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August 2022 Sprucing as Therapy
August 2022 Sprucing as Therapy
Aug 6, 2022
Sprucing as Therapy
I like clean and organized spaces, I really do. But you would never have known that by looking at my space. My mother used to say that I am like a tornado, I can render a place completely upside down in no time at all. I called it my creative chaos because despite everything, I always found what I was looking for.
However, with time I realized that clutter is harmful. As if to prove my point, something devastating happened. I lost my brother and my mother within one year of each other.
Besides the unexplainable grief, I was left alone to deal with their lifetime collections of stuff. We all lived in the same building, in different homes. We occupied 3 of the 5 homes in that building. So when I was left alone, I had to deal with over 40 years of individual and family stuff. A huge endeavour!
Over the course of four years, more than 95 percent of everything was donated. No one left my house empty handed. Then I sold the house and moved out of town. My old life ended and I was embarking on a new journey.
What I like most about my new home is that there is so much storage space. Having everything in its proper place gives me a sense of lightness and serenity that I had not experienced until now. A clean and clear space without clutter absolutely changes everything, because it affects our mood, our motivation, our sense of control, and so much more. The less clutter there is, the bigger the space becomes, the bigger life becomes too. Thoughts and ideas that were crushed by the stress caused by clutter become liberated, allowing them to manifest. It's simply amazing how our environment affects us.
My dear friend, Dr. Felicity launched The Spruce Initiative. The mission of the Spruce Initiative is to clean up the planet one piece of rubbish, one day at a time and to give back to the environment by the annual planting of a tree.
What struck me the most about The Spruce Initiative is the correlation between neighbourhood tidiness and morale. It's really quite obvious if you think about it. However, I wonder how many, like me, never thought about it. One thing is for sure, once you see it or think about it, it changes everything. Nobody wants to live in an unsavoury neighborhood!
As I was reading The Spruce Initiative's mission statement, it immediately made me think about using the same concept for inside the home.
Organizing, cleaning, decluttering, these are scary words for chaotic geniuses. So scary, in fact, that they have the power to render us immobile, thus allowing for more clutter and messes that become insurmontable mountains.
On the other hand, a simple little change can make an enormous difference. By adopting sprucing as part of our daily routine, like brushing our teeth first thing in the morning, imagine the possibilities that can open up. Just one thing every day on a consistent basis not only declutters and beautifies our space, it does the same for our minds.
Imagine what your life space will look like a year from now. Instead of mountains of chaos, sprucing even just one thing every day makes a big difference over time. Just one thing a day means 365 things that you will do naturally to spruce your home. Make it part of the basic daily routine. Just like I can't start my day without brushing my teeth, I can do one thing every day to spruce my space.
I believe that an individual's most important and greatest strength is the ability to adapt to just about anything. That's what kept humanity alive throughout millions of years and changing conditions. Sprucing makes our daily lives cleaner, lighter, and better, for ourselves and for our community, neighborhood, and indeed, the whole world!
Join The Spruce Initiative! Step up and proudly be a proactive and responsible steward of the world
Clean and green is our motto. Remember: one piece a day sends the rubbish away! Don’t just clean let’s Spruce.
www.thespruceinitiative.info
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