mind clutter

The family knew if it wasn’t nailed down, I may get rid of it.

I have always been this way.

Even at the beginning of my marriage 30 years ago. Once I tossed out a broken lamp and some dust collecting airplane magazines. The lamp in question had an electrical short and would shock me every time I would turn it on, it belonged to my husband and he thought is was the coolest thing but never fixed it. So I put it in the closet out of sight and later in the dumpster. Imagine my “shocked” face as we visit a families house to see it hanging up in their living room. He looked at it, looked at me and said something like “I had a cool light like that..” they replied how they found that one in the dumpster at the apartments their mother lived in. And if that wasn’t enough, those magazines also resurfaced when a friend thanked my husband for the awesome airplane magazines, that were given to them by the dumpster diving family.

There may have been a set of golf clubs he never used, they looked like relic, they were taking up space in our little one bedroom home. You can be sure I still haven’t lived that down and am known as the toss~ier of all things.

Much later in life we endured a house fire which was 98% smoke damaged, l never cried over the replaceable items. Even after rebuilding and starting over, l have lived even more like a minimalist.

I also learned that our mind is on full display in how we care for our homes, cars and even jobs. It shows others who we are by how we keep our surroundings.

So this prompt intrigued me to write about it.

I remember watching a series once about how clutter causes more harm then good, it can wreck relationships and cause people to feel overwhelmed. I agree and I love the practices put in place for those that needed help to simplify.

My favorite tip is organization, if it has a place and it’s not causing any issues with space, keep it. But if the object is in the way and serves no purpose ..get rid of it.

But today’s prompt also brings a another issue to mind.

Clutter of the mind.

This part of life can be very messy, full of emotional clutter, but mostly noise.

Social media adds to this immensely, if you start with just looking at one picture, or watching a video then the next and before you know it an hour is gone.

Now that algorithms are a thing it keeps feeding us what we show interest in. It can actually become a full on deep dive and your mind is still reeling from one to the other, emotions are being played until you look up and say ..ok enough I’m done.

I know, you know.

Social media platforms are purposed to distract us from the real platform called LIFE. With all the instant information we struggle to keep our minds and hearts de-cluttered daily.

At times I will set my phone out of sight so I don’t pick it up needlessly. It’s hard because we use them for everything. But a little discipline goes a long ways.

So if you need to purposely de clutter this part of your life, here’s what can we do intentionally:

Philippians 4:8 (KJV)

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Altering even a little in this way gives your life peace. The words of the Bible give assurance and reasonable instructions to become more in tune with Gods will for you, which in turn makes you happier.

Proverbs 4:23 says above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

The word of God is very effective in de – cluttering.

And best of all it gives faith which comes by hearing the word of God. The only thing left to do is get started.

In Christ Love, Amen