell I’ve had since a little girl that looks like it has a sunrise on. It still makes me happy. I threw out the hand me down clothes that I wore without ever really liking them…I look at my wardrobe and there is this sense of order. One of the best parts is that I now have space for my bracelets. Those drawers used to be full of junk and I never ever opened them.

She says that everything we have has been attracted to us for a reason and a season. In deciding to release things we find confidence in who we are and what we love. Often we don’t want to deal with our stuff because if everything was in order it would force us to deal with the stuff inside us…Now there is food for thought.

I can honestly say that releasing things from my life is restoring something inside me.

I might be ‘losing’ things in the physical but I am gaining so much on the inside.

All of the emotional attachment we have to every single little thing in our lives clutter our minds and hearts. Declutter – simplify – find out what you really love and live joyfully💃

P.S. Another testimony of faith: I had bought an art piece with the living letters on a few weeks ago but the lift that we arranged forgot to bring it to me. A few days ago I thought that I would like to get it and that I would trust that it would come to me soon. Yesterday my husband walked into the house with it. Without me knowing he had arranged another lift and voila…It came to me. I love gazing at it and engaging the images of the living letters.

It is effortless to live out of union…