Blessings everyone,

As many of you know I am streaming live every Sunday on Facebook and YouTube "Sunday Night Alive".  I am happy to be synthesizing and broadening these topics for you.  Sunday Night Alive is dedicated to Practical Spirituality - topics which provide us with the tools to actually walk and talk our spiritual journey.  Enjoy this topic from Sunday, January 22nd:

Un-Clutter Your Space, Body, Calendar and MInd

Last week we explored the value of un-cluttering your house, body, calendar, and your mind, in service of course to a more spiritually motivated life and a world that works for everyone!

As a verb ‘clutter’ means “to crowd something untidily and fill with stuff”. As a noun it means “a collection of things and stuff lying about in an untidy mess.” Humans, notably American humans, have a lot of clutter in their houses, garages, closets, and storage units.  We are over-extended and under-rested. Our bodies evidence too much of the wrong stuff going in and our minds if mental health is the evidence to which we look – could use some expert Feng Shui!

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese practice which harmonizes individuals with their surroundings.  The term feng shui literally means “wind-water”. The entire point of accepting our spiritual identity is to harmonize with our natural surroundings and to align with the Divine Presence – within and without.  Perhaps we can begin to think of the rest of this article as an opportunity to ‘feng shui” our entire life.  In terms of wind and water, a cluttered life is very much like a raging ocean, replete with turmoil, conflict, drama, confusion, and high winds blowing us every which way.  A life that has been purged of all the excess, all the unwanted and unloved items, activities and ways of thinking is the opposite. That life, rather than a raging ocean, is a calm and serene lake.

Why do we have so much stuff we don’t want, need, or love?  I think there are many reasons including the leftover thought patterns from the great depression which is now about 85 years ago. The experience of fear, lack and limitation still lingers in the collective sub-conscious. Why not have 3 toasters, 4 coffee pots and 3 sets of checkers?  You never know when the ones you have might break. 

Others possible reasons for the clutter:

• The belief it is wrong to throw things out. This includes your great-grandmothers dishes that nobody uses, your size 3 clothes just in case, and all the spare items you picked up at garage sales because they were such a bargain.
• The belief that it is a sin to not clean your plate. Even though obviously not eating your dinner did not feed any hungry people.
• We believe that the one with the most stuff at the end wins. You can’t take anything with you. Some poor soul will have to do something with your stuff after you are gone!
  
• We never learned how to appropriately process our feelings. So instead of doing that, we shop, drink, eat, etc.
• We never learned how to put periods at the end of experiences. So rather than each new day being an opportunity for a new experience, our lives end up an endless accumulation of stuff and stories.
• We don’t know how to live in the moment.
• The task is just too daunting, so we procrastinate or we are just too lazy to do it!

There are more.  I am sure you could add one or two to the list.

Henry David Thoreau believed that we cared too much about the things that don’t matter and not enough about the things that really do. I assert this misplaced focus leaves our souls hungry for truth and simplicity.

Imagine a big, beautiful empty room with nothing in it other than sun-streaming windows, white walls, and a beautiful clean floor. Imagine yourself in that room. There is so much unimpeded space, and the energy is so light that you can run around, dance, sing out loud, lay on the floor, gaze up at the ceiling, do cartwheels, or simply look out the window and daydream.  Imagine adding things that you would love to have in the room with you, whether a piece of furniture, art, music, a treasure.  And that over time you can take things out and bring new things into the room, but the room remains a simple place for running, singing, dancing, and daydreaming. The goal is to have our real life feel like this!

Most of our spaces and places are filled with too much stuff we don’t use, need, or care about. Too much clutter affects our energy and freedom.  I have known many people who would never consider moving to a new location simply because they have no idea how to dig themselves out of the house, they are in. Too much of what we don’t care about and don’t love in our space, minds, calendars, or bodies creates imbalances and lack of ease (or dis-ease). Un-cluttering these areas WILL aid in your quest for spiritual fulfillment, human purpose, happiness, prosperity, and health.

There are at minimum, three spiritual principles at play in this exploration.

Law of Circulation
This principle is about the flow of everything. Every single aspect of the natural world needs to circulate.  The dead sea does not support life because the water is toxic and polluted in the absence of an inlet and an outlet.  For us to have ‘stuff’ in a closet, storage bin or garage that hasn’t been seen, used, or cared about for years, is a violation of this principle. We live in a world where many people don’t have the things they need. I guarantee that your unused and unloved stuff will make other lives better and happier. The size 3 dress you are holding onto ‘in case’ you lose that weight someday, will fit someone perfectly. The payoff for creating empty space is that something you can use and love can show up!

Law of Growth
The law of growth simply states that everything must expand, grow, evolve, and change.  So much of our clutter has to do with the past -both good memories and challenging ones.  Too much of that kind of mulling over in our minds, thwarts future growth and potential.  A huge part of the experience of our spiritual awakening is one of learning to live in the present moment.  NOW is the only time we will ever experience wonder, magic, miracles, grace, or possibility.  So many of us have ‘freeze-framed’ our lives on a tragedy or an ecstasy and life has become a monument to the event rather than a life being lived. This is not the way of nature. The tree drops its leaves, the caterpillar turns into butterflies, and everything marches forward. So must we.

Law of energy
Everything is energy. If the room is full of clutter you don’t want, use, or love, you can’t dance, sing, do cartwheels or daydream.  As an intentional spiritual being, you have a sacred assignment on this earth, and the more you are tethered to the mental or physical clutter, the less time and energy you will have to generate aliveness and pure positive possible energy toward the fulfillment of that assignment.

It takes vision, commitment, and integrity to move out of a cluttered existence and into an inspired, energetically spacious, and spiritual one.  It will take work!  It will take standing your ground with relatives, friends, and the agreed upon ‘normal’.  Clutter may be the norm, but you and I are not ‘normal’ – we are spiritual warriors.  We are designed to sing our song. We want to dance and daydream.  We want to fulfill our purpose.  So let us begin.  In addition to my comments below, let the wisdom, intelligence and love inside of you, guide you. And be patient, compassionate and gentle with yourself.  It doesn’t really matter where you start. Everything is related.  Un-clutter one area and the others will follow.  Develop a taste for simplicity and calm, and all your life structures will become that way.

What To Do With The Stuff?
The thing with “stuff” is that if it isn’t being used by you, and it doesn’t have any meaning for you, then why hang on it?  Secure some boxes and begin.  Room by room, drawer by drawer. If you aren’t using it, if you don’t care about it, if it doesn’t belong to you, consider releasing it into a universe that needs it.  Give things away.  Sell things.  Donate things. This actually feels really good once you start doing it!

The Mind
Un-cluttering your mind is not much different than uncluttering a closet. Most people have the idea that we can’t help what we think or what we feel which is not true at all. One of the things that we do have some say in, is how we watch, guide, and control our thoughts. Go through everything in your mind and choose to keep it, throw it out or change it.  Use the same criteria we used for the closet – do you use it, does it serve you, do you love it? Of course, the clearing of the mind requires letting the past be.  If you can let the past be, it will let you be. Is the resentment in service to your life’s purpose?  Does the anger contribute to the world?  Does your obsession over your first truelove bring you joy? Does the worry about money, politics or war add anything to the health of your organs and functioning of your body.

Another aspect of the clutter in our minds is worrying about the future. If you don’t already know this, you will at some moment. You really don’t have to worry. You are maintained, sustained, guided, guarded, protected, and prospered by a Universe that Is for you and not against you.  You will always have what you need when you need it.  You need to remember this when your energy is blocked by worry and doubt and congealed with fear. The source of our peace of mind is stillness. Put a period on the past.  Put your faith to work for the future. Tune into your inner landscape by meditating. A primary benefit of clearing the clutter everywhere is to establish and strengthen your interconnectedness to all things.

The Body
The goal is to treat your body like a temple and only put in it what serves your purpose and what you love. Instead of taking the antacid so that you can eat pizza, don’t eat pizza.  There isn’t too much more to say here. Clean water, wholesome food, appropriate exercise, and deep sleep.  Appositive attitude works as well!

The Calendar
For most of us our schedules are over-stuffed and over-cluttered. We spend too much time doing things that aren’t useful and activities that we don’t care about. We end up with not enough time for rest and reflection.  Check to see if you are saying yes when you should be saying no and saying no when you should be saying yes.  Make sure your heart is connected to the places you go and the people you see. Make sure you make self-care as important as everything else. 

Spiritual Fulfillment rests on your capacity to connect with what is inside of you.  What you will find there is real love as well as the true source of your happiness and peace.  Free of the clutter of being human, you can tap into your inner guidance and the innate wisdom of the Universe which not only surrounds you but is deep within you.  It is a thing of energy, attention, and stillness.

Remember an overly cluttered life is like a raging ocean. We are all a bit addicted to the drama.  The highs and lows of the stormy sea. The work of trying to get enough sleep, making ends meet, dealing with not enough time, money, love, and stuff.  But there is another way. Un-clutter your life. Only keep what you love and what serves your life and your purpose.  Create a life that makes you happy and one which gives you room to dance. An uncluttered mind, home, body, and calendar will turn your life in a calm, serene, golden lake.

This concludes today’s message for Living A Life of Spiritual Power

Next time – “Love Life and Let Life Love You Back”

Until then,
Love, love and more love,
Rev. D

P.S.  16 more sleeps before I am in South Africa.  I will exchange much talking for more pictures of amazing animals.