A Year to Clear Read online

  DAY 130

  CLUTTER CLOUD

  In my first book Your Spacious Self, I adopted the adorable Peanuts cartoon character Pig-Pen (with his permanent cloud of dust) to describe the subtle energy field of a cluttered human:

  To the degree that we are carting around a lifetime of limiting beliefs, emotional attachments, and all those aspects in ourselves that we suppress, resist, and deny—also known as “shadow”—we're not all that different from that cute little guy. The bigger our shadow, the smoggier, denser, and, dare I say, not-so-cute this invisible “cloud.”

  These smoggy layers affect our thoughts, actions, and relationships. They become the filter through which we see and make choices.

  What have you been carting around that you're ready to release right now?

  Explore

  One thing in my life that has overstayed its welcome is . . .

  When I think about letting it go, I feel . . .

  DAY 131

  STRINGS ATTACHED

  By now you probably know that I'm a big fan of metaphors to illustrate what is going on energetically when our homes and lives are out of balance. You can blame it on twenty years as a high school teacher.

  Here's another one for your consideration: Imagine one object that you don't use or love equals one invisible string. A negative thought equals another string. Over time, these unnecessary objects, negative thoughts, addictions, unmitigated fears, and painful memories, cycled over and over again, equal a stringy mess.

  A stringy mess that we spin out of our energy field like a spider's web. If this concept is agitating you right now (as it is me), take it as a sign to stop, name, and feel. And breathe.

  Let it all go. These strings are not who you are.

  Explore

  Right now I'm feeling . . .

  One thing I can do to ease the pressure is . . .

  DAY 132

  STATIC CLING

  The thing about having a personal energy field that is smoggy like PigPen's is that it doesn't just travel with us everywhere we go. This invisible clutter cloud has two other distinguishing features as well:

  It has a powerful magnetic field that attracts more low-frequency energies like itself to itself.

  It leaves behind an energetic trail for others to attract and stick to.

  The good news is that by clearing one thing or thought every day with compassionate awareness, you effectively discharge the stressful buildup in yourself, in others, and in the world at large.

  Explore

  I know that clearing something affects others and changes the energy in my space because . . .

  How I know this to be true is . . .

  DAY 133

  CHECK IN—FILTERS AND PERCEPTIONS

  The focus this week was to explore the concept of obscuration: how our beliefs and actions cloud and filter the truth of who we are. Thinking of clutter as Pig-Pen's dust swarm or as threads of a spider's web helps us understand its more pervasive, invisible impact.

  The sensing practices in this book are designed to give you new and sustainable ways to know (feel) how clutter shows up so that you can relate to it differently and mitigate its impact on yourself, others, and the environment at large.

  What has become clearer to you since you started this book? How have your views on clutter and clearing changed?

  Explore

  What has become more clear to me . . .

  Some of the ways that my views on clutter and clearing have changed . . .

  WEEK 20

  DISSOLVING THE ILLUSION OF SEPARATION

  It was then, while staring out the window, that Ed experienced the strangest feeling he would ever have: a feeling of connectedness, as if all the planets and all the people of all time were attached by some invisible web . . . Everything he'd been taught about the universe and the separateness of people and things felt wrong . . . This wasn't something he was simply comprehending in his mind, but an overwhelmingly visceral feeling, as though he were physically extending out of the window to the very furthest reaches of the cosmos . . . In a single instant, Ed Mitchell had discovered and felt The Force.

  —Astronaut Ed Mitchell's account of his Apollo 14

  mission to the moon, as recounted by Lynne McTaggart

  DAY 134

  LOVE MORE, WORRY LESS

  A thought popped into my head as I was getting out of bed this morning: “The more you love yourself, the less you'll worry about what people think.”

  I don't know what inspired it to show up, but it might have had something to do with a recent visit to my parents' house who, at eighty-plus years, continue to have very strong opinions about life (read: politics); ideas that in the past have turned me into a prickly pretzel of unease and resistance.

  Not this trip, though. This time, I noticed myself getting less plugged in and riled up, and having more fun enjoying and appreciating my parents just as they are.

  Big shift.

  I think I'm growing up.

  Since most of what we humans think or believe is a form of perception after all—coming through the unique filtering we've constructed from our past experiences—why give up our power and energy to feed someone else's belief or worry when it doesn't feel good to us?

  This topic reminds me of a quote I've heard a lot: “What people think of you is none of your business.”

  Yes, I know, another belief. But one that might help to ease the pressure and create some space.

  Explore

  Ways that I still worry about what other people think . . .

  Ways that I no longer worry about what other people think . . .

  DAY 135

  SHINE YOUR LIGHT BRIGHTLY

  This week we're going to dive a little deeper into some ancient spiritual concepts and scientific theory to enhance the context of our clearing. I won't go too off-road, I promise.

