Advent: Day Two

Today I tried making the Advent Calendar, googled some great DoItYourself ideas, but life got in the way of doing it my way... (Thank God it did... if not what would I be writing about right now!)

Actually, being raw honest... I first tried to buy one... but seems they are not easy to get in Costa Rica and it will take AmazonSmile 5-7 days to ship the one I liked to San Jose. Although they say lawyers are not good at math, I think 24 days to Christmas minus 7 waiting days is not a good result to invest in my kindness goals. So... I still don't have a "physical" Advent Calendar... which is allowing me to let it grow in my heart. Doing it my way is not the way of today or so God keeps whispering.

Woke up early and the morning routine started (thanking God, the morning pages, a Money is Love meditation, the Yoga-Padma Sadhana routine, a couple of running blocks), naturally I was exhausted before 8 am and ready to hit the road to buy the Do-It-Yourself Advent Calendar materials. But I was hungry... of course!, and stopped to enjoy breakfast in my kitchen with my friend Marbely. Marbely is a warm soul that helps me tidy the house every Saturday while we talk about life and pray for our life-challenges. She is leaving for Nicaragua for a month to enjoy Christmas with her family and (since I was winning about how much I would miss her) she suggested that today would be a good opportunity to declutter, clean, let go... to do a deep house cleaning, making space for what matters! so we zipped our coffee and opened the closets...

- can decluttering be fun? the mind asked

- let's start with why... the heart replied   

First I tried meditating on it, some answers came along, the most important being whatever I let go ... someone else can enjoy! that can be my kindness to me and others today, I thought. Then I tried to write down an infinite list of why for this post until I asked Marbely for her opinion and she said:
- "para que inventar el agua tibia" (why re-invent warm water), can't you find that in one of your books? Marbely is a bit hunted by the monstrous bookcase in the middle of my home office.

Eventually asked my dear friend Google for some assistance... this was by far the most simple and complete link I found https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-17427/why-decluttering-your-entire-life-will-bring-you-abundance.html 

Extract...

Declutter Your Physical Environment

This applies to the physical space you spend your time in on a day-to-day basis: your home, workspace and even your car. Aside from getting rid of the things you don't use anymore, you should also eliminate the items that are not invited into the next phase of your life with you.

When you physically remove these things, you create space for new, improved items. Recently I spent a lot of time decluttering my bathroom of old makeup and half-used lotions or soaps, and the next day a gift from a friend showed up on my doorstep full of chemical-free, mostly organic self-care goodies. Clear that space so the abundance can come in.

Declutter Your Emotional Baggage

Practice forgiveness — forgiving yourself and others.

Get rid of the fear that lives in your head. This fear will confuse you, keep you playing small, and get in the way of your success.

Stop procrastinating and prioritize. Delegate and eliminate all of it so you aren't drowning in overwhelm.

Allow yourself to see past the things that have hurt or disappointed you and visualize them as stepping stones and lessons to be learned from.

Release your frustration. This is a must if you want life in the present and not the past.

Everyone has emotional clutter. It's natural. The important thing is to recognize and declutter your emotional baggage so that it doesn't prevent you from seeing and taking the opportunities that are right in front of us. When you can release the painful baggage you've been hanging onto, great transformation is possible.

Seems my mess was my opportunity to make space for what matters, Marbely will take some of the energy stuck in the closet so someone can give it a new life in Nicaragua and I will enjoy a nice afternoon wrapping up gits s... tomorrow the first two pre-Christmas parties will officially kick off the Christ-Welcoming Celebrations

Oh... the Nutcracker Ballet was great! it is always great as long as Tchaikovsky's immortal music embodies the dancers

Let the gift wrapping being...

Con amor,
Paola