purge when necessary

Before any garden can be seeded, the ground has to be prepared. The rocks and weeds need clearing, the earth has to be turned and the nutrients introduced.
You have to clear the clutter from your life, internally and externally. You have to create the right environment to be able to grow your vision [whatever that may be]
- Lynne Franks

I'm currently reading "The Seed Handbook" by Lynne Franks.

and 18 pages in, she's talking about clutter.

and not just the household junk mail kind of clutter.

oh no.... she goes all out.

Those pamplets in your car? Clutter.
Non-business receipts, phone numbers and notes on small pieces of paper? Clutter
Magazines that inspire you but haven't been looked at in over 6 months? yup...clutter.
Outdated ideas, business thoughts that remain stagnent, processes that collect dust, and sporatic worrysome thoughts in your head?

You guessed it, all different types of clutter.

So by now I'm thinking (as I look around my home and office), no wonder my mind has always been so sporatic (Well, asides from the self-diagnosed ADD & OCD). I'm pretty much guilty of ALL forms of c-l-u-t-t-e-r. Yup, physical and mental.

Currently, this is my kitchen counter, bathroom shelf, desk area and a totally adoreable picture of my puppy.

He's turning into the sheep dog from the Looney Tunes, we know. We have to get his hair cut because it matts up on us, but if we could, I'd just let it grow!

Anyways, I digress.

So I'm reading about clutter and thinking to myself... does anybody really have a handle on this stuff? The newspaper fliers, the magazines, the multiplying take out menus.... doesn't everyone save those "in the event of"? I mean, really, you never know when you really feel like, oh I don't know, Lebonese, and gosh darnit you threw out the menu last week!

I mean, I'm sure I wouldn't have a darned problem decluttering and home decorating if I hired a professional, but the last time I checked, those services aren't readily available to those of us with less-than-a-plethora-of-disposible-income. Not complaining, just sayin'

But alas I (and I'm sure many other people) will just have to make due with what is readily available.

My conclusion?

Purging. and buying living, breathing, water drinking plants.

(So long as I'm not the one responsible for re-potting said plants. If that was the case, they wouldn't be living, breathing and water drinking for very long).

Again, I digress.

So I'm purging. I'm decluttering the lazy mans way. I'm just throwing stuff out, and deleting emails, and pulling my name off mailing lists. Canceling subscriptions, and coming to terms with projects that will most likely never get finished.

And throwing out those darned take out menus. Because really, how often does a person really need to take out?

I've decided to do this for 3 reasons. A) Everyone has too much stuff, and we all need a little purge now and then to keep our personalities fresh, and B) because I'm really serious about all this moving forward and being still stuff. Yes I realize that is a contradiction, and that's why I like it, and C) because I'm making a clearing. A snug little space for only me. In my home and in my head. I'm making way for bigger things to come. Even if I'm not sure what those bigger things are yet. I'll be ready for them because I'm making room. I'm creating my sacred space.

So I'm throwing stuff out.

And tomorrow, I'm buying myself some living plants.

let's hope I don't kill them.