Life’s Too Short

This morning I received the following email from a very dear friend of mine – she lives in London:

“Life’s Too Short…

To be wearing panties that crawl, OR slip down as you're walking down the street and you worry they might fall to your ankles any time soon.

Hipsters = NO. Even if you only bought them in December (from Victoria’s Secret), admit your mistake, chuck them, and move on.”

I agree, on MANY levels, with this sentiment (after all, who among us hasn’t made a poor purchase choice that, at the time, looked FABULOUS but later turned out to be too damn uncomfortable. And yet we still, held onto the item because it cost too much, came from THAT store or whatever other reason you wish to insert here…? This is not just tied to clothing either - it applies to household gadgetry, furniture, automobiles, food, diets, relationships, jobs, habits, ideas and beliefs.

I’m not saying “chuck it all!” – I’m simply wondering WHY it is that we hang onto things (including relationships and ideas) long after they stop serving us? Is it because the evil we know is always easier to manage than that we don’t know?

I wonder.

I love “spring cleaning” - it gives me the chance to really rip apart my world, get rid of things that no longer serve me, rearrange my furniture, clean out and up my personal space and generally make my immediate surroundings feel new and clean once again.

How often, though, do we “spring clean” our minds, hearts and souls? And how, exactly, do we do that? Everyone has, I believe, their own personal catalyst that forces the process. Unfortunately, this is usually brought on by some hard and ultimately painful happening – one that forces us to evaluate who we are, where we are and WHY we are…

What if we actively CHOSE to spring clean our souls – without the nasty catalyst that tends to bring it on…? It would still be life-changing, but not forced on us. Instead of merrily going along, minding our own business, we could choose to change things ourselves. We could take proactive action, on our own behalf, and positively influence the outcome… making it, instead of a painful process, one of conscious growth.

Something to ponder.