Scoop The Poop

I was having a "moment" earlier today. Grumbling in my own head about this or that and referring to a certain "thing" as a "pile of shit." And then I started laughing at myself because as soon as I thought of this "thing" as a "pile of shit" my mind immediately thought of scooping poop in the backyard. Okay, not that I even have to do that...because I don't even have a dog and all my kids are potty trained, so I'm not even sure where poop scooping came into my head...but it did. So then, it made sense to me figuratively - we all have to "scoop the poop" now and then and clean up our yard. Get rid of the shit that's stinkin' up the place.

Your "shit" can take many forms - people, things, jobs, situations, events - it doesn't really matter what the "shit" is, it's just something that's weighing you down, cluttering your mind, having a negative impact in your life at the current time. A few months ago when I was vacating my business space, I was throwing away stuff left and right. I came home one day and tore into a closet. I threw away almost everything in the closet. One thing led to another and before I knew it I was purging my entire house....scooping the poop, if you will. It was cleansing. I had stuff I hadn't used in years. Stuff that belonged to my former husband who hadn't lived in my house in nearly 4 years. Items that no longer had any place or use in my life. Just shit, taking up space...in every way.

During this time, I found myself scooping poop in every area of my life. Things, people, activities. If it wasn't adding some kind of value to my life, I decided it was time to get rid of it, time to start fresh. I never realized how many things were going on in my life that were just weighing me down, mentally, emotionally and physically until I started removing them from my life. It was freeing. I decided that I needed to keep doing this on a daily basis. Not just a regular basis, but an Everyday basis. What deserves to be a part of my life (who deserves to be a part of my life) and what do I need to let go of.

Your "shit" can be physical or it can be mental, emotional stuff that's cluttering up your mind. The great thing about either one of those is that we have complete control over whether we're going to go in the backyard and clean it up or if we're going to leave it sit there and fertilize the weeds growing in our shitty grass. I had this moment the other night...

I went back to a place I hadn't been in awhile. It held a lot of memories that I wasn't ready to let go of and I feared going back to this place would bring me more pain than I could handle, I sat in this place and I let my mind go back to that place in time. I started to cry. And I quickly realized...I don't have  to go back there in my mind. I don't have to think these thoughts that are just "piles of shit" in my head. (Ok, they weren't that bad, but they were not freeing me up to live in the NOW) I even said it out loud to myself..."Julie, you don't HAVE to go there! Stop! Stop now." And I did. And all of a sudden I had this huge sense of freedom. 

As with all of our thoughts, we get to choose which memories we want to entertain and which ones we don't. It's clutter. It's shit that weighs us down.

Whether your "piles of shit" are physical, mental or emotional...get out there and scoop the freakin' poop! The longer we leave it out there, the stinkier it gets. Get rid of it! Clean out the clutter. Get rid of the people, the things, the situations that do not bring you joy or add some kind of value to your life. Get rid of the thoughts that drag you down by your own doing. Quit living in the past and dwelling on what WAS and focus on what is and what WILL be.

You'll find life is much more enjoyable when you scoop the poop in your life on a regular basis.