Cleaning and Crying

It’s a Saturday morning.  I’m cleaning house, or specifically, I’m organizing my closet.  I’m feeling productive.  I am simply enjoying my quiet time alone with my things.

And out of nowhere, my heart breaks wide open and I’m crying.  I’m holding my things and just crying.  I’m touching my things and just crying.  I’m deciding what to keep and what to discard and just crying.

Photos, journals, cards and letters.  They bring me back to another time.

Pure heart. Gorgeous life. Shared joy. All of these Memories.

Friends.  Family.  People I love.  People I loved. Friends I almost forgot about.  Friends I want to find again.  Hugs I want to give out.  Words I want to share.

It’s almost too much.

Or maybe just enough.

Just enough to make me really think about where I am in life, what I’m doing, who I’m sharing my life with and….what more do I want to do, who or what could be missing, and what is important to me now?

And what did I find so far?  I found through reading my journals what was important to me 5, 10, 20 years ago is still important to me now.

I know that the things I own are not as important as the friends and loved ones I keep.

I know, as I sit there with these paper memories in my hands, that these are amazing things to keep. There’s tenderness in these particular Things.

Marie Kondo was right.  In her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, she says that when we truly organize ALL of the items in our life in one full sweep, our life changes. And that’s exactly what I think is happening, starting with my heart breaking wide open.

To follow Marie Kondo’s method, you would start by picking up each item, touching it and asking yourself if that item brings you joy. Why touch the item?  She says that each item has an energy.  What she’s referring to here is qi.  The same qi that we’re activating when you’re on the treatment table.  The qi that heals and balances your body.

How beautiful is that?  A way to organize your things that takes into consideration qi.  You can see why I am drawn to her technique.

It’s about qi.

And it’s simple, like a meditation and moving, like a meditation.

There are more to items to cull and so more life-changing to come.  We’ll see where it takes me but for now, I wanted to share this with you because while organizing life seems like a chore, it’s actually more significant than that.

In my case, what’s really happening is that I’m making room in my life for something else.

I’m making room for the possibility of the many miracles to come.  Cheers!

Con mucho cariño,

(with lots of affection)

 

Jennifer

PS:  Sometimes acupuncture can help bring on a much needed cry or even help soothe and soften the depths of crying when someone is grieving.  If you or someone you know would like help with either case, please feel free to contact me.  I’ll be happy to help.