Phil and I cleaned out our back room yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. We have a master bedroom, an office/computer room, and a work-out room with weights and stuff.

Well, the “stuff” in that room made it really hard to do anything.

Last year’s Christmas decorations were still on the floor, because I couldn’t get to the closet to put them away. Truth be told, even if I got to the closet, that was so junked up I couldn’t have gotten that box in there!

So, we dove in and got it done.

It took a couple of hours. Much of that time was looking at what was there and asking each other, will we use this ever again? Do we want this? Can we let it go?

Sometimes the answers were easy and things got move to the give-away pile or into the trash. Why WERE we keeping those bits of junk? Other times, the answers didn’t happen. No, I will never use the hand-made giant bunnies that were my mothers. Can I give them away? Nope. Can I give them to charity? Nope. For now, they got tucked into a bag for storage and redeposited into the back recesses of the closet.

Phil was wonderful about it and didn’t give me a bad time about keeping them. Of course, I didn’t give him a bad time about keeping some old car magazines that he might read again one day.

The heart just has its attachments to things. As long as we have room for them and they have value to our hearts, they can remain in our world. It was easy to see what we could release and those items effortlessly found their way out of the room.

Spiritually, we might want to take a look at what we are holding on to. Is it a truth or concept that serves us and blesses us still? Are we using that principle to guide our lives? Is it an old guilt that no longer serves to restrict us? Is it an old duty that takes the joy out of our service to the world? And the biggest question of all, do we cling to a false god of fear rather than the Divine Source of Love?

When we really look at that stuff, we can easily see what we are willing to release and what we want to hang on to for just awhile longer. We can notice what’s working and has value and keep it close at hand so it’s usable to us each day, like prayer, meditation, gratitude, and seeking guidance.

Once we got the work-out room de-cluttered, we could also dust and vacuum. It was a giant allergy pit. Now that it’s all clear, I go in there just to look around! I can see my watercolor supplies ready for me to start my next project. It brings me hope and anticipation that hadn’t been there in a while.

Spiritual de-cluttering does the same thing to our spirit! It grants us hope and anticipation that might have been hidden behind the old belief patterns or patterns of thought that no longer serve.

How does one de-clutter spiritually?

Look to see what’s not working so well in your life. There might be a stuck energy around that situation. A “should” or a “got to” or maybe a regret attached. Just notice what’s there. Without judgment, just notice. Judging makes it dig in like a tick! You’ll never extract that thing! Just notice with an open heart.

Ask yourself if that thought or belief still serves you? If it serves to make you feel badly, you get to choose whether you want to continue to feel badly or if you wish to move beyond that. Spiritual conviction implies noticing a behavior that doesn’t serve one’s self or others and making a conscious decision to change. This in no way requires guilt or shame. Those are worthless beyond an initial awareness of a wrongdoing. When we get attached to guilt or shame, we don’t really change, we just hide, shutdown, and tune out. We get to throw that out and replace it with right action based upon love, joy, and compassion.

Once we got our room cleaned up, unwanted things had to go into the dumpster. Spiritually speaking, old patterns go into a spiritual dumpster . . . not into our friend’s ear. Toss that crud to Divine Source who can sort and sift through all that and clean it up. The ultimate re-cycling! Every sorrow or sorrowful thing we’ve thought or done can be released and cleared along with all the distorted beliefs and old patterns of thought (like, “I’m worthless.” – that one’s definitely got to go!!!)

Once that old stuff is tossed, the good usable stuff can be accessed more quickly. And just like the cleaned out work-out room, a sense of peace descends and rests within us. It feels good to get clear! It feels great to be free! It feels wonderful to receive peace!