No sooner had I proudly embraced letting go and added my smaller clothes to the box than I came across an old Halloween outfit – a Klingon mask (my older son loved Star Trek). Two things made me laugh. First… the homonymonial obviousness of Klingon and Cling on! Clinging on to Klingon had taken up not only shelf space, but space for me to realize that my little Klingon is now 30 and living in a state across the country.
That brought me to my next great purge…. The memory box. I pulled out the dusty box of old photos, handmade Mother’s Day cards, some clearly more heartfelt than others, and the multiple copies of extra school photos. Pages of wallet size, all the same photo, still in the plastic envelope, sitting in a big box in my closet taking up more space.
I never thought I could do it, but I did. I saved only one of each, and actually put the rest in the shredder. Did it feel weird? Absolutely. Did it also feel freeing? Yup. Holding on to things that no longer serve us weighs us down.
Waiting for something to change rather than accepting what is bogs us down. Images of snakes and butterflies emerged, and it became apparent that in order to begin anew, some shedding had to occur.
There are other ways people make room for change and growth – fasting, for example. Many religions prescribe fasting for periods of time to cleanse the soul.
They say it brings us closer to our true selves and thus, closer to God. Becoming empty makes more room for the new… new ideas, new things, new realizations. And these can be very important. If life is too full and noisy, we miss out on opportunities to hear the navigation of our inner voice guiding us to our destiny.