  The Rig-Veda is an ancient religious work of about two hundred and fifty hymns to Lord Indra, the king of the gods in Indian mythology. Indra's Net—the web of life that has at every juncture a jewel that reflects all other jewels—is a useful metaphor for the interconnection of all life in the universe, including universal structures like the Internet. This Eastern model predates the Internet by over 3,500 years!

  There appear to be several paraphrased versions of the hymn itself. This one from Frank Joseph's book Synchronicity & You is my favorite:

  There is an endless net of threads throughout the universe. The horizontal threads are in space. The vertical threads are in time. At every crossing of the threads, there is an individual. And every individual is a crystal bead. . . . And every crystal bead reflects not only the light from every other crystal in the net, but also every other reflection throughout the entire universe.

  In his essay “Approaching Timewave Zero: Part I,” Terence McKenna describes what this cosmic web might look like in real terms:

  One way of thinking about it is to compare it to one of those mirrored disco balls, which sends out thousands of reflections off of everybody and everything in the room. The mirrored disco ball is the transcendental object at the end of time, and those reflected twinkling, refractive lights are religions, scientific theories, gurus, works of art, poetry, great orgasms, great souffles, great paintings, etc. Anything that has, in Nietszche's phrase, the “spark of divinity within it,” is in fact, referent to the original force of the spark of all divinity unfolding itself within the confines of three-dimensional space.

  The bottom line, as I see it, is this: When you shine your light more brightly, you bring everyone else's up with you. Sweet, huh?

  Today, notice what happens to those around you when you smile more, laugh more, and feel more at ease. Consider it the “disco ball” in action—beaming your light out into the world.

  Explore

  When I turn up my light “in here,” I notice the world “out there” seems . . .

  It feels good to turn up my light because . . . (Notice the part that is skeptical or cy
nical.)

  DAY 136

  THERE IS NO SEPARATION

  The implications of an infinitely expandable, cosmic net that unites us all can be rather challenging to our limited self-concept. The idea that we are fundamentally not separate from each other—no “us and them,” no “in here, out there”—can be mind-bending.

  Imagine not being separate from your home, your neighbors, the people in the next town over, or the next state, or the next continent. Imagine not being separate from the things that press your buttons, your worst enemies, or your clutter! Try, even just for a moment, to imagine these as a reflection and extension of your self.

  Allow this concept of no separation to drop into your awareness today.

  Explore

  How I know we are not separate from one another . . . (Name and feel the part that isn't so sure.)

  Why I know we are not separate . . .

  DAY 137

  PARTICIPATORY RELATIONSHIP

  Participatory relationship. These two words from Lynne McTaggart's very readable book The Field are keys to explaining how the mind works as a powerful manifesting machine.

  In quantum physics, “participatory relationship” suggests that a potential something (atomic wave) becomes an actual something (atomic particle) when the thing is observed!

  For example, a table doesn't materialize out of the ether in isolation just because. It manifests only as it is imagined, observed, and intended. A chair, a car, a meal, a job, a parking space, a clear home—these become form because we have given them our attention, our life force, our energy. They wouldn't exist without some degree of conscious or unconscious participation.

  This also makes me think of something Dr. Wayne Dyer said in his book, Being in Balance: “You get what you think about, whether you want it or not.”

  What are you giving your attention to? Spend today noticing your thoughts. Are they generally upbeat and positive? Or do they veer into negativity, worry, or fear? Do you make assumptions without checking to see if they're true?

  Today, simply notice your thoughts, without judging them as good or bad.

  Explore

  I'm giving my attention to . . .

  When I study my thoughts, I notice . . .

  DAY 138

  NOTICE SYNCHRONICITIES

  Last night I dreamt that I had a black dog named Penny. As I was telling my neighbor about it today, you can imagine my surprise when she said that she once had a black dog named Penny! What are the chances of that?

  It is breathtaking to think that all that we perceive “out there”—outside ourselves—is somehow intricately connected to us. Quantum theory would suggest that the world as we see it—famine and feast, illness and health, war and peace, the Red Sox winning the World Series after eighty-six years—is implicitly shaped by our level of collective consciousness. Yes, even if these events are happening in some remote part of the planet far from where we are!

  Spend today noticing synchronicities. Have you run into someone you were thinking about just moments before, for example? Does something you've been hoping for or dreaming about suddenly present itself as an actual possibility? In what ways have your intentions manifested more powerfully since you started working with this book?

  Explore

  I've noticed these synchronicities showing up in my life . . .

  My intentions have manifested more powerfully in these ways . . .

