Purging

When life seems overwhelming I begin to purge. This includes paper, old files, anything I can find in closets that just needs to go; clothing, containers, old stuff, and sometimes new stuff. Our neighbor whose husband is dying of cancer and is not expected to live much longer is purging her garage, her home and her fridge even as her husband gently rests. Purging is our way of letting go of the stuff of life. Mostly the stuff of life is not material goods found in closets, garages, files and refrigerators, but the mental tensions, frustrations, sorrows, worries, and emotional baggage carried for months and often a lifetime. Letting go of things prepares to let go of the heavier weights of the mind and heart. I reflect on my own purging of things and it is usually when I am sad or worried and in the letting go, the act of getting rid of rid, my mind eases and I can usually find rest in my mind. As our friend Ruth purges her refrigerator and garage, I am aware that her impulsive need to purge things will make space in her heart for all of the goodness and love she and her beloved Lee have known. In the end it is not the material that remains it is a heart filled with loving memories and mind filled with peace.