Cleaning Out the Closets of My Mind!
Posted: Friday, February 20th, 2009
One of my team mates wrote me yesterday and shared that she had been crying throughout the day for no apparent reason. I wrote back and suggested that there may be some “loss” trying to process itself and that it may be important to be gentle and just let it find its way out, without trying to figure it out. Feeling like she wasn’t good for much else, given the crying spells, she decided to clean out her closets.
How perfect that is, I thought! I know this person well and what she’s been doing in her life is shifting old behavior patterns and ways of thinking that no longer serve her and moving towards new paradigms and possibilities that are inspiring and uplifting; so it seemed like no accident when she wrote, “I spent time cleaning out my closet to donate 7 bags of clothes! It felt good to get rid of extra baggage that I was holding onto for no reason…”
As I read her comments, it seemed very obvious to me that she had physically conveyed what she had been mentally doing; cleaning out the closets of her mind and dumping the baggage that no longer served her; baggage she had been holding on to for “no good reason!”
I was inspired by this metaphor and her experience. What if I was to clean out the closets of my mind and get rid all the extra baggage I’m holding on to for no reason? I got very curious: What thoughts and thinking would I toss out? How many bags would it fill? What would my mind be like once it was clear of all that old baggage? Who would I be without those old thoughts? What would I be making room for? What new thinking would I want to put in its place? What thoughts or thinking would complement who I want to continually become?
I suspect that my experience will mirror hers which was “This morning I woke up feeling energized and much more in a place of peace.” I have a strong sense that anything that doesn’t create peace in me is baggage…so I’ve got a lot of cleaning out to do. What I trust is that peace will look as beautiful on me as it does on her…at least I hope so!
Therese Kienast, MCC, CPCC
Founder, Radical Leadership
