Releasing the past - Happily

The benefit of moving into a smaller space is the impetuous to release a lot of stuff.  A lot of stuff. 

In order to release, there must be sorting. And when one is sorting, one spends a lot of time staring at the accumulated stuff.  (and one remembers the commercial about stuff to keep stuff in.)  And one wonders how the heck did I get All.  This. Stuff? 

Most of the stuff is about happiness, right?  We keep mementos because they remind us of achievements and happy times.  We purchase things because we think having them will make us happy.  Or using them will make us happy.    People give us things to make us happy.  (though nobody can really MAKE anyone be happy. )  Sometimes we buy things simply because we are happy.

Remember all those possibilities?  Craft projects and cookbooks and material and patterns; wood and nails and designs.  Cabinets and filing bins, dividers and tabs and inserts, pens and folders, business cards and receipts.  Oh and the outfits purchased or made for dances and interviews, auditions and celebrations.  That tie.  Those shoes.  The earrings!

So when we're releasing all those accumulated items we no longer use  --  throwing away that rosebud from high school; shredding the old address books; donating the skinny jeans of the past - it feels like we're throwing away that potential for happiness.

Why would we give away all that happiness?

Because those are just memories.  And happiness, like love, is infinite.  We don't just get the happiness of the past.  Nor do we only feel happiness if we fulfill those past dreams.  We can feel happiness right now.  New happiness.  Bright happiness.  Not the dingy, distant memory of happiness. 

But If we fill our closets and thus our minds with the happiness of the past, there is no room, no mental space, to reach for happiness now.  Happiness today.  Happiness tomorrow.

No one can make us happy.  No thing can make us happy.  But we sure can feel happy, dreaming and doing, buying and making, or even just creating new possibilities.  We need room, we need space to create more happiness now. Today.  And tomorrow.

So let it go.  Give it, sell it, junk it, shred it.  Release it.  If for no other reason than to  make room in your closet for new shoes.  New books.  New folders.  New projects.  New happiness.

I hope you have a great and happy day!

-Lila