At 9:00 AM on Tuesday morning the moving pod was dropped off in the parking lot of my studio space in Albuquerque....
7 hours later, at 4:00 PM in the afternoon I was finished unloading it.
It was 90 degrees.
I did this by myself.
Very carefully and very slowly.
"One more thing and one more thing....."
I kept telling myself in private conversation to keep myself from keeling over....
And as I was looking at what I was moving for the second time in a week.....
(and I think the 6th time in 12 years)
I was making some rules for unpacking.....
Rule #1:
If I don't Love it or find it Beautiful or Useful....out it goes
and after that
for the final cut
Rule #2:
If I don't think I'll use it in the next year...out it goes
I am also giving myself permission to be inspired, yet not distracted
by what I re-discover in these boxes.
Let's see how that plan works.
I have rules like that as well. My one year rule is actually a two year rule.
ReplyDeleteI am in the process now of getting rid of some old books and such.
Thank You Roberta. As I am heading out for day 2 of sorting through these boxes, I realize I need to revise Rule 2. Reason #1 is that I can not predict the future. I am taking a different approach today. Good luck with your book letting. I will be doing that too.
Deletechoices and choosing . seems to me murphy's law always applies with this ..just as something is thrown away , then a reason to have it still arises.
ReplyDeletein our [ first ] world we have SO MUCH STUFF there is aways something else within reach and the cupboard to fill that void. another way and more creative thought is alight, making a new path. amen. sounds like a sermon all that.
Yes, Murphy's Law. However in Karen Kingston's book, Clearing Clutter with Feng Shui, she says people collect clutter because they do not have faith that the Universe will provide us with what we need when we need it. I'm pretty good at manifesting what I need. The NEW PATH idea is the one I like the best because it's what I thought of as I was packing the Pod. Still difficult to let go of this stuff. This will be a slower go than I first believed.
DeleteRule #1 is very good. Rule #2 is definitely tougher; not surprised you have amended it in some way. Allowing for inspiration and potential is one thing; clinging to stuff is quite another. Blessings on your process! :-)
ReplyDeleteRule #2 is a dumb rule. I don't know what I was thinking. Perhaps heat exhaustion was the culprit. I let go of a few things today and put a few items in a Good Will box. Mostly I just sat there looking at stuff. The truth is I don't have room for it all. I must pare it down. It will just take longer than I expected. I also felt some very bad energy there. I must get rid of what's causing that if I can figure it out. Blessings are the wind beneath my wings.....Thank you!
DeleteGood luck with the sorting. That's quite a mountain of stuff you have there! I'm still sorting and contemplating whether to keep things I've had for years and never used ..... but maybe, just maybe I'll need it. Hmmmmm .... we need to be ruthless for some things.
ReplyDeleteThank you. It is 'sorting' at this point. I thought I could start purging right away, but that seems to be the next step. There is deep psychology to all of this. I am going to keep at it until it's finished. And this is the second time we've heard the word ruthless here. I'm sure none of us really are ruthless, so this too is difficult. The other thing I guess is a good one, is that I do not have a home of my own at the moment.....nor have I for the past 2 years. This should weigh in......as I imagine what my home will look like in the future.
DeleteYour life is full of such adventure. I really admire that!
ReplyDeleteI am working on lightening up things in my studio as well. I may have said that months ago, but this time I mean it. My studio is so jam-packed full of stuff that I work in my kitchen, while that perfectly good studio with all the great light sits there with no horizontal surface to work on . . . and there are three desks in there! It's slow work though. I hate to just throw things away, so I'm taking photos and giving them to friends and family, to people on FreeCycle. Phew. Slow but satisfying.
Good on you for forging ahead through the Pod!
Yes it is Leslie. I am so blessed. And I feel so happy when I can inspire others to live their lives more fully. Still.......as you can imagine this is not the 'easy' way.
ReplyDeleteI am going to stay with this clearing thing too, mainly because I have no choice. And I want to make room for more good stuff to come into my life. Good on you too, for forging ahead with your project. And Thank You as always for your support. It is so nice to have friends who understand what I'm facing here.