Decluttering my life

I sit looking around my office today, realizing that things are getting very cluttered. Little piles here and there. Each one pertaining to a different "project" or "category." For a while, I delude myself into thinking, "But, it is organized clutter. I know what each pile is for." I'm sure you understand how it goes. At first there is "organization" to the clutter, but gradually the piles become mixed and the "organization" disappears. Now all that is left is piles that need to be sorted.

Sometimes, my thoughts resemble my office. My mind is "cluttered" with old thoughts and memories. Things that should have been sorted and either filed or discarded long ago. The problem with these old thoughts and memories, is that they color my present view of the world. If my thoughts and feelings around a subject are confused and jumbled, then my reactions are going to be chaotic and confusing to myself and to those around me. My actions will be non-productive.

Even files that are neatly filed into the filing cabinet have to be sorted and decluttered every once in a while. Information becomes outdated and irrelevant. But if it is all the information we have ----it is what we base our decisions on. Imagine trying to purchase something based on prices from one or two years ago. Or trying to find your way on a trip using a map that is 20 or 30 years old. That sounds strange and funny, but how many of us are using old programing and tapes from 20, 30, or more years ago to run our lives? We are making decisions based on old, outdated, or irrelevant information.

I am choosing to go through the files in my mind. Whenever my mind says: "you have to do / or not do ________ because of _________." I am choosing to evaluate the thought. Is it an empowering thought or a dis-empowering thought? Then, if it is dis-empowering thought, I am choosing to replace it with an empowering thought. Just like decluttering my office, this is not an easy, quick process. But, the more I declutter, the more efficient I am in my work and the more confident I am in my results. My performance improves. The same is true of decluttering my thoughts. I make better choices and I have more inner peace. I feel more empowered.