You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest, that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present” [Jan Glidwell].
Tomorrow is garbage day. The big yellow trucks will begin their rounds in our neighborhood while the skies are still dark. Picking up trash cans from front curbs and driveways, returning empty containers, ready to be filled again during the coming week.
Whether returning from the recycling center with empty containers, or rolling our trash can in from the curb, there is something awesome about getting rid of things that have outlived their usefulness.
Did you hear that after 36 years of publication, J.C. Penney is discontinuing its “big book” catalog? The days of pouring over a telephone sized book for hours are coming to an end. Just another example of “out with the old” [Stylelist].
How do we accumulate all this trash?
I know for certain that none of my friends or neighbors have ever stopped by with a bag of garbage for me. Nor has anyone in my family ever dropped off a gift box filled with trash. No, I wouldn’t put up with anyone purposely polluting my space. Would you?
Trash sneaks into our homes with beneficial items like groceries and arrives in our mailboxes encasing that must-have item for Fall. It’s used to transport our new shoes and hides behind the toys we just purchased.
For some of us, trash is difficult to recognize. Don’t believe me? The A&E Network has a series called Hoarders that puts a spotlight on a disorder in which individuals compulsively obtain and keep belongings. Yikes!
My point is this: too often we allow trash to come into our lives and hang around. It marches in with a colleague’s bad mood, sneaks around with a relative’s persistent “complaining,” or arrives with a well-meaning friend’s gossip session.
Sometimes, we’re our own worst enemy. We’re so busy polluting our lives remembering past mistakes, indiscretions, and poor judgments, we can’t see any possibility of a bright future. We keep hoarding the junk, allowing it to overwhelm the promise of something better.
Here’s my advice: take a cue from J.C. Penney. It’s time to stop what isn’t working. Toss out what’s junking up your life and distracting you from your future.
Discard the clothes you haven’t worn in forever. Recycle the newspapers. Throw out your old past. Put down that stuff you’ve been carrying around.
It’s heavy and old and discouraging. It takes up valuable space, depletes your energy, and hides your future.
Besides, it smells funny and makes you act weird.
Empty your arms of the past so you can embrace the future. If you want to live a life of purpose, “look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror” [Byrd Baggett].
Whatever you are, be a good one!
Deanna
Whatever You Are, Be a Good One 