Making the Past become the Present

The builders have left and the decorator is here, and the (welcome) disruption continues.

As I moved furniture and emptied cupboards to ease their way, I noticed how much that was unnecessary or outdated was still with me. I try to de-clutter regularly, but have retained ornaments and pictures and photos out of habit and sentimentality, because they have been part of my life as long as I can remember and because many were gifts. I have office equipment which I never use now but which I have kept because it is in excellent condition and relatively valuable, and papers which were once important, but now…?

It does not serve me to be reminded of the past as I look around me in my home and where I work, because it keeps a part of me in that past, and so is a limitation. I do not need physical reminders of loving friends and relatives, for they are in my heart.

So, I have decided that, when the time comes that I am able to put my home together again, there will be change. Working from my sitting room during the alterations has shown me how little I need, and everything that is not in everyday use will be destroyed or stored elsewhere to enable my new office to be mostly space, light, and view. I will deal with the other rooms similarly: many of the gifts will be put, with honour and gratitude, in a special place but out of sight, and only objects of beauty and significance for the present will be in view.

The present, however, quickly becomes the past, and my challenge will be to notice when my physical environment has become a limitation once again, hopefully not just because the builders are here!