I was just thinking...

What is it about us that makes us want to hold on to stuff?

That is the big question (I'd love to hear what you think.) I recently relocated my office and during the move I had to go through a lot of stuff to decided what I actually needed to keep and what things I needed to get rid of. Let me rephrase that so it is more accurate. My wife, stepped in and with those amazing organizational skills of hers had me go through all of my junk to see what I actually need to relocate to the new office

You see, the last time I relocated I did it by myself. My intention was to surprise her by moving into a new office, while she was on a trip. (I need to stop watching HGTV) I had a short window of opportunity, so I concentrated more on speed than I did organization. Basically all I did was scoop up as much stuff as I could carry and transported it from the old office to the new one. By the time I had everything moved I had one really big mess. I started off good but as time went on I got tired and I just wanted to be finished. Long story short, I learned that I should leave stuff like that to the professionals.

So when I relocated this time, I let my wife (the professional) handle the details. She came up with the plans and then we both implemented them. Part of the plan was to get rid of stuff that we did not need in the office. Which brings me back to the question I asked at the start. What is it that makes people want to hold on to things? As I sat going through old letters and files, I kept asking myself what was the big deal. Hard as it was I eventually began to clear out the old stuff and get rid of the things that I no longer needed. (I didn't have choice as my wife said that junk wasn't coming anywhere near the new office space.)

I learned a few things during the whole ordeal:

• The old/unnecessary stuff was occupying space that could have been being used for current projects, and in reality it was slowing down production simply by being there.

• By continuing to let that stuff accumulate, and not go through it, I was cultivating bad habits

• The biggest thing however was that a portion of the clutter, was a collection of unfinished personal projects. I go all out for my clients and customers, but I always manage to put my own projects on the back burner. In a weird sort of way I was slowly sending myself a message that my stuff was unimportant

I have to admit that I am really glad that my wife came to the rescue, I have been loving working in my new office and my productivity has actually increased dramatically. My lesson on clutter has also made me aware of a spiritual principle as well. I can see where the tendency to hold on to things and let the clutter pile up, goes beyond the tangible. We tend to hold on to old feelings and emotions, old ideas and mindsets, we even hold on to old plans and schemes that should have been tossed a long time ago. If those weren't enough we also tend to hold on to old painful memories and that list of things that people did to us...

The same way that my office clutter was taking up too much space, hampering my productivity and wasting resources, the non-tangible clutter produces a similar effect, taking up too much space in our minds and hearts, hindering and slowing our forward progress and keeping us from new positive experiences.

Clutter of any kind does more harm than good...if you want to increase your productivity, have new positive experiences and enjoy life...then you need to get rid of the junk. Let it go...Let it go.

  So after a lot of wishful thinking and wasting my gas I made my way back to the Walgreens that was closest to were I lived, which was a dilemma in and of itself as there is practically a Walgreens on every corner out here. (remind me to tell you about my Walgreens theory later)

  I managed to make a decision on which Walgreens to go to, and once inside it appeared that they saw suckers like me coming as all of the prices were like three times higher than what they normally would be... but it wasn't like I had any other store to go to right.  So there I was walking the aisles and complaining to myself about the prices in my own little world when without warning I was grabbed by the neck and pummeled ruthlessly about the nose by the most horrid smell.  It was the smell of stinky skunk smelling weed smoke!    

  It was as if the wearer of the smell had taken a bath in Au De Cannabis.  I tried to get away by walking in the other direction but the smell was so strong it seemed to follow me around.  I was frantically running up and down the aisles and every time I turned a corner there were the culprits in all of the malodorous glory!

  After twenty minutes of evasive maneuvers I saw an opening at the cash register and made a run for it, and wouldn't you know it the line seemed to come to a stop as soon as I got in it.  I kept looking over my shoulder and praying and sending mental signals to the cashier to move faster so that I could get outta there before those weed eaters showed up with that horrid smell again.  

  I was hoping that I could make it, but my hopes were in vain because just as I was about to turn around I caught a whiff  of that offensive smell again and it started getting stronger and stronger.  Just as I had feared, my not so sweet smelling friends strolled up right behind me.  

  I tried holding my breath... which turned out to be not such a good idea because just before the point of blacking out, my reflexes forced me to take in a gigantic breath of air hitting me with an even larger more concentrated dose of the smell.

  It seemed like a lifetime as I stood in that line waiting to get away, I tried everything I could think of to block that smell... in fact I was so desperate that I even tried passing gas just to change the smell... didn't work (mental note flatulence and weed smoke... not a good combination).  

  After several unsuccessful attempts to escape I found myself becoming calm...I didn't really think too much about anymore... until I got home and realized that I suddenly had the strong desire to eat a couple of candy bars and a bag of chips... 

  Another blog to maintain.  Actually I really did need this.  I do a lot of writing, but most of it is for other people and other sites and most of the time at those places I try to keep my opinion to myself.  Yet I am discovering that sometimes I really do need to talk things out and clear my head a bit so that I can articulate better.  So in a way this is kind of like therapy for me, cheaper than a therapist and much less uncomfortable.  So my advice to you as a reader would be take what I say with a grain of salt... hopefully I might just say something that makes me look stupid... but will provide you with some wisdom and insight.  I can only hope right....