It's a bit like cleaning out your pantry....

This was all I said to Claire as this glorious analogy landed for me. Classic Claire, responded with "tell me more about the pantry H". It's an invitation, which is what I now know (thanks human design) I need to proceed comfortably. So in I go....

"Documenting and reviewing your current life story is like cleaning out the pantry.... You essentially eat from the front row of your pantry right? It's the stuff you know is there, that you grab habitually, that form the basis of your go to recipes, you replace it regularly, as it's in routine use. When you decide to clean out the pantry, you go deeper than that. If you are really doing it properly, you want to clear all the shelves, so you can wipe them clean, and put back the things you will actually use, in an orderly fashion and let go of the rest.

When I think about 'the rest', it's stuff that you had bought because you were going to try something new, but didn't (yet?). It's the things you were given as gifts, perhaps as part of hampers. You took the things that you liked and put them on the front rows, but tucked the other stuff in the back. It's the stuff that you inherited from your last pantry, or the things that you or others thought were 'must haves' in a pantry.

The stuff on the front rows, the 'in regular use', don't even think about it, always on the shopping list stuff. We know we can always cook meals a, b, c if we have those ingredients. We can survive. But that stuff further back on the shelves, we know it's there, we see it each time we go to the pantry.... 

Are you still with me? Because we aren't really cleaning the pantry here are we. The pantry is our mind. The things on the shelves are thoughts, memories, emotions, beliefs, perspectives. And 'reviewing your current life story' is an opportunity to examine those thoughts, memories, emotions, beliefs and perspectives and decide which ones we really want to pull to the front of the shelf and which ones we are ready to thank for their service, but send on their merry way.

There is also the opportunity to take a look at the things that other people gave us, that we never asked for and frankly, didn't need and that have been cluttering up our space for too long already. And there is also the stuff that we thought we needed, and maybe we did, but it's gone out of date now, so we aren't feeling in need of it....

So, reviewing our current life story, is an opportunity to take a look at the things tucked in the back corners, and the things that we've earmarked to deal with another day. Just as it is an opportunity to take a thoughtful, curious look at the things we live on every day, our habits and beliefs. Are these still serving us? Are they in alignment with our desired state?

What if we embraced the ritual of decluttering not just our physical spaces but our internal spaces as well? Might regular examination of what we store in our minds and hearts, help nourish us toward our truest and most fulfilling paths?

Love H
xx