Clearing Out the Clutter

Recently, I have been trying to get organized and simplify my life by going through all of my "stuff" and getting rid of all the clutter. I am handling this the way I always do when I am trying to clean...I pull everything out of every drawer, closet and box (yes...I have a back room full of boxes packed with various and sundry items) and sort through it all. Some things go straight into the trash, but it always seems that more items get placed on this or that pile to be shredded, filed, donated, or given to my third cousin's second son.

I came home today, saw all of the piles of stuff (okay, I admit it...it's junk) laying here and there, willy-nilly all over the place and thought, "Egad! My place is a mess. I need to cram all of this stuff back where it came from so that everything looks neat and orderly again. Then I can have company over and I will feel better about where I live." That is when it hit me...this is exactly the same thing I do when I try to deal with the other "stuff" in my life (that's right...I'm talking about personal problems and mental issues here). I spend a lot of time meditating and reflecting on my life so that I can dredge up, identify and catalog all of the things about me that I want to change, improve, or take energy away from. I get to a certain point and then think that I have to put it all back where it came from so I can be around people and feel better about me.

It occurs to me that what I need to realize is that it's when things look the worst...when all the junk is pulled out into the open for all to see...that I am actually closest to having a clean, uncluttered, simple kind of life.