Personal Inventory

Thoughts can be a powerful tool to sway my actions one way or the other. Negative thoughts will bind my actions; physically, emotionally, and spiritually, so I endeavor to ask God to change those thoughts to the positive.

The overwhelming aspects of going through my basement, sorting through my belongings which I have not seen in years, would have, could have  caused me to stop in my tracks of procrastination, yet I did not let it.

I chose to look at this task differently.

First of all, this job did not have to be done all at once. Small attempts can lead to big accomplishments.

I did not have to dive into the basement by myself. My son is still here, and in an attempt to spend more time together I asked for his help. I’m grateful that he agreed, and what a great help he was to me.

Dividing what was down there into four piles; trash, donate, keep, and consider at another time, he helped me identify what should go where. He took out the trash. He helped me box up the donate.

In one of the boxes I found a long lost possession that I have been in search of for a very long time. I found an envelope containing vital paperwork, such as my original birth certificate, and all the documents from years of education. I was filled with such relief.

Encouraged by finding lost treasure, I’m ready to move on. We accomplished cleaning out half the basement yesterday. Today, together, my son and I will tackle the other half. I’m looking forward to finding out more about what is important to my life, and what can be given away. Many things, I’m sure, will be discarded.

Such an inventory can be cleansing in learning what I truly need in my life, and what can be let go. I have things in hiding that I’ve never used that might benefit someone else, and most of what I’ve been hording for so long can be discarded.

Going through my stuff is like going through my heart and soul. The more I discover the more I get to learn about myself. It’s pretty much like the moral inventory we take in clearing out the wreckage of our past and learning what we like about ourselves that we want to keep and nurture.

All those old magazines that I thought I would re-read someday, but never did: gone. All those size 9 clothes that I thought I would fit into again: gone. All those computer cords to connections that don’t even exist anymore: gone.

Family photo albums that I now want to scan into preservation onto a hard disk: priceless.

I'm the tallest on the right, 2nd Grade, the rest are my siblings.

Every day matters.