12. Tidying up

A Story by MathildeHeart

This is blogpost 12 to write about my sabbatical experience and my journey to mindfulness.

There are so many things I have been wanting to tidy up. And the good thing is, I have made a start. Off course my ambition level was much higher. But that holds true mostly for the physical aspects of it. I have made great strides in working on negative thoughts and feelings, have been steadily working through those activities that have been on my to do list for too long and lastly I have already moved two loads of stuff out of my house. And as I start to become more detached from the physical stuff and find the peace of mind to decide what stays and what goes I am sure there is more to come. And yeah, I did nor buy anything during black friday (weekend). Many years ago I was already interested in the principles of feng shui. It seems so calming if you only have the things you need and everything has it's place. For some reason however over thebperiod of a decade you can accumulate so much stuff. It is not that my house is untidy, but what do you do when the books don't fit anymore on the book shelfs, if your keep stuffing cloths in the drawers that are overfull and the kids schoolmaterials keep on piling and piling. Then you have those things that you have kept for many years because you think they have some emotional value, are nice keepsakes for whatever reason. Oh yes and what about those video cassettes and cd's you do no longer have a player for and piles of dvd's from before Europe had access to Netflix. There is still much to do and it seems very time consuming, but it is cleansing and calming once you see that empty space and order reappearing. What I understand now is that certain things I have to do in stages, like my books. What do Inwant to keep and why. I never read novels twice and there are such great ressources like the library and the reading room. So I am destined to only keep the books I cannot get there or that I will likely have a look at again. Then there is the self control of not buying more books, unless it is something I will read more then once or can not get in the library and asking for e-books in case of gifts. This seems like a clear way to go, so what about kids toys and games? Let's keep the toys and games that we really enjoy(ed) playing and donate the rest. It seems like a shame to get rid of stuff that is in perfectly good order, but it doesn't have any value collecting dust on the shelf. We have been getting piles of beauty and wellness products as gifts. It might take a decade to use them all. How do we make sure we do not get any more? It seems unfriendly, but does feel better to be clear that you do prefer not to get these types of gifts. That you'd prefer a donation to a good cause or a gift card maybe? And for the products, let's out them all in one place so we have an overview and just continue using them one by one. Step-by-step I will get through it. But it does seem it will take much more time than I anticipated. But I have that time now, so just keep going at it. Interestingly I do already feel much less cluttered, because my increased peace of mind helps me be less annoyed. Things are the way they are. Nothing more and nothing less. And if I want the situation to change I will have to take action, step by step. 