Tuesday, May 28, 2013

#361 discard

If you were no longer around and someone had to clean out your house and office, what would they be astonished by?  

I think the answer for everyone falls into two categories:
1.  Something that evokes the question:  "Why on earth did they keep that??!!"
2.  "How can one person have so many of ________?"

I have been involved in several moves/purgings lately, and it causes me to look around at all of the things I have personally accumulated.  To me, everything is organized and of value, but if I were a neutral party and had to empty my home and office, I imagine that the desirability of all contained within would drop significantly.  

There are certainly people who visibly have too much "stuff" in their possession, but I believe that each of us is a secret hoarder of some type.  We find something that we love, and then collect another, and another.

I am reminded of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's 1955 classic Gift from the Sea.  When she first arrives for a retreat at the beach, she instinctively collects pockets full of shells.  After some time in reflection, she realizes that she needs to discard some shells in order to appreciate the few.  "For it is only framed in space that beauty blooms," she wrote.  

As summer approaches, intentionally make the effort to create some space in your life.  Free yourself of some possessions.  Clear away some time on the calendar.  Do some discarding so you can appreciate and be more intentional about what remains.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

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