The Hope in Clearing and Cleaning
Reasons for Hope (6 of 11)
First, the Work
After the long walk through the lush forest, she walked into a wide clearing and breathed deeply.
I’ve cleared my calendar for the week so that I can finally make time for myself.
We first cleared the basement and then the first floor office as we prepared for our move.
The clouds cleared revealing a stunning blue sky.
There is something special about the notion of “clearing.” Whether it is walking into a clearing, clearing a calendar, a sky clearing or clearing a space. Clearing feels fresh and new - once it is completed and before you. But when one must DO the clearing, well, that is another matter.
In my lifetime I have moved residences at ages 2, 6, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 30, 33, 37, 42, 43, 45, 47, and 54. Perhaps you have moved more or less than I have. But, it is safe to say I have cleared spaces and cleaned rooms, apartments or houses enough to know the ups and downs of such an experience.
It takes work to clear. It takes work to clean. It takes hard work, elbow grease, organization and planning. But it also takes emotional investment - worry, anxiety, frustration, pride, and satisfaction. And that alone can be exhausting. When my family was moving to Seoul from Green Bay, WI, we had yet another yard sale. My two children aged 9 and 6 sat in the front yard with their snack and lemonade stand hoping to make their own money. It was a precious, memorable moment amidst many moments. We had already downsized and moved from a home to a rental home and then another rental home in the prior year and a half. And yet, we still had more stuff to get rid of as we prepared to leave our country! When all was said and done, we had sold, given away, stored or thrown out all but fourteen suitcases of possessions for the four of us.
But it felt good! It felt so good to have clean and sparse shelves, no junk drawer, no random screws lying about somewhere. It felt fresh.
When the four of us finally arrived at our new apartment in Seoul, we set down our suitcases and took in the possibilities. “This could go there. And that could go over there. And you could take this room, you could take this room and we could take that room.” We gasped at the new view of the world from a fifteenth story. Everything was going to be new to us, and it was . . . exciting and scary at the same time. But mostly exciting.
Every day in and of itself is a new opportunity to recognize what is ready to be cleared and let go.
Individual Clearing
Several years later I found myself in consultation with Alice as a physiotherapist and acupuncturist for a frozen shoulder. Over the next several months, Alice became my teacher and spiritual guide. When she initially asked me, “How are you doing?” and I replied, “Fine,” she didn’t fall for it. “Fine? Then why are you here with a frozen shoulder?” I found myself uncovering how challenging it was navigating yet another new world as a mother of a transgender child. The more we talked and she nudged, the more I came to connect the dots; my body hadn’t properly cleared out all that stress but instead held it until it was quite clear both symbolically and physically that I could no longer “shoulder” the weight of the challenge. That marked the beginning of a new and healthier version of me.
And so it is that we each have our opportunities to clean and clear and start afresh. It may or not manifest itself as dramatically as moving half-way around the world or re-learning a role as mom. But every day in and of itself is a new opportunity to recognize what is ready to be cleared and let go both within us and around us.
In my passion-business as a gong player, I often ask my clients to begin with three “cleansing breaths.” We breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. We imagine the stress of the day being breathed out and fresh, energy being breathed in. The body itself relaxes and hormones reset with such conscious breathing. Our bodies love it when we clear out stress or toxins. Have you done any kind of cleaning or cleansing of your environment, space, or body recently? If so, how did it feel? How did it affect your mood and overall health? (Go ahead! Leave a comment.)
Why not take a moment right now to close your eyes and take three nice deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth? (I’ll wait.)
Ah! Isn’t that better? How do you feel? (If you would like more self-care tips, please see my series Me-time: Self-care in the time of Covid in the archives of Life Cheat Sheets.)
Collective Clearing
It’s not just individuals who have the opportunity to breathe deeply, reset, re-see, reckon, rejuvenate and clear out crap. All of us together do! More than ever before in our lifetimes we are recognizing that we are one planet and one humanity. And similarly to an individual, we have crap to clear. We have unfinished business. We have stress. We have fear. We have matters weighing us down - as humanity. Don’t you wonder if that is a lot of what we are witnessing and experiencing now? Instead of opening a junk drawer and sorting and clearing, we are finding ourselves re-examining our systems - all systems: political, economical, educational, social, etc. And through this difficult process, we are seeing the things that need to be let go. We are seeing the broken things. We are seeing the wounded things. We are now being called to do the hard work - the work that takes initiative and elbow grease and a lot of cooperation to make it through. This clearing of . . .well, EVERYTHING. . . may take a while, but I am hopeful that it is both necessary and transformative. Just as I was a different mother and person after working with Alice, humanity can grow during and beyond my own lifetime. (Remember my first article about being in the middle of things? In medias res?)
We are now being called to do the hard work - the work that takes initiative and elbow grease and a lot of cooperation to make it through.
Thankfully, not everyone is called to DO EVERYTHING. (That would be far too overwhelming.) But perhaps you are feeling passionate about something in your immediate surroundings that needs work. Pay attention to what you notice. If you are able, be willing to get involved and put your positive energy into a passion project here and there. You are not alone. Work with others to clean and clear. It may take an hour, a day, a month, a year or a lifetime to clear it. That’s fine. Just follow your heart and create that hope. You may just find you are healing yourself and many others - even all of us - along the way.
Further Reading
Brayko, Brenda. Oh, The Places You’ll Go! “Shedding Stuff.” https://greenbaytokorea.blogspot.com/2010/06/shedding-stuff.html
Next up: The Hope in Nature’s Patterns
You can find my other series in the archives:
Parenting 101 Coupons: A Gift from your Parents
Partnering 101: A Deep Dive into Leaving Kindly
Me-Time: Self-care in the time of Covid
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Brenda BraykoWriter. Teacher. Gong Player.
Find more of my writing at GreenBaytoKorea.blogspot.com
Learn about my business at CelestialSoundGB.com
On Instagram @applebb09
All photos by © Brenda Brayko 2022.
Great post. Your shoulder was a good example of how we incorporate emotional situations into injuries and health challenges. I am seeing this everywhere I look. Seth discusses this at length. Also, Anatomy of Spirit by Carolyn Myss discusses this in detail. An EXCELLENT, life changing book on clearing energy is Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Armstrong. This book has changed more lives than any other book I know. Yes, clear things out and invite new energy in. Thank you Brenda!