We humans are really into our stories. It’s how we make sense of things and we couldn’t survive very well without our ability to connect the dots: this happened, then this happened, then this happened, which resulted in that.

This means that.

Story: The light changed. The driver didn’t notice. The pedestrian didn’t see the car. The pedestrian stepped into the intersection and was hit.
Meaning: Traffic can be dangerous. Be careful.

See? Useful.

Except sometimes we get it wrong. This doesn’t always mean that. It may have meant that in the past, but not this time. This time – the light, the car, the pedestrian, the intersection – something is different. This time, this means something else. Perhaps this time it’s not dangerous, but we think it is and act accordingly. Our story keeps us from crossing the street. Or maybe we make it across, but the whole thing is needlessly scary.

We don’t notice what’s changed because we are preoccupied by our commitments and worries, and just trying to do our thing from day to day.

It’s so easy to give lip service to meditation, movement, getting out into nature, journaling, connecting with something larger, being present, and other forms of tuning into ourselves. But in the midst of all those commitments and worries, they are often the things we first set aside.

The consequence of which is we keep doing and responding to things the same old ways. Because we haven’t noticed this doesn’t mean that anymore. We haven’t given ourselves the opportunity.

Unnoticed, unquestioned, unexamined – our old stories accumulate.

Like the pile of stuff in the corner of my office, which includes:

• two old phone books,
• the leftovers of a conference presentation I did last year,
• a box of books I want to sell to Powells,
• materials I need to return to a past VA client,
• a stack of financial documents that need to be filed and archived,
• and a couple bags of stuff I thought I’d sell on Ebay or Craigslist, including the flute I haven’t played since high school.

[ Um, yes, I know - I need to do one of my own Bite the Candy sessions or join one of Jennifer Hofmann's Office Spa Days. ]

This stuff is old. Some of it is ancient. It is a pile of my past businesses and past selves. And it’s not doing anything to help me be who I am now or want to become.

In fact, it’s blocking it. Not just by taking up physical space, but serving as a constant reminder of how things used to be. Which reinforces my stories. It’s a pile that says, “This means that, remember?”

It works the same way in our hearts and minds.

Our experiences collect like dust bunnies in the corners, behind the couch and under the bed until they are the size of what Gary Larson once referred to as Dust Rhinos. And unless we vacuum from time to time, our inner spaces can start to get pretty gross.

There’s no space for the new. And endless reminders that the new isn’t possible. This is just how things are. This means that.

We don’t usually think about decluttering our inner spaces, but they need it even more than our physical spaces. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty vigilant about not acquiring more stuff, yet stuff keeps filling my house! If my interior home is accumulating stuff at the same rate, mental and emotional clutter-clearing obviously needs to be a frequent thing. There needs to be a regular sorting through of what to keep and what to toss, a rearranging of the furniture, maybe a shampooing of the carpets and cleaning of the windows.

(Hiro Boga calls this energy hygiene and considers it as important as brushing your teeth every day.)

Just as we are refreshed by a physical space that has been cleared and cleansed, so are we renewed by clearing our internal spaces.

It helps us shift our stories. Replace old, worn-out limiting beliefs with new ones that serve us better. Do differently. Respond differently.

See that this could mean that instead.

In our rush to achieve and change and grow and generally Make Things Happen, this sort of inner decluttering can go neglected. There isn’t time. We’ve got important stuff to do. Yet it’s the very thing that would make the doing easier and more effective.

Think about it. Think about the quality of your work when you feel clear and on. Think about the flow and ease of that.

Clean and clear means flow and ease.
In this case, this really does mean that.

I know this. I’ve known it for a long time. But knowing and doing are two different things, two different kinds of knowing.

Chances are you are also committed to this sort of self-care in some way. But, like me, you aren’t as consistent in doing it as you would like to be. You know there could be more flow and ease if you could just ignore that hamster in your head on its wheel of: no time! no time! no time! and do it anyway.

Even though it’s so worthwhile, it can be a tricky part of maintenance to make peace with. And yet make peace with it we must. Or we will turn into stark raving kooky-pooks. Who never get what they most want. Which turns us into angry, frustrated and disappointed kooky-pooks.

It’s not pretty.

So let’s just do the vacuuming already.

Fortunately, there are lots of ways to do it. I listed a bunch above. Hiro knows lovely ways of going about it. As does Jen Louden. There’s always the mind-sweeping Shiva Nata.

And there’s sound healing with Fabeku.

Uh-huh. You heard me. Sound healing. Turns out sound is one of the fastest and easiest ways of shifting stuff and making room for what you really want. And on March 4 you can join Fabeku and me for some spring cleaning. From the inside out. With sound.

We’ll be clearing the inner clutter that’s been collecting in the corners and making room for the awesome we want in our lives and business. Plus Fabeku will teach us a few simple-but-crazy-effective sound-ey superpowers that will help us shift stuck and get back into the flow anytime, anywhere.

(How can you pass up stuck-shifting superpowers?)

Fabeku is one of my favorite people in the whole wide world and I can guarantee we’re going to have a great time decluttering our inner spaces. I hope you’ll come give it a try.

But, hey, if it’s not your kind of gig, that’s cool. The important thing is to find what you like and what works and do it. Your heart and mind will thank you. And you will be rewarded with the kind of new you’d most like to show up in your shiny clean spaces. You know, like that perfect lamp. Or whatever it is you’re looking for.

• • • • •

Related posts:

1. Clearing My Circles of Influence