  DAY 139

  WE ARE THEY, THEY ARE US

  I don't know if ebola will ever go away. At this writing, it hasn't. Following this week's exploration of no separation, consider this excerpt from Seth Godin's blog:

  It starts with, “We” don't have Ebola, “they” do. They live somewhere else, or look different or speak another language. Our kneejerk reaction is that “they” need to be isolated from us . . .

  The world is porous, there are more connections than ever, and we've seen this before.

  Tuberculosis. Polio. AIDS. Fear runs rampant, amplified by the media, a rising cycle of misinformation, demonization and panic. Fear of the other. Pushing us apart and paralyzing us.

  The thing is:

  We are they.

  They are us.

  The work of uncovering the shimmering truth that lies beneath all our stress and stuffs may not be easy or pretty for us humans, but it is simple. When we clear one thing or thought with spacious detachment, we can—one baby step at a time—change the world.

  Explore

  Recognizing that we are not separate from one another makes me want to . . .

  When I see the world “out there” in pain, I feel . . . (Notice the impulse to “fix” situations outside of yourself in order to quiet—and cover up—the situations that have not been loved and healed within.)

  DAY 140

  CHECK IN—DISSOLVING THE ILLUSION OF SEPARATION

  The focus this week was to show that we are way bigger and more powerful than we know. The Rig-Veda gives us a way to understand how we human beings are not just separate entities cruising along the highway of life, but rather are part of a ginormous cosmic net bound together as one collective manifesting body. It teaches, in essence, that what you do affects me, and what I do affects you. There is no separation. Quantum theory gives us a way to understand how thought becomes form and shows us that where the mind goes energy flows.

  What are some of the ways you have felt more perceptive, connected, and/or part of a larger fabric? In what ways do you still believe you are separate from the world “out there”?

  If you have not had any big revelations yet, give it time. And keep clearing. One of these days you'll notice yourself experiencing greater flow, opportunities, and magical moments. You're just getting started!

  Explore

  Some of the ways I feel more perceptive and connected . . .

  Ways that I believe I am separate . . .

  Magical moments that I've experienced (or hope to experience) . . .

  WEEK 21

  TAMING THE MONKEY MIND

  I try to quiet the drunken Russian separatists of my own mind . . . I pray. I meditate. I rest, as a spiritual act. I spring for organic cherries. I return phone calls.

  —Anne Lamott

  DAY 141

  MONKEY MIND

  It was the Buddha who said that the human mind is like a roomful of screeching, grasping, drunken monkeys all clamoring to be heard. I like using the term “monkey mind” to describe that noisy, unsettled, graspy, fearful, complicating, attached, fidgety, resisting, plugged-in, unspacious part of us that keeps us stuck.

  Monkey mind is like a toddler going after the kitchen knife or running into traffic. Reeling it in requires constant attention and infinite patience—especially when the monkey doesn't like being told “no!”

  Next time your mind throws a fit because you're putting a stop to its tiresome drivel, take a step back and breathe. Watch the resisting patterns arise. When you give your monkey mind as much space as you can, you may find it calm down before your eyes.

  Explore

  My monkey mind shows up in these ways . . .

  This really gets the monkey going . . .

  DAY 142

  STRIKE THAT

  How do we stop the unsavory chatter that pours out of our heads on a continual basis? How do we keep the noisy stuff from taking over our lives?

  You could try the nifty phrase I learned while serving on jury duty. You've probably heard it a lot on TV, if not in an actual courtroom; it's that staccato-like phrase inserted at the end of almost every sentence: Strike that.

  Every time you catch yourself in monkey mind today, notice if it helps to repeat the phrase Strike that to snap you out of la-la land. If that phrase doesn't do it for you, choose a snappier one that does.

  Explore

  A word or phrase that helps snap me out of monkey mind is . . .

  When I say it out loud, it feels . . .

  DAY 143

  ZIP IT, ZAP IT

  St
opping a mind that thrives on drama and is stuck on a default setting of doom and gloom takes awareness, and lots of practice. Here's some of the stringy stuff I've been known to chew on over the years—and what detaching from it looks like:

  Aghhh . . . the traffic is terrible! We're going to be late to the airport, we're going to miss our plane, our vacation is shot . . . Strike that.

  Ugh . . . this task is taking forever. I'll never finish clearing my piles . . . it's time to check my emails . . . Strike that.

  Groan . . . I have no time, there's no food in the fridge, the house feels cold, I'm fried, this day has gone from bad to worse . . . Strike that.

  What you don't see, but is key to this practice, is me acknowledging and feeling the tightness around my shoulders; noticing that my breathing is halting and shallow; feeling in total resistance, afraid to make a mistake, hungry and running on vapors because I haven't eaten all day and didn't get much sleep the night before.

  What unsupportive thoughts can you zap today? . . . Or even right this second?

  Explore

  Thoughts I can zap today . . .