L[IF]E

Today’s thought journey can be applied to all aspects of life, because it is all about CHOICE – that big fat “IF” in the small four letter word: LIFE. Seeing as this is a decluttering blog, I will use the example of what happens when the house has been decluttered and organised, and trash has been sent to the trash bin.

You have successfully removed the Brambles, but have you removed the Roots?

The visible Brambles that were blocking your flow as you move around your house are gone. The shelves are neat and tidy, floor space is visible, and there is a home for everything. And yet, the number one thought most professional organisers will be thinking as they drive away from a successful session is: “Will they be able to maintain their clutter-free life?”

There is a reason our decluttering service includes instant removal of trash/donation bags. If you’ve ever thrown anything sentimental in the bin, you will be all too familiar with the thought-bomb that only strikes in the middle of the night to conveniently riddle you with guilt and anxiety:

“Oh no, I wish I hadn’t gotten rid of that.”

So here’s the big question…

What is driving your compulsion to return to the garbage bin to dig out what you have already said goodbye to?

I thoroughly enjoy a good spring clean. I would happily take on repeat customers who need a hand every few months or so to physically reset their home space and get a break from their cluttered lifestyle. There are many seasons in our lives when this is absolutely understandable, such as when one has just had a baby and there’s simply no way Mum & Dad can cope with anything else on top of the sleep deprivation and emotional adjustment of bearing 100%, 24/7 responsibility for a completely new, young, dependent human being.

However, it is even more satisfying to be able to coach a client through understanding WHY they live a cluttered lifestyle, and then helping them Reset their mindset and Release themselves from their baggage – physical and emotional.

Enter the Expansion Zone

You may have heard about the comfort zone – and how “Where the magic happens” is OUTSIDE your comfort zone. Other authors have since moved on from there to talk about Growth or Expansion Zones. My favourite explanation (and where I got the colourful picture below right from) is by The Unconventional Route.

You see, when you think about it, Life truly is one big “IF”. Everything pivots on this fork in your journey of many miles. In other words, what will you CHOOSE to make of your life? More than that, when you do make a choice, are you making it out of your own free will, or out of compulsion?

Brain Coach and author of “Limitless”, Jim Kwik puts it this way:

LIFE is the C between B and D:

B = Birth | C = Choice | D = Death

– Jim Kwik

Back to the decluttering scenario – Are you in free-will control of your choice to keep or remove [objects] in your life? [whole of life application opportunity – replace “objects” with: persons, activities, perspectives, values, food, relationships, spending habits, habits of any kind, the list goes on]

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Viktor E Frankl

Dr Caroline Leaf talks about going into Superposition to enter that space of decision-making. I.e. step outside of yourself and your situation, look at it from all angles, check for all possibilities and options, before determining the path you will take/ response you will make.

Physicist Erwin Schrödinger is famous for his hypothetical experiment of: Cat in a Box – alive AND dead. In this experiment, Schrödinger’s Cat is locked in a box with certain items that could result in its death. However, UNTIL the observer looks inside the box, it is impossible to confirm whether the cat is alive or dead – hence, the theory of the observer’s paradox.

In other words, UNTIL we make a choice about our next step, our response could be anything. Talk about infinite potential!

L[IF]E = Stimulus > [CHOICE] > Response

The secret is in the “IF” Pause – that moment of [CHOICE]. When life throws something at you – will you REACT, or RESPOND? Will you go into Superposition – that place of infinite potential – and choose your future with all the intentionality you can muster?

But wait, there’s yet another moment within that moment of [CHOICE].

What if… in your Superposition, you could determine your Stimulus?

By this I mean – you get to determine the Meaning of your Stimulus. If life is what you make of it, then choose your filter carefully: IF [stimulus] THEN [meaning]. You may have heard of the saying: Pain is inevitable, Suffering is optional. It’s all about the Meaning you assign to your Stimulus. Within your moment of [CHOICE], you have [Choice of Meaning & Choice of Response].

So, can you PAUSE in Superposition long enough to catch the auto-pilot narrative in your mind? That auto-pilot voice which determines Meaning from your pre-conceived filters? If you can catch it, you then have the Power to Choose from a place of free-will, the specific new Meaning that YOU (not your auto-pilot) want to assign to your Stimulus. And from there, you get to Choose the free-will response that you will act out, instead of the instant Reaction that is derived from compulsion.

You answer will most likely vary from day to day, moment to moment, depending on what is going on around you and inside you. We each have a unique set of preconceived ideas layered upon us from our diverse experiences and upbringing. These layers are THICK.

Learn to recognise when your heart is so broken, your ears cannot open.

When emotions run high and we are spread thin, our hearts are breaking under the weight of the world on our shoulders. It would be wise in these times to mend your heart and build up your Bandwidth, so that you can listen without broken mental filters, and enter that place of space to PAUSE. Your Bandwidth is your Capacity to Superposition. Take back your Power to Choose your Meaning & your Response to L[IF]E. It can all happen within a microsecond.

Living in the Expansion Zone is the ability to convert our “IF” Pause from a “compulsive auto-pilot” reaction to a “free-will choice” response.

We have the power and privilege of Choice. Choice of Meaning, and Choice of Response.

Back to the sentimental clutter that got decluttered out of your home – Your auto-pilot self may wish you hadn’t gotten rid of it, but you know that your powerful-in-superposition self is proud of the choice that you had.

#reset your meanings/filters [checkout my new page: Rewire]

#release yourself to respond powerfully

My April goal: Intentionally invest time in creative art. Weekly.