This morning I was awakened to a horrendous crash in the living room of the house, followed by the unmistakable sound of the cats belonging to my roommates, actively trying to kill one another; as I ran down the stairs and around the corner, the first thing I saw was fur all over the floor. The second thing I saw was lamps down, and pictures askew.
The next thing I saw were long claw marks all over the piano, as the cat that lost the fight went tearing past me to hide behind me (smart cat). The very last thing I saw was the cat that started the fight, looking very pleased with himself.
I had made a promise to myself to do (and had been actively practicing) what I heard Cowboy Shaman (twitter.com/cowboyshaman) call 'saying yes to life', which means dealing with present things in the present moment, with calmness, clarity, and without complaint; this situation that the cats created, was definitely putting that to the test.
First, I put the kitty who lost the fight, outside. Along with the dog, who had to go out anyway. I wish I could have caught the winner of the fight, for he definitely needed a good jaunt outside, at least in my opinion he did.
So, as I was cleaning up the freshly-created mess, I got to thinking about just how much breakable 'stuff' (and 'stuff'' in general) not only goes into a physical realm, such as a house, a car, or an office, but also, just how much 'stuff', breakable or otherwise, comes and goes into relationships of any sort. While I was cleaning, it so happened that I found a box of things that clearly belonged in the basement. So, still in that accepting and patient 'say yes to life' mode, I took the box downstairs.
When I opened up the basement, I sighed in dismay at the disarray, set down what I had in my hands, only to have two glasses promptly fall out of the box, bounce off of the resilient flooring and shatter on the part of the basement floor that was concrete. Patience and acceptance promptly vacated the premises.
I swore under my breath, knowing that I was in the midst of a lesson that I was just plain not in the mood to be receiving. I had just cleaned up broken glass already due to a situation that wasn't caused by my pet, I had a headache starting, my back hurt, I had not yet had coffee or breakfast and I could hear the dog barking.
I did the only logical thing at that point. I yelled at the Universe to just stop trying to teach me lessons from the point of view of chaos and pain already; I'm not into that crap anymore. From there I dried my eyes, took a deep breath, and announced clearly and with no hesitation whatsoever that I wanted to live in cleanliness, order and in peace, and in a much warmer climate, and for this to happen as soon as possible with the full co-operation of the Universe.
The first thing I laid eyes on was a bag of long-forgotten garbage that my roommates had left in the corner. Back to 'saying yes to life' I went, and cleaned that up, let the dog back in, got the broom and dustpan next, and cleaned up the broken glass.
When I straightened back up, I got a look around at my surroundings. Honestly, the scene resembled a scaled-down version of an estate I sorted the papers and belongings for. Heaps of boxes, belonging to the roommates. Both of them have been married twice, so there are rather a lot of boxes dating back awhile, as one would expect.
Suddenly I 'got it', and with that, didn't even bother to stifle a chuckle. I saw that the basement was holding the roommates' metaphorical boxes of memories, wishes, hopes and dreams, alongside little compartments of 'stuff', breakable or not, that either wasn't ever going to be dealt with, or was only dealt with on special occasions. While it was in my power to take all those boxes and put them into neat, orderly piles, the roommates were still going to want to get into the boxes from time to time, and so in the natural course get them all jumbled again about as life went on--or elect to clean them out properly.
Then I turned all this around, and applied it to my own life, chuckling just as much. How much metaphorical 'stuff' did I have all jumbled up in storage, I wondered, and realized that there really wasn't very much at all, and what was left, was being cleared out in love. I knew that I didn't *need* the 'stuff', the 'stuff' didn't need me, and that I didn't need the story behind the 'stuff', and I was truly, at peace and completely okay with that.
I went back upstairs and dealt with the day, knowing that there would likely be more to this lesson, and in that, I was not disappointed. While I was discussing the day with someone else, I got to thinking about how one acquires 'stuff' to begin with, and realized that it had to do with interior and exterior decisions, and whether or not the interior or exterior decisions matched up.
For example, believing internally that one should not cheat on ones' spouse, externally agreeing to not cheat on ones' spouse by way of the marriage vows, and actively living in that monogamous agreement, would be an example of interior and exterior decisions matching up.
On the other hand, externally vowing to not cheat on ones' spouse, yet believing internally that it is perfectly acceptable to do so, is an example of internal and exterior decisions *not* matching up--hence, 'stuff' gets created. (and how!)
I wondered why anyone would make decisions where an internal and external decision wouldn't line up, such as in marital agreements, and we decided that it's because some folks are less resistant to expectations of the world we live in, than others.
There are those that want what I call the "Hallmark Moments" of weddings, births, family reunions, etc. more than they actually want the day to day reality of the things themselves. That they want these things, because they have been taught to want them, that that's the way things are because thats what they've seen modelled (good, bad or indifferent), without fully believing in that which they are doing, or examining whether or not this is what they really want. There are also those that think the opposite as well.
From there, I got to thinking about my Reiki training, and the methods taught for erasing karma, and started wondering if that same or similar ritual would work for those who want to clear their internal basement of the 'stuff' as the little boxes come up.
So, this week, I ask--what 'stuff' inside you do you keep? What 'stuff' do you want to throw away? What 'stuff' do you only haul out and display on special occasions? Why do you do this? What situations led you to acquiring 'stuff' to begin with? What cost/benefit would there be to letting 'stuff' go?
Until next time, peace!
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