My Little Rule

I have a little rule about what lives at my house. I don't always follow it, but it helps when I start to clean out:

If I don't love something, if it doesn't make me happy, if it frustrates or irritates me when I look at it, then it won't be staying here.

This helps me when the stuff starts to accumulate. Yesterday I went through one shelf of my closet and donated nine shirts. I actually really loved one of these shirts. It is green. It is cute. But every time I put it on, the buttons on the sleeves are difficult, and I start worrying that it makes my arms look like sausages. Then I'm not even sure if I want to wear it at all. All of that negative energy just from one shirt. I don't need that cute shirt or the negative energy it brings -- so I wished it well in it's future endeavors and put it in the box to go to Salvation Army.

I'd like to apply this rule to other areas of my life, because if something in my life (be it a thought, a worry, a commitment, an obligation, or even a relationship) doesn't make me happy, if it frustrates or irritates me, then it's time to get it out of my life. Yet, somehow, that rule can't always work.

For example, I'd like to send grocery shopping on it's way. It has been known to frustrate me in the past, and I'm not sure it brings me great happiness, but it has to be done. What I can do, is simplify the chore, make it more bearable -- maybe even enjoyable. I can't get rid of it, but I can get rid of the frustration and the negative feelings about it. After all, without that grocery shopping, I could not have eaten that delicious red pepper I ate for dinner tonight. So that is what I'm attempting to do -- To simplify the parts of my life that are essential. To maximize on the parts of my life that bring real happiness. And to eliminate the stuff that just doesn't matter.

If I can do that on even a small level, I think I can call this little experiment a success.