I have spent most of my time recently embarking on some late spring cleaning. ‘Late’ being the relevant word here since fulfilling this task is long overdue, in fact, spring cleaning never seems to end! I never could figure out why we call it ‘spring cleaning’ when all we ever have to do is clean up after ourselves, not only physically, but emotionally and mentally too!
On the subject of cleaning up, some people believe and accept the idea that it takes a lifetime to clear out all the unnecessary baggage that has accumulated in our lives over time. This belief has become an easy excuse for those amongst us who really do not want to let go of things and clean up their life. Some people choose to hang onto the concept that they will always have to deal with the same issues for the rest of their lives because. It has become a comfort zone far throw from being self-responsible. Other people may feel threatened by the idea of letting go of their past for fear of losing their identity. Others may be afraid of letting go incase they feel even lonelier and insecure with the prospects of living life without the foundation they have come accustomed to. What is the current foundation of your life worth if it is not working anyway?
In reality these ideas are illusions based upon fear and a lack of faith and self-awareness. I know and believe this to be a fact because I have had first-hand experience of living a life based upon such limited ideas. I was someone who liked the idea of being a victim of the past. I thrived on that because it felt easier and safer to exist upon other people’s sympathy and feeling sorry for myself instead of being responsible and brave enough to clear out all the emotional and material garbage that I held onto. I allowed myself to be tied to the memories of my past, memories I was so afraid to let go of incase I lost my identity and the foundation of my own life.
I lived like this until one day when I felt so down that I could not take life like this any longer. It was becoming unbearable for me to remain living in such a negative state of mind and declared “enough is enough, it is time to change and I will do whatever it takes to do it!” The universe heard my call and answered by providing me with new opportunities to change myself and here I am today, changed, feeling brand new, empowered, and much ‘lighter’ for choosing self responsibility as oppose to being fueled by victimization and other people’s sympathy.
Although it doesn’t take a lifetime to clear out all the old, unwanted baggage that lingers with the memories of the past, we should spend the rest of our lifetime fully consciousness of when the time comes to let go and create closure of things that no longer work. Those of us, who do work on ourselves, tend to spend so much time focusing on the emotional aspect of our problems that we disregard the importance of closing the material aspects of our lives too. Many people believe that the material side of life is not as important as our inner, emotional being and so do not stop to consider the profound ways in which material things can affect that part of our selves.
Material closure is as an important part of a self healing process as emotional closure. Failure to let of the ‘stuff’ we have surrounded ourselves with in the past means we constantly experience memories, thoughts, feelings and emotions which have become attached to those material possessions. This of course becomes obstacle which prevents you from moving forward, unburdened by memories of the past. Do you really want to feel weighed down and distracted with old, useless feelings when you are trying to walk in a new direction in life? I don’t think so! It is unproductive to hang onto old outworn ideas, life is too short to waste time, let it all go!
Here is an example, imagine you are newly involved in relationship. You excited about this opportunity and are working to invest yourself in this relationship. That is great, but what about when you catch a glimpse of that old vase sitting on your dresser, the one you received as a gift from your ex, you are drawn back, deep into the memory of the time your received it. You fall into a deep daydreaming state, and then come the emotions, then the feelings of love you felt then, followed by sadness, regret, remorse because that person is gone. You now feel terrible; no matter what you do, you cannot seem, to shake the past off! You then feel a lack of faith in life and eventually decide that moving on and letting go is a pointless endeavor. Your life is over; it’s all downhill from here because you feel unable to move on.
Later that day, you go out on a date with a new potential boy/girlfriend, however, you are not fully present during the meeting; you are drifting into thoughts based on the disappointment of your past relationship. This makes you disinterested in creating a new relationship with the person sitting in front of you. The other person senses your distance of course and assumes you are not interested and never calls you again. Can you blame them? Personally, I blame the vase! No, just kidding, no blame involved, but realistically speaking, that vase is a physical representation of your resistance to let your past go and is causing problems which could have been prevented if the vase was not there in the first place.
You may argue now and say “It’s just a vase, what harm can it do? You are being ridiculous!” But it is not the vase; it’s the emotional reaction the vase triggers in you, that is an adequate sign to confirm yes, it is time to get rid of it! On the other hand, if you really think you have no emotional attachment to the vase then keep it. But at least be honest with yourself, who are you really kidding? I personally think it is time to get rid of the vase and any other objects that remind you of the past, making you feel emotional reactions of any degree which are not related to your life today.
I have been through many experiences of this nature and have come to the conclusion that material cleansing is as important than inner emotional cleansing, especially at the end of certain experiences like marriage, relationships, leaving home or anything else you have been attached to. This is something which we all have to deal with in life and is not a task to be taken lightly. As we know, life is a cycle consisting of all kinds of different experiences and as we end old experiences, we begin new ones. This never stops and our material life must reflect that constant cycle or we will stagger, feel heavier and heavier then eventually stagnate because of all the useless baggage we are dragging behind us.
I have personally spent a great deal of time working on myself, healing and closing the experiences of my past and I feel that I have done a pretty good job of it until now! It has not been easy; let me tell you, it takes trust, courage, honesty, humility and forgiveness before you can begin to change yourself and your life. One thing I lacked during this healing process was attention to the state of the outer world I lived in. I spent most of my time trying to evaluate my feelings and emotions and mental state of mind and was making progress. However, I felt something was preventing me from moving forward completely. What could it be? I honestly had no idea!
That was until one day I was going through the clothes in my wardrobe, looking for something to wear. I have a ridiculous amount of clothes that I have been collecting and dragging with me for several years from one new place to another, even between continents! I am sure most people would think I was lucky for having such an extensive clothes collection, and so did it. Yet, I was soon to realize I was mistaken.
As I was going through all my clothes, dragging things out, trying things on and figuring out what fits and what doesn’t, I was being bombarded with memories, feelings and emotions which were attached to specific occasions in my past, occasions I had worn the particular outfit I was trying on. Through the process of trying on each item, it was as if my life was flashing back before my eyes. This was not a nice experience and I realized then that by hanging onto the clothes, those material representations of my past, I was not releasing myself from the experiences. The pieces of the puzzle fit at last, I knew then what was holding me back and decided it was time for me to let the clothes go. I wanted to be free and completely detached from my past experiences once and for all!
As I mentioned briefly above, many people feel that the material part of life bears no substance and is irrelevant in comparison to the more ‘spiritual’ side of life. I disagree with that. The material world is just as significant as the emotional, mental and spiritual one. All things in life require balance in order to function and without the material world we simply would not have life as we know it. We all know that material is replaceable and bears no comparison to the value of our soul, but please consider this. The material world is a very important aspect of our soul growth and evolution. We need the material world to provide the means through which we live and experience life as a physical human being.
The material world provides us with the means to act out the experiences we need to promote growth and development on a human, which in turn serves our soul and its evolution. This is why we cannot say that the material world bears no value in our lives. The material world bears great significance and should not be disregarded or taken for granted as being irrelevant. As you have already learnt from my examples above, examples which I really did live and experience, material things do alter our inner life in a very profound way. It is time to recognize that and use this knowledge now to improve life and make it move forward in a more productive way.
As a result of my revelation, I decided to clear my wardrobe completely of all the old clothes. It felt so great and I felt so ‘light’ afterwards that I continued clearing out other ‘stuff’ I had been holding onto which had no purpose in my life anymore. The items only brought me reminders of yesterday, and that resulted in nothing short of self inflicted torture on re-experiencing emotions unnecessarily.
To be honest, I was quite emotional after my cleaning session and I did cry for a while afterwards. However, looking at the three black garbage bags of useless items, ready to leave my possession forever, I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Perhaps I will feel at a loss for having fewer clothes than I had before, but looking on the bright side, I can see a lot more space in my wardrobe to fill with new outfits!
The same principle now exists in my life as a whole. Clearing out the old releases you from the past and creates space to fill with new and exciting opportunities. In reality, you will never really lose anything by letting go of material reminders. Working on yourself and healing the past is always a good idea, however you will limit yourself unless you are prepared to let go of every aspect that ties you to your past, particularly material reminders. It is time now to let them go!
Yours in Light
