31 Days of Clearning: Day 1

During the month of March I'm participating in 31 Days of Clearning.  What is clearning?  A phrase that Stacy Brice came up with that combines clearing + cleaning + learning.

"Clearning isn’t about being perfectly organized. It’s about getting rid of the things that are holding you back.  It's about letting go of all the 'stuff' you’ve amassed that doesn’t serve you. It’s about freeing yourself from being pinned down by anything that doesn’t fit you. It’s about making space for the new, the fresh, the bigger and better to come into your life.  Clearning is what happens BEFORE you organize."

This is about clearing out space of the old unnecessary stuff (tolerations) to make room for a new and better reality.

When I first heard the term, I thought clearning was purely about uncluttering our physical spaces.  I love a clean and uncluttered environment, though I don't always have the time or energy to make my physical spaces a priority.  I'll avoid having company over when it gets too out of control, so a clearning assignment would absolutely benefit me.  However, I tend to have a wee bit of a pack-rat mentality (I have enough canned goods to survive a month-long crisis), and now that I have been got caught up in my company's layoffs, the survival instinct has really kicked in.  Getting rid of things could really go against my nature as I try to save money and have things around "just in case."   But, selling stuff could bring income which wouldn't hurt, so there's that.  Plus, a cluttered environment actually blocks the flow of energy and thought and can slow you down.  It is the most blissful feeling to sit down at the end of a long day in a clean and uncluttered space.  Until the clutter goes away, the cleaning, decorating, floral touches, soothing aromas, and much of what makes a house a home, can't even begin to happen.  It all has to start with letting go of stuff.  And when I get in a cleaning mode and end up with a pile (or room) full of stuff that doesn't have a place and I don't know where to put it, that's a sign that it's time to do some clearning.

However, clearning isn't just about cleaning house.  It can be our physical surroundings, but it can also be people, beliefs, mental chatter, etc. that are holding us back and creating a barrier to our well-being. This has already been a year of letting go for me as I've recently had to let go of two critically important things in my life; my marriage and income due to a job loss.  Both of those losses were out of my control.  Both were also unhealthy situations in many ways and I was reminded yesterday that "rejection is God's protection."  With daily clearning, I'll be letting go of even more, but by choice and  because this kind of letting go is healthy.  This exercise comes at a perfect time for me, as I have a lot of clearning to do. Some days will be as simple as cleaning out my coupon drawer, while others may take me to a deeper clearning of relationships or mental strongholds.

DAY 1:

Today, I created this personal blog.  I then took a business blog that had grown to be more personal in nature and separated out the content.  Now I can direct clients and prospective clients to http://here2assist.blogspot.com/ and direct friends or anyone I'm comfortable inviting a little closer into my life to http://merritaylor.blogspot.com/. By freeing up the business blog from what might appear to be personal drama (yes, I have experienced much pain and loss over the past six months, but I'm still standing), I've made room for myself to freely write and journal and blog separate from a page that, while authentic and transparent, should focus on the client's needs more than it does my life.  So, the other blog now has the space and content to attract my ideal client(s).