It has been hard for me to follow this book, not because it is a difficult read or because I don't like the content, quite the opposite. I have a tendency to want to skip ahead to the portions that tell me HOW to declutter, rather than reading the whys and following his lead. I want to know how many sweaters to own, how to organize my cupboards and how often to flip my mattress. I am kind of a "tell me what to do and I'll do it" type of person. I want to read the last page, to reap the benefits quickly rather than do the life-changing thinking.
The most important activity that Walsh mentions time and time again is to visualize the kind of life you want to live. This is not because he believes that we can think ourselves into being neat and tidy but because he recognizes the connection between verbalizing our goals and achieving them. When we take time to write down how we'd like our life to look, we might be surprised that it differs from what we are doing day in and day out.
I took the time to do this exercise the other day. I was quite surprised by what I wrote because little of what I feel is important is actually being done. I am spending my time elsewhere, apparently. In the shuffle of life I am losing sight of what is important to me. Here is what I came up with, nothing poetic, just a list of things that I would like to call my own. I want to:
- rise early each day, feeling energetic and well rested.
- be as healthy and physically fit as I am able given my state of life, to exercise most days and to serve nourishing, well planned meals.
- be friendly and cheerful towards my family, to be an encouragement to them emotionally and spiritually.
- educate my children at home, to teach them the vital basics as well as to exposing them to interesting ideas, inspiring people and heroes of their Faith.
- make my home a peaceful place to rest, learn and grow.
- have a home that we look forward to coming home to, a welcoming place for friends to visit.
- be sure that our belongings in our home reflect, support and enhance who we are as a family, not hinder us or weigh us down emotionally, physically or financially.
- pray the Rosary, as well as other prayers from the heart, each day.
- to spend my free time gardening, knitting, hiking, reading and traveling with my family.
- to embrace my vocation as a wife and mother by eliminating those outside activities that are a distraction or that rob my family of free time.
Walsh then asks us to envision what we want our home to look like, room by room. As I mentioned in my last post, we have a small home. I could wish for a sprawling Cape Cod with an ocean view or a farm house with dozens of acres but I believe he is meaning the current space we have been given. How would we like it to look? What is the function for each individual room now? What should it be?
I am going to peruse some of my old catalogs (before I purge them away :) and get some inspiration. I am not so much planning to replace furniture or redecorate (though a new coat of paint is not out of the question in several rooms) but I will be taking small steps (after de-cluttering) to make things more beautiful and welcoming without spending a lot of money or adding more clutter to my home. I need to remember that the goal in this exercise is to envision the beauty and calm with which I want to surround my family. The next step will be to eliminate those things in each room that impede that vision.
Walsh writes:
"Every time you look at an item in a room and contemplate whether you should keep it, imagine the life you want to live and ask yourself these basic questions: How does your home serve your notion of the life you wish you had? Do the things you own help you achieve that life or distract from that vision? Is there room in your bedroom to sleep peacefully? Does the front hallway welcome you when you arrive home after a tiring day? Can your family gather for meals, fun or relaxation without the interference of piles of junk? Every item filling your home should move your life vision forward and serve a real function, one that you can explain without making excuses. Remember, 'Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.' Do your things meet these standards?"
For today, these are the things I let go which are awaiting their trip to charity. The item on the floor is a wicker ottoman, which I do like but have no room for. We keep tripping over it. The rest is, well, just stuff.
Good riddance! :)
