Have you tried holding a sheet of paper, pen, stapler, pins, purse, perfume, (should I stop?) in a hand because you’ll need them all in the next ten minutes? Struggling to fill your arms with the momentary unnecessary (not necessary now, but later? Or maybe, it was necessary even yesterday and may not be necessary ever again? Is what is dropping, falling, getting lost, stressing you out? Are they making the journey and process so tedious?
Here is some counsel. Just empty your hands. Empty your hands and heart of all you imagine you need so you can relate effectively to what is on hand and at hand at any given time. Anxiety is what is producing what you are cluttering your life with. Anxiety that you may not have things when you need them if you don’t grab them now, or carry them along now. Anxiety can give us unnecessary strain and horribly slow down the journey of achievement.
So jinx anxiety by consciously appreciating the nature of clutter and laying down all that clutters. This is the secret to avoiding presumption and saving ourselves from the heartbreaks that travel with it. Many have lost their way in the personal leadership journey by taking what is not theirs at a given time because they saw what they thought was opportunity. But at that material time, though it was attractive and relevant to their future needs, it was clutter all the same. Why? Because it did not belong to them, or it was not time to use it.
I have watched people at the buffet table mix all sorts of meals in a heap. And I could just imagine the tough process they were going to go through eating what ought to have brought the pleasure of decipherable taste. Not to talk about the tummy ache that could be awaiting them. I have watched myself carry the burden of three books to one location only to be confronted with the fact that I could read only one at a time. Not to mention the ones I found there that I had to read before I left the space!
It is imperative that at any given time, we rightly define this word ‘OPPORTUNITY’. If something is not yours, having it is never an opportunity for you. If having it will hurt others, having it is not a good opportunity. While properly examining ‘opportunity’, please identify the anxiety that accompanies your assessment. Do not be anxious for any reason in this journey of life because with God’s presence and help, your careful planning, and strong relationships, you will access every resource and achieve every goal. So when you find yourself weighed down by too many items on your ‘to do’ list, un-forgiven people in your heart, desires for things forbidden to you, too many ventures going on, and too many things in your hands, I suggest that you simply empty your heart and hands by laying them all carefully down. Pick what item you truly need at any given moment. Work with it in that moment. Put it down. Pick up the next one. Use it. Put it down. Pick one person to settle matters with at a time. Come to a peaceful resolution of the engagement with them. Speak to the next person…
Now one by one, you will find that it is all getting done and resolved with nothing lost, nothing broken. That is the effective way. Peace and shalom to you.
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