… if you just pay attention (which I do, thankyouverymuch).
First, though, I want to say PEACE to everyone who is marching on DC today. I so wanted to go but know myself well enough that going into DC, ALONE, amidst chaos and 100,000 people isn’t a good plan. I am there in spirit, of course, and am sending Reiki blessings to all of you. If you are so inclined to read Cindy Sheenhan’s prepared speech, go here.
(image taken from BradBlog) I heard there was a hell of a turnout!! Woooo Hoooo!
Mandala Pace.jpg)
(image from here (aren’t they lovely?))
Oh! Back to lessons learned …
For example:
1. Clearing out my mom’s condo alone has taught me a few things – most notably, hoarding is not good. Not for you and definitely not for those who come after you. It makes me glad that I did a lot of purging stuff when we moved here. It was hard. I won’t say it was easy to let go of it but it was definitely rewarding. Although, in fairness, my mom has not been mobile for quite a while now so her ability to do this stuff was limited, if not gone altogether. But there was a lot of stuff that’s been accumulating for a long time before and that’s what could have been trashed. So … not to denigrate my mom at all, but the lesson here is this: purge, purge and purge again. Keeping all that stale energy around doesn’t do anyone any good.
2. I’ve also learned that having a lot of “stuff” isn’t as much fun anymore. After spending three hours at mom’s cleaning, sorting and trashing, I rewarded myself by going over to Kohl’s. We had one less than two miles from our house in NoVA but, of course, nothing like that here in the hinterlands. I love wandering the aisles, touching stuff and looking at knick knacks for the house and stuff. They have good stuff at fabulous prices. However, three hours at mom’s cured me of the desire for more “stuff”. While I suspect it’s not a permanent cure, it sure made for a fast trip through Kohl’s. I just couldn’t stand looking at knick knacks after packing and sorting all of them at Mom’s.
3. Procrastination is bad, bad and BAD. I’ve had a good deal of time to get mom’s house cleared out bit by bit and I’ve not taken advantage of that time. Yes, there were a million other things going on but it would have been wise to do it piecemeal instead of now putting an enormous amount of pressure on myself to do it all NOW! If I forget this lesson in the future, would one of my family members please nudge me? (nicely, of course)
4. Bows to the Uni for taking care of things for me and bringing me what I ask for in a myriad of ways. A Caps game with the GOL? Done! (and a glimpse of Sidney Crosby’s thighs? BONUS!!). A laptop computer so I can unchain myself from the back room? Done! (Thank you, Titan Corp) and the list goes on. Lesson learned? Ask for it and it will come to you. Not just material things, of course, but courage, grace, objectivity and so many other things. :)
