This past weekend was a whirlwind of sorting old stuff and either tossing it away or organizing the unwanted things for a future garage sale.
My husband’s parents have lived in their house for years accumulating all kinds of goodies and now it’s time they simplify their life, which means getting rid of a lot of the old.
I wondered why we are so inclined to hang on to the old. We think because our great great grandmother had this and that, we should keep all those things too.
I’m fairly sentimental and going through a mound of articles from past generations that other sentimental relatives have hung on to started to get pretty overwhelming.
Why are we keeping this? – to continue to store them in boxes shoved under beds, inside closets or pay storage in a storage unit to hang on to the old.
Suddenly, there was a still small voice that spoke through the musty smell of old and whispered…you don’t need to hold on to ‘old ways’ of thinking either,
old ways of being, old ways of seeing, old ways of feeling about yourself, old ways of expectations, old ways of believing, old ways of being afraid.
It’s all taking up a whole lot of storage space as well, and there’s no enjoyment or real change to be gained hanging on to those ‘old ways’.
How fascinating it is, that on every level of our being the old often entices us with illusions of comfort, value and importance, when in truth the newness of life is what enlivens us.